Draft Review: Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses

We had an incredible ninety minute plus live draft, for the first time in CTDB history -- hyperbole, but it sure felt like it! Despite children, families, social lives, TV installs, all ten owners were able to get together on Sunday afternoon to draft players and trade barbs via Hangout. Let's see how our owners did when forced to choose players under the gun! [Inscrutable Drama Kings]

Fobsters (3-10)
Jimmy was the busiest GM the last couple of weeks.  Executing a few blockbusters pre-draft, GM Jimmy had the busiest draft in CTDB history.  With twenty-one total picks, Jimmy nabbed five players in the first fourteen picks!  Jimmy was expected to rebuild and he went heavy on rookies including Mixon (the last of the 4-star rookie backs), Corey Davis (the #1 rookie wide) and a few of the high potential rookies in Samaje Perine, Kareem Hunt, Joe Williams and Cooper Kupp. In other words, Fobsters went all-in on the rookie class of 2017. We think Mixon will live up to expectations and we love the picks of Adam Thielen and Rex Burkhead. Otherwise, we had to scratch our heads at a couple picks particularly Kupp and Perine. Both could've been had much later in the draft. Jimmy will also need to pare down his roster to eighteen spots in the coming weeks which will require some hard decision making soon.  He'll need some home runs to hit this year...otherwise, it'll be a roster of youngsters with unfulfilled promise headed to next year.  Grade: C-

Gang Green (4-9)
This may be one of the strongest drafts, particularly the top half. Gang Green used their first three picks to round out his starting line up. Rookie Christian McCaffrey has looked amazing in the preseason, Martavis Bryant is a WR2 with WR1 upside as long as he can stay away from the organics, and Matt Ryan is a top five QB -- though with some negative regression potential. GM Greg filled out his bench with some high upside players, and in particular we like Rob Kelley, Devante Parker, Duke Johnson and Cole Beasley. Remember also that Greg snagged Jimmy Graham essentially for free from Dirty Birds pre-draft. Gang Green had a pretty average keeper core coming into the 2017 season but at a minimum, they've refreshed their keeper potential with these picks. Grade: A-

Philadelphia Phreaks (6-7)
Ping chose to stay put pre-draft and went into his draft with his full, original slate of picks. Ping led off with Beastmode in RD1 after the hype train for the rookies reached peak totality, and then paired Lynch with Allen Robinson -- you'll recall they were traded for each other. The Phreaks then picked up some solid veterans to provide depth. We particularly like the middle of their draft, when Ping took John Brown, DeSean Jackson, Frank Gore and Randall Cobb. All were depressed in value due to their age / performance last season but we see several viable returning starters in those picks. The Phreaks will be hoping that a change scenery will rejuvenate some these guys. Btw, shout out to the four straight Eagle picks to finish of the draft. Grade: B

Battle Angels (7-6)
GM Vu acquired Travis Kelce pre-draft but otherwise, chose to stay with the draft to build to the revamped 2017 CTDB season. Like the Jubas, the Angels chose to load up with RB/WRs with their first four picks by selecting Paul Perkins, Josh Doctson, Cameron Meredith, and Tyrell Williams. Meredith and Williams are some of our favorite picks in the draft overall. They are terrific receiving talent and we project at least one of the two will be a full time starter soon enough. QB Cam Newton was drafted in RD5 and makes for an amazing backup to Brees. The Angels went with some solid veterans to load up the bench with Jeremy Hill, Marvin Jones, and Latavius Murray -- two former Monkey hype train machines from last year. We like it! Grade: B

Fat Jubas (9-4)
Defending champ Eric made a flurry of last minute deals to bolster his keeper core to keep pace with the Jammers. This included deals to bring in Isaiah Crowell to team with David Johnson and Jordy Nelson who will anchor a top rated receiving core with Mike Evans and Alshon Jeffrey. the flipside though is that the Jubas didn't make their first pick until the end of the third round. Despite the late start, the Jubas had a solid draft. They kicked off the draft with Tevin Coleman and filled out their roster quickly with five straight picks of RBs and WRs. Our favorite picks included Willie Snead (who has the potential to be a WR2/WR3) and CJ Prosise in RD9.  We're concerned about the Jubas depth at quarteerback and tight end as GM Eric didn't start filling out these positions until the sixth round. We'll see if the gamble pays off.  Grade: B-