"I guess I have to take Mike Evans". "oh I didn't want to have to take Keenan Allen but I guess I will". It's the same narrative as last year. Bernie remains on top after his unlikely championship run last year. Saquan was an obvious #1 pick even though he claimed he didn't know who he was going to take. Mike Evans and Keenan Allen will be a superstar WR combo combined with a potential breakout in Jacobs at the RB2 slot. I also believe that T.Y has been slept on wayyyy too much this season since Andrew Luck's retirement. Yes, he won't see the same great passes from a top 5 QB, but he's their #1 target in a playoff contending team. I think he's under-projected and will be a perfect FLEX option. On top of that he has the option to plug and play Jarvis and Drake into the FLEX spots, who are both great options, although inconsistent. Again, when you have a team with good depth and a solid core, you will probably lack in the TE slot and that remains the case here. McDonald will split targets with a ton of options in Pittsburgh. The bench has some potential breakouts but the starting lineup looks clean and legit. I wouldn't say this team is the clear #1 right now, but I see the Brigade having a solid start to this season.
Is this bloggers bias? I don't believe so. I don't think I've had myself ranked in the top 5 in recent years very often at all, let alone top 2. Obviously I know this team well and will share what I thought went well in this draft. First of all, this week's projections are a bit exaggerated in my opinion because of some generous matchups and some options that may not be long term. For example, Ekeler could be a great RB/FLEX option while Gordon handles his contract and sits in a similar spot as James Connor from last year, but has some carries he may have to share. The Young RB duo of Mixon and Johnson is something to worry about, but both have shown extremely great potential and are set to be 3 down backs throughout the season. Hopkins is obviously going to be a stud once again while Shephard has something to prove this season now with OBJ gone. He could be their #1 receiver this year sharing the majority of his targets with Saquon and Engram. Kittle will be playing a key role in the new SF offense this year. The thing I liked here was the depth and plug and play ability. Mark Ingram on the bench with the breakout Ridley are both FLEX options and provide a safety net behind the possible part time Ekeler. Also, Dak Prescott is on a great Dallas Offense but may now have to forfeit some of his throws to their ground and pound game. Overall, the depth looks good but there is some unproven talent that needs to prove themselves before Duke can be a real contender.
Somehow this team always ends up somewhere at the top someway or another. With Mahomes, Johnson, and Cook leading the way, Sexual Misconduct is trending upwards to start the season. However, this actually might be the riskiest team right now when I really inspect it further. Mahomes can't be much better than he was last year and picking a QB round 4 is always bold. Dalvin Cook is Mr. Injury and it makes sense based on the way he runs like a crazy person. Amari Cooper is one of the most inconsistent WR's I've ever seen ranging is point from 6 to 49. I mean these were his points over a 7 week span - 13, 6, 38, 13, 49, 8, 6. If you can find any sort of trend there, please tell me cause it is nuts. Duke Johnson could be legit but I don't think he's set to be a 3 down back especially with the recent trade for Hyde. Hunt might help PJ later in the season for a playoff push as well. Overall, this team is inconsistent and has a lot of boom or bust potential. I see a solid record and a late resurgence for this team.
Landing both Mccaffery and JuJu was huge for Kyle here. He could have 3 of the top players in RB, WR, and TE positions this year. Setting yourself apart and getting a solid TE is huge as it has the largest margin between positions. The top few TE's are so much better than the next best ones, so having that reliability is key. Here are some of my key concerns however - An old QB, a RB2 that will split reps, two low end WR2/FLEX's and 3 bench players that are already out for week 1. Melvin Gordon is still in his contract negitiations and could actually be traded sometime in the near future. However, being picked in the 6th round it might be worth it. It really was a low risk, high reward pick. He could have the best RB's in the league this year as well. One thing I didn't understand was Daniel Jones. I get that he might play this year, but he's on a terrible offense and hasn't proved a thing. A waste of a slot in my opinion, but I've been wrong countless times. When healthy and playing, Kyle might have the best team on paper (TM pending), but week 1 production might be lacking just a bit.
