League Z Draft Recap and Predictions

Oddly there were no QBs taken in the first round of this draft and only 5 in the first 3 rounds. Then it went crazy. 6 QBs taken in round 4. 7 QBs taken in round 5. Only 1 remaining round had more than 2 QBs taken and that was round 15 with 5 QBs taken. 2 rounds represented nearly half the QBs taken in the whole draft.

The Dre Tones – 1st Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues This is the team you don’t want to see in the playoffs. A David Johnson Ezekiel Elliott one-two would be pretty intimidating. The question will be if Ingram, West, and Rawls can be an effective RB2. Alex Smith needs to be a QB2. And an aging Larry Fitzgerald may need more than Edelman to fill the WR2 spot. The tools are there to make it work, we will see if Dre can pull it off. But too many questions remain early to put this team in the Championship.

Commissioner – 2nd Pick Prediction – Champions League The plan was in place. 1 QB in the 2nd to 3rd round turn. 1 QB in the 4th to 5th round turn. But QBs start to go slow. Luck is still available for the 2nd QB. #4 QB last year, this is amazing…..if he wasn’t injured. It’s a lot of value at pick 5 to give up for a player that doesn’t give much advantage over other QBs. In order for this team to work out Luck is going to have to perform and the starting RBs need to show up because there just isn’t depth on the bench with 2 rookie RBs. With all of this, the management will handle it and take this team to the Championship.

Team Allen – 3rd Pick Prediction – Amateur Hour League A second round pick who doesn’t have his starting QB in week 1. 2 RBs coming off disappointing seasons. A bench full of TEs. Not the winning formula owners dream about. Adrian Peterson and Randall Cobb have had big seasons in the past. Kevin White and Torrey Smith could prove to be late round sleepers. This team is going to need to disprove all the doubt to make a push for the playoffs.

Stoke Storm – 4th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues A strong start to the draft begins to become questionable with the QB2. A streaky Roethlisberger followed by a WR described by many as fat leaves some holes in the starting lineup. A bench with good upside in some young players including Kareem Hunt and Zay Jones should keep this team relevant and looking at the playoffs with some decent moves on the waiver wire and trade floor.

Blofield Deadmeats – 5th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues A high priority on WRs and an early QB left team Blow with a bunch of RBs without much upside. The big points are going to need to come from OBJ and Drew Brees. Luckily OBJ seems to have escaped a scary hit with a minor injury. Something needs to pop on this team to support the big 3. It should be enough to get into the Minor Leagues but the Champions League will be just out of reach.

Cleveland Frowns – 6th Pick Prediction – Champions League Here we see what happens when you wait on QB after the 4th and 5th round sell offs. Your top pick is Tyrod Taylor and your backup is injured going into the season. It does create good RB depth for the team though. If Tyrod and Flacco are the steals of the draft, a few good trades from the RBs could create a championship run for this team.

Team Hensley – 7th Pick Prediction – Amateur Hour League Team Hensley made the unfortunate choice of taking a QB in round 6. A Carson Palmer equivalent could have been taken much later in the draft in order to secure better RB depth. Danny Woodhead and Blount could repeat their past success but early reports aren’t good in Philly on Blount. There are some other RBs who could pick up the slack but it isn’t looking pretty. The top WRs will really need to play well in order for this team to stay out of the Amateur Hour League.

Norfolk Yokels – 8th Pick Prediction – Champions League Norfolk jumped on the round 4/5 QB bandwagon and set up a solid team. RB2 is Joe Mixon who hasn’t yet secured the majority of carries in Cincy. Luckily he picked up Jacquizz Rodgers who does have the starting position for the first few weeks. It could be the ideal combo to put together a full season. I really like Cousins and Rivers as the QBs. Norfolk executed a complete plan to give a good base for a playoff push.

Team Locked N Loaded – 9th Pick Prediction – Champions League Another 4th/5th round QB bandwagoner. The only difference here is Gronk as the 16th overall. A bold pick. If Gronk plays 16 games, expect this team to be tough all year long. But if history is an indication, Gronk won’t be out there every week. Brate is an okay backup but RB2 and WR2 will be a challenge all year for this team. Some weeks will probably work out and others are going to be rough. I think Gronk will take this team through to the playoffs.

TheFanPub.com Podcast – 10th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues Nothing like shameless advertising. The QBs were picked up just before the big sell off. Probably an ideal position for the value. Unfortunately, this leaves a lot of questions at RB. Does anyone really know what Lynch has been doing the past year? Beast mode may have become couch mode. FanPub followed that up with a rookie that has looked amazing against rusty preseason teams without full starting defenses. There is a lot riding on these two without a starting RB on the rest of the roster. Expect this team to be looking for a RB by trading away the WR depth.

Los Pollos Hermanos – 11th Prediction – Amateur Hour League WR1 is getting passes from Jared Goff. WR2 is getting passes from Jay Cutler. It could be worse, not much worse, but it could be worse. McFadden needs to fill in as RB2 until Doug Martin regains his starting job. Hopefully McFadden still has it in him to channel his inner Zeke. Overall there are too many concerns on this team. Some waiver wire mastery will be required to get this team out of the basement.

Demien Machine – 12th Prediction – Amateur Hour League Waiting on QB yielded a couple big risks. If Wentz takes a big step during his second year he will be the steal of the draft. However, Tom Savage doesn’t offer a ton of upside as QB2 and he is on a short leash with Deshaun Watson waiting for his chance to start. Some old back up running backs leave the bench thin. The ultimate test of waiting on QB may not work in this superflex league.