Post-Draft Power Rankings
Tier 1
1- The Bam0s (@BamO) {31}
2- DTC Porkchop Express (@Craig McCall) {28}
3- Sporty Strauss (@Michael Strauss) {28}
Tier 2
4- Cooper Troopers (@Cooper Johnson) {30}
5- To Be Determined (@Korey Koob) [+4] {23}
6- $traight Cash Homie (@Jack Bennett) {28}
7- Las Cabras (@Trevor Pearson, @Jordan Sinclair) {21}
8- The Pullies (@Eric Herm, @Peter) {26}
9- Win’s Up Doc (@Pat mcgonagill) [-4] {24}
Tier 3
10- Shepherd Goods Choppers (@Jordan Dye) [+1] {22}
11- Wait ’Til Next Year (@Ooms) [+1] {21}
12- Minnesota Moose Knuckles (@Chris Hall) [-2] {29}
(Tier 1) It will be fascinating to see how teams that mortgaged their other drafts compete in the sport they are going for broke in. @BamO traded for $20 in NFL budget. @Craig McCall traded for $10. If either of those teams are not in the top tier at ANY point this season, something went very wrong. And hopefully they can trade football assets for assets in other sports down the line, but they are going to lose value doing so.
All that being said, you’d have to feel more comfortable about the way @Craig McCall built his team compared to @BamO. While the Calvin Ridley trade looks VERY poor on @Craig McCall’s ledger, he was able to absolutely CLEAN UP in the early portion of the snake while @BamO really struggled. @BamO went (6) Julio, (7) Hardman!?!?, (8) Melvin Gordon, (9) Cohen!?!? He started to redeem himself, but there were guys like Mac Jones, Higgins, Thielen and Lockett on the board instead of Hardman. Brandin Cooks, Michael Carter, Daniel Jones, Jaylen Waddle would all have been FAR better picks than Tarik Cohen, who is unlikely to ever play a snap for @BamO. Those are the mistakes that will haunt you for a long time, not spending an extra couple bucks on Alvin Kamara.
@Michael Strauss is only little behind the mortgaged teams, which is a great place to be in. He had the best draft for anybody that didn’t trade budget. Not only that, but it’s a young team! He has a solid mix of older vets (like Brady and Adams) and young guys who are ready to play day one (like Lawrence, Najee, and Pitts). An absolute tour-de-force by Strauss.
(Tier 2) Ah, yes. The great middle. @Pat mcgonagill is the toughest team to rank right now. If it were clear that Cam Newton for most of the season and Saquon was ready coming off injury, this team probably jumps up into the upper tier. It’s just hard to rank a team with such a bad QB situation this high.
@Cooper Johnson had a safe draft. Nothing wrong with that. He got a few QBs, skimped at RB, and made sure he had enough WRs to carry him through a season. He has the best TE situation in the league and a weekly edge there. @Jack Bennett’s team is pretty blasé too. Some vets some young blood. He’d be higher with a good 3rd QB, but relying on Sam Darnold at his 2 all year could hurt his odds with no 3rd string QB.
@Korey Koob and @Peter/@Eric Herm took a very similar route towards team-building: hammer wide receiver. I like the strategy in theory, but @Korey Koob didn’t get enough QBs to compete weekly and the Pullies didn’t do very well with their first couple of picks in the snake draft before they picked it back up for some #PeteyPicks.
TBD and The Pullies are two teams that could leap up these rankings the fastest with a hot start to the season. Las Cabras (@Trevor Pearson and @Jordan Sinclair) is the other. The decision to draft both Kyler and Josh Allen is bold, and you have to respect the #nuts. They solidified QB for the next decade, but they sacrificed on some big-time value. However, getting Javonte Williams and David Montgomery at the first turn of the snake draft are a couple of steals nobody is talking about. They pretty much hit A+‘s on every single pick in the snake draft, by far the most competent team there.
(Tier 3) Onto the bad squads. @Ooms’ ranking bears an obvious grain of salt: he gave away $30 of football budget. He still got a young QB, RB and WR who will start for his team for awhile, and he did very well in the snake portion of the draft. But he has the worst RB and WR rooms in the league.
@Jordan Dye got the top-2 players in the entire league (for okay prices), but then couldn’t draft anybody else the rest of the way. If Jordan had gotten one body that had gone for under $10 (of which there were plenty), Jordan would have been fine. He just needed bodies. He didn’t need a top pick in the snake, though Hurts could be a steal there.
