Folks, we made it. The long trip around the sun between fantasy drafts has come and gone. The beer flowed, empanadas were devoured and a good time was had by all — except if you needed a QB in round 12 (I’ll get into that later). But the fun part is now over and its time to strap in for a long 17 week season. As you all know, this season I’ll be providing a new weekly column for all fans of The League, power ranking the teams and providing my heavily sought after and unbiased advise and analysis on all the rosters and decision making week by week. So, without further a do, let’s jump right into the preseason power rankings with our number 10:
#10. The Martians – Ryan O’Connell
Kicking us off at the ten spot is Ol’ Marzy. Ryan started his night by going with two obvious plays, snagging Davante Adams (WR1) and Antonio Gibson with his first two picks. But then his draft took a left turn –inexplicably casting aside the RB position and drafting about 14 WRs, a TE and QB before his second RB, settling for Melvin Gordon of Denver. Everyone knows I stress the RB position early and often (sometimes maybe to my own detriment) but you can’t deny the overall importance of the position since only about 6 RBs are any good in this league anymore. I predict a big trade in the future for Marzy to sure up that position or I’m afraid Ryan may be fast tracked for the standup stage once again.
#9. Marzy and Me (new name in the works) – Andrew Vignali
I have to humble myself with this one. Overall, I feel I did not have a very good night. Almost nothing I had mocked for ended up coming to fruition and I think I got routinely played by Bean’s Book of Secrets. I was eyeing Joe Mixon in RD2 but after Brent grabbed him, had to reach on CEH since I knew Bean’s wouldn’t allow him to fall to me on the turnaround. Similarly, in rounds 4 and 5, I was eyeing Godwin and whomever Brendan didn’t take between Miles Sanders/D’Andre Swift and was totally not prepared for Beans to take both in that spot – thus causing me to settle on Josh Jacobs whom I’m not very high on due to his lack of receiving ability. But the worst fucking I got all night was the Round 12 QB run that saw all 4 of my targeted QBs go one after the other to teams that already had an entrenched starter at QB. I settled for Matt Ryan but likely things will change before week 1 so take that with a grain of salt. I got fucked by Max taking my handcuff Alexander Mattison two picks before I was going too – whatever. You already know my feelings about that one. Overall, bad night for Vigs.
#8. Jonathan Taylor Thomas – Jack Staub
This is a hard luck #8 for our boy Jack – but ditto what I said above about Ryan, I just don’t love the RB situation. To no fault of his own, Jack took JK Dobbins as his RB2, about 20 min before his ACL tore and ended his season, unfortunately a wasted 4th round pick. Mike Davis will finally get a chance as a feature back in the Atlanta offense but is a total wild card. Similarly to myself, Jack waited around for his QB and settled on the immortal spawn of satan Tom Brady. Brady will offer more in the passing game, but is too one dimensional in the modern NFL offense to really be a big time fantasy QB. Could Jameis take the mantle as Jack’s QB? We’ll wait and find out. Also, Ja’Marr Chase drops a lot of balls.
#7. Kamara Chameleons – Max Cohan
The League’s biggest wild card, Max was all over the place on draft day. His deeply routed southern ties made for some obvious picks over the course of the draft, Kamara, Ridley, Pitts, etc. But the common theme among the lowest seeded members of these initial power rankings hold true again – I don’t love Max’s RBs. Kamara is an obvious stud, but I have questions about his receiving volume with Winston replacing noodle armed Drew Brees and forcing the ball more down the field. After that, Kareem Hunt is a question mark – as he is a good back, but remains second fiddle to Chubb in Cleveland. Add that his only other two backs are backups Zack Moss and Alexander Mattison and I have questions as to where Max is going to find the touches for his RB2. I don’t love playing 2 TE’s in the Flex, but Kyle Pitts is supposed to be a stud and maybe Max knows something we don’t. Overall, I think Max is another candidate to look for more RB help before week 1 (he’s already hit my line).
#6. 4th N’ Schlong – Brad Peditto
The newest member of The League had an interesting introduction on draft day. On paper, Brad’s roster is pretty comparable to the other teams that have yet to be revealed, but the reason The Schlong’s come in at this spot is the old injury concern – namely Saquon. Of all the top picks, SaQuads was obviously the biggest question mark. He’s a volume beast when healthy, but it’s been nearly a year since he’s taking the field and hasn’t played any snaps in preseason so far. We also have no idea what to make of Sony Michel. Will he be the lead back in LA or was he just brought in as a depth piece after losing Cam Akers? We shall see. Decent WR depth, some homerism for his beloved Eagles (Quez Watkins?), and Logan Thomas rounds out Brad’s squad. Good luck in your freshman season.
