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Zach’s Championship DFF Redraft Recap

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Getting the invite to a Dynasty Football Factory redraft league with 11 other fantasy football writers was intimidating, to say the least. But, you have to play with the big boys if you want to get better. We have some of the smartest minds in fantasy football in this league and I think I came away with a pretty decent team. Join me as I take you through the thought process of my first nine picks in this 12-team redraft PPR league.

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DFF Redraft Championship Draft

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The DFF team recently completed our annual DFF Redraft Championship draft and I was fortunate enough to be granted the first overall pick! We set up a 17-round PPR draft, with 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 Flex, 1 TE, 1 D/ST as starters, and a 7-player bench. This was especially fun because it was the first year we implemented a zoom video conference during the draft and had live commentary on each and every selection. It was certainly a tough room but we had a blast. I’m excited about my team and chances against the stout DFF competition this year. Let’s review how my draft unfolded from the 1.01 spot. 

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The Guide: A Round-by-Round Roadmap to Acing Your 2020 Fantasy Draft

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I get the same email every year. It usually comes in the first couple of days in September. It’s from a friend who I used to work with. This person is extremely competitive; the kind of person who hates losing more than loves winning. The email is a call for help. My friend knows almost nothing about fantasy football, but wants to crush the people in the fantasy league she was invited to a few years back. I love writing the reply because it allows me to finalize my draft strategy after months of mock drafts and research. This year, I’m happy to make that strategy public. Here it is… the guide!

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Redraft TE Premium .25 PPC Third-Round Reversal Draft Review

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Recently, the @DFF_Dynasty crew joined up for a redraft mock draft. The format was: start 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 3 Flex, 6 bench spots, and PPR scoring. We also added a few twists, with 1.5 PPR tight end premium scoring, 0.25 points per carry, and third-round reversal drafting. As usual, I didn’t come into the draft with a set strategy. I planned to take value at my picks, and I wanted to have an open mind. However, I knew that the TE premium scoring would vault tight ends up on my board and that 0.25 PPC is a massive boost to volume running backs. Therefore, I decided to focus on securing running back and tight end early, especially since we only required two WR starters in this league.

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#TomBomb: Tennessee Titans

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The nice thing about some of these takes is that they simply write themselves. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why in the world I’ve placed a 26-year old RB who has logged 804 professional carries, in four years, as my #1 Tennessee Titans buy-low dynasty asset. That’s fair. However, if that’s the case, then you just simply don’t know Old Tom as well as I’d like. Over and over and over again I’ve continued to pound the table on the reality that my dynasty philosophy is much more win-now oriented than most. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not oblivious to the future and what that entails. But, I will also be damned if I’m ever going to enter a season removed from the possibility of hoisting that championship trophy.

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Fantasy MVP Hangover: RB Edition

Fantasy MVP Hangover: RBs

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I started playing fantasy football in 2006. That was the year LaDainian Tomlinson set the fantasy (and NFL) world on fire. He rushed for over 1,800 yards, caught 56 passes for over 500 yards, and scored 31 total touchdowns. Tomlinson scored a whopping 453 half-PPR points that season. He was the RB1 by a margin of 82 points. That fact is even more incredible when you realize that only eight running backs have topped 350 half-PPR points in the last 14 years, and two of those guys did it the same season as Tomlinson. That’s right, three of the top eight running back seasons of my entire fantasy football life came in that 2006 season. Of course, the league was different back then. Derrick Henry led all running backs in carries last year with 303. That would have tied for tenth in 2006. Tenth!

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Corey Davis: 2020 Dynasty Profile

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Davis can improve as much as he wants, but it won’t make a difference if the passing volume isn’t there. The Titans have finished 31st in pass attempts the last two seasons, largely due to a highly efficient running attack lead by Derrick Henry. He’s also taken a backseat to A.J. Brown, who demonstrated all season long why he’s the more talented receiver. Davis received 113 targets in 2018 prior to A.J. Brown’s arrival. But, now that those days are in the rearview he’s quickly drifting towards fantasy irrelevance.  For argument’s sake, let’s assume there’s an increase in passing attempts in Tennesee (there won’t be) and Davis sees, say, 85-90 targets. He’d still be hard-pressed to crack the top 60 at his position! 

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2nd Year Breakout Wide Receivers: Part 3

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The consensus used to be that it took wide receivers three years to breakout into fantasy relevance. But, the NFL is turning more pass-happy and players are being utilized in various ways. So, it isn’t out of the question that there are a few second-year breakouts that can boost production for your dynasty team. Similar to last year, if your teams had Courtland Sutton, DJ Chark, or D.J. Moore on your roster before the start of the season, you more than likely felt comfortable with your team’s outlook. In this 3-part series of articles, I’ll look at six wide receivers that need to be considered.  If you didn’t draft some of these second-year wideouts, it’ll be almost impossible for you to acquire them going forward. But, if you’re given the chance, don’t be afraid to overpay.

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2020 rookie busts

2020 Rookie Busts Part One

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Now, it’s time to take a different slant on the 2020 rookie class. I want to look at the class from a dynasty perspective, specifically looking at the busts. When we look back in a few years, what players will we regret having selected in our rookie drafts? It’s not too late to move away from these players, so perhaps you might want to consider selling them before their value drops. I’m not necessarily saying that any of these players will completely bust, but I am saying that they won’t live up to their draft cost.