The Risky Rittner team already looks like it will reap some rewards. Zeke is all set to pad up for Sunday and ends up being a bit of a steal at the 7th pick over what would have likely been pick 5 or 6. Wait hold on, I think that was the only risk on this team. It was a scary moment when Charlie picked a player that was in a similar position than Bell from last year, and we all know how that turned out for Team 10. The problem now is some lineup inconsistencies. Wentz is super injury prone and is returning from a sub-par season. He was QB17 in the 11 weeks he was active and he isn't the scrambler he once was. Risky: hoping for a bounce back season. Coleman is in a new system and sharing time with Breida, so his production could slide up and down. Risky: Unknown use in new offense. Speaking of new offenses, OBJ is in one as well, but that might not be as much of a problem. He's no longer the only reliable target however but he will still carry most of the target share. I like Boyd a lot and think he's a perfect FLEX option but the bench doesn't have too much promise. Jones and the GB backfield have been chaotic, Jeffery has been wildly inconsistent and Freeman and Richard will split reps. I like the WR core in Cooks, OBJ, and Boyd to compliment Elliot, but the depth worries me with no real plug and play options.
The first thing that pops out to me and to anybody who would look at this team is the running back potential. Gurley and Bell are 2 of the best RB's in the league at their best. These 2 could be the best duo in the league right now and from recent years we have seen what a great RB duo can do for a team. There is one issue, the questionables. Newton, Thielen and Edelman are all questionable for week 1 although they will all likely be playing. Can Thielen really be as good as he was last year? There's no stopping him and you can't really double him with Diggs on the other side and Cook coming out of the backfield. He's in a great offense and could pose another huge threat this year. Newton has always seemed to be a quarterback that people forget about and he will get you those extra rushing points. With a rush heavy offense, the weaknesses come at the TE and FLEX spots. A weaker TE is to be expected with a pretty solid core at the other positions. The FLEX looks like it will be a battle between Moore and Sanders. Moore is set to be the WR1 in Carolina and could really breakout this season however the aging Sanders could be seeing some target share with some of the other DEN receiving core. Overall, this team could easily be better than the 6 spot he's at now.
Year after year I have BTOP near the top of the charts in my power rankings. This is the first time in my power rankings history where I've had BTOP outside the TOP THREE. This has been one of the most consistent franchises in the league and I may be making a mistake slotting him in at the 7 spot, however let's take a look at his team. To start, my number one concern here is the amount of risk his team contains. A rookie RB2, TWO players retuning from ACL injuries (Henry and Kupp), and Devonte Freeman, who played 67 snaps last season. That's a lot of risk in a starting lineup, but let's talk about the rewards. Kupp is being praised as coming back faster and stronger than last year and could be a huge part in a very explosive rams offense if he can share the workload with Woods and Cooks. Tevin Coleman will no longer be taking snaps away from Freeman which gives him RB1 potential. Montgomery could be a stud, but we might see him splitting reps with Cohen especially in the passing game. And Henry at his best can be a top 3 TE. On top of all that he has what should be 2 reliable players in Chubb and Thomas. This could be a team that climbs the latter all season long.
Max's team basically has a great player in each of the big 4 position slots. QB - Wastson, RB - Fournette, WR - Adams, TE - Kelce. You look at that alone and you think that is a championship contending team easy. However, my problem is the depth in each position. Mack is a projected low end RB2, Lindsay is another fringe RB2 and has a lot to prove and hopefully avoid a sophomore slump. Diggs was actually a great 3rd round pick to have as a WR2 to give this team some real consistency. My verdict was decided because of the emphasis on running backs this year. The receiver position is so deep that it has much less of an impact on a team to have that solid WR1 over that solid RB1. In the end, this team is one breakout or one waiver pickup away from being a championship contender.
Jordan came into this years draft not even knowing what his draft position was and it showed in some if his picks, especially in the later rounds. James Conner has been very highly regarded for this upcoming season, earning him a first round draft pickup. However, Carson has been more of a concern. I look at Jordans team and I don't have a lot of trust in the lineup as a whole. There is really nobody on his team that looks like they will give him consistently high numbers aside from Julio, who at times has shown inconsistencies in recent years but always ends up a top 5 receiver. On top of his inconsistent lineup, I don't see a lot of depth on his bench either. AP was an interesting mistake, Golden Tate was a risky pick and might not be worth the reward because of his 4 game suspension, and nobody else shows too much starting promise. I feel like Chief Keef as of right now is sitting pretty here at 9.
Once again Coburn has one of the most interesting teams in the league. Kamara was an obvious first round pick for him and will likely be carrying a heavy weight moving forward but the real question mark came when he chose Aaron Rodgers in the 4th round when Mahomes was still available. I mean he was a top 6 QB last year in what many considered to be an "off year". Coburn also has 2 solid WR's in Hill and Brown, actually one of the better WR duo's in the league. I don't think Coburn is a hard set #10. In the end, Coburn could have a top 5 player in 4 of his position slots, which would get him to the playoffs in all likelihood. This was a tough spot, but the history of this franchise gave me no choice.