Recapping League Winners & Losers from the 2017 Draft (Be Honest, You Missed Me)

In the doldrums of the off-season and desperate for some new material, I did what any self-respecting writer does when searching for a new pitch; returned to original IP and just put a new hip spin on it!!!

NFL Draft is tomorrow night, and the Saquan Barkley price tag in our league draft this summer got me to reliving the past drafts of yesteryears, notably the sound and completely amazing Winners and Losers recap article I prepared on August 24, 2017 (go back in to your league archive folder and you can see an entertaining exchange among owners)... reviewing it, I realized some mistakes and top-notch accurate predictions I made, and figured one season later was the appropriate time to see how spot-on your illustrious commissioner really was (and to highlight to many of you how quickly you can write up 2500 word columns - 30 minutes Smeet!)... Article below is a simple cut-and-paste from August. Here we go...

Hey everyone,

Thanks for a fantastic draft night and good luck on the upcoming season! Highly entertaining start and some incredibly fascinating picks throughout. As a reminder, free agency and trade opportunities are now open!

For your convenience, I scraped together some Winners and Losers from draft night – I am avoiding labeling myself a “winner” though I indubitably believe that to be the case, but alas, here’s a quick recap of the draft for all your nit-picking desires - don't agree or I missed something? Come at me…

Winner: Dorne Diredonkeys

I hate to say it and he has some work to do, but our reigning champ started strong this offseason. Keeping Devonta Freeman and Michael Thomas and spending big for Jordy Nelson and OBJ makes Dorne the team to beat (again!). He may have to fill some holes, but Dorne not only starts with a stacked top four but he also got to put his kid to bed DURING the draft. Kuddos.

One season later: Let's be clear; Dorne's offseason was perfect, and drafting Jordy and OBJ in August was spot on. So much so, he almost won back-to-back championships, despite OBJ and Jordy fading off quietly(?) into the sunset with injuries.

Commissioner's Verdict: Nailed it

Loser: Team Motley

This was guaranteed from the onset; Makese kept the 13th-ranked kicker for $22 when only two other kickers were drafted for more than $1 (the next highest was Justin Tucker at $10). Meanwhile, 5 top-ten quarterbacks were drafted for less last night. While Tom Brady helps, the point is his money could’ve been spent better elsewhere…

One season later: I really thought I could write an off-season article without bringing Makese into the mix, but c'mon! This was pretty much the encapsulation of Makese's season. When keeping just 9 games of Brady and keeping Gostowski were the highlights of your draft and season, its really tough to ignore this one. Aside from Brady, Ty Montgomery, and a likely-overpriced Brandin Cooks ($64!!) was the best of your lot, the disappointing season wasn't really in doubt. 

Commissioner's Verdict: Nailed it

Somewhere in the Middle: Team del Rosario Anytime you have the top 2 running backs like our boy Jon, you’re going to be super competitive (except on bye weeks), but Jon letting auto-pick start and effectively end his draft night with the first player on the auction (David Johnson), his team could literally go either way. Adding Matthew Stafford was a nice pick up, but an injury could doom Jon.

One season later: I said it in August that an injury would crush Jon's season, and I was right (again) especially after Johnson went down early in the season plus Chris Thompson's injury late. Coupling the injury bug with the Alvin Kamara fiasco, Jon toiling in mediocrity was probably the best he could hope for.

Commissioner's Verdict: Nailed it (three in a row!!!)

Loser: Fuck Yeah Unicon Poor Silvio on the west coast… with an early start, he was stuck in the office and no dinner. Sad!

One season later: Still remains accurate but the champ bounced back from an empty stomach to nab Russell ($14), Zeke ($75), Mike Evans ($62), Deandre Hopkins ($68), Jimmy Graham ($25) and Carson Wentz ($2) which he turned in to more assets. 

Commissioner's Verdict: Nailed it

Winner: Rookie Running Backs After Ezekial Elliot’s amazing rookie season, the league took a high value on rookies this draft. Four rookies RBs – Dalvin Cook, Joe Mixon, Christian McCaffrey and Leonard Fournette – were drafted over $35, meaning their owners all watched ESPN leading up to last night (which is probably a good thing).

One season later: This one was a mixed bag at best, but the '17 rookie class mentioned above wasn't as fantastic as one would hope. Fourtnette was a killer, and Cook could've been if not for injury. McCaffrey probably disappointed but check out his receptions and remember its a PPR league. The best rookie RB was Kareem Hunt for $10 and Alvin Kamara for $2 (gulp!!!), but its a good reminder that high-priced rookie RBs may not be the show stealers... In any case, I think Barkley going for $75 is totally reasonable.

