Did they Follow the Blueprint? | Lessons from an NFFC Footballguys Online Challenge Draft

by Dan Williamson · Featured
NFFC Draft tips

Drafting a bad team and suffering through a lost season might actually be the best way to improve your drafting skills. Nobody wants to suffer that fate. though. It’s much less traumatic to learn from others’ mistakes…or from their successes. We’ll do just that by looking at a recent NFFC Online Championship (The Footballguys Online Challenge) draft board. As a reminder, this is a managed redraft tournament with a cool $300,000 prize for the champion.

We’re not going to focus on player takes here. Instead, we’ll focus on team construction. At the end of the day, we’re all often wrong about players. Even if we’re right, we can still be wrong because of injuries to the player or his teammates that adversely affect his performance. We’ll only indulge in player analysis relative to ADP.

The main focus is on what each team did right in constructing their team and/or what they could have done better. As always, hindsight is 20/20, especially when we aren’t the ones on a 60-second clock.

You can view my first installment of this article and “setting the scene” RIGHT HERE.

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Who was Bob the Builder? Who Crashed and Burned?

Here’s the draft board for a FBG Challenge draft on August 20. Remember, this contest uses third-round reversal (3RR), so the third round starts with Team 12 on a back-to-back turn and ends with Team 1 for the second round in a row. Rounds 3 through 20 run backward from a standard snake draft.

Team 1

This team looks OK on the surface, but the advantage of playing “Monday Morning Quarterback” suggests it could have been much better with a slightly different plan.

Taking an injured Emeka Egbuka nearly a full round ahead of ADP puts this team in a bind at wide receiver right away if he’s not ready for Week 1. There’s a good chance Egbuka would have been there at the end of the third round. When drafting injured players, it’s better to see if they’ll fall past ADP rather than jumping for them early.

Overall, it looks like this manager came in with a list of players he wanted to roster and was not interested in trying to get some ADP value.

Dan’s Grade: C

Team 2

This manager not only took an elite tight end in Brock Bowers, but he doubled down a trio of rounds later with Tyler Warren. This plan can work; Warren can always go into the flex, but it makes it difficult to build the rest of the team without a glaring weakness somewhere.

The good news is this drafter accomplished that task. The key to making it work was waiting on quarterback. He added an upside RB2 in Jonathon Brooks and then solidified running back further with the duo of J.K. Dobbins and Jonah Coleman of the Broncos. Staying patient at QB eventually netted him Jaxson Dart after padding his roster at both RB and WR. Great job by this drafter.

Dan’s Grade: A

Team 3

Here’s a classic “Zero RB” build with a well-executed Bengals stack of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Joe Burrow. The cost came at RB. While Bhayshul Tuten and Jordan Mason look to be the Week 1 starters, it’s a possible weakness. Blake Corum and some other high-potential RBs might shore up the room during the season.

TE blends a low-cost but potentially high-upside Dalton Kincaid with Dalton Schultz, who brings a high floor. This team also takes advantage of this tournament’s Week 1 free-look feature with George Holani in Seattle, the Patriots kicker, and TE Jake Tonges if Kittle isn’t ready.

Corum also qualifies for that free look. Very solid construction here with bonus points for a stack that could be a monster in the Championship Round, if this team can advance.

Dan’s Grade: A

Team 4

Not taking any WRs from Rounds 2 through 6 can be difficult to overcome. Josh Allen sets this team up nicely at QB, and with RBs Derrick Henry, Travis Etienne, and David Montgomery sandwiched around Allen, this team looks set at RB. Appropriately, this drafter only took 2 more RBs in Rico Dowdle and Henry handcuff Justice Hill (Ed. note: IS he really, though?). The WR room looks sketchy, though.

In best ball, this strategy would make more sense. In a managed league, choosing a WR2 and WR3 every week will be frustrating. Then taking a third QB when you have Josh Allen is a wasted pick. The TE room is probably fine, and the Texans’ kicker and Defense should be an advantage.

Had the manager taken a WR in the 4th instead of Etienne, and then an RB in the 7th, it would be a more balanced team.

Dan’s Grade: C

Team 5

This team has some issues with player selection. First, I don’t like starting with three hobbled players over the first four rounds (Puka Nacua, Malik Nabers, and Breece Hall). Taking a RB in Round 5 after a tier of WRs dried up was a smart move, but taking yet another RB in the 6th puts this team a little behind at WR.

The manager recovered nicely, though, with solid choices in rookie KC Concepcion and grisly vet Stefon Diggs in the 7th and 9th rounds, and followed by hammering the position in the 12th through 15th. Structurally, the build works well. The problem comes from too many potential injury issues early in the draft.

