Rookie Roundup 7: Dynasty Rookie Draft, Part 1

Last year, you may recall that I documented a staff dynasty league rookie draft in a two-part series that you can find here and here. It is fun to read that article a year later and see how thoughts and perceptions of the players covered in those installments have changed.

This year, our staff league is back at it again a week after the NFL Draft! Hopefully, seeing a real dynasty draft play out where the stakes are real will be insightful to those of you who are getting ready to participate in your own rookie drafts. It may help you to get a feel for what players are going in what zones and where you need to make a move to get your target players.

I am happy to say that I am the reigning champion of the league, which I did not expect to happen in year two of rebuilding this 2017 orphan team. My championship title was in part thanks to huge in-season contributions from Patrick Mahomes, Todd Gurley, James Conner, and Nick Chubb. I acquired Damien Williams and C.J. Anderson off the waiver wire and played them during the championship match-up due to Todd Gurley and James Conner being sidelined. I was fortunate to have big performances from them when it was most needed. I was also able to trade for George Kittle for a 2019 3rd and 2019 4th-round pick before the season started, which ended up being enough to hold down my tight end position. An 11th-hour trade deadline dealing away of Lamar Jackson, Chris Godwin, and my 2019 2nd-round pick netted me Adam Thielen and Larry Fitzgerald, who helped my weaker receiving group limp across the finish line.

I take a best-player-available approach to my drafts. I figure that I can always trade from a position of strength to address a need later. I’ve also found over the years of playing dynasty that drafting for need is very dangerous and can really blow up in your face. If need and talent intersect, I use it as a tiebreaker for my pick.

Here is a look at my roster and picks pre-draft:

A couple of weeks before the draft, I made a sizeable trade with Sigmund Bloom:

My trading Robinson is not an indictment of his talent or situation. Previous to this trade, I owned him 100% across my leagues. Even when I love a player, I like to diversify my assets. Even great players are subject to career-ending injuries, and I would hate to take a hit across my complete dynasty portfolio. This trade was also an attempt to get the 1.01 locked up before it became more expensive. My idea is that if I liked the consensus 1.01 player or there was a player I didn't want to risk not getting, I would take him with this pick. If I didn't, I would seek a trade out of the pick.

Let's see how the first round played out!

Round 1

I shopped the 1.01 briefly to see if I could get any king's ransom offers, but none came. I was happy to take Josh Jacobs with the pick. I expect Josh Jacobs to thrive, despite not landing with the most stable coaching staff or organization. Of all the spots he could have landed, Oakland was not my favorite, but it was also not the worst possible spot. We know that Jon Gruden and his staff love to run the ball and that Jacobs will see plenty of opportunities early on. I don't expect Doug Martin to be any more than a backup option, as the team did not even have him re-signed until Isaiah Crowell tore his ACL and was declared out for the year.

Even though I was out of picks, I decided to be aggressive in trying to make a deal to get back into the latter half of the first round and snag a target player.

I did not make this trade with James because of a lack of belief in Damien Williams. On the contrary, I believe he will hold the primary job, at least for this year. Rather, I felt my depth at running back was above average in this league, even without Williams. My receiver position, on the other hand, might be the weakest part of my roster. It doesn't hurt that I picked up Williams for free last year and was basically flipping him for a receiver I believe to be the best in this class.

Many do not like Brown’s landing spot, but I believe that he could be a big help to an offense that was missing short to intermediate options last year. It devastated the team to lose both Delanie Walker and Rishard Matthews for the majority of last season. I already have Corey Davis on this roster, but believe that both could be viable for fantasy. Even if Marcus Mariota proves he can’t stay healthy, I believe Ryan Tannehill could support the fantasy options on this roster without a real drop-off.

I was hoping to be able to swing another deal to get another pick in this round and secure Noah Fant somewhere past the 1.08 mark in this tight end premium format, but I could never come to terms with anyone. Adam wisely swiped him at 1.11, helping him to replace the gaping hole on his roster left by Rob Gronkowski’s retirement.

When Fant went off the board, I decided to change direction and see if I could get a pick in the early-to-mid second round to secure either Irv Smith, Jr. or Jace Sternberger, two tight ends who I believe will eventually be starters for their respective teams. Here's how the second round unfolded!

Round 2

I was unsuccessful in my attempts to get into the early-to-mid second round and missed my tight end targets. With those guys off the board, a few owners were more willing to trade their picks. One of my target players remained on the board, so I decided to swing a deal.

Photos provided by Imagn Images