Fantrax, a commissioner service, approached some of us in the fantasy field with a challenge – put up or shut up. Knowing that I’m never one to back down from a legitimate challenge, I opted to accept the invite to participate in a 12-team, 0.5 PPR league with 11 other experts in the fantasy universe. In the breakdown below, I’ll break down the league and what Team Flowers looks like for the 2016 fantasy football season.
PARTICIPANTS
1) Ray Flowers
2) Peter Schoenke
3) Real talk Raph
4) Lawr Michaels
5) Uncle Leo
6) Howard Bender
7) Chris Liss
8) Colton & Wolman
9) Lisa Ann
10) Jeff Mans
11) Anthony Perri
12) Adam Ronis
SETUP
Starting Lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, Flex, Kicker, Defense
Bench: Six spots, any makeup desired
Snake draft.
RULES
| Scoring Group | Scoring Category | Position | Points |
| Offense | Fumbles Lost (FL) | Default | -2 |
| Offense | Interceptions Thrown (Int) | Default | -2 |
| Offense | Passing Touchdowns (PaT) | Default | 4 |
| Offense | Passing Yards (PaY) | Default | 0.05 |
| Offense | Receiving Touchdowns (RcT) | Default | 6 |
| Offense | Receiving Yards (RcY) | Default | 0.1 |
| Offense | Receptions (Rc) | Default | 0.5 |
| Offense | Rushing Touchdowns (RuT) | Default | 6 |
| Offense | Rushing Yards (RuY) | Default | 0.1 |
| Offense | Two Point Conversion Passes (2Pa) | Default | 2 |
| Offense | Two Point Conversion Rushes & Receptions (2RR) | Default | 2 |
| Kicking | Extra Points Made (XP) | Default | 1 |
| Kicking | Field Goals Made (FG) | Default | 3 |
| Team Defense / Special Teams | Points Allowed by the Defense/Special Teams (PA-DST) | Default | |
| From 0 to 0, award 6point(s) | |||
| From 2 to 6, award 3point(s) | |||
| Team Defense / Special Teams | Sacks (Sk) | Default | 1 |
| Team Defense / Special Teams | Safeties by the Defense (Sft) | Default | 2 |
| Team Defense / Special Teams | Takeaways (Tk) | Default | 2 |
| Team Defense / Special Teams | Touchdowns - Defense and Special Teams (TDDST) | Default | 6 |
MY TEAM
*Round listed in parenthesis.
QB: Drew Brees (6the round), Ben Roethlisberger (11)
RB: C.J. Anderson (3), Matt Forte (5), Frank Gore (7), Tevin Coleman (10), Josh Ferguson (12), Devontae Booker (13)
WR: Antonio Brown (1), Amari Cooper (2), Jordan Matthews (4), Tajae Sharp (8), Michael Thomas (9)
TE: Jimmy Graham (14)
Kicker: Sebastian Janikowski (16)
Defense: Houston Texans (15)
THE 2016 FANTASY FOOTBALL OVERALL RANKINGS - The Top 60 Overall.
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Some things to talk about here.
I had the first pick in this draft and thought about doing something exotic. I didn't. I went chalk and took Brown. Best player going in my opinion. I was hoping Mike Evans would fall to me in the second round, but he went two picks before my selection, so I happily settled for Cooper who should be a beast this season now that he's full healthy and has a year of NFL experience under his belt. Matthews isn't really a target of mine this season, especially since he's dealing with a knee issue right now, but as the #1 passing option in his offense he's a strong WR3 option. After that towering trio I pulled a Mans', much to his chagrin, as I double-tapped his two favorite young wideouts in Sharpe and Thomas in the middle round. In fact, he IM'd me during the draft and it was something like 'you suck ass,' though it might have been worded more strongly than that. By the way, Sharpe is all en vogue now in fantasy circles. If you have been listening to Jeff you would have been on the Sharpe train for about five weeks, not just the last 10 days when everyone else seemed to hone in on him as a potential breakout option this season.
I'm a big fan of CJA. I pushed him hard last year. I was wrong. I'm pushing him hard this year. I will be right this time. Forte is a solid RB2 in a 0.5 PPR setup, not great but workable. Gore is a strong RB3. I admit to not loving either guy, but the duo should give me solid production after I went with three wideouts in my first four selections. Coleman in the 10th fell into the Big Ben category - a guy that fell farther than he should who I happily scooped up. Coleman should be a flex option from the start of the year, and I wouldn't be surprised if at some point he were to become the back to start from the Falcons. I then followed the Fantasy Alarm mantra of handcuff thy running back as I took the players I believe to be the best options for the Broncos and Colts to turn to if Anderson and Gore go down with injury. Hopefully I don’t regret passing on a running back I like more – Shaun Draughn – in order to get both handcuffs (you can find the full results of the draft below).
I ended up waiting and waiting and waiting on tight end and ended up with Graham. I have little doubt he will return value based upon a 14th round selection, but that doesn’t mean I think he’s going for 75 receptions and 10 scores this year. In fact, he might not play in Week 1 which means I might have have to make a waiver-wire move or make a trade just to field a full lineup in Week 1. I took a risk.
Speaking of trading… I will be dealing at some point.
People just kept waiting and waiting and waiting on quarterback in this draft. When I took Drew Brees in the 6th round, only three other signal callers had been taken. I love Brees, talk him up every year, so I thought ‘why not take a guy I know will produce weekly.’ That part was fine. So why did I bother taking another quarterback, yet alone a potential top-5 option in Big Ben? It was the 11th round folks and Roethlisberger was there at the 121st pick. According to the most recent ADP data from the Mock Draft Army, Big Ben should have come off the board at pick 73.9. How could I pass up that bargain? I couldn’t, so I changed my strategy up and selected the Steelers quarterback. Look what my selection of Roethlisberger did – it forced three of the next five selections to be signal callers. Bottom line – I have a fantastic backup if I need one in Roethlisberger, but more importantly I have a great trade chip if I need to fill a need when someone else’s quarterback struggles or comes up lame. Just goes to show you that you can often wait on the quarterback and be fine. Really, five rounds after Brees was taken Roethlisberger was still there, totally shocking. Wish I hadn’t have taken Brees but who knew the draft would be slow played to substantially at the quarterback position.
While the Fantrax projection software may not like my squad, I do. I’ve got the best QB duo in the league. I think my top-4 runners are a sound group, and my top-2 guys also have handcuffs just in case. My 1-2 at wideout cannot be beat, and I’ll put my top-3 at the position up against anyone in this league. You never know how injuries will destroy what you put together, but I will say that I like my squad, with it’s mix of young and old. I’ll let you know how it turns out when the season is over.
THE FULL RESULTS OF THE DRAFT.