As we wait for the next few weeks for the Chicago Bears training camp to fire up, we are going to take a look at the Windy City Gridiron Dynasty league, review the rookie draft that took place, and analyze the 14 rosters in the league.
If you missed the original introductory article on the league, you can check that out here.
This article will look at each team’s draft and how I, as a veteran dynasty player, feel they fared in the draft.
With this league, teams need a full roster of players at every
position (even kickers and punters), except for the offensive line. Every statistic is tracked and counted. It’s the way fantasy football should be played!
Let’s take a quick overview of the draft and then grade each person’s performance.
Let’s start with the first two rounds:
The first 5 picks are pretty chalky in most drafts. Lemon and Tyson seem debatable at 3 and 4, but in most leagues, that’s how it goes. Things get interesting after that because there is so little depth of high-end offensive talent. That was reflected by a flood of defensive talent being selected 9 times between picks 11 and 24. This wasn’t the strongest rookie dynasty draft, so teams have to get creative in how they approach the draft.
Here’s a look at rounds 3 and 4:
In my experience, round 1 is usually all offensive players, round 2 a handful of defensive players go, and in round 3 is where we start to see a lot of quarterbacks and defensive players come off the board. This is not a superflex league; if it were, QBs would go much higher and go in round 1. In non-superflex leagues, you’ll usually see 1, maybe 2 QBs go in round 1, but in a draft like this, defensive talent was already coming off the board earlier, and there just weren’t QBs worth selecting.
Finally, here’s a look at rounds 5 and 6:
The last two rounds are usually lottery tickets, especially round six. Look at it compared to the regular NFL Draft. In the first 4 rounds, there were 45 offensive linemen and cornerbacks selected. CBs don’t have a lot of value based on how they score fantasy points, and they aren’t worth taking usually until much later in the draft. When you think of the idea that there are 140 total picks in the first 4 rounds, by round 6, you are usually looking at 4th and 5th round players becoming good enough to become impact fantasy players. There are always a handful of those, but most don’t reach those heights.
Let’s take a look at the individual draft grades.
Bill Zimmerman: B
I can’t be overly critical of myself because I did trade up to the number one pick prior to the draft to land easily the best fantasy player in this draft in Jeremyiah Love. But I got burned on a gamble. With only 1 defensive player off the board, I was selecting at 14, and there were 3 defensive players I wanted there. I decided to trade down six spots, thinking one of the three players would be remaining. They were all gone by the time I picked. I selected CJ Allen, which is one heck of a consolation prize, but it’s not David Bailey. Thieneman and Hill were solid picks in the back half of round 2. I definitely overdrafted Haucy. That was my worst pick, but I thought Fields, late in round 4, was a steal. I went heavy with defensive players after Love because I felt that was where the best talent in the draft was. I still stand by that plan.
Kev H: B
I think Kev should have tried to get more for the first overall pick and see if someone was willing to pay a ransom, but landing the 16th overall pick to trade down from 1 to 2 certainly is a solid haul. Carnell Tate was the right pick at 2. I might have considered David Bailey over Eli Stowers, but those were definitely the top 2 players on the board at that selection. I think Emmett Johnson is a good value pick where he landed, and while 6th-round picks don’t always turn out, I think Kev landed 3 excellent value players with Carson Beck, Sam Roush, and I absolutely love the Bud Clark selection with his final pick.
Jeff Berckes: A-
Jeff just joined the league this year, and I think he knocked it out of the park with his first draft. Lemon is the right pick at three, and I think the Reese/Bailey selections at 15 and 17 were highway robbery. I think the other picks he had were solid selections, but if I’m being honest, the Elliott pick in round six was giving away a pick. Love selecting a Bear, but with Devin Bush, TJ Edwards, and D’Marco Jackson all in Chicago, Elliott is probably two years away from seeing meaningful defensive snaps.
Jacob Infante: C
It feels like a dumb idea to give the draft expert a mediocre grade, but that’s what I decided to do. Tyson was the pick to make at 4, but after selecting a WR with the first pick, coming back with Bernard when there were defensive players like Allen and Downs available feels like an iffy move. I love the Mesidor pick where he got him, and I liked the Jacas pick at the time, although recent injury revelations make that one seem iffy now. I don’t like selecting two CBs in a draft, even if they were late picks,
Will Ingalls: B+
Will recently tore his team down and is working on a rebuild. Price is the right pick at 5, and grabbing Styles at 14 was a great move (and probably the one I should have just made). EMW late in round three looks like excellent value, and Allen is worth a shot to see what shakes out in the Washington backfield. I thought both Banks and Young were really good values where they were selected.
