Our second rookie draft, and only two autodraft picks! We're getting better, slowly. There wasn't much movement around the draft board this year, as opposed to last time. Only two picks were traded. Though a couple of owners were trying to move up in the 1st round, after the draft started it seemed the early pick owners had their targets set.
1.01 Marshawn Lynch
2.01 Robby Anderson
3.01 Curtis Samuel
4.01 Mychal Rivera
5.01 Lance Dunbar
6.01 Donnel Pumphrey
An unretired 31-year-old RB taken at the 1.01. Yuck. The team most likely could have traded back to Runner Runner and still gotten his man with a little juice. But it seems they prefer skittles. Samuel and Pumphrey were the only two rookies taken by the Ddys, so it's safe to say they aren't a fan of youth. Except they also dropped Terrelle Pryor going into the draft...for some reason.
Draft Grade: D-
Consider what this team would look like with Fournette, Pryor, and Hunt instead of Lynch and Robby. That's what they gave up to make their picks.
2.02 Kareem Hunt
3.02 Andre Holmes
4.02 Vance McDonald
5.02 Jermaine Gresham
6.02 Jermaine Kearse
Sicarios was guaranteed a stud rookie at this spot, but they were probably ecstatic to get LF. Hunt is in a great spot to take over the starting spot year 1, so two starting RBs for the Sicarios equals a successful couple rounds. Near the end it seemed he just developed an attachment to the name "Jermaine".
Draft Grade: B-
A solid first two picks, followed by some old guys to maybe fill the gaps.
1.03 Christian McCaffrey
2.03 Samaje Perine
3.03 Marlon Mack
4.03 Taywan Taylor
5.03 Chad Williams
6.03 DeShone Kizer
In most drafts the 1.03 is about where the receivers start to go, but the Futures lucked into CMC instead, basically forced to take the receiving back in a pass-happy offense. The PPR should make him a stud in our league almost instantly, assuming JStew goes quietly into the night. The Perine pick depends on the camp battle, and who emerges the starter in Washington come week 1. Round it out with some dark throw rookie WRs and the next name on the QB dumpster fire in Cleveland, the Futures added a lot of potential to their roster.
Draft Grade: A
This may look a lot different in a year, as there is a lot of bust potential in the later picks while Samaje could lose the fight. But that's almost always going to be the case.
1.04 Joe Mixon
2.04 JuJu Smith-Schuster
3.04 Jeremy McNichols
4.04 Carlos Henderson
5.04 Adam Shaheen
6.04 Wayne Gallman
Losing Jamaal and potentially Ware and Martin in a single season left the Friends lacking at RB. So much that they were willing to face the PR nightmare that is signing Joe Mixon. The argument can be made that if he hadn't gone through the controversy he'd be in contention for the 1.01 fantasy pick. The JuJu pick will take a while longer to realize potential, but he's the youngest guy in the class so has plenty of time to develop. McNichols was likely an insurance plan against Doug Martin, and Henderson is in a great spot to take over in Denver once Thomas and/or Sanders move on.
Draft Grade: A+
After a disastrous 2016 draft, the Friends' GM took it to heart, studied up, and redeemed themselves with a solid start to 2017.
3.05 Jamal Adams
4.05 Cooper Kupp
5.05 Brian Hill
6.05 Jared Cook
Not a single QB? Who is this and what happened to the Nutts? They didn't have a pick in the first two rounds, as they traded them to ACL for Ingram and Hightower. That deal doesn't look so great in retrospect, now that the Saints have signed AP and picked up rookie Kamara. Add on a DB in the 3rd an unfortunate autodraft in the 6th, not a great year for the Nutts.
Draft Grade: F
The only thing that can really salvage this draft is if, somehow, Kupp emerges as the WR1 on the Rams while Goff simultaneously learns how to be a QB.
1.06 Mike Williams
2.06 D'Onta Foreman
3.06 Gerald Everett
4.06 Damon Harrison
5.06 Vernon Davis
6.06 Jahleel Addae
The TDs took a long view with this year's draft, taking guys who have promise but will likely have to take a backseat for at least a season. Mike Williams was in the top tier going into the NFL draft, but landing on the Chargers behind Keenan and newly emergent Tyrell means he'll likely have to wait for a spot to open up in that crowded corps. Foreman, as well, will have to wait and learn behind Lamar Miller, though he may still get some work this season spelling Miller. After the big-three TEs in this class, Everette is likely the top of the next tier, so a decent get in the 3rd. After that things took a turn, though, with a couple IDPs and an autodraft in the 5th.
