With the contest now locked, here is my
roster:
QB - Tom Brady - NE/9 - $15
QB - Tyrod Taylor - BUF/10 - $11
QB - Case Keenum - LA/8 - $2
RB - David Johnson - ARI/9 - $30
RB - LeVeon Bell - PIT/8 - $27
RB - Rashad Jennings - NYG/8 - $12
RB - Derrick Henry - TEN/13 - $7
RB - Christine Michael - SEA/5 - $4
WR - Antonio Brown - PIT/8 - $35
WR - Julian Edelman - NE/9 - $19
WR - Josh Gordon - CLE/13 - $13
WR - Mohamed Sanu - ATL/11 - $7
WR - Will Fuller - HOU/9 - $6
WR - Devin Funchess - CAR/7 - $6
WR - Rishard Matthews - TEN/13 - $6
WR - Kenny Stills - MIA/8 - $4
WR - Davante Adams - GB/4 - $3
TE - Jimmy Graham - SEA/5 - $10
TE - Clive Walford - OAK/10 - $6
TE - Virgil Green - DEN/11 - $4
TE - Crockett Gillmore - BAL/8 - $3
TE - Jesse James - PIT/8 - $2
PK - Sebastian Janikowski - OAK/10 - $3
PK - Ryan Succop - TEN/13 - $2
PK - Andrew Franks - MIA/8 - $2
PK - Nick Folk - NYJ/11 - $2
TD - Dallas Cowboys - DAL/7 - $3
TD - New Orleans Saints - NO/5 - $2
TD - San Diego Chargers - SD/11 - $2
TD - Tennessee Titans - TEN/13 - $2
My writeup from last year basically covers my
strategy. The biggest change this year is that I put more emphasis on the wk14-16 playoffs, including Brady, Bell, J Gordon, and Graham. Graham was the biggest reach for playoff upside - I'm expecting him to have low ownership numbers and he has a shot at putting up a lot of playoff points if he is healthy by then.
My roster this year has a similar shape to last year's, with 30 players (vs. last year's 29), a few studs at RB & WR, and lots of cheap options at WR, TE, PK, and Def in keeping with the "throw numbers at it" best ball strategy. I was hoping to take a 5th defense this year, to take further advantage of the fact that every defense has the same weekly ceiling (plus this year's lower Def prices), but ran into the 30 player cap. Used up 8 slots and $18 on PK+Def.
I considered the strategy of getting more cheap handcuff/lottery ticket RBs (C Michael, A Morris, R Turbin, etc.) because of the chance that they'll be playoff starters. I decided that they mostly weren't worth the price (especially with roster slots at a premium and with many other people following that strategy) so I ended up only getting 2 cheapish RBs who have season-long committee value as well as unusually high upside if that injury strikes. Unfortunately, I expect them both to have high ownership.
I expect much of my roster to be pretty highly owned (or at least widely considered), so it's not really worth going through player-by-player to highlight the obvious reasons for their value. Tyrod Taylor, Rashad Jennings, Julian Edelman, and Jimmy Graham are the players who might count as "
my guys" where I'm higher on them than most people are. Taylor put up Russell Wilson-like numbers last year (
literally) and has high weekly upside plus a weak playoff schedule, Jennings is unusually cheap for a starting RB with a strong chance to be his team's clear lead back (and he looked good late last year in that role), Edelman (like Welker before him) has
reliably been a high-end PPR WR when he's played, and I already said nice things about Graham.
The players not on my roster that were hardest for me to part with were LeSean McCoy, Robert Turbin, Chris Conley, and the Cleveland Browns defense.