The Sanderson Gazette - 2018-08-05 - A Chat of Icing and Fireball

Draft Reminder

As a reminder, the 2018 Blingaleague Draft will take place on Saturday, August 25, at 4 P.M. My address is 4609 N. Rockwell, Chicago, IL. The plan is to go out afterwards - likely to a nearby brewery - and if anyone needs a place to crash, you're welcome to.

As always, for remote drafters, we'll be using the chat functionality in the draft board Google doc.

Keepers

Everyone's keepers are in (see the draft board linked above)! Onto the commissionerly judgement...

Derrek:

  • Le'Veon Bell, 1.14 (ADP: 1.02)
  • Davante Adams, 3.14 (2.05)

Derrek winds up with solid, if unspectacular, value for both his keepers. He'll only have one live pick among the first 42, but with a RB1 and a WR1 already on his roster, that shouldn't handicap his repeat bid very much.

Babel:

  • Leonard Fournette, 2.02 (1.10)
  • Kareem Hunt, 6.02 (1.11)

Babel might have lost Blingabowl X to D, but he beat him in keeper value. Getting Fournette and Hunt with his first two picks would have been a dream draft, so keeping them and his live first round pick is an excellent start to the year.

Pulley:

  • Todd Gurley, 1.12 (1.01)
  • Jimmy Garoppolo, 14.03 (7.09)

I'm not sold on Jimmy G. as an every-week fantasy starter, but you can't argue with the value the Pullman got in keeping him for a fourteenth round pick. Throw in Todd Gurley eleven picks later than where he'd be drafted, and Pulley is primed for a sixth straight money finish.

Kevin:

  • Keenan Allen, 3.11 (2.03)
  • Alvin Kamara, 14.04 (1.07)

And now we get to Kev, who is lapping the field in terms of keeper value. Alvin Kamara for the 186th pick is just crazy, and he also gets Keenan Allen about a round later than he'd expect to draft him. Kevin has 21 wins over the past two regular seasons, and it's looking like there will be a good deal more again this year.

Rob:

  • Zach Ertz, 6.05 (3.11)
  • Deshaun Watson, 10.05 (4.02)

Rob enters the season with a top five TE and a top five QB without having to use a top five pick to keep either. The positional value of Ertz and Watson isn't great - Rob has to focus solely on RB and WR in the first few rounds now - but they are solid keepers and clearly his best options.

Dave:

  • Carson Wentz, 8.06 (5.12)
  • Chris Thompson, 9.09 (6.12)

This is what your keeper situation looks like when you go all-in to win a championship the year before.

Pat:

  • Dion Lewis, 8.07 (5.04)
  • Kenny Stills, 9.08 (10.07)

Dion Lewis is a solid keeper, but the annual tradition of a questionable Pat keeper continues with Kenny Stills, whose ADP is actually later than what Pat kept him for.

Richie:

  • Joe Mixon, 3.04 (2.10)
  • Derrick Henry, 7.04 (3.04)

Richie starts out with a pair RBs who should be playable every week, but also aren't without some question marks. He didn't pay that much to keep them, though, and will have the fourth overall pick to work with to add a surefire stud.

Rabbit:

  • Marvin Jones, Jr., 8.08 (4.13)
  • Robert Woods, 9.07 (7.11)

The things I just said about Richie, with regards to RBs? Those go for Rabbit and WRs. Overall, his WRs are not quite as strong as Richie's RBs, but Rabs also spent significantly less.

Schertz:

  • Jordan Howard, 7.05 (2.08)
  • Josh Gordon, 9.05 (3.04)

Schertz pried Howard away from Dave for Antonio Brown last year, and while the Bears' new offense might reduce his value, the RB is still a very good keeper. Gordon, if he plays a full season, should be great value; as of press time, however, his return is still unknown.

Matt:

  • Michael Thomas, 6.09 (2.01)
  • Evan Engram, 11.06 (5.07)

Matt's been down for a few years, but his keepers this year are a step back towards putting the "Monster" back in "Monster Heel". Thomas is a WR1 and Engram had a strong rookie year for a TE, and Matt still has his top five picks to use.

Scott:

  • Jamaal Williams, 9.01 (7.05)
  • Rex Burkhead, 12.14 (6.08)

Allen didn't exactly leave Scott a treasure chest of potential keepers. Once Scott got the first overall pick in the lottery, he wasn't going to keep Ezekiel Elliott (he could just draft him if he likes him as the top available player, after all). Burkhead comes at almost no cost and should get plenty of opportunity in New England, and Jamaal Williams could break out in his second year.

Ed:

  • Jerick McKinnon, 8.13 (2.06)
  • JuJu Smith-Schuster, 9.02 (4.01)

The 49ers gave McKinnon a massive contract, which means he should get plenty of three-down opportunities in San Francisco this year. Keeping JuJu five rounds after he's being drafted was the icing on the cake for my sneakily strong keepers.

Mike R.:

  • Adam Thielen, 8.12 (3.01)
  • Alex Collins, 9.03 (3.10)

That thing Dave did, where he went all-in last year? Bernie did the opposite, so had a handful of attractive keeper options. He wound up choosing a pair of third-round players that he only has to use his eighth and ninth picks on, which should help him climb out of the cellar in 2019.

Closing Thoughts

With less than three weeks until the draft, I'm starting to get excited. And be sure to check out all the old Sanderson Gazettes at blingaleague.com.

I've made a decent amount of changes to blingaleague.com over the past few months, and I'm always looking to improve it even more, so if you have anything you'd like to see there, let me know!

@LiveCommish