The Sanderson Gazette - 2019-07-18 - Four and Twenty

2019 Draft

Date and Location

The 2019 Blingaleague draft will be on Saturday, August 24, at 2 PM, at Dave's house: 1036 Buckingham Drive in Naperville.

Draft Order

As seen on the draft board, here is our draft order:

  1. Rabbit
  2. Babel
  3. Ed
  4. Dave
  5. Richie
  6. Pat
  7. Schertz
  8. Scott
  9. Pulley
  10. Rob
  11. Mike R.
  12. Kevin
  13. Matt
  14. Derrek

Keepers

Also seen on the draft board, our keepers...

(All ADP values come from Fantasy Football Calculator's ADP tracker, as of July 18.)

Derrek

  • Christian McCaffrey, 2.01 (ADP 1.03)
  • James Conner, 11.14 (ADP 1.12)

Christian McCaffrey - a consensus top five overall pick - is good value at the 1st/2nd turn, but D's gem is James Conner. Currently going in the late first, he was kept for the last pick in the 11th round. Only Alvin Kamara (see Kevin's section) has an argument for more surplus keeper value.

Grade: A.

Matt

  • Melvin Gordon, 1.13 (ADP 1.06)
  • JuJu Smith-Schuster 7.13 (ADP 2.02)

Smith-Schuster is a very strong keeper, though his ADP could wind up being a little high if he suffers from not having Antonio Brown lined up on the other side of the field from him. That said, Matt's bigger question mark is Gordon. Blingaleague rules (see section 5.8) don't explicitly reply to contract holdouts that emerge after declaring keepers - I'm currently considering if Matt will get a replacement keeper if Gordon doesn't report by the Blingaleague draft - so Gordon's situation could dramatically alter Matt's overall keeper value.

Grade: B+, if Gordon plays week one.

Kevin

  • Marlon Mack, 8.03 (ADP 2.12)
  • Alvin Kamara, 12.03 (ADP 1.03)

Kamara is the 2017 final overall pick that has one more season of giving, which sets Kevin up nicely, regardless of his second keeper. And Mack is a pretty solid second keeper.

Grade: A.

Mike R.

  • Adam Thielen, 5.11 (ADP 2.12)
  • Sony Michel, 6.04 (ADP 4.04)

Mike's keepers don't have a wow factor, but they provide value. Thielen's team is allegedly committing to the run, which could keep him from being a top 10 overall WR, but that doesn't mean Mike's not getting a few rounds' worth of value, still. Michel is a Patriot RB - so generally a question mark - but also has an ADP multiple rounds ahead of where Mike kept him.

Grade: C+.

Rob

  • DeAndre Hopkins, 1.10 (ADP 1.08)
  • Damien Williams, 9.10 (ADP 2.06)

First (and to a lesser extend, second) round keepers, like Hopkins, are underrated by ADP when it comes to the Blingaleague; if Rob hadn't kept Hopkins, he'd be a top three pick due to other high-ADP players being off the board, so he brings more than two picks in surplus value. Regardless, it's hard to argue with Williams as a very strong keeper, as the Chiefs are verbally committing to him as their workhorse back.

Grade: B+.

Pulley

  • Julian Edelman, 6.06 (ADP 3.10)
  • Phillip Lindsay, 9.09 (ADP 3.13)

Before judging Pulley's keepers, I'll note that he is the first of five guys to keep a pair of players that are being drafted at basically the same ADP as each other. Looking at ADP, Lindsay provides really nice value... provided he's healthy and continues to get the surprising workload he got as a rookie. Edelman's surplus ADP value is less impressive, and it's questionable that he was a better choice than Ezekiel Elliott (ADP 1.02).

Grade: C+.

Rabbit

  • Chris Carson, 4.14 (ADP 4.05)
  • Robert Woods, 7.01 (ADP 4.03)

Rabbit joins the same club as Pulley, but gets far less value out of his keepers. Regarding Carson, it's one thing to keep a first round pick in the same round as their ADP... but a fourth? Woods does make up for some of that, but it's hard to know how the Rams' receivers will shake out on any given week.

Grade: D.

Scott

  • George Kittle, 8.07 (ADP 3.03)
  • Patrick Mahomes, 9.08 (ADP 3.04)

Entry #3 in our equivalent keepers group, Scott was able to keep the consensus #1 QB, Mahomes, for several rounds later than he'd have to draft him. Kittle is also being drafted as a top tier TE (though I personally am a little more lukewarm on him). Combined, they give Scott a lot to work with heading into the draft.

Grade: A-.

Ed

  • T.Y. Hilton, 2.12 (ADP 2.09)
  • O.J. Howard, 9.03 (ADP 4.11)

Ed's keeper situation took a huge hit with Todd Gurley's questionable health and slide to ADP 2.02. Hilton doesn't give much surplus value, while Howard is being drafted all alone in the second tier of TEs. It all means that Ed at least goes into the season with a solid WR1 and likely top five TE, even if he didn't get them at bargain prices.

Grade: D+.

Schertz

  • Saquon Barkley, 1.07 (ADP 1.02)
  • Aaron Jones, 9.07 (ADP 2.14)

Schertz heads into the season with the consensus top overall pick, so even spending 1.07 on Barkley looks like a good deal. Jones might not be the surest thing, but his low cost makes him a really strong second keeper. You can't really criticize Schertz heading into the draft.

Grade: A.

Richie

  • David Johnson, 1.05 (ADP 1.05)
  • Joe Mixon, 2.10 (ADP 1.10)

Richie was able to make the best of some iffy options, but his keeper situation still isn't great. While Johnson wouldn't be available to draft at 1.05, he's still not providing much surplus value, and Mixon only makes sense as a keeper with another first rounder on board (as he'd have cost a first himself).

Grade: D+.

Babel

  • D.J. Moore, 8.13 (ADP 5.09)
  • Baker Mayfield, 14.13 (ADP 5.09)

We're back to guys with keepers that are drafted next to each other. Neither of Babel's keepers looks like the cornerstone of a champion, but at their costs, they don't need to be. Moore should be a starting fantasy WR, and Mayfield has top five QB potential... and neither will prevent him from adding significant value in the draft.

Grade: C.

Dave

  • James White, 9.04 (ADP 5.05)
  • Derrius Guice, 13.04 (ADP 5.04)

Dave's our last member of the group that kept players with similar ADPs. In some ways, Dave's situation is similar to Babel's; cost-wise, White and Guice leave Dave with tons of valuable picks to fill out his roster. But while Babel should be able to count on starting his guys every week, Dave can't be so sure. White is a Patriots RB, which means he could alternate 20-point weeks with 4-point weeks; Guice is coming off a torn ACL and currently dealing with a hamstring injury. The upside for both guys is there, but it's not hard to envision a situation where they are both bench guys for most of the season.

Grade: C-.

Pat

  • Nick Chubb, 8.09 (ADP 2.07)
  • Christian Kirk, 9.06 (ADP 6.10)

Chubb gives Pat great surplus value. Kirk could be a bust, but costs very little. This is probably the best pair of keepers I can remember Pat having.

Grade: B-.

Closing Thoughts

Thank you everyone for being prompt with the keeper choices. It's time to start getting excited for the draft!