Draft Grade: B
The first half of the draft was some solid investing by the TDs, but they likely could have made better use of their other three picks.
1.05 Corey Davis
1.07 Dalvin Cook
2.05 Terrelle Pryor
2.07 Evan Engram
3.07 Alvin Kamara
4.07 ArDarius Stewart
5.07 Mitchell Trubisky
6.07 Aaron Jones
ACL would have been happy taking Davis at the 1.01, so getting him all the way at the 1.05 was a dream come true, especially for a team that has struggled to find solid receivers outside of Odell. Cook had a lot of promise before his own controversial history started surfacing and he ended up behind an o-line that made even the great AP look terrible, but he should still get his chance at year 1 production. Pryor is an interesting pick, since he had no business in free agency to begin with. The Ddys obviously feared he wouldn't be able to keep up his production in the crowded Washington receiver corps, but he's still a solid player fresh off his breakout year, spending a mid 2nd on him is a steal. Engram, Kamara, and Trubisky will be long term stashes as they develop, and finally the homer pick with Aaron Jones, one of the two RBs Green Bay signed to give TyMo some competition.
Draft Grade: A+
Yah, I'm bias, but I don't see a single bad choice in this draft. ArDarius and Aaron seem like the only guys with big bust potential, but each is in a great spot to fight for a starting spot out the gate.
1.08 OJ Howard
2.08 Deshaun Watson
3.08 Kenny Golladay
4.08 Rex Burkhead
5.08 Jonathan Williams
6.08 Cordarrelle Patterson
The Munnies GM was trying to trade up in the 1st several times, but it seemed they just waited a bit too long. Teams were too set on who they wanted in their spots. They settled on the top TE prospect in a TE-happy class, as OJ will likely overtake Brate very quickly. They picked up some Brady insurance with Watson in the 2nd. After Golladay in the 3rd they decided they had enough rookies, and filled out the rest of their draft with vets (including the typical homer pick with Burkhead).
Draft Grade: A-
It's difficult to have that homerun draft when you are picking near the end of each round, but the Munnies did well in getting a few decent rookies and finding those value vets that somehow stuck around in FA.
1.09 David Njoku
2.09 Zay Jones
3.09 Joe Williams
4.09 Shelton Gibson
5.09 Patrick Mahomes
6.09 Adam Humphries
The Runners had a similar draft to the Munnies, starting with one of the top3 TEs in the class, following up with some decent end-of-round rookies and also grabbing a QB for insurance. Zay Jones, despite his recent injury, is in a great spot as the possible replacement if Watkins moves on after his contract ends. Williams could very easily challenge the injury-riddled Hyde, and Mahomes could prove a nice security blanket for the games Cam invariably will miss.
Draft Grade: A
Again, difficult to pull off a great draft in the later picks, but Runner Runner has proven again that they can make do with what they have.
1.10 John Ross
2.10 Jamaal Williams
3.10 Chris Godwin
4.10 Marquise Goodwin
5.10 Tarik Cohen
6.10 James Conner
GodWIN, GoodWIN...Are you trying to tell us something with these picks? We get it, you won, congrats. You don't have to keep rubbing it in. John Ross at the end of the first is an amazing get for the team. Combine break out guys are risky, but the speedster could easily emerge the Michael Thomas of this year's draft. Jamaal Williams is another great pickup as the team already has TyMo rostered, so with 2/3 guys fighting for the spot, the bEARs should end up with the eventual starter. The last couple picks were for obvious handcuffs that could either be started if injury strikes, or traded to desperate teams that lost their studs, which is a decent haul for a 5th and a 6th.
Draft Grade: A+
This team doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon. Could a repeat be on the horizon?
With that, we are now in the stretch of offseason between draft and week 1. Roster sizes will remain at 38 until the Preseason, when we will cut back down to 30. FAAB budgets have been reset to $100, and waivers will begin processing this week on Wednesday. All "extra" players have also been removed, so your rosters should be accurate, now. Happy trading, and good draft everyone!
