Another BB10 draft last week and this one I decided to go the ZERO RB strategy. This comes on the heels of a tweet from our fearless leader Howard Bender about going ZERO RB doesn’t mean you just don’t take a RB with your first few picks but you DON’T take a RB until at the earliest Round 5 or 6…sooo let’s see how I did.

Quarterback

This was an easy one for me. I LOVE Patrick Mahomes in Best Ball and what is not to love? He is in an explosive offense that is very likely going to lead the league in scoring and he has as good a shot as anyone to lead the league in passing yards and touchdown passes. Getting him in Round 3 gives me the opportunity to lock in the No.1 QB in fantasy football each week and also allows me to wait on drafting a back up QB since the expectation is that Mahomes will be my top QB every week except the bye week.  As a back-up I did grab Teddy Bridgewater in Round 16. Recent reports from Panthers camp is that Bridgewater may be asked to stretch the field a bit more this season which only bodes well for his upside. It also helps that Christian McCaffrey is the best pass catching RB in football as well.

Running Back

Hey, whelp ZERO RB was the plan and I think ZERO RB was achieved. My first RB was Jordan Howard in Round 6. Howard has been a popular pick among #FANation this season as he takes over as the lead back in the Miami offense. Howard has been an effective runner throughout his career but he now finds himself on his third team in three seasons. The hope is he gets the red zone work at minimum to help hold his value. In Round 8 I snagged Tarik Cohen . This is a RB that has back-to-back seasons with 70 catches and in a PPR format you can’t hate on that. Now, I hope we see the Cohen from 2018 and not 2019 where those 70 catches resulted in far less yards. A change in QB may make that better off. Following Cohen I took Kerryon Johnson who will share carries with rookie DeAndre Swift but Johnson should still be the lead back to at least start and I doubt he ever totally loses his role. The depth pieces here are pretty self explanatory – AJ Dillon, Joshua Kelley, Bryce Love and Antonio Gibson though labeled a WR maybe his position will change in season. I am a big fan of Dillon as a red zone threat in Green Bay. Bryce Love is getting a ton of LOVE from Redskins camp with numerous reports that the team thinks he could be an early down back with just old man Adrian Peterson in his way and Kelley is a dart throw here. I don’t think much of Justin Jackson and Austin Ekeler has never been an every down back. Gibson has maybe the most upside for this season given his pass catching ability in this PPR format.

Wide Receiver

If you are going ZERO RB that means you have to be strong at the other positions and I have to say, my WR’s are stellar. Hard to better than Michael Thomas to kick off the draft but then to follow it up with A.J. Brown at WR2, Robert Woods at WR3, Michael Gallup at WR4, Breshard Perriman at WR5, Brandon Ayuik at WR6 and Mohamed Sanu at WR7. I mean those are some studs. I think Gallup has a real shot to be the Cowboys WR1 this year, overtaking Amari Cooper . Perriman is on many sleeper lists this year after flashing the past two seasons and now being given a shot to start with the Jets this season. We know the injury issues have opened the door for Ayuik in San Francisco and Sanu has been working out with Newton all summer and is apparently healthy. A.J. Brown has posted one of those “best shape of my life” photos to fill that narrative after his great rookie year and I think Robert Woods is one of the more undervalued fantasy receivers out there right now at his current ADP.

Tight End

Yup, I got the Travis Kelce /Patrick Mahomes connection in Best Ball. I now have a legit shot at owning the WR1, TE1 and QB1 in fantasy football on the same roster by going this ZERO RB strategy. Kelce doesn’t need much of an explanation on why he is amazing. We are talking about a TE that is a lock for about 90-100 catches 1200+ yards and what should be double-digit touchdowns, though I acknowledge he only had five last year. Like Mahomes, I did not feel the need to over-invest in a back-up tight end since the plan for drafting Kelce is that he will be the top scoring guy for my team this season. I went ahead and took Greg Olsen in Round 17 as the back-up. We know Seattle likes to use their tight ends and maybe Olsen has some red zone upside.

Defense

Honestly, I don’t really value this position. I took the Rams as they have a strong secondary and good front line. They also play the NFC East which will offer some favorable matchups. I snagged the Cowboys defense because they play in the NFC East and that means some favorable match ups for most of their schedule with the likes of Washington and New York not expected to win many games this season.

 

To pull off the Zero-RB strategy you have to understand depth at the position and who the top handcuffs are! You can find out more about that in the Draft Guide with the Running Back Depth & Value of Handcuffing piece, also written by Jon Impemba. 

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