QB
Cam Newton (BigBadBob)
Drafted: 9th Round (99th Overall) By Dad
# of QB's Drafted/Kept Ahead of Cam: 12
QB Rank: 1
Overall Rank: 1
3544 Passing Yards, 33 Passing TD's, 10 INT's, 626 Rushing Yards, 8 Rushing TD's, 4 Fumbles Lost, 394.36 Fantasy Points
Ton of worthy candidates here as Carson Palmer and Blake Bortles were both 14th round picks as well and had very successful seasons in the fantasy game. At the end of the day though I gotta go with Cam. Cam was supposed to be a do not draft kind of QB this season, especially when Kelvin Benjamin went down with a season ending injury before the season even started. It was thought that with no real weapons, Cam and the Panthers would struggle to score points. DEAD WRONG. Dad didn't even draft Cam as his starting QB, he had drafted Matthew Stafford a couple of rounds before. Stafford's early season struggles led Dad to start using Cam and it paid off big time. Cam accounted for 41 TD's rushing and passing, and was the #1 scorer in our league. Not bad for the 12th QB taken off the board.
WR
Allen Robinson (Sons Of The Harpy)
Drafted: 6th Round (66th Overall) By Drew
# of WR's taken ahead of Robinson: 25
WR Rank: 4
Overall Rank: 18
75 Receptions, 1292 Receiving Yards, 14 Receiving TD's, 250.70 Fantasy Points
Allen Robinson was a sleeper pick in the preseason and more than delivered on that projections. 25 receivers were taken before Drew took a chance on him in Round 6. Robinson was amazing. He was even Drew's "WR 3" on paper when he drafted him yet he way outperformed both Demaryius Thomas and Amari Cooper. He finished as the 4th ranked receiver in our league. I'd say he's a prime candidate to be kept as his price tag is so low.
WR
Brandon Marshall (Winter Is Over)
Brandon Marshall (Winter Is Over)
Drafted: 5th Round (56th Overall) by Alex
# of WR Taken Ahead of Marshall: 22
WR Rank: 5
Overall Rank: 19
101 Receptions, 1376 Receiving Yards, 13 Receiving TD's, 2 Fumble Lost, 262.10 Fantasy Points
Alex fielded a pretty terrible team last year, but he was a Martavis Bryant catch away from making the playoffs for the 2nd straight year and Brandon Marshall was the main reason why. I was 100% wrong about Marshall as I thought after last year's injury riddled, ineffective season (he made the Michael Wiley Dud Team) and then a trade to a team like the Jets who aren't exactly known for being a pass team, he was done as being a fantasy relevant receiver. Not only was he not done, he proceeded to have one of the best seasons of his career, and this isn't a 25 year old receiver we're talking about. Marshall flourished with the Jets, and he ended up being a top 5 WR. Not bad for a 5th round pick(at the time even I thought that was too high).
WR
Doug Baldwin (Rocket Man)
Drafted: 12th Round (139th Overall) By Eugene
# of WR taken before Baldwin: 58
WR Rank: 7
Overall Rank: 30
73 Receptions, 1023 Receiving Yards, 14 Receiving TD's, 222.80 Fantasy Points
Even though he did all of his damage in the 2nd half of the season, you cannot deny the huge impact Doug Baldwin had for Eugene in the playoff stretch. He helped carry Eugene to his 3rd place finish. If you look at the last 7 games Baldwin has played in he had one 9 point game early, but then his lowest game would be 18.5. 5 games of 21.80 or more, the guy was SUPER HOT at the right time. It came outta nowhere and to get this kind of production from a guy who had 58 receivers get drafted before him is just....typical fantasy football. Every week we kept waiting for Baldwin to "come down to earth" and he never did. Now maybe some of it had to do with losing so much depth in the running game with both Lynch and Rawls out during this period. Nevertheless, Baldwin flourished and he was a huge contributor for Eugene.
