Anatomy of Blowing up a Maiden Draft

[HEADBANGER]

Hello all, been here a while but seldom post. **Warning** long post so if this isn't your thing no need to read on.

Wanted to share my last year FFPC Superflex maiden draft built for 2021, how I missed on QB, and how/why I already gutted the team for 2022 and beyond. I traded out of the maiden draft 1.07 + my 2021 1st for maiden picks 2.12 and 3.01. The idea was to draft very young and contend in 2021 for many years once the QB develop.

QB Tua, Lock, Love
RB Taylor, Swift, Hunt, Dillon
WR Godwin, DJM, Jefferson, Mims, Pittman, Edwards
TE Engram and Fant

Loved the young team and draft but most the way into the season was struggling: Neither QB's looked good, all three rookie RB were struggling while the WR and TE were doing well. I had an offer in which would allow me to likely get at least one rookie QB. I was offered three 2021 1st for Taylor and Godwin (before Taylor blew up). I had no 2021 1st at that time. Needing better QB my plan was not working out and I banked on all three picks being early so I took the deal with new plan to contend in 2022. Those picks became 1.01, 1.02 and 1.06 so I could not be more happy for the trade. I am not sold on Tua so last month sold him for 2021 1.09 and 2.01. With four 1st and four 2nd 2021 draft picks I sold 2.04 and 2.06 for 2022 1st. Sold 2.12 for 2022 2nd. Mid-season I landed WR Ridley. I love Ridley but with new plan for 2022 I decided to trade him now as would be 28 by time I am ready to content. I sold Ridley, 1.02 and 2.01 for 1.04, 1.05, 2022 1st and 2022 2nd. Gave up a bit of value, already have 1.01 so taking Lawrence and have so many holes to fill this trade did the job while getting me even younger plus spreads out the pick evenly over the two rookie drafts. I am still looking to move Hunt, that has proven difficult, likely I move him during the season.

Team is full of holes due to gutting it but has a good base with EIGHT firsts and THREE seconds over the next two years.

QB Lock, Trubisky and Foles (likely cut the Chicago guys)
RB Swift, Hunt, Gallman
WR Jefferson, DJM, Pittman, Edwards, Davis
TE Engram and Fant

2021 1.01, 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.09........2022 THREE 1st and THREE 2nd.


Sorry for the long post, maybe others been in the same boat or situation so thought I would share my journey.


Curious, did I go the right thing to blow up the team less than one year after the maiden draft? Would you have done the same or different midway through last year? What would you you do with all the picks? Open to thought or ideas but I plan to take BPA with all the current picks and stand pat with the picks.

[Gator Sens]

First off, having the 1.01 helps level things out a bit with landing Lawrence and starting to build around him. I'm not crazy about the Taylor/Godwin deal at all, but without that trade there would be no Lawrence. Going BPA in the draft seems like a great plan to maximize value for your team and on the market. The best part about having all the picks is not having to force anything given your build. You can take the best player with each pick and start to build/strengthen your core. That being said, if BPA is similar once otc between a TE and a different position, I would go non TE as TE should be the last focus when retooling in my opinion. They are so hard to hit on and it's not worth the gamble when using early round picks. Swift (I would consider moving for a big overpay), Jefferson, Moore and to an extent, Pittman are who I would look to build around. I would make all other players available and see if any good deals come in. I would also hold Davis if that is G. Davis and see how he grows with Allen. Even in SF, I would move Lock for any decent offer as he looks very risky moving forward. The retool could take a year or two, so I would not force a second or third QB either. Early picks next year will help you too.

Enjoy it and you have some solid building blocks in place and Lawrence is a great prize to help jump start the whole thing.

[krtbuckeye]

It’s always tough looking back at certain trades, in this case the Taylor/Godwin trade, but at the time I’m sure it looked a steal. Also, without it you wouldn’t be in a spot to draft Lawrence, so can’t be too upset there. Overall, I think the goal of pushing competing out a bit was the right one considering the returns you got on the majority of these deals. It should be fun drafting and seeing who of those picks hits!

[HEADBANGER]

Thanks, Taylor and Godwin trade about week 9 when both were struggling, love both players but I gambled those picks would be high and got lucky with where they landed. FFPC non playoff teams play to win the 1.01 etc and was pleased what the picks became. One those picks was my own, another was the team that I traded with. We both missed playoffs and those became the 1.01 and 1.02 as we advanced to the toilet bowl so did not have to sweat the outcome . DLF trade calculator shows the deal in my favor now, at trade time was very even along with game both team what they needed, always a win-win.

No secret, I will go Lawrence with the 1.01 and the 4, 5, 6, and 9 should get some outstanding talent.

[killer_of_giants]

I traded out of the maiden draft 1.07 + my 2021 1st for maiden picks 2.12 and 3.01. The idea was to draft very young and contend in 2021 for many years once the QB develop.

trading away your 1st before even making a single pick and then deliberately going for a team you didn't expect to compete right away is a contraddiction and the biggest mistake i see. not sure how the draft shaked up, but the decision to bank your strategy on only 2 QBs with big question marks developing was also suspect.

i would have restructured that team as well midway throgh the season, but i think you lost a bit of value (hindsight plays a part though). you still need 2 QBs, 2RBs and 2WRs of high level. those picks are nice, but you need a high success rate in both drafts to be competitive in 2 years.

sit back and don't force things, draft BPA or trade your picks for good value on the clock (you don't necessarily need young assets, if you think you can sell them later on for more, bit of a gamble and league dependent).