#5. Bonez Hogs – Thomas Antonello
Fitting that the two newbies and week 1 rivals fall back to back in the initial power rankings. I honestly didn’t know what to expect with Bonez on Saturday but I think he did a good job. Ekeler may not have been the play I would’ve made at 6 (I think Chubb, Saquon and Aaron Jones were all better RBs there) but you can’t fault a guy trying to win a signed jersey. Tommy Bonez is deep in WR and has a stud QB1 in Lamar. I think Chase Edmonds makes or breaks Tommy’s season. If he can become what David Johnson was a few years ago and fill in as a 3 down back in ARI, Bonez team really rounds out nicely. But for now, I’ll take the top 4 teams on paper.
#4. The Flandrew’s – Brent Gotkin
The top 4 teams of the initial power rankings are all close and relatively interchangeable, but I got Brent in my #4 spot largely cause I think the other remaining team had better, sure fire first picks. Brent went Ezekiel Elliott, who I was shocked to learn has seen his production fall each season of his career. I also don’t love the fact that Brent has the triplets Dak, Zeke and Amari Cooper on his team, relying too heavily on one offense is always dangerous and particularly, one’s production will hurt the other. Brent has solid WR , — look for Corey Davis to become the next Jerry Rice with Zach Wilson and Cooper Kupp is solid.
#3. Beans Corp – Brendan Cahill
Initially coming out of the draft, I thought I’d have Beans as my number 1. But after sobering up, having a day of reflection and the more I look at the top two teams– I simply think they are more balanced so I have Beans third in the initial rankings. Bean’s went above and beyond targeting RBs, grabbing 4 with his first 5 picks (CMC, Carson, Sanders, Swift) and a top WR with Stefon Diggs. Brendan benefitted the most of anyone at the timely breaking news of the JK Dobbins injury and swiftly grabbed Gus Edwards with the next pick, good for the Corp – bad for everyone else. But I have my reservations about his WR depth. Beans has often been burned by Robby Anderson and I don’t believe in Sam Darnold. Sutton is a mystery to me this year after last year’s ACL tear and with Capt. CheckDown Teddy Bridgewater winning the Denver QB job. Justin Herbert is solid but he’s definitely the worst QB of the remaining unranked teams. Overall, solid RB depth makes Beans a dangerous player in the trading market, and I would expect him to swing a few deals to fill out some holes on the roster.
#2. The Norse Horse – Kris Blaine
I always hate to give Kris credit when I can avoid it – so he’ll have to do with being the initial runner up in our Power Rankings. Kris touched upon it on this week’s pod (give it a listen if you haven’t yet) and did something drastically different from years passed – he went Kelce in round 1. Hard to argue with that decision however, and then followed it up with the safe pick Aaron Jones in round 2. Kris is equipped with great RB/WR depth (I personally think Myles Gaskin can be 2021’s breakout RB) and to top it off, last year’s number 1 fantasy QB Josh Allen, Go Bills. Josh Allen, Aaron Jones, David Montgomery, ARob, Juju, Kelce is as deep starting lineup as they come. Great nerws for me who’s gotta play him thrice.
#1. HOCKEYPRO69 – Abie Leider
Abie, Abie, Abie. I loved what you did on Saturday. You can make the case Abie has the top QB, RB and WR in football with Mahomes, Derrick Henry and DHop. James Robinson will be the obvious feature back in JAX after the Travis Etienne injury, and if Julio can turn back the clock, Abie’s top 5 is deep. AJ Dillon and Michael Carter are two young, intriguing RBs, and Sanders/Pittman and Jerry Jeudy is great WR depth. Last but not least, he’s gonna have Michael Thomas joining the squad hopefully by October, so at full strength, I think Abie’s team has the most upside of everyone. Good for you.
That’s all I got for my initial pre-season power rankings. I’ll try to pump these babies out weekly to the best of my ability. Make sure to voice any and all comments/questions/concerns on League Talk, the official podcast of The League, where we will be addressing all content fantasy related. Till next time, Go League!
Must Be Sunday 