2021 Champions League Draft Recap

Champions League Draft Recap

Welcome to the fifth year of the Relegation Fantasy Football League. We have a few people that show up here often and some newcomers as well. This league was by far the quickest league to draft. A couple of days quicker than the minor leagues and about a week quicker than the amateur hour league. Let's jump in and see if this is from a well-prepared league or people panicking into bad picks.

The General – 1st Pick Prediction – Champions League (No Playoffs)

The structure of the team is solid. Can’t go wrong with McCaffrey and following it up with two QBs and a couple more RBs is a good start. Then go searching for upside late. Phillip Lindsay, Deshaun Watson, and McKinnon all have great upside. The WRs are a bit questionable though. Tyler Lockett is a boom-bust option to be relying on as a WR1. And Diontae Johnson has been known to miss some games. The General might have been better off pairing some safer options with the firepower at other positions. Still, this is a solid team that I think will stay in the Champions League.

GTCheng – 2nd Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

I understand the excitement of a running QB like Hurts, but it can’t make the Cheng Gang happy to see Gardner Minshew and his jorts making the move to Philly. Especially when the QB3, Cam Newton, on this team lost not only his starting role but his roster spot. The early Hopkins pick also leaves this team thin at RB. Josh Jacobs hasn’t been lighting the football world on fire. The RB backups of Singletary and Bernard don’t offer much upside even with an injury. Hubbard is the only one with upside but that requires an injury and that is still not certain even if McCaffrey goes down. I don’t think we will be seeing this team in the Champions League next year.

Tom Lardner – 3rd Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

A lot of hot topic picks on this team. Ekeler is getting tons of love. Henderson may take over a significant share of touches and Gaskin is a bit of a wildcard. A top 3 tight end and a solid set of WRs round out the starting lineup. Derek Carr doesn’t make me super excited as a QB2 but Lardner found both Mac Jones and Teddy B late in the draft. That is two more starters in the 13th and 14th rounds. That could hold a lot of trade power by the end of the season. The solid lineup plus the good finds at QB late make this a clear playoff team.

Srochat – 4th Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

I think I may be too soft this year. This is another team that I would be pretty excited about. Despite starting QB, WR, Rochat found Antonio Gibson and David Montgomery still on the board. Fitzpatrick could be really good this year for fantasy and Winston won the job as well to make him a good find in the 11th. Hockenson is also the last of a quality tier of TEs in my opinion. Where this team really won was the late RBs, Robinson looks a lot better and Dillon, Jamal William, and Damien Williams all could see fantasy significance.

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

Oh boy, it's tough to look at. Well, the start is pretty. Adams, Jefferson, and Lamb leading the WR room is going to be solid week in and week out. But then we get to the RB1, Etienne. We are looking back with 20/20 vision but that is not good. Sermon becomes the new RB1 and while SF looks like they will have a great running game, it is still a committee for now. Damien Harris might save this team but he needs to catch a pass to do so. Then for QBs it doesn’t get much better. Trey Lance doesn’t appear to be the week 1 starter and neither does Drew Lock. We have a lot of holes here and not a lot of good trade pieces.

TBegun – 6th Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

An interesting build going QB then grabbing Kelce in the middle of the second. Pretty good value. 3 solid RBs after that give this team a strong core. Then he loads up on WRs. Starting your WRs in the 6th does leave some questions but Aiyk, Sutton, Devonta Smith, and Curtis Samuel all present some upside to fill out the roster. I think the early Kelce pickup is enough with the solid picks around to put this team in the playoffs.

Racesens – 7th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

The only team to start out RB-RB decided to follow it up with 2 QBs. Cousins is somehow a perennial QB10 finisher and Brady is somehow still playing. TE is weak with Higbee but half the teams will be limping along with some TE not worth much. The team isn’t bad necessarily, but if I look close, there are some issues. Kamara is a big concern if the QB and offense decline in NO. At some point, Brady has to decline. Golladay is already hurt and Taysom hill didn’t get the QB role. I see a lot of players with negative stories and not a lot with big upside. The wear and tear of the season are going to slowly unravel this team.

Moonwalkertee – 8th Pick Prediction – Champions League (No Playoffs)

This team benefited from the lack of QBs taken in the middle rounds. Getting Daniel Jones and Zach Wilson in the 8th and 10th rounds is not bad value. The RBs are a bit weak but the WRs taken in rounds 3 through 5 really make up for this. The biggest key is Derrick Henry staying healthy. Getting 300 plus touches year after year has to be wearing him down. But for now, he is still going strong and can anchor this backfield. The difference for this time will probably lie in Michael Carter and Daniel Jones. Both can overperform and make this team a strong contender. But I have to keep someone out of the playoffs. The questionable depth at RB and lack of a proven QB2 will keep them out.

SaintLewis – 9th Pick Prediction – Minor Leagues

It is odd the city in Missouri spelled it wrong but regardless we have the true Saint Lewis here. This is one of the teams that was hurt by an early injury to 4th round pick JK Dobbins. It still isn’t that bad of a team and they may be finding themselves fighting for a spot in next year’s Champions League. I think it is going to be a tough start. Saquon is still ramping up to full speed and Javonte Williams will be splitting time with Melvin Gordon. Then WR3 Chase needs to remember how to catch the ball before he starts putting up points. We have more future hopefuls in Rhamondre Stevenson and Terrace Marshall but this team may be in too big of a hole after the first few weeks to make a comeback.

Tom’s Puppet – 10th Pick Prediction – Champions League (Playoffs)

I have already put 4 teams in the playoffs but I want to put this team in it as well. In general, I think there is so much potential in WRs and late-round QBs that there are a lot of good teams this year. I like Higgins, Jeudy, and Mooney to all have breakout years. I like Darnold to be revived after leaving the Jets. I think Pitts might even live up to the hype. The RB room is a bit shaky after the first two, but if other players hit their potential, then these puppets can trade for another serviceable RB. I’ll see who gets bumped down but I think this team just made the playoffs.

TitanUP911 – 11th Prediction – Minor Leagues

I think I am feeling too hopeful because I don’t hate this team. But I can find a few areas of concern. The Burrow Lawrence QB combo is great for dynasty but early in the season, I could see some struggles for these two. As they start to come on Melvin Gordon may be falling off. Last year Mike Evans was saved by numerous TDs. He had 5 games with 3 or fewer receptions. In those games he had 5 touchdowns. 5 touchdowns on 9 catches over 5 games is ridiculous. I think the TDs come down rather than catches go up. And for that reason, I’m out.

kcamin – 12th Prediction – Minor Leagues

I feel like we have been talking about the potential with Mixon for years now. So this year, I just can’t get excited especially when that line will probably still be bad. I love getting Fields, but that means the team is starting Garappolo or Dalton for a couple of weeks at least. There is a lot of upside n the WRs. OBJ, Cooks, and Michael Thomas have all finished as a WR1 in recent history. Can this team survive long enough to get all these players going? I am going to say no but it is going to be close.