The Top 5 Best and Worst Draft Picks of 2017.
The playoffs are here and that means some teams are in, and some are out. So I started looking through the draft results, attempting to find some sleepers and some busts, just to see where some teams went wrong and some went right. Which made me think of an idea to write about. What were some of the best picks and what were some of the worst? So after a couple hours of scouring through veterans with early season-ending injuries, rookies with amazing early or late-season breakthroughs, I finally found some worthy draft picks that for better or for worse, made my list.
Before I started making this list, I told myself, I’m going to stay away from injuries. It’s not Hoover’s fault that David Johnson decided to hurt his wrist so he could help the Lions win a game. And it’s not Spishak’s fault Odell faked an injury so he didn’t have to endure a pitiful season. But the problem with not using injuries is that I had to find truly bad picks that played for most of the season. But I couldn’t find many! There were lots of players who had mediocre seasons, putting up an average of 9-12 points a game, but not many averaged 3-6 who weren’t injured. So I had a decision to make: only do the top 5 best picks, or I could use injuries in the worst cases, laugh at whoever took them, and give them an honorable mention. Of course, I chose the latter.
The way I decided on the top 5 for each was to take into account how many points they’ve scored on the season, how consistent they’ve been and where in the draft they were chosen. Also after each worst pick, I gave some other options drafted closely after who’ve outperformedsaid player. So with that, here are your top 5 best and worst draft picks of 2017.
The Worst 5 Picks
#5:With the 9th Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, the Lucky Bass Turds select:
Jordan Howard, Chicago Bears
Now, don’t get me wrong, looking back, I actually liked this pick. However, it just didn’t work out for Kephart and the Turds. Howard, a first-round pick performed like a 3rd-4th round pick. Before the season started, the Bears took Mitchell Trubisky in the real NFL draft, and signed Mike Glennon to a billion-dollar contract because…...? Ok, that’s beside the point. Anyways, after a promising 2016 season where Howard finished 2nd in rushing yardage behind Ezekiel Elliott, the running back looked poised to take over the Bears and their questionable quarterbacksfor 2017. Until they started using Tarik Cohen. Chicago went with the back by committee concept and most likely gave coach Kephart a headache with his inconsistency throughout the season. With six games above 14 points and six games below 8, this allowed Kephart to take his weekly trip to the pharmacy to pick up a bottle of aspirin. All in all, this wasn’t a bad pick, just a bad result.
Players the Turds could have taken instead: Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Christian McCaffrey, or Todd Gurley, (He later ended up getting Gurley anyways).
#4:With the 22nd Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, the Thunder Bay Rats select:
Amari Cooper, Oakland Raiders
The Rats and their GM Robert Tubbs decided to rely heavily on the AFC West drafting Melvin Gordon, Alex Smith, Michael Crabtree, Emmanuel Sanders and unfortunately Amari Cooper. Amari has been a headache all year for Tubbs based on his inconsistency as well. With just two games above 15 points, Cooper has been no better than a last choice flex-option. Cooper has only seen one game with more than five receptions and got a whopping 44 points that game! But, Coach Tubbs decided to bench him and start his counterpart Crabtree who got him 11 points. Not to mention he is currently riding the injury report with a concussion. However, you can’t give the Rats too much flak as he takes on the 6-seed Flaming Fish this week in the playoffs.
Players the Rats could have taken instead: Lamar Miller, Brandin Cooks, Travis Kelce, Leonard Fournette
#3:With the 14th Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, the Dog Pound selects
Jay Ajayi, Miami Dolphins/Philadelphia Eagles
Ouch. After an impressive 2016 season, Jay Ajayi, can truly be considered a bust this year. Last year the Dolphins back finished 4th in total yardage and even scored a decent eight TD’s. This year…. was a different story to say the least. Ajayi has zero games above 15 points this year and just five games above ten. Most Ajayi owners probably hoped for a jumpstart after being traded from the second-rate Dolphins to the charging Eagles of Philly. Ehhhh, it got better but not by much. He did score over ten points two games in a row along with his first and only touchdown of the season but that’s all. This Dog got left at the Pound.
Players Dog Pound could have taken instead: Christian McCaffrey, Michael Thomas, Mike Evans, Todd Gurley.
#2:With the 42ndPick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, the Gamblers select
Terrell Pryor, Washington Redskins
I like to think I’m the apple that fell pretty far from the tree when it comes to fantasy football. Like ways away. Even though Pryor is now on the IR and I said I wouldn’t use injuries, this one was still bad and I couldn’t stay away. The Gamblers 3rd round choice had just one game above 15 points this year and two above ten. He’s also had just 50 points all year, putting his name along the stat lines with Taywan Taylor, Chester Rogers, and Johnny Holton. Who? Yes, I know, that was my point. I can see where this pick came from considering he had a good year last year breaking the 1000-yard mark, but this year he didn’t break 240.
Players The Gamblers could have taken instead: Alshon Jeffrey, Golden Tate, Michael Thomas, and Larry Fitzgerald.
#1:With the 64thPick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, the Dog Pound selects
Willie Snead, New Orleans Saints
So many things had to go wrong for this pick to be a bad one. And they did. Just days after our draft, the NFL suspended Snead for three games. Week 4-Injured, Inactive, Week 5-Bye, Week 6- one catch, Week 7- Injured, Inactive, Week 8- Active! No catches. So midway through the season Snead has 2.1 points on the year. Can’t get much worse, right? WRONG. Luckily, the Dog Pound hadn’t started Snead all year until week 9 due to others on a bye. AND HE FUMBLES ON A PUNT RETURN, NOT A RECEPTION, NOT A CARRY, A STUPID PUNT RETURN, (which he shouldn’t lose points on in my opinion since he’s not able to earn any points in any way on a punt return), so, he finished the game with -1 point. Snead has just 63 yards on the season and is the #1 bust of the year.