And then there’s @Chris Hall. Hoo boy. This is rough. While it’s awesome to get 3 players in top-17 of the draft, he was the one team that punted QB. And not only did he punt QB in the auction, he punted it in the snake. He took a TE and a 3rd WR in first two rounds of the snake when guys like Brady, Ryan, Carr, and Mac Jones were on the board. Then he’s betting on Taysom Hill winning the job and Ryan Fitzpatrick being okay. He still left guys like Roethlisberger and Lock/Bridgewater on the board as he reached for sleepers like Larry Rountree III. And then, of course, there is the Zuerlein debacle. He reaches for a K when there was plenty of good talent on the board that he could have used. A truly awful snake draft by the Hall monitor.
2021 QB Rankings:
Las Cabras: Kyler Murray, Josh Allen, Kirk Cousins [QB Draft Grade: C]
Choppers: Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts [QB Draft Grade: A-]
The BamOs: Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Lock [QB Draft Grade: C]
Cooper Troopers: Dak Prescott, Tua Tagovailoa, Derek Carr [QB Draft Grade: B-]
Sporty Strauss: Trevor Lawrence, Tom Brady [QB Draft Grade: A]
Wait ’Til Next Year: Justin Herbert, Matt Ryan, Mac Jones [QB Draft Grade: B-]
The Pullies: Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield, Ben Roethlisberger [QB Draft Grade: C+]
DTC Porkchop Express: Ryan Tannehill, Trey Lance/Jimmy Garoppolo, Zach Wilson [QB Draft Grade: B-]
$traight Cash Homie: Lamar Jackson, Sam Darnold, Jordan Love [QB Draft Grade: C+]
To Be Determined: Matt Stafford, Jared Goff, Jameis Winston [QB Draft Grade: C-]
Win’s Up Doc: Justin Fields/Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, Deshaun Watson [QB Draft Grade: B]
MN Moose Knuckles: Ryan Fitzpatrick, Taysom Hill, Tyrod Taylor, Teddy Bridgewater [QB Draft Grade: F]
Notes: Las Cabras are an easy 1-spot on these rankings, but the decision to overload at QB is not without risk, particularly when Mahomes barely went for more than Allen/Murray. @Jordan Dye and @Michael Strauss are the only ones to absolutely nail QBs in this draft. Lots of teams that spent up on QBs in the auction for probably a little bit more than they should have, so that’s why there a quite a few average grades.2021 RB Rankings:
Win’s Up Doc: Saquon Barkley, Ezekiel Elliott, Austin Ekeler, Travis Etienne [RB Draft Grade: B]
MN Moose Knuckles: Dalvin Cook, Nick Chubb, Raheem Mostert [RB Draft Grade: B-]
DTC Porkchop Express: Aaron Jones, Joe Mixon, Josh Jacobs, Michael Carter [RB Draft Grade: B-]
The BamOs: Alvin Kamara, Derrick Henry, Melvin Gordon, Phillip Lindsay [RB Draft Grade: D+]
Sporty Strauss: Najee Harris, Antonio Gibson, Chris Carson [RB Draft Grade: A+]
Choppers: Christian McCaffrey, James Robinson, Kenyan Drake, JD McKissic [RB Draft Grade: D-]
$traight Cash Homie: Darrell Henderson, Miles Sanders, Chase Edmonds, James White [RB Draft Grade: A-]
Cooper Troopers: DeAndre Swift, Myles Gaskin, Trey Sermon [RB Draft Grade: B]
Las Cabras: David Montgomery, Javonte Williams, Kareem Hunt [RB Draft Grade: A-]
To Be Determined: Jonathan Taylor, Damien Harris, Devin Singletary [RB Draft Grade: B-]
The Pullies: JK Dobbins, Mike Davis, Leonard Fournette [RB Draft Grade: C-]
Wait ’Til Next Year: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Zack Moss, Ronald Jones, James Conner [RB Draft Grade: B-]
Notes: Plenty of competent RB drafting in this draft. The highest grades belong to @Michael Strauss, @Jack Bennett and @Trevor Pearson/@Jordan Sinclair. Strauss got excellent value on young backs in the auction, while Las Cabras and Jack loaded up on some RBs in the snake after solidifying the rest of their team. Nobody completely screwed up their RB position, but @Jordan Dye and @BamO’s approaches were poor. @Jordan Dye just couldn’t spend on CMC and expect a competent team with Mahomes also being spent on. Then @BamO just simply spent too much on Kamara and Henry, forcing him into a situation where he had to mortgage his future teams to get some QBs.