Dan’s Grade: C+

Team 6

Solid team. I don’t love it, but I sure don’t hate it, either. With four WRs through six rounds and a pair of very quality RBs (Javonte Williams and Josh Jacobs) the core of this team looks solid.
(Ed note: This article was submitted well in advance of the latest Jacobs news)

Caleb Williams was a solid QB value in the 7th round. The TE room looks promising, with the potential to flex out either George Kittle or Isaiah Likely if they both hit. I wish this drafter had taken one more WR instead of either Chigoziem Okonkwo or LeQuint Allen. Nevertheless, this team should be in the mix to advance.

Dan’s Grade: B+

The Back Half

Team 7

Starting off with Jonathan Taylor and De’Von Achane makes this team fairly unique because Taylor usually goes in the late 1st or early 2nd, while Achane usually lasts into the late 2nd. It’s a nice twist, followed up with four straight WRs to give the team balance.

Taking Justin Herbert as his only QB and Kyle Pitts as his only TE makes this team more fragile than it needs to be. I understand going light at one of those positions. Both is… a little extreme. He gains extra depth at WR and RB, but I’m not sure this helps his cause as much as another QB or TE would. 

Dan’s Grade: B

Team 8

Here’s the better way to execute a similar strategy to Team 7. Through the first seven rounds, both teams are extremely well-built. Team 8 begins to separate by taking an extra RB in the eighth.

Pushing back QB until the 11th round brings in yet another backup RB before pulling the QB room together adroitly with a Brock Purdy and Bo Nix combination. AJ Barner gives access to the Week 1 free look. The whole build is exceptionally well-balanced and shows that it’s possible to build a very strong team from one of the least-desired draft slots on the board.

Dan’s Grade: A

Team 9

The 9-hole can be a really nice slot to build some value. It’s even better when some players slip past their usual ADP, and this manager did not miss when that happened. Chase Brown, George Pickens, and Parker Washington were ADP gifts.

Following his double-RB start with five-straight WRs makes both positions a strength. Getting two more RBs in before another ADP gift in Trevor Lawrence pushes the build to even greater heights. The late double-tap on TEs with Terrance Ferguson and Juwan Johnson gives a nice ceiling/floor combo. This team shows what happens when skilled drafting intersects with values falling into a manager’s lap.

Dan’s Grade: A+

Team 10

How this manager passed on stacking CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, in favor of a gimpy Jeremiyah Love, goes beyond my ability to comprehend. That costs championships.

Taking Drake Maye in the 7th round was a nice pick. Other than the Pickens/Love decision, everything else about this team makes sense. Nevertheless, it just feels too light at WR. Carnell Tate needs to start strong and be a solid contributor all season, and Davante Adams needs to stay healthy. If those things happen, this team will be fine. I think a better drafter could have built a much better team out of this draft slot in this particular room.

Dan’s Grade: C+

Team 11

In the 10, 11, and 12 slots, starting off the draft with 1 RB and 1 WR (in either order) sets these teams up to scoop up value in the 3rd round and at the 4-5 turn without feeling “forced” into taking a player based more on his position than his value.

This manager resisted the temptation to wander away from RB and WR through the first nine rounds and built deep benches at both positions early in the draft. The Patrick Mahomes and Jalen Hurts pairing at QB took advantage of this year’s trend of pushing back QBs.

Unfortunately, his TE room is the weakest in the entire league, and it’s not even close. Better answers at TE would have pushed the team grade to an “A.”

Dan’s Grade: B

Team 12

Through the first 6 rounds, this manager was off to a solid start, drafting quality players and following a sensible plan. Then, Dak Prescott happened in the 7th round. Reaching for Dak there wasn’t necessary, as he almost certainly would have made it to the 8/9 turn.

Instead, he got caught short at RB and WR at the Rounds 8/9 turn, when both positions hit major tier breaks just before his picks. This isn’t a team that could afford to burn an early Round 9 pick on an injured TE2 (Sam LaPorta) or take a vanity kicker at the 10/11 turn.

This manager was on his way to a B+ or better, but going off the rails in the 7th round torpedoed the early promise upon which this team was poised to deliver.

Dan’s Grade: C-

Final Whistle

It will be interesting to see how this league plays out. We know that injuries and surprises will make a mockery of these grades before the season is half over. That said, I firmly believe some of these teams not only put themselves ahead of the field, but at least a couple have the depth to withstand at least average injury misfortune. We can only grade what we see with the information we have at present. 

Hopefully, this exercise exposed some of the ways to screw up a draft, as well as best practices that will help you succeed in drafting your own winning entry in the NFFC Online Challenge. Undoubtedly, when you study the board, you will find your own takeaways that will sharpen your edge. Good luck and happy drafting!


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