Commissioner's Verdict: Mixed bag

Loser: Kaeptain America He’s new so we should give him a break, but Stabs’ draft-night strategy was all over the place… Dropping $52 on Demaryius Thomas and $58 on Todd Gurley left me scratching my head. Spending that kind of money on players who are more likely bust than boom leaves Stabs in dire straits, and over-compensating by taking 3 Green Bay players (Rodgers, Bennett and Cobb) makes me dislike him even more personally as a human being. #beardown

One season later: I'm not shedding my Bears loyalty, but I was a bit off on Stabs' inaugural draft. Rodgers was a good keeper, despite the injury. DThomas was overpriced but its tough to say we slept on Gurley as he cost Stabs' $58 (meaning lots of owners would spend $50 on him) as one of the best RBs in the league. Bennett and Cobb also disappointed plus Edelman was hurt. Beyond stealing Marvin Jones for $1, I'm actually shocked at how competent this team ultimately was (well, at least until Week 13 when Stabs blew the division title).

Commissioner's Verdict: Mixed bag

Winner: Denver Ponyboys           It pains me to say this, but my brother-in-law made a solid return to start 2017. Keeping TY Hilton may be a poor decision (Scott Tolzien is the Colts starter week 1), but Carlos added Fournette to pair with Melvin Gordon at RB, stole Deshaun Watson, who could be a boss, plus Delanie Walker… He also scored some cheap value players in Jordan Matthews at $6, LeGarrette Blount at $8 and Eli at $2. He needs WR help, but overall fairly impressive. 

One season later: After my Watson comment above, I was all set to declare that I nailed it, but man, I thought Jordan Matthews and Eli were steals so I may have been overly-optimistic; then again, if Carlos ever even tried, his draft (and season) could've been different...

Commissioner's Verdict: Mixed bag

Loser: Toby and his stupid team name

I’ve scoffed at Toby’s intellectually dishonest claims that he trolled everyone and bid up high-cost players during the draft (fake news). That’s really it; otherwise, his team is perfectly fine.

One season later: Toby is synonymous with two things in fantasy football; underperforming and stupid names.

Commissioner's Verdict: Nailed it

Winner: Sneaky Good Picks A few quality low-cost picks I really enjoyed; Wendall Smallwood at $5, Josh Doctson at $2, OJ Howard at $2, Cole Beasley at $3, Jordan Matthews at $6, and Antonio Brown at $136 (just kidding, my Julio Jones at $107 was a 20% discount so I’m happy with this one).

One season later: Ummm, no one's perfect, right? I'll accept that I may have miscalculated on most of these (but Matt, Doctson IS A FRANCHISE WR in the Arena League). My favorite is thinking I got a steal on Julio vs Antonio Brown... Not even close.

Commissioner's Verdict: Loser

Loser: Team Minnella Let this be a lesson to not have your spouse sitting next to you while you do your draft; Matt’s new wife (congrats) is a die-hard Pats fan (convenient) who pushed him in to drafting or bidding for New England players (or at least trying to, like Gronk and James White). Also, Matt accidentally drafting Duke Johnson because his car hit a bump while he was driving may be my favorite anecdote of the night (good strategy: don’t draft while driving).

One season later: Pro-tip for Matt... maybe his wife should make all player personnel decisions because she did much more respectable work while driving than the rest of the season for you (stay in the league)... Her draft included  AJ Green, Stefon Diggs, Gronk, Kyle Rudolph, Latavius Murray, Duke Johnson, James White, OJ Howard and the Vikings D. I don't know what happened post-draft but THAT team would've made the playoffs (btw, I literally skipped just 6 picks - including 2 keepers plus Tevin Coleman (decent), Giants D (was supposed to be good at the start of the season), Mason Crosby (very good but only Makese values kickers higher than anything else), and Carson Palmer (RIP).

Commissioner's Verdict: Loser

Winner: League Parity With just a few exceptions on either side (Dorne and Stabs come to mind on both sides of the spectrum), the league seems to be fairly even with no real super teams. Last year, all but 3 teams were in playoff contention with a few weeks left in the season, and this year appears to be similar, which is good for all. 

One season later: Aside from thinking Stabs was dead in the water ("Look at the flowers") at the onset of the season, parity once again reigned in the league, and Week 13 Monday Night Football already ranks as a top 10 night of my life (seriously, wedding, birth of 2 kids, buying a house, meeting Matt, winning like $2k at craps in Vegas once, shouting out Paul O'Neill in the city while in college, Makese's decision to keep Gostowski, and making meatballs for the first time are my other 9). I love parity in the league, which is essentially a bunch of mediocre individuals spending 16 arduous weeks together to determine the fake champion for a yet-to-be-created championship trophy. 

Commissioner's Verdict: Nailed it (with ease)

Final Count:

6 Nailed its

2 Losers

2 Mixed bags

Enjoy the draft tomorrow night!!!