2020 Champions League Draft Recap

Welcome to the fourth year of the Relegation League and the third edition of the Champion’s League. Three of the managers have will enjoying their third year in the Champions League including the only two winners of the Champions League, Tom Lardner, and Kevin Brady. The other is yours truly. It will be the first year for the six new teams enjoying the promotion this year. It is also exciting to see our first teams (Al Roberts, Jessica Ziemba, Tye Camin, and Kathy Camin) that have worked their way from the Amateur Hour League to the Champions League. Good luck to everyone.

Every league approaches the QB differently in the RFFA. Last year 6 QBs were taken in the first 5 rounds. This year we saw 17 QBs in the first 5 rounds. When the QBs go early, it creates some wildly different teams. Some people are stacked at RB and WR and some are stacked at QB. It should make for a fun league this year and hopefully, we get to play all the games.

Norfolk Yokels – 1st Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

The reigning champion Yokels decided to make this a keeper league and bring back the stud that led their team to the 2019 championship. McCaffrey is an easy 1.01. The Yokels found good value throughout the draft. Two early RBs seem to be a great strategy this year and Drake was matched with McCaffrey. When the Yokels went for their WR1, DJ Moore was still on the board and he is backed up with Kupp. The QBs probably represent the most risk or at least the smallest upside. Goff, Jimmy G, and Philip Rivers may not put up a ton of points, but this team just needs some solid game managers.

Fantasy Legion – 2nd Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

The Legion took 3 RBs and 2QBs to start the draft. The 2 QBs, Brady and Roethlisberger have put up big numbers in the past. However, their combined age is 81. Brady is on a new team, but it seems like everyone is signing up to play with him and Roethlisberger has a solid team around him. This team really needs some production out of these two with the early picks. WR looks a little weak and there isn’t much upside on the bench if anything goes wrong. I think this team will be fighting for 500 and come up just short.

Commissioner – 3rd Pick Prediction – Champions League (No Playoffs)

I studied the data and I thought I would wait on QB. I blinked and all the QBs were gone. The combined age of my 3 QBs is only 67 with 1 year of NFL experience amount them. I don’t know if I got enough value at the other picks to make up for this. Could Burrow and Hopkins do well with new teams despite a shortened offseason? Maybe. Could JuJu bounce back? Hopefully. Could Dalvin Cook hold out and make Mattison an RB1? Possibly. Could the Commissioner be relegated this year? It's going to be close but I am going to stay optimistic.

Los Pollos Hermanos – 4th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

We have our first QB off the board in Mahomes which looks like a great pick when all the other QBs started coming off the board. In rounds 2 and 3, this team went away from the common RB play and took two top-level WRs in Adams and Hill. These first three picks give this team a high floor week in and week out. They might be enough to win weeks by themselves. The RBs definitely leave some question marks. Le’Veon Bell leads the squad with Melvin Gordon and Mostert rounding out the starters. Bell and Gordon certainly have the talent, but we haven’t seen it on their new teams yet. Mostert could be the beast he was at the end of last year or he could go back to being the team's RB3. I think this team will be solid each week and it will depend on how the opposing team does. I am going to put them just outside the playoffs.

Disgusting Act By Randy Moss – 5th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

Last year I questioned the draft by this team despite being the reigning champions. They still managed to stay in the Champions League last year. This year I am looking at the team again and if I squint really hard, I can see a great team. I don’t take a huge exception to the first 4 rounds, but there wasn’t an RB in those rounds. Then we get two Rookies in Swift and Dobbins sandwiching Hunt. Could all three be RB1s? Absolutely. But all three have significant competition in the backfield. All three may be under 10 touches for the first half of the season. We do have a longer regular season this year but this team may not be able to survive a rough start.

Alstadt Biergarten – 6th Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

I think this draft was pretty chalk. Start off with 2 RBs. Pick up your first QB, let your WRs come to you, and wait on your 2nd QB. The only thing that could disrupt this team is if Kamara doesn’t live up to RB1 billing this year. So far that is looking good. I don’t have a lot to say about this team other than it is a well-executed draft. I could easily see other teams striking gold and stealing the championship trophy, but I feel confident saying this team will be in the Champions League.

Cheng’s Squad – 7th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

Unfortunately, this team was on auto-pick due to the time difference in Singapore. However, they did the best job setting the pre-draft list I have seen in the RFFA. The QBs are solid and AJ Green as WR4 offers a lot of upside. The biggest problem for this team came after the draft when the bell cow Fournette was turned out into the pasture. Tampa Bay isn’t a terrible landing spot, but his ADP has been plummeting. Cheng will probably need to move one of those WRs for an upgrade at RB if Fournette can’t quickly take the starting role in Tampa.

Not Your Mama – 8th Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

This team really went shopping at the outlets. There is nothing trendy about these picks but there are still some great deals to be had. Derrick Henry doesn’t catch many passes, but he puts up points. Everyone wants Godwin over Evans but Evans will still put up points. Chris Carson, Amari Cooper, and Ertz have been picked by a lot of people to take a step back this season, but that is all speculation and they are all coming off nice 2019 campaigns. The bench has some nice dart throws the manager found in the bargain bins later that could pop. Sometimes it is better to be smart than to look cool.

Topp Gunners – 9th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues.

“Talk to me Goose.” *squeezes dog tags as sweat drips down his forehead* “Talk to me Goose.” Then a voice came to the Topp Gunners and said, “Damnit Maverick! Draft those WRs.” That is how the slide ended for Michael Thomas. The Gunners followed that up with Godwin in the third. Then this team becomes very difficult to predict with Gurley and Ingram leading the RB room. These two RBs may start well but both could fall apart by the end of the season. If we were only playing 11 weeks like last year, I think I would slip this team into the top 6. But I don’t think the RBs will hold up through 14 weeks.

Team Camin – 10th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

Despite going RB early, I am nervous about this RB room. James Connor is the key to success for this team. If he is healthy and producing, this team is solid. If lives up to his MO, there will be multiple weeks Team Camin puts him in as RB2 and he doesn’t finish the game. Those are some devastating weeks. The WRs are led by Lockett and Ridley. Both can have great weeks, but both can have terrible weeks. This team will probably absolutely destroy teams on some weeks. I think the past will catch up to this team though and there will be more rough weeks than outstanding ones.

Lucky Dogs – 11th Prediction – Champions League (No Playoffs)

What do you think if I trade you Hopkins, Zeke, and I’ll give you back your entry fee for David Johnson? Yes, I should be fired as commissioner if I made that trade. But this team doesn’t need to make that trade for a solid year. The team went pretty chalk loading up with QB and RB early. I don’t think they did as well as some. Drew Lock in the 8th gave up quite a bit of value in RB or WR to provide QB upside that this team doesn’t really need. RB3 will be filled by Zack Moss and there isn’t much after that. If Bill O’Brien is a genius, then this team has a chance at the championship. Since that is unlikely, I am going to put them just outside of the playoffs.

The LA Talons – 12th Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

I hope I still have room in my predictions for the playoffs because I am a fan of this team. I like the double RB start with the 1.12 and 1.13. The Talons went back to RB in the 7th to pick up an RB in Montgomery who could provide a lot of solid RB2 weeks. Maybe he isn’t ready week 1 but that is okay. QB is solid and Mark Andrews provides a high upside at TE. This really pushed WR down the draft sheet, but Boyd, Diontae, and Marvin Jones all could be solid WR2s. Then there is a lot of late upside on this team to continue pushing this team to the playoffs.