[HEADBANGER]

trading away your 1st before even making a single pick and then deliberately going for a team you didn't expect to compete right away is a contraddiction and the biggest mistake i see. not sure how the draft shaked up, but the decision to bank your strategy on only 2 QBs with big question marks developing was also suspect.

Thank you for the perspective Killer, an interesting take indeed. I traded back a few times in the start up to go heavy rounds 2-7. I had 9 picks by end of 7th round with 2 QB on the roster in Tua and Lock.

I had just completed another maiden same format before joining this one so knew where many of the young players and 2020 rookies were going which was whom I was targeting. Keep in mind, FFPC Superflex devalue QB a bit. 1 pt every 25 yards passing, -2 for interceptions, 4 for passing TD. This off-season they added any player that losses a fumble gets -1 so QB will get dinged even a bit more than other positions.

[blacklab1010]

I like the way you are sitting now and believe this was the perfect year to gamble on rookies.

If it were me I would be looking at these picks as these players. Obviously landing spots will matter somewhat but most of my take is in the abilities of the players and tape I have watched.

1.01 lawrence
1.03 chase or harris
1.04 smith
1.05 waddle, or etienne if you already got chase at 1.03
1.06 pitts
1.09 waddle, etienne, williams, or bateman 1 of them will still be here

You will be sitting very good

PS.... get George Pickens in the 2022 draft!!!!

[HEADBANGER]

One quick updated to this, just sold Hunt for 2.02 rookie pick. FFPC rookie draft is this Saturday so will be time to put these picks to use.

[robinoso]

I don’t have much for your team as I don’t SF.

What I do like is the story for the year and reasonings. I wish we could see more of these posts.

If I were more ambitious, I’d try to make a book you can read while on the toilet out of them

[HEADBANGER]

First couple rounds are over, I made six rookie first and one second round pick. I have two 2022 1st and two 2022 seconds. I am still lacking in the RB department but I could not be happier with the blowing up of the maiden & feel won track to contend in 2022 and well beyond.

QB Lawrence 1.01, WR Chase 1.04, QB Lance 1.05, QB Fields 1.06, RB Javante 1.08, WR Waddle 1.11, WR Bateman 2.04

Here was my team after the maiden draft last year.
QB Tua, Lock, Love
RB Taylor, Swift, Hunt, Dillon
WR Godwin, DJM, Jefferson, Mims, Pittman, Edwards
TE Fant & Engram

Here is my current team after two rounds
QB Lawrence, Lance, Chase, Lock
RB Swift, Javante
WR Jefferson, Chase, DJM, Waddle, Bateman, Pittman, Edwards,
TE Fant, Engram

[HEADBANGER]

FWIW I looked at today's DLF trade calculator to see the values of the players on the big trade that made me decide to blow it up.

Traded away Taylor & Godwin = 1139 for three future first which became Lawrence, Lance, Chase = 1730
Will be interesting to see what the calc says about this next year...

EDIT, just traded away Lock for 2022 2nd from a good team so is likely a later pick. He owns Teddy so he's trying to lock up Broncos QB. Also traded away Trubisky to the Allen owner future 5th for their 4th. I made the offer to get something versus dropping him at cut time in Sept.

[HEADBANGER]

Wanted to update my team and how things worked out this year after blowing up the maiden team. I finished the regular season at 10-4 with 1938 points, good enough for 5th most points and 4th overall finish. I advanced to the playoffs. FFPC rules top 2 teams get a bye so seeds 3-6 have a one week playoff game to make the finals with top 2 scores advance and bottom two are out. Sadly I missed advancing by 0.44 so finished the season in 6th place out of the money.

I made two moves to make a run at the title middle of November once I knew would make the playoffs.
SOLD QB Fields, QB Lance, WR Waddle, TWO 2022 1st and BOUGHT QB Lamar, Wilson, WR Adams, RB Montgomery.
BOUGHT RB Melvin Gordon for a late 2022 2nd. As I have Javonte hoped one would take over & covered myself in case of injury at a cheap price.

Final Roster as of today:
QB Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrance, Zack Wilson
RB D'Andre Swift, David Montgomery, Javonte Williams, Melvin Gordon
WR Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Davante Adams, DJ Moore, Michael Pittman, WR Rashod Bateman
TE Noah Fant, Evan Engram, Dan Arnold
K Folk and D Dallas both finished #1 for their positions

Two late 2nds, one late 3rd are my earliest picks.

Though I lack top picks in 2022 I feel ready to contend next year. I will need one of the rookie QB to step up and will need another great year from Adams. I need to improve the TE position, hopefully Engram moves to a better team. My RB and WR core is solid and deep. Thanks for reading.

[vixen]

I traded out of the maiden draft 1.07 + my 2021 1st for maiden picks 2.12 and 3.01. The idea was to draft very young and contend in 2021 for many years once the QB develop.

wait, you traded 2 first round picks for 2.12 and 3.01? I don't like that trade at all. you moved back a round and a half. you shouldn't have needed to add your future 1st in that deal.

[HEADBANGER]

I traded out of the maiden draft 1.07 + my 2021 1st for maiden picks 2.12 and 3.01. The idea was to draft very young and contend in 2021 for many years once the QB develop.

wait, you traded 2 first round picks for 2.12 and 3.01? I don't like that trade at all. you moved back a round and a half. you shouldn't have needed to add your future 1st in that deal.

In the maiden/Startup draft I traded down from 1.07 and my 2021 future 1st for picks 2.12 & 3.01. Believe this was a great move for me.