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A.J. Brown Dynasty Profile

A.J. Brown: 2020 Dynasty Profile

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Brown is currently being drafted at the 3.06 in dynasty startups, making him the WR14. An interesting check is to compare a player’s dynasty ADP versus their re-draft ADP which can sometimes indicate where dynasty players are overvaluing youth. In redraft leagues, Brown is 4.08 which is the WR17. This indicates that Brown is expected to have a strong 2020 season, paired with only being 23 years old makes him a top tier dynasty asset.

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Auction Draft Do’s and Don’ts – Part Two

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In part one of Auction Draft Dos and Don’ts we discussed how tiers should guide your auction drafting strategy over specific targets. Here in part two, we’ll go over how to stay focused during your draft and why mock drafts aren’t as helpful when preparing for an auction. Dominate your auction draft with the help of these dos and don’ts!

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Derrick Henry Contract Extension: Rapid Reaction

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Derrick Henry and the Tennessee Titans have come to an agreement that will keep the bruising running back in town for years to come. First reported by Ian Rapaport, the deal got done just an hour before the 4:00 P.M EST deadline for teams to sign franchise-tagged players to long term deals. While the exact details have yet to be disclosed, we know via Adam Schefter that the deal is a 4-year, $50 million contract with $25.5 million guaranteed. This moves him up a spot from the fifth highest-paid running back by average annual value (AAV) in 2020 to the fourth, leapfrogging David Johnson. More importantly for Henry, it moves him up to fourth in total value, just behind Le’Veon Bell at $52.5 million. With the workhorse back staying in Tennessee, what does this mean for the Titans offense?

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Lynn Bowden trade

DFF Rookie Round Table, Part 10: Final Thoughts

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We debated the rankings on Jalen Reagor, Henry Ruggs, Tee Higgins, Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, AJ Dillon, Bryan Edwards, Antonio Gandy-Golden, Zack Moss, and Joshua Kelley. We also touched upon players in their range, and who should be ascending or descending. I want to give a big thanks to everyone who contributed to this series of articles. I urge you to go follow them on twitter.  Read the whole series for a number of opinions on players who could win you fantasy championships for years to come. This is the final part of the series, where we’ll look at more insights and tidbits about these rookies.

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rookie

DFF Rookie Round Table, Part 9: Joshua Kelley

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After recently releasing my rookie rankings, I wanted to open up the floor to constructive criticism.  I also wanted to see where I was not aligned with other DFF analysts. So, we conducted a round table discussion. This discussion is now a 10-part series of informal articles. In these articles, analysts debate why some of their favorite rookie(s) should be moved up. And in one case, moved down!  

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Nick Chubb: 2020 Dynasty Profile

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Nick Chubb has had excellent success in his two NFL seasons. Once he took over from Carlos Hyde in 2018, Chubb began dominating the carries in the Browns’ backfield. From Weeks 7-17, Chubb was the RB8 and averaged 16.5 PPR points per game. He had 17.6 rushing attempts per game over that span, sharing only minimal touches with the Browns’ other running backs. Then in 2019, Chubb took a whopping 298 carries and gained 1,494, second in the NFL behind only Derrick Henry in both categories. Even once Kareem Hunt rejoined the Browns, Chubb still paced for over 1,350 yards across a full season. While Chubb lost passing-game work to Hunt, he was the Browns’ primary back and would have been a fantasy star if he’d been more successful in the red zone.

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Is Josh Allen the next Mitch Trubisky?

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Is it possible that the Bills are coming off another playoff appearance (maybe even a win?) and Josh Allen has made real strides as an NFL passer? Sure. But it’s just as possible that Allen stagnates and costs the team wins. It’s possible that the Bills see their championship window slowly starting to close and decide that Josh Allen is holding them back. Do they decline his fifth-year option and bring in a veteran QB who can manage the game and let the defense win games? It’s possible. In other words, it’s possible that Josh Allen is the next Mitch Trubisky.

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Rounds 1 and 2 Redraft Rankings Update: Part 2

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In late February and early March, I published a pair of articles about my early redraft Round 1 and Round 2 rankings. If you want to find my full rankings, they are updated continuously and can be found here under the redraft tab. These rankings assume a 1QB, PPR format where there is an equal number of running back and wide receiver starters. The tiers divide players by their position to provide the best possible context for my rankings. I covered the top 13 players in Part 1, so here comes the final 11 players as well as the two who fell out of the top 24.

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Rounds 1 and 2 Redraft Rankings Update: Part 1

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In late February and early March, I published a pair of articles about my early redraft Round 1 and Round 2 rankings. In this piece, I’m going to take a quick look at the top 24 now and compare it to then. If you want to find my full rankings, they are updated continuously and can be found here under the redraft tab. These rankings assume a 1QB, PPR format where there is an equal number of running back and wide receiver starters. The tiers divide players by their position to provide the best possible context for my rankings. I’ll cover the top 13 players in this piece, and I’ll put out a part 2 shortly covering the final 11 players as well as the two who fell out of the top 24.

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