RB
Devonta Freeman (Hoosier Daddy)
Drafted: 9th Round (100th Overall) By Ryan
# of RB's Taken ahead of Freeman: 36
RB Rank: 1
Overall Rank: 8
980 Rushing Yards, 11 Rushing TD's, 71 Receptions, 560 Receiving Yards, 2 Receiving TD's, 1 Fumble Lost, 265.5 Fantasy Points
The 9th round produced both the #1 ranked QB and #1 RB proving that elite talent can definitely slip to the later rounds. Freeman wasn't even the first Falcons running back taken, it was Tevin Coleman. 36 running backs went ahead of Freeman. He outscored all of them. Dominant as a rusher and a pass catcher, Freeman took advantage of Tevin Coleman's early season injury and never let the starting job go. Up to week 16 he had nearly 1000 yards rushing, over 70 catches for nearly 600 yards receiving and 13 total TD's. How Ryan didn't make the playoffs with both DeAngelo Williams and Devonta Freeman just shows how weak the rest of his roster was. There's no doubt though, Ryan will start strong as Freeman will be a keeper at a 9th round value.
RB
Todd Gurley (No Soup For You)
Drafted: 6th Round (62nd Overall) by Leland
# of RB's taken ahead of Gurley: 23
RB Rank: 5
Overall Rank: 29
1108 Rushing Yards, 10 Rushing TD's, 21 Receptions, 188 Receiving Yards, 1 Fumble Lost, 198.10 Fantasy Points
Gurley was the ultimate high risk, high reward pick. The reason he slipped was because he was coming off a major ACL injury and his timetable was still highly in question. Some people thought he'd miss 2-6 games. It's really hard to take a risk on someone who's a) a rookie, b)coming off a injury and c)playing in a pretty good defensive division. Leland though is a gambler, and he took the risk in round 6 in hopes to find a potential superstar. It paid off tremendously. Gurley only missed two games and he ended up ranking as the 5th best back in the league. He was basically matchup proof and had a terrific rookie season en route to Leland's 2nd championship. What makes it even sweeter is that Gurley, pretty much a for sure top 5 draft pick in redraft leagues, will be kept by Leland as a mere 6th round pick. Those kind of risks are why Leland is hoisting title #2.
TE
Jordan Reed (Light's Broken's Bots)
Drafted: 13th Round (156th Overall) by Matt
# of TE's taken before Reed: 17
TE Rank: 2
Overall Rank: 35
83 Receptions, 907 Receiving Yards, 11 Receiving TD's, 2 Fumble Lost, 194.2 Points
I know his injury history scares off most people..but damn..tight end is always a relatively weak position yet 17 tight ends went before him?! I mean Owen Daniels...Larry Donnell..Coby Fleener (by Matt like 5 rounds earlier!) just his potential alone is worth a shot over them. It's too bad injuries derailed Matt's season, because a fully healthy team of Matt's with the way Jordan Reed played would've been a surefire contender. Reed only missed two games this season and was great, especially towards the end of the season as he really clicked with Kirk Cousins. Only Gronk finished as a better tight end. He's still a big time injury risk, but here's proof that his talent is definitely worth the gamble.
Flex
Doug Martin (RB) (Channel 4 News Team)
Drafted: 5th Round (57th Overall) By Albert
# of RB's taken before Martin: 21
RB Rank: 4
Overall Rank: 28
1354 Rushing Yards, 6 Rushing TD's, 26 Receptions, 211 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD, 5 Fumbles Lost, 201.5 Fantasy Points
After an amazing rookie season (in which he was one Leland's best players in his first championship run) Doug Martin had been starting to like a bust. He had not been able to recapture the success he had in year 1. Most of us passed on him, despite him being in a contract year because of his poor track record recently. Well, he finally broke through again and was the Doug Martin of old. Martin, is still in contention for the rushing title with Adrian Peterson, and finished as the #4 RB in our league. Not bad for a guy who had 21 other running backs drafted over him. He will definitely be an intriguing keeper prospect for Albert at a low price tag next season.
Draft Day Steal of The Year
Devonta Freeman (Hoosier Daddy)
This was tough for me as it was between Freeman and Cam, but I have to give the edge to the running back here as it's so hard to find a dominant running back as it is, much less in round 9. I know Cam finished #1 overall in scoring, but QB's always lead the league in scoring, not to take anything away from Cam because he was terrific and deserves this as well, but Freeman was also great and a potential franchise back as a keeper in round 9 puts him over the top for steal of the year.
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