Amateur Hour Draft Recap

Hello Everyone and welcome to the 9th year of the Relegation Fantasy Football Association. Here we are in the Amateurs. We have 8 newcomers this year looking to move up and make a name for themselves in the RFFA record books. Good luck to all of you. And I commend all of the returning players. A lot of people quit when they think they are in the Amateurs for the coming year. It takes a lot of fortitude to stick with it and get back to the Champions League 

Just a few days late on getting this out. I like to get it out before the games start, but oh well. Life got busy. Usually I pick which league I think each team will be in next year. Since 8 move up into the minors from this league, I separate out the 4 playoff teams and the 4 non playoff teams that move up. 

BuckReborn - 1st Pick (Amateur Hour League)

We begin with an uncommon QB/TE start. Nothing to complain about with Josh Allen and McBride. Although McBride may have been a touch early. BTJ is solid at the start of the third and Kamara is a great target for a late Rb1. Then things start to fall apart. McLaurin has regression written all over him. Kelce seems like a poor pick in the 6th. I don’t think he gets enough volume this year at his age. And then to pick him up with McBride already on the team is really odd. Maybe Judkins and Coleman break out, but I think that will be too little too late for this team. 

TutTutBigButt - 2nd Pick (Minor Leagues - Playoffs)

This team really nailed upside players in the draft. Tet McMillan and George Pickens should be very usable to cover the WR2 and flex positions. Pickens didn’t have a great week 1 but I still think he is going to have a solid season. Trevor Lawrence in the 6th feels pretty good for a QB2. And Hock could get off to a nice quick start this year. Then there are just a lot of solid picks where at least 1 or 2 should have useable seasons between Bill Croskey, Jaydon Blue, Ollie Gordon, Stef Diggs, and Cedric Tillman. Maybe this becomes the over hyped team, but for now I am all in on the hype train. WOOO WOOO!

RudeBoi - 3rd Pick (Minor Leagues - Playoffs)

Another really solid draft. I like the balance at the top with Nico and JT followed by JSN and Ken Walker. Then an upside pick in Travis Hunter. It feels like WR and RB are well covered. Tyler Warren is my favorite mid round TE and Geno seems like a value near the end of round 8. Then you find value late with Charbs, Downs, Dart, and Braylen Allen. Unfortunately Coker and Shipley are already banged up but its pretty easy to pivot off your last two picks. Back to back teams headed to the playoffs. 

Bstnka - 4th Pick (Minor Leagues - No Playoffs)

There are parts to this draft I really like but it comes along with some major flaws. Top 2 RBs of Bucky and TreVeyon feel really good. I also love the strength at WR. Pearsall and Egbuka as WR4 and WR5 could be major hits. DeVonta Smith had a rough first game, but it doesn’t change my outlook on the season. Now the problems. The backup RBs are Etienne and Dylan Sampson. Judkins is now signed and Etienne semms to be headed the wrong direction. Then going back to back non difference maker TEs with Kincaid and Goedert feels like a lost pick. This team could trade a WR and be right into the playoffs, but for now I have them out. 

MoonwalkerTee - 5th Pick (Minor Leagues - No Playoffs)

This team gets off to a harder start. To me there are 4 top QBs. So getting Burrow at 1.05 feels like an overpay. Not as bad as Mahomes at 1.06, but we will get there. This especially becomes true when only 2 more QBs are taken before 3.10. And Purdy in the 4th feels expensive compared to other relatively stationary QBs going in the 6th, 7th and 8th rounds. This creates issues at RB where David Montgomery and Jaylen Warren need to cover the RB2. They are both okay, but I think they really lack explosion. If the other positions were dominant, I wouldn’t have an issue. But WR is Puka, Marv, and Worthy. Even is Worthy wasn’t banged up, I would still be nervous. And LaPorta is fine, but not dominant again. So I think this team just sinks into the rankings out of the playoffs.