Quentin Krzysko: C
Q also just joined the league this year, and I have to question some of the picks. Mendoza at 6 makes sense, but when you already have Lamar Jackson on your team, it’s a first-round pick that has no chance of helping your squad this year. I love the upside of Delp; however, I think he would have been available much later in the draft, a high-profile selection there like Downs probably could have been better, and almost certainly gotten Delp later. I do like where he got McDonald, but you will notice how sour I am on using draft picks on cornerbacks. I like Hood the player; I just wouldn’t take him in a dynasty draft.
Ron Luce: B–
I think Ron did well getting Sadiq at 7, and I think the Downs pick in round 2 was excellent (I tried to trade up to get him, and Ron rebuffed my offers; maybe that’s why I graded him lower). I also like the Black selection as well. One of these days, Shanny is going to find an RB that goes off in his offense behind CMac; perhaps it’s Black. I don’t love the back half of his draft. I think there were better WRs than Thompson in round 4; Thomas and Miller were both fine selections, but they didn’t jump off the page at me in terms of value.
Tyler Volz: C-
I thought some of Tyler’s selections were players he overdrafted. I think Singleton could have easily gone in round 2, possibly round 3, and I think Stribling would have possibly been there in round 3 as well. I think if those were the targets, trading back would have been the better move, and still landing those players. I think Delane is a poor value considering the position in round 3. I think Parker and Joly were really good value picks, but I just didn’t love the moves in the key rounds.
Adam Hess: B
Adam was in a tough spot in round 1. Does he go on offense or take his top IDP? He went on offense with Concepcion, who was definitely the best offensive player on the board at that time. Coleman is worth a roll with Harvey, who didn’t lock down the spot last year. That was probably about the right time to take Simpson, and Woods is a nice value in round 4. I thought Louis and Lance were both good value picks. I don’t love the Thomas selection, but “In Ben we trust.”
Dan Meehan: C+
I think by the 10th selection, it was probably worth starting to go defense, but if you were going offense, Boston is probably the top player at that spot. Golday has solid value in round 3. I thought the Branch and Howell picks were fine where they were. Barham is worth a shot that far down in the draft. Stukes was another good value pick, but Muhammad only has value if Kyler Gordon gets hurt again, as it seems he’s going to be playing inside in Chicago.
Redacted: A
I think this is the best draft based on where he was selected. Is this guy a league general manager or something? Bain was a great selection at 11; you could argue Styles, but tough to argue against Bain. With the Washington WRs, Williams could pay off instantly, and Trotter is another player who could make an impact as a rookie. I think the Hurst pick was another great value, no issue with the Faulk pick, and I think the Claiborne pick was a late-round steal.
Lester Wiltfong: C+
Hopefully the big bossman doesn’t kick me off Windy City Gridiron with this grade. I like Omar Cooper, but I don’t like his landing spot, and I think the defensive talent far outweighed the offensive talent at that spot. I love the Rodriguez pick. I think that will be Lester’s best pick of the draft. Klare is nice, but I think he was overdrafted there. I think Randall and Kilgore have some value where they were picked.
Brandon Robinson: D+
Brandon didn’t have a lot of picks as he was pushing for a championship, but we grade based on what we see, and with limited selections in a draft that had far more talent on the defensive side of the ball, Brandon drafted a lot of offense with the limited picks he had. Chris Bell is fine, but I hold with the same criticism that it was time to go defense there. Going WR in round 4 after having no picks in rounds 2 and 3 is a little questionable. McClellan is a pretty good value where he landed his lone defensive player, and while I think Allar will fail at the NFL level, the value is solid there in round 6.
Mason West: D-
The champ deserves the flowers, and he traded away all his picks to get there, which I find no fault in doing, especially when you reach the goal. Mason didn’t have any picks in this draft but actually traded away future capital to come in and land Eli Heidenreich. He’s a great story, but he wasn’t worth a draft pick in my eyes, and if he was, the top of round 5 was not the place to do it.
