For this NFL season, a collection of 14 DFF analysts took their talents to a new Redraft league. As the analyst with the 14th pick, I knew it would be an uphill climb to add value. Despite this being a redraft league, I decided to go with my favorite dynasty strategy, the zero-RB. Knowing that this is a 14-team league, we had to adjust compared to the standard 12-team leagues in which elite positional players hold even more of a premium.
Thus, from the 14-hole my strategy going into the draft was to take two of the top three tight ends at the 1.14 and 2.01 turn, ideally, Travis Kelce would fall and I would be rostering Kelce and Waller as I await my third and fourth-round picks. Unfortunately for me, both tight-end options were selected in the first round before my pick so I had to adjust on the fly. As a wise man once said, “Get your popcorn ready.”
The Adjustment
My original strategy of going zero-RB flopped in the first round. I selected the Browns starting running back, Nick Chubb. I do have my worries with Chubb in dynasty rosters based on his alma mater’s running backs having degenerative knee issues. This issue is compounded by Chubb’s history of ACL tears in college. However, this is a points-per-rush and points-per-first-down league, in which Chubb offers league-winning upside. DeAndre Hopkins was selected as my second-round pick. At the first turn, I secured a top-five wide receiver and a top-ten running back to serve as my foundation.
The Early Rounds
As the third round came to a close there had been one quarterback (Mahomes), 13 wide receivers, 20 running backs, and five tight ends selected. With that said, I saw value in selecting D.J. Moore as a high upside WR2 and followed that up with selecting Kyler Murray and stacking the top two in the Cardinals passing attack. By doing with a long wait between picks, we have to be okay with being weaker at the running back and tight end positions. Kyler Murray offers substantial upside with his rushing ability so I was okay with taking a quarterback on the earlier side given the drop-off in rushing after Murray and Lamar Jackson, who I knew would not make it back in the fifth round.
In the fifth round, we transitioned from supplying a high floor weekly to looking for upside. With that said, I was very happy to reach a bit for Jerry Jeudy, a player who was the most negatively impacted by quarterback play and still nearly had 1,000 receiving yards. Then I had to go ahead and take Chase Edmonds to secure a starting running back as my RB2. This was a low upside play seeing as we are now very reliant on the Cardinals having great offensive success weekly.
The Middle Rounds
Through six rounds we have every position addressed outside of tight end, missing out on the top-three tight ends I had preconceived that I would be in more of a streaming tight end mode.
We round out this team with several upside plays. In the seventh, I took Rondale Moore, way too early. Moore has insane upside in the short and intermediate levels of the Cardinals offense and I have a monopoly now on the Arizona Cardinals. I selected Tyler Higbee in the eighth round addressing the tight end position. Higbee could find himself as a top-six tight end at the end of the season with an upgraded quarterback in Stafford, no workhorse running back in Cam Akers and strong historical splits when Gerald Everett is not on the field.
We then saw Terrace Marshall Jr. in the ninth round, his success with Joe Brady at LSU provides alpha wide receiver upside, however, it likely won’t be realized in his rookie season. In the tenth round, I reached and selected Justin Tucker. The whiskey got the best of me there.
The Late Rounds and Beyond
I rounded out my roster with Irv Smith Jr., Kenneth Gainwell, Trevor Lawrence, Javian Hawkins, Kadarius Toney, the Broncos DST, Adrian Peterson, and Tutu Atwell. To summarize, my strategy turned out to be to select high floor players early and sprinkling rookies throughout the roster.
Overall, I’d say my team is unlikely to make the playoffs, but we all know that this won’t be my end of season roster, and if I can spot some diamonds in the rough, or be quick on the draw for finding the right backup running backs to roster then my team’s upside is truly activated. Hopefully, some of my WRs 4-6 break out and I’m able to include them in a trade to upgrade from Chase Edmonds to someone who will have a higher volume play. Overall, I’m happy that I was able to get a lot of “my guys” but I am pessimistic about my team’s chances.
Thank you for reading my article! If you enjoyed it, keep an eye out for my future articles. You can also follow me on Twitter @DynastyDiagnos1 and reach out with any questions, comments, or ideas you’d like me to explore for a new article.
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