I play in four NFFC leagues. I’m doing well in three of the four — but that’s not the subject of this week’s column. When I read other writers and listen to Fantasy Sports podcasts and on XM, I am forever hearing about how great things are going for the author, how his/her team is so good, and how he/she is winning each of their respective leagues.
I think we all know that things are not always as rosy as they may claim, but, heck, who is going to want to pay to read or listen to someone who drafted a bad team?
Along those lines, years ago, there used to be tout services for football that would guarantee you a win. All you had to do was call in and the service would give you the winner of the Monday night game. The logic behind it was that if you called in and got the winner, you’d likely pay for their “lock of the century,” or whatever they called it, the next week. I was gullible enough to be intrigued, but not enough to call.
Two friends did call and, what do you know, friend A was told that the home team would cover. You can already guess where this is going. Friend B called the same line and was told that the road team would cover. Yes, this made perfect sense. Half of the callers would get the winning team, would think that the service was great, and might actually pay for the picks. Ingenious.
I sometimes look at fantasy writers the same way.
So, rather than tell you all about my successes (did I mention that I’ve won two Fanball DFS tournaments this year?), I want to show you how one draft went dreadfully bad.
Let’s look at my NFFC Primetime league. You may wish to close your eyes.
First Round (10th pick): Leonard Fournette. We had targeted Melvin Gordon, which would have been good. Instead, Fournette dropped and we pounced. Oops. To date, Gordon has 209.3 points. Fournette has just 40.6. Sure, he’s back now. Too late. We are 3-7 and going absolutely nowhere, fast.
Second Round (15th pick): Le’Veon Bell. I’m a big believer in the theory, “Go big or go home.” Yes, I drafted a one-way ticket home. But, just think about it. Fournette and Bell to start off the draft. Sure, Bell was going to miss a week or two, but he was a consensus top two player. Getting him in the second round was a risk, but the reward was oh so great. OK, not so great. In a move that I may never forget, I am dropping a healthy Le’Veon Bell this week for a kicker to fill in for one week for Greg Zuerline in week 12. It doesn’t get any worse than that. Or does it?
Third Round (27th pick): Rob Gronkowski. No, I’m not making this up. We all knew that tight end was going to be shallow, so why not get the best one out there? While I don’t subscribe to any ADP theory, the ADP did have Gronk going in the second round. So, yet another bargain for us. Or not. Gronk has missed a couple of games, but that was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was that he’d miss virtually every pass and that after 10 weeks, that he would be ranked 9th in points per game among tight ends, behind, among others, Jared Cook and Austin Hooper.
Fourth Round: Josh Gordon. Remarkably, this might be our best pick. That says all that needs to be said.
Fifth Round: Cooper Kupp. This pick looked great until Kupp’s knee gave way. Twice. He’s done, as are we.
Sixth Round: Nelson Agholar. At this point in the draft, wide receivers were in short supply, as we took Agholar just ahead of Robby Anderson and Will Fuller. We got the most useable of the three, but that’s not much help. Neither has been Agholar who is averaging 11.27 points per week.
Seventh Round: Peyton Barber. Brilliant. A starting running back in the 7th round. We didn’t expect Ronald Jones to take Barber’s spot, and for once we were right. Of course, we never expected Barber to average less than four yards per carry, less than 50 rushing yards per game, and score just two touchdowns. Yet, with Fournette hurt and Bell missing in action, Barber has been our best running back. Yes, it’s been a painful season.
Eighth Round: Jordan Reed. Heck, he’s been healthy all year. He’s also got one more touchdown than you or me, and is averaging 9.01 points per game, placing him 17th in the NFL, which wouldn’t be too bad for a 16-team league, or if he wasn’t the 8th tight end drafted. It isn’t and he was.
The rest of the draft was no better or worse than the rest of the league. We snagged Drew Brees in the 9th, but that’s it for the positives. We’ve cut most of the rest of the players drafted, forever forgotten or at least until next September when we draft again.
When we left Las Vegas, we had hopes of a repeat NFFC championship. Even looking back, the draft wasn’t all that bad. However, in actuality, it doesn’t get a whole lot worse. If I knew the moral of the story, I’d close with that here. However, I don’t see much of a moral.
So, instead, I’ll leave you with the words of Joseph Heller, “Destiny is a good thing to accept when it’s going your way. When it isn’t, don’t call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.”
Best of luck. Don’t blink.
Buster
