With fantasy football drafts approaching, participants need more than rankings, ADPs, sleepers and busts – they need to know how to tighten their draft day approach so that they’re ready for anything that happens. Our experts have chimed in with their top draft day preparation tips and strategies; next up: their best and worst draft takes of 2019.
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Q1. What was your best draft take of 2019?
That DeVante Parker had a clear path to 100-plus targets, and knowing it cost you nothing to draft him, you could find out right away if that was going to happen. I know you said just one, but I have to give a shoutout to Aaron Jones, who I said would be considered a top-five pick in 2020 after he crushed 2019. He finished as the No. 2 running back in 2019, but because of Matt LaFleur, he still isn’t being considered top-five.
– Mike Tagliere (@MikeTagliereNFL)
I was advising people early on last year in May to draft Chris Godwin and Mark Ingram. Both of those players were great values in drafts and I was comfortable reaching for them in the 3rd or 4th round. Both turned out to be dominant at the position and helped lead people to fantasy championships.
– Kyle Yates (@KyleYNFL)
It may have been for the wrong reasons, but I was incredibly high on Austin Ekeler heading into last season. I thought Melvin Gordon‘s holdout would last longer than it did but, either way, I thought that Ekeler’s involvement early in the year would likely lead to a more established role even if/when Gordon came back. I wound up with several shares of Ekeler (he was my most rostered player in 2019) and advocated drafting him everywhere I could.
– Dan Harris (@danharris80)
I believed in Lamar Jackson. I wound up with him in two leagues and he helped me win titles in both. Landing him in the 14th round of a keeper draft was so, so sweet. Arguably the best flier I’ve ever taken in my fantasy football career.
– Matt Barbato (@RealMattBarbato)
I was all-in on Lamar Jackson last year, and I’m glad I was! He showed that he had a good floor in his starts at the end of 2018, and I was bought into the hype surrounding him! Paid off big for me.
– Sam Hoppen (@SamHoppen)
I was all in on Chris Godwin last year, I had him ranked higher in my draft rankings than Mike Evans and I said that Godwin was the receiver to own in Tampa Bay. Godwin ended up being the second-ranked wide receiver in fantasy leagues and Evans was 12th. I was consistently taking Godwin in the fourth or fifth round of fantasy leagues last year, which was a huge bargain.
– Derek Lofland (@DerekLofland)
Q2.What was your worst draft take of 2019?
That A.J. Green was a value and that he’d be worth drafting as your WR2/3 because we were told he’d miss 2-4 weeks to start the season.
– Mike Tagliere (@MikeTagliereNFL)
I had OBJ at WR1 for a large portion of the offseason. I believe that I backed off of that right at the deadline and dropped him down a couple of spots, but I was still extremely high on him. We all know how that turned out. Additionally, I was also fairly high on Donte Moncrief and his opportunity in the Steelers offense. We also all know how that one turned out.
– Kyle Yates (@KyleYNFL)
Yeah, about those Lamar Jackson takes. No one saw his performance last year coming, but I especially didn’t want to buy in, ranking him lower than consensus. In hindsight, regardless of my concerns over his accuracy, I should have looked deeper into the Ravens’ offseason moves with their coaching staff and just how much they were redesigning their offensive system to fit Jackson’s strengths. He’s the exact type of quarterback to take a shot on in drafts, and I was willing to ignore him altogether.
– Dan Harris (@danharris80)
I was dead wrong on Dante Pettis. I thought he had the talent to become San Francisco’s WR1. Luckily, he didn’t kill me. But man, he sucked.
– Matt Barbato (@RealMattBarbato)
That JuJu Smith-Schuster would finish as a top 5 wide receiver, and subsequently drafting him in the first round of drafts. Obviously a lot of his disaster of a season was out of his control, but I took him ahead of guys like Michael Thomas and Julio Jones. My season could have turned out drastically different if I went any number of ways instead of Juju.
– Sam Hoppen (@SamHoppen)
I was not all in on Lamar Jackson as a QB1 in fantasy football. I thought it was absurd that he ran 147 times in 2018 and I did not believe he would be able to duplicate that total and stay healthy. Instead, he had arguably the best season by a quarterback in fantasy football, tallying 1,206 yards rushing and seven rushing touchdowns. He also was a much better passer than I thought he would be, leading the league with 36 touchdown passes. I completely missed the mark on how much he was going to develop in his second year in the league.
– Derek Lofland (@DerekLofland)
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