This is the 7th annual Trendsetters draft. This is my 6th consecutive year participating. It remains one of the most original and interesting formats I take part in every season. It's also one of the most difficult. Between the 14 team format, the unbelievably early decisions that have to be made with limited information, the format that splits the draft into multiple phases weeks apart, the option of using any draft pick not on a specific rookie player but instead on a spot in a separate rookie draft to take place months later, and a roster of league mates filled with Overall champions, NFFC Hall of Famers, and multiple league champions galore, there may not be another draft I will take part in the rest of the year as challenging. Still, I do love being a part of this draft each season.
In my five previous years, I've won two of these. In the other three, I finished out of the money. Hopefully this season, I'll even up the score.
I went straight butter 1-14 in KDS and ended up with the 5th pick. The first phase, consisting of the first 6 rounds, was completed today. The following is how my draft has went thus far and some thoughts on the picks themselves.
1.5 - Demarco Murray - I preferred the early portion of the draft because I hoped to start my draft with a sure thing 3-down RB. Leveon, Jamaal, and Lacy were already chosen. That left me staring into the face of Demarco Murray. With the uncertainty surrounding Murray due to FA, his huge workload last season, and his injury history, I considered shifting to one of the elite WR's on the board. However, WR is extremely deep this season. 3-down backs who catch the ball and get the goalline carries are few and far between. Even if Demarco moves on from Dallas, he'll still bring his all purpose ability to his next team. If he stays in Dallas, with that offense and especially that OL, he rivals Bell as the top back available. Worth the roll of the dice.
2.10 - Alshon Jeffery - Though the hands down super elite WR's were gone by the time the draft rolled back around to me in the 2nd, there still remained a couple borderline elite choices. It came down to Alshon vs T.Y. for me here. Though I felt both had similarly high upside in receptions and yardage, I felt Alshon's size made his TD upside greater.
3.10 - Andre Ellington - There were several receivers I was eyeing here that the snipers drafting before me took off the board one by one. I felt there was a clear tier drop at WR once the draft finally got back to me. So I started looking at the RB's and would have been satisfied with several of the available options there. I went with Ellington as I felt at this point, he has the least competition for carries, and the most opportunity for 3-down back duties both due to his own skillset as well as his coach's mindset.
4.5 - Peyton Manning - Obviously not the safest pick here. Still, it's the NFFC with its 6 points per passing TD, and even on an off year, Peyton was good for 39 TD's last year. Here's hoping he still has the fire to come back for one more try, his quad was the reason for his late season fade, and Denver finds a way to bring both DT and JT back to his arsenal of weapons. Wow, that's a lot of ifs!
5.10 - Greg Olsen - I'm pretty sure I was the only team left with only one WR rostered at this point and seriously considered going in that direction. Still, the WR tier at this point seemed very wide, very deep, and none without faults. I decided instead to go with possibly the last remaining option without fault at another position that is extremely shallow.
6.5 - Isaiah Crowell - Again, WR still seems deep and remains the one position I think I can possibly achieve production this year through multiple later picks, at least in a DC format. Hopefully later on in the draft I can find this year's Tate and Hopkins.
So I go with a RB that I'm a little surprised is still on the board due to his strong skillset and potential for huge volume next season for a team whose offense almost has to be funneled through its running game due to its non-existent passing options.So there it is. Not the safest start, but hopefully one with some decent upside. We'll see how this team rounds out in a couple weeks when Phase 2 of this draft takes place.