BTH - 6th Pick (Amateur Hour League)

Yes Mahomes had a good game. But he ran for 57 yards and TD. That is an outlier historically and I don’t trust him to continue that. 1.06 seems way to high for Mahomes after two years outside the top 7. Then Justin Fields is a hope and prayer that his rushing saves him all season. Since that is a risk, this team needed to spend additional draft capital on Tua. And Tua might be the highest scoring QB of the 3. All of this at QB really pushed down the RBs. James Cook is fine in the fourth, but I do not like Swift to have a great season. And after that we have 80 year old Nick Chubb and Ray Davis as a handcuff. I have also been burned by Pitts too many times. I’m Out.  

Neer2 - 7th Pick (Amateur Hour League)

Now we finally start to wait on QB. And the draft capital is available to make a good team. But the individual selections leave some to be desired. Kyren and Breece both scare me. Kyren feels like he is approaching a cliff of production in his career and Breece seems like he losing workload to Braylen Allen. Then Mixon is out for the year maybe. Mark Andrews has to have TDs nowadays. And QB2 might have been 1 round too late with Russ. All of these players could have strong years. But at this point I am not counting on it.  

KingTrece - 8th Pick (Champions League - Playoffs)

Now we have another team wait on QB with a much different result. QB2 is picked up 1 round earlier to get Bryce Young instead of Russ. Then Gibbs and Henry really anchor the RBs with positive outlooks this year. I like Ladd and that Chargers offense looks potent. Then there are some veterans that can really deliver this year like Ridley, Chuba, Dobbins, and Jennings. I think 1 or 2 of those hit and this really turns into a strong team. All the while Bowers should be taking down all challengers for the top TE spot. 

Shane - 9th Pick (Minor Leagues - No Playoffs)

A balanced start at the top with 1 of each position sets this team up well. I’m not worried about Dak yet despite week 1 not being stellar.. RJ Harvey feels a little hopeful in the 6th but Tony Pollard feels like a safe RB backup waiting for the Denver situation to unfold. I like JJ at QB2. If Darnold can look good, why not JJ. Then some late WR upside with Odunze, Deebo, Addison, and Jayden Reed. But none of those bloow me away at the same time. I think RB depth is lacking with just Bigsby left to be mentioned. It feels like a lot of WRs that could be decent, but they probably won’t have enough trade vvalue to vault this team up the standings.   

AlexPoli - 10th Pick (Amateur Hour League)

Well McCaffrey has me terrified. Other than that I really like the first 6 rounds. But then we get 3 TEs and two defenses. That is a lot of wasted draft capital. That results in poor RB depth with Tyrone Tracy and Rashaad White and bad WR depth with only Golden and Burden. Its not even that I hate the names. I just want more names for more opportunites for someone to catch fire and help out those first 6 rounds. Hopfeully McCaffey plays and this team is good, but if he can’t play again this year, I hate to think about his value next year.  

Justin - 11th Pick (Minor Leagues - No Playoffs)

These last two teams both took QBs in the two three turn. I actually prefer Bo Nix and Kyler to Mayfield and Caleb. But the rest of this team has me worried. I don’t believe in Tyreek anymore and Garrett Wilson will hopefully have 2 catchable balls per game. Then Sutton is incredibly touchdown dependent. And sure Javonte had a great game week 1, but I am going to look to sell high on him where I can. There is some hope later that ARich gets his job back and runs up some points. Or Skattebo takes over NY. But I think there are going to be big holes at the top that keep this team out of the playoffs.  

Racesen - 12th Pick (Minor Leagues - Playoffs)

Omarion Hampton feels like he will lead that Chargers backfield. And there should be some touchdowns there. I think Baker and Caleb are a little overpriced but its fine. RB2 is a nice combo of James Conner and Kaleb Johnson. Conner should put up points early at the very least. I am also optimistic that Kaleb can come on toward the end of the season. Tucker Kraft has some buzz as a later TE. Hollywood is going to get a fast start with the injury to Worthy. Hopefully he can hold onto that role. it just feels like this team is going to get stronger.