Minor League X Draft Recap 2018

First a big thanks to everyone in this draft. These are all returning players and many paid into the league when they thought they would be in the Amateur Hour League.

While the Champions League saw 2 QBs go in the first 33 picks, Minor League X was all about the QBs where 8 went off the board in the first 24 picks. Minor League X definitely followed the more typical strategy for 2QB leagues. Teams are still heavily slanted either to WR or RB. This league should see a lot of trades go down throughout the season.

The Villian Club – 1st Pick Prediction – Champions League

Not sure what a Villian is. I have heard of villains who fight superheroes. I have heard of villas and vanilla. But not sure about villian. Despite the odd name, the club went with 2 RBs and 2 QBs in the first 5 picks to create a strong starting lineup. The WRs hold some solid upside with Tyreek Hill and JuJu. Despite waiting on TEs, the Villians were able to snag Eifert with high upside and Kittle who can definitely catch a lot of passes from Jimmy G. Up and down the lineup, it is solid and exactly what the Villians need to take down the heroes of the Champions League next year.

Team Carr – 2nd Pick Prediction – Amateur Hour League

Unfortunately, auto draft doesn’t totally understand the whole 2QB thing unless you set your ranks appropriately. That leaves you with Sam Bradford in the last round. An important lesson for everyone. This team does have more WRs than anyone will know what to do with. These can be great trade pieces for a QB at some point. However, Team Carr will probably need to acquire two QBs before the end of the season. A tall order in a league with so much value on QB.

Alstadt Biergarten – 3rd Pick Prediction – Champions League

Here we have a good Colts fan. Luck early in the third round and then Jack Doyle later. Just take note of what a good fan looks like. Otherwise, the Biergarten looks to have a good variety in their selection this year. Mark Ingram as a flex play could be a true force after the first four games. The Biergarten looks ready to serve some frosty wins throughout the season. Just short of the playoffs last year, expect to see the Biergarten in the Champions League next year.

Stoke Penguins – 4th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

Here we have the best example of zero RB. The first RB was taken in round 6. It shows in both quality and depth of the RBs, but Stoke may be the biggest benefactor of the McKinnon injury. A 15th round selection of Matt Breida could prove to be a quality RB2. If that is the case, Stoke will have the path to the Champions League paved in gold. I think they will make the playoffs but finishing 4th will leave them just outside of the Champions League.

Team Cheng – 5th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

Here we see another team waiting on the 2nd RB and choosing a big risk/reward option in Jay Ajayi. The risk is his knee gives out and the reward is learning to draft better in the future. The QBs are very strong on this team and by going 4 QBs deep, Cheng can not only handle Wentz missing a few weeks but also eventually trade a QB for a top end RB. Ultimately the RBs will keep Cheng out of the playoffs but Cheng should retain his position in the Minor Leagues.

TheFanPub Podcast – 6th Pick Prediction – Minor leagues

All the other teams are going to be looking at the FanPub as a trade partner for RBs. 3 Solid starters plus upside running backs in Kerryon Johnson, Sony Michel, Jamaal Williams, and Aaron Jones. If the 4 WRs on this team could have a few good weeks to set up a trade, the FanPub could land a superstar WR to round out the team. At that point, we would have another team heading to the Champions League.

Los Pollos Hermanos – 7th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

Another team going early for RB and QB left the team surprisingly weak at WR. There is some hope for this team but no clear WR2 has been paired with Stefon Diggs. The Pollos will most likely be struggling to decide which WR to plug in for any given week. The right choice will be a win but a wrong choice could kill the team. I am expecting this team to be right around 0.500 as they guess their way through the season.

Team Begun – 8th Pick Prediction – Amateur Hour League

Also known as Team No McKinnon is looking at an uphill battle this year. James White has been promoted to RB2 and Latavius Murray and James Conner are the backups. Definitely two of the highest upside backups in the league, but without an injury, this could be a long season for Team Begun. QB and WR are very strong for this team so Begun may be able to get RB if some of the late picks breakout this year. A playoff trip would almost certainly give Team Begun the Owner of Year award. Statistically, this was the worst draft position last year and Team Begun may not be helping the average this year.

Team Froass – 9th Pick Prediction – Amateur Hour League

2nd Autodraft, 2nd last round QB. This time it is Sam Darnold. He should be the week 1 starter but it is pretty unlikely he turns out to be in the top 10 by the end of the year. This team is absolutely stacked with WR and should be looking to make some trades before week 1 in order to get some better balance. Peyton Barber could be a key RB for this team if he lands the starting job. It may just give enough value for this team to make some trades and compete.

Team Eline – 10th Pick Prediction - Minor Leagues

Keeping the commissioner’s name as the team name despite this not being the commish puts a lot of pressure on this team. A poor record besmirching the good name could result in penalties in the future. Although I don’t think this team could do worse than the commissioners family members did last year. Starting out with 3 RBs and 2 QBs required this team to find some good WRs later in the draft. Cooks and Crabtree could be a good pair to start but the team may need to look to improve in this area. Currently, the team looks like they will be just on the outside looking in at the playoffs.

Team Williams – 11th Prediction – Amateur Hour League

I know this owner is not a Williams but in fact another Colts fan. Or at least I thought they were. That is until Tom Brady was taken as the first overall QB with pick 11. Have fun cheering for Brady every weekend. This supposed Colts fan is left a little thin at RB and WR after picking Kelce in round 4. There is potential at both positions in the late rounds. Unfortunately, this team doesn’t have an easy division like the Patriots to deliver them to the playoffs and they will be just a little light like a football in New England. I foresee a trip to the Amateur Hour League, mainly for the Brady pick.

Team Allen – 12th Prediction – Champions League

Starting out with two QBs in picks 12 and 13 leave this team stacked at QB. WRs have enough depth and choosing Adrian Peterson in the 11th may be the move that makes this team a contender. This team’s win total may be equal to the number of touchdowns by Adrian Peterson. The team is also sporting two strong TEs that could be traded to shore up any holes that appear in the team. The strong QB leadership on this team is going to take them to the Champions League next year.