2021 WR Rankings:
To Be Determined: AJ Brown, DeAndre Hopkins, Terry McLaurin, Chris Godwin, Jerry Jeudy, Michael Thomas [WR Draft Grade: A-]
The Pullies: Stefon Diggs, Justin Jefferson, Odell Beckham Jr, JuJu Smith-Schuster [WR Draft Grade: A+]
DTC Porkchop Express: Keenan Allen, DJ Moore, Brandon Aiyuk, Diontae Johnson, Devonta Smith [WR Draft Grade: B]
MN Moose Knuckles: DK Metcalf, Allen Robinson, Robert Woods [WR Draft Grade: D+]
Win’s Up Doc: Calvin Ridley, Tyler Lockett, Courtland Sutton, Will Fuller [WR Draft Grade: A+]
$traight Cash Homie: Tyreek Hill, Ja’Marr Chase, Kenny Golladay, Russell Gage [WR Draft Grade: C+]
Sporty Strauss: DaVante Adams, Tee Higgins, Brandin Cooks [WR Draft Grade: C-]
The BamOs: Mike Evans, Julio Jones, Robby Anderson, Sterling Shepard [WR Draft Grade: B+]
Cooper Troopers: Amari Cooper, Cooper Kupp, Tyler Boyd [WR Draft Grade: B]
Choppers: Adam Thielen, DJ Chark. Corey Davis, Cole Beasley, Nelson Agholor [WR Draft Grade: C]
Las Cabras: Chase Claypool, Jarvis Landry, Henry Ruggs III, Hollywood Brown, Deebo Samuel [WR Draft Grade: C-]
Wait ’Til Next Year: CeeDee Lamb, Antonio Brown, DeVante Parker [WR Draft Grade: D+]
Notes: As mentioned in the #power-rankings, TBD and The Pullies crushed WRs. @Craig McCall is right up there for WRs, but the Calvin Ridley trade still holds him back. @Pat mcgonagill might not have the best receiver situation in the whole league, but it’s remarkable competent for being the team with the best RBs. On the flip side of things, @Chris Hall did a poor job managing his receivers. Allen Robinson wasn’t a terrible deal for what he got him for, but overspending a bit on DK Metcalf hurts his QBs. And now Hall will be scrambling for YEARS to find QBs because of it. @Ooms just simply did not manage to get enough depth at WR. If Dak’s injury lingers and/or CeeDee Lamb doesn’t break out, it’s going to be tough sledding here for Kyle. We might, indeed, be waiting for next year. Taking Cam Akers over some guys like Corey Davis, Marvin Jones, Jarvis Landry, and many other WRs is tough for a team that was already behind the 8-ball. Kyle is going to have to piece things together at WR all year.
TE Rankings
Cooper Troopers: Travis Kelce, Robert Tonyan [TE Draft Grade: A+]
$traight Cash Homie: George Kittle, Irv Smith Jr. [TE Draft Grade: B+]
Wait ’Til Next Year: Darren Waller, Austin Hooper, Anthony Firkser [TE Draft Grade: A-]
The Bam0s: TJ Hockenson, Evan Engram [TE Draft Grade: C-]
MN Moose Knuckles: Mark Andrews, Blake Jarwin [TE Draft Grade: C]
The Pullies: Tyler Higbee, Rob Gronkowski, Cole Kmet [TE Draft Grade: D]
Sporty Strauss: Kyle Pitts [WR Draft Grade: B-]
To Be Determined: Dallas Goedert, Mike Gesicki [TE Draft Grade: A-]
Las Cabras: Noah Fant, Gerald Everett, Zach Ertz [TE Draft Grade: A-]
DTC Porkchop Express: Jonnu Smith, Adam Trautman [TE Draft Grade: C+]
Win’s Up Doc: Logan Thomas, Eric Ebron [TE Draft Grade: B-]
Choppers: Hunter Henry, Hayden Hurst [TE Draft Grade: D]
Notes: It’s hard to do better than @Cooper Johnson did at TE, but @Ooms got close. TBD and Las Cabras also did a good job waiting on TE and picking one up at the right time. On the flip side, Higbee might be good, but it’s tough for The Pullies to reach for a TE when other good dynasty players were on the board. It would have been better to go @Jordan Dye’s route and punt TE altogether or just use Gronk where they got him.
A quick note: the {#} on the far right of a team’s Power Ranking is an added total of the number of ‘points’ from all 4 positional rankings. If you are first in a positional rankings, you get 12 points. If you are last, you get one