Fartlandia 2 - Fatal Flatulence
Hello citizens of Fartlandia!
This is King Nish on behalf of all the 12 players braving through player injuries and bunk projections for another redraft year in our fantasy football league. For those readers who I just now lost with my sports verbage, buckle up because it’s going to be a long ride.
My first year of NFL Fantasy Football happened to be last season when my good friend Tristan invited me to my first-ever league. As someone who has never played but casually watched football, I fell down the rabbit hole of depth charts and route percentages fairly quickly. Fortunately, all my research ended up paying off because I won the league and conquered Fartlandia! In the offseason, most former members decided to rejoin Fartlandia once again to rematch each other for the throne. Unfortunately, we did have to bid farewell to our old friend Kullen who placed 12th last year, but we are introducing our newest member Devon to the league.
As Fartlandia’s King, it is my responsibility to relay important announcements and information weekly through this blog. That includes breakout performances, injury updates, matchups, waivers, highlights, etc. The format and scoring this year remains the same as last year: a snake draft for our 12 person 0.5 Points Per Reception (PPR) league on Yahoo Fantasy. Each team may have a max of 1 Quarterback (QB), 2 Running Backs (RBs), 2 Wide Receivers (WRs), 1 Tight End (TE), 1 Flex Spot (FLEX), 1 Kicker (K), 1 Defense (DEF), 6 Bench (BN), and 2 Injured Reserve (IR) spots. Now without further ado, it’s time to look at this season so far.
Draft Strategy
This year’s draft strategy was a significant improvement to last's because this time I knew better than to draft 3 quarterbacks within the first 9 rounds. The draft format was a snake draft, and I was randomly chosen for the 1.01 pick (AKA the first pick of the draft), meaning that I can pick first and choose any player I want on my team. With this power in mind, I picked up RB1 Jahmyr Gibbs from the Detroit Lions to start the core building process of my team. A general consensus has sports analysts starting that Jahmyr Gibbs and Bijan Robinson hold the top pick for this year’s draft. Gibbs in particular will be finally escaping the split backfield in the Lions with David “Knuckles” Montgomery who got traded to the Houston Texans. His unparalleled speed and explosiveness combined with the increase in target volume is the reason why I picked up Sonic this year.
The 2nd and 3rd pick, also known as the “2-3 turn” is incredibly crucial for me because this is a snake draft, meaning I won’t be able to pick again after my first until the draft snakes through 23 other picks from other people in the league. This is why I went with WR1 Drake London and RB2 Ashton Jeanty who are target and touch monsters in the Atlanta Falcons and Las Vegas Raiders respectively. When London has a healthy and consistent quarterback, he averages roughly 20 half PPR points which is just ridiculous. I’m also predicting a nasty breakout year for Jeanty with new Head Coach (HC) Klint Kubiak who led the Seattle Seahawks Offense to a Superbowl win last year.
At the 4-5 turn, I picked up my WR2 Tetairoa McMillan and TE1 Tyler Warren from the Carolina Panthers and Indiana Colts. Tet is coming off an Offensive Rookie of the Year (OROY) campaign and he is looking to extend that connection with QB Bryce Young again, but there is the looming concern of target share with WR Jalen Coker. I figured he would have a solid enough floor to start my team off while Drake London navigates through shaky QB play. Tyler Warren is a sensational and young TE talent that should be commanding most of the target share from QB Daniel Jones and is fighting to be within the highest scoring TE rankings at the end of the season.
At the 6-7 turn, I ripped my WR2/FLEX option Davante Adams and RB3/FLEX Jaylen Warren from the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers respectively. Even though Davante is well past his prime at 33, he still takes the WR2 spot in the Rams Offense and has high red zone upside. If you look at the depth chart, there’s no one really after his job right now. Jaylen Warren is admittedly a question mark with RB Rico Dowdle being traded to the Steelers from the Panthers. Dowdle had quite an explosive season last year after taking over for an injured RB1 Chuba Hubbard, and he’s looking to continue his momentum in this offense. However, given that I have Gibbs and Jeanty, I’m not as worried about covering RB depth on my roster.
At the 8-9 turn, I’m picking up RB3 J.K. Dobbins from the Denver Broncos and my QB1 Jaxson Dart from the New York Giants. I am assuming that the lead back this season will be Dobbins, but this is mostly a stash pick for when I need an RB and hopefully his partner Harvey is injured. The 9th round is also when I decided to pick up my QB since Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson went earlier than expected. Jaxson is in an environment where he is expected to play under center more and make smarter decisions to avoid injury. He’s also paired with the new addition of TE Isaiah Likely who seems like a promising target with a recovering Malik Nabers taking the field after an ACL tear ended his season early last year.
Rounds 10-15 I prioritized picking up secondary and tertiary players with high upside as well as a week 1 kicker and defense. WR Matthew Golden, WR Michael Pittman Jr., WR Romeo Doubs, RB Woody Marks, K Tyler Loop, and DEF Chargers fell into place on my team. Obviously, finding potential breakout or backup WRs like Matthew Golden was a priority because my depth here was pretty poor.
Overall, I would give my draft a B+ rating based on personal satisfaction. Yahoo said it was A+ no glaze, but I feel like my WR room can become dangerously under the league average.
Roster Adjustments
The first roster adjustment of the season was a blockbuster trade between me and Mina. Looking to consolidate some of my deeper picks into WR1 value, I gave away receivers Pittman, Adams, and back Warren for RB Travis Etienne Jr. and WR A.J. Brown.
Before the season begins, I’m looking to capitalize on my main weakness: my WR depth. A.J. Brown looks to debut as a low end WR1 or high end WR2, while Pittman and Adams offer weekly flex options at WR1/2 options. I would put Warren and Etienne almost even despite Average Draft Position (ADP) consensus ranking Warren higher. Etienne was just recently traded to the Saints, and while there is some competing RBs there he will be an elite rushing and pass catching option easing into the Saints offense.
Aside from that major trade, Mina dropped RB Bhayshul Tuten and Declan picked it up off of waivers after some discussion. Additionally, I switched my kickers and picked up K Jake Bates from the Detroit Lions in favor of a better weekly matchup.
Current Standings
These rankings* are just the draft order because no games have been played yet:
King Nish (Me)
Iva’s Rush Hour (Iva)
FLUCK DUCKSEN (squire Declan)
The Red Army (Devon)
Julien da ruthless (Julien)
Wilhelmina’s Pancakes (Mina)
Big Brain Tristan (Tristan)
Beast Mode Tess (Tess)
Pen15 (Gavin)
Senator Davis (Hope)
Block Blasters (Mari)
Lone Wolf larsson (Lars)
*Highlighted teams are ones that I am most afraid of facing this season
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