Players the Dog Pound could have taken instead: Literally anybody.
Honorable Mentions:
Ameer Abdullah- Shak Attak
Isaiah Crowell- Pretty Pretty Ballers
Jacquizz Rodgers- Gonzalo’s Goobies
Andrew Franks- Salty Dogs
Robert Aguayo- Thunder Bay Rats
Paul Perkins- Wrenis Pinkles
IR Honorable Mentions:
Sebastian Jankowski- Dog Pound
Allen Robinson- Lucky Bass Turds
Tyler Eifert- Pretty Pretty Ballers
David Johnson- Hoover Vacuums
Odell Beckham- Shak Attak
Dalvin Cook- Wrenis Pinkles
Jordan Reed- G-mans Maulers
Greg Olsen- Salty Dogs
Brandon Marshall- The Gamblers
Rob Kelley- Flaming Fish
Aaron Rodgers- The Gamblers
The Top 5 Picks
This was actually way tougher than I thought. There were lots of good players taken later than they should have been taken. I put down a ton of good picks but unfortunately there’s only room for 5. So here we go.
#5:With the 37th Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, Shak Attak selects:
Kareem Hunt, Kansas City Chiefs
This was a tough choice between 4 and 5. But I decided on Kareem. Kareem has come a long way from fumbling on his very first rushing attempt of his career. He scored a whopping 52 points in his first game, followed by two 28-pointers. The Chiefs back is third in rushing yards and 4th in fantasy points amongst running backs this year. I put him at 5th just because as the Chiefs have been struggling, so has he. His last five opponents have held him under 11 points and Kansas City looks just plain Ugly.
#4:With the 69th Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, Gonzalo’s Goobies selects:
DeAndre Hopkins, Houston Texans
Not gonna lie, early on I thought this pick was a waste. I drafted Hopkins out of thought that “hey, he was a great wide receiver without a quarterback the last few years, let’s see what he can do with DeShaun Watson!” Well, my thoughts were wrong as they trotted out Tom Savage to start week 1. Man was I upset. But luckily they brought out Watson and I was relieved. He threw for 1 touchdown which was to Hopkins. Hopkins never slowed down having just 1 game under ten points (9.9), and even when Watson fell to an injury, Hopkins still produced getting 15-21 points in every game since. Hopkins is the #2 fantasy wide receiver this year right behind Antonio Brown (also owned by me).
#3:With the 183rd Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, Wrenis Pinkles selects:
Evan Engram: New York Giants
The tight end seemed to be the only one who could produce for the Giants this year even if it wasn’t much. Maybe it was just me but it seemed like tight ends were incredibly underperforming this year. It seemed if your tight end got you 10 points it was a good day. I don’t know, maybe my tight ends just sucked and I’m ranking this pick too high. Oh well, Engram is 5th amongst tight ends in fantasy points this season and he was the 3rd to last tight end picked in the draft. So being picked 26th of 28 and ending up 5th seems pretty good to me. The Giants TE had 5 games over 15 points this year and aside from a few games, he’s been a reliable tight end. I think.
#2:
With the 136th Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, The Gamblers select:
Carson Wentz, Philadelphia Eagles
After starting 2016 3-0 Carson Wentz was poised to make his rookie season one to remember. But he ended up finishing 7-9 and had to wait another season to try and make his mark in Philly history. I think it’s safe to say by now that he hit the mark. Wentz and the Eagles are 10-2 on the season and the quarterback has been outstanding. He is 2nd in quarterbacks this year, right behind Russell Wilson. Wentz has only two games under 20 points this year which is pretty good if you ask me. The problem is, he was underutilized by The Gamblers this season. He was used just twice before his starting QB Aaron Rodgers injured his collarbone in week 6. Sounds like the 4-9 Gamblers could have found a trade for one of his QB’s but by the time he was about to put him on the block, down goes Rodgers.
#1:With the 157th Pick of the 2017 NiteMare Fantasy Football League, The Fudge Packers select:
Adam Thielen, Minnesota Vikings
If the 10-3 Fudgies go on to win the Super Bowl, I think he needs to send Thielen a thank you note. Drafted in the 12th round but performing like a 2nd rounder, Thielen proved he was ready to be a WR1 for the Packers, Fudge Packers that is. Thielen is 7th amongst wide receivers this year even with Case Keenum as the main QB. He’s played in every game, with six games above 15 points and his low at 8.4. If Thielen was more of a red zone threat he’d be even more dominant. He already surpassed 1000 yards this year but only has three touchdowns.
Honorable Mentions:
Alex Smith- Thunder Bay Rats
DeShaun Watson- Pretty Pretty Ballers
Zach Ertz- Mudville Swines
Todd Gurley- Lucky Bass Turds
Jarvis Landry- G-mans Maulers
Larry Fitzgerald- Fudge Packers
Keenan Allen- Hoover Vacuums
Tyreek Hill- Mudville Swines
Russell Wilson- Salty Dogs
Ravens DST- Fudge Packers
I also noticed a few transactions that made some teams a little more respected along the way so….
Honorable Transactions:
Alvin Kamara- Thunder Bay Rats
Marvin Jones- The Gamblers
Robby Anderson- Fudge Packers
There might be more of those but there’s no easy way for me to search those up.
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed my article. Any honorable mentions I missed or any honorable mentions that should be in either top 5? I’m always open for discussion. Good luck to all in the Super Bowl or the Toilet Bowl!