Tue May 23rd 2023

Grading My Reality Sports Online Rookie Draft

One of my favorite leagues is my Reality Sports Online league. It's my only salary cap league where players are signed to contracts. If you've yet to try a league like this, you really should. It adds a whole new layer of complexity to building a roster.

Rookies get three-year contracts, and the higher the pick, the higher the cost of their initial contract. Just like in the NFL, you can pick up one option year on rookies before you have to decide to sign them to a second contract. When players' contracts expire, they get entered into the free agency pool, and each year there is an auction draft for the free agents, so in a dynasty league like this, we have two drafts a year, a rookie draft and a free agent draft. How fun is that?

This is the only league I'm in that I co-manager a team. My good buddy, Dave Brown, and I co-manage this team, and it's been super fun to do together. We've done well, too. We've won the championship three out of the six years and taken home the cash for the highest-scoring team almost every year. Last year we lost in the semi-finals, leaving us with pick #10 in the rookie draft.

Before the draft, we placed the franchise tag on Austin Ekeler and picked up the fourth-year option on Najee Harris. Jamaal Williams is our only other running back under contract, so we'll need to pick up some running backs in the free-agent auction. Matthew Stafford is our only quarterback under contract. We can only pick up the fourth-year option on one player, so we had to let Justin Herbert go into the free-agent pool. We'll be able to pick up a quarterback in free agency since it is a one-quarterback league, and quarterbacks get signed to reasonable contracts. We're stacked at wide receiver with CeeDee Lamb, Chris Olave, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Terry McLaurin under contract. Our only tight end under contract is Greg Dulcich, but we looked to add tight ends in this draft since that is what we thought would fall to us at 1.10.

For context, this is a 1-QB, PPR league where we start ten players, 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE, and 4 flex.

Here is how the draft played out.

Round One

1. Bijan Robinson

2. Jahmyr Gibbs

3. Jaxon Smith-Njigba 

4. Quentin Johnston

5. Zay Flowers

6. Anthony Richardson

7. Jordan Addison

8. Devon Achane

9. Zach Charbonnet

10. Michael Mayer ** Our Pick

11. Josh Downs

12. Kendre Miller

• Jordan Addison fell further in this draft than I've seen in any of my other one-quarterback leagues. I've seen Richardson and Johnston drafted ahead of Addison in a few drafts but never Zay Flowers, so that was a slight surprise. It's also the first time I have seen Achane drafted ahead of Charbonnet. They are back-to-back in my rankings, so it was not a huge surprise, but it was the first time Achane had gone ahead of Charbonnet. Another first in this draft is Josh Downs getting drafted in the first round at #12. He's been drafted as late as 14, 17, and 19 in my one-quarterback rookie drafts. Rookie drafts in salary cap leagues differ slightly from regular dynasty drafts in that immediate productivity is essential. Players need to break out quickly so managers can decide to extend their contracts, which they can only do with two players they draft. As a result, managers draft a little differently than in typical dynasty drafts, which is why tight ends fell in this draft.
• Speaking of tight ends, we were pleased to select Michael Mayer in the first round. We hoped Charbonnet would fall to us at 1.10, but he was picked right before us. I've already written too much about my love for Mayer, and I've put my money where my mouth is by drafting him three leagues so far. Mayer will be the next big play-tight end in this league, a steady Jason Witten type of producer who will prove it in year one and help us for the next three years.

Round Two

13. Dalton Kincaid

14. Jonathan Mingo

15. Tyjae Spears

16. Tank Bigsby

17. Roschon Johnson

18. C.J. Stroud

19. Bryce Young

20. Jaylin Hyatt

21. Rashee Rice

22. Sam LaPorta ** Our Pick

23. Jaylen Reed

24. Marvin Mims

• In salary cap leagues, the second-tier running backs get pushed ahead of the second-tier wide receivers because they have higher odds of producing early in their career, giving managers more clarity about extending their contract or not. That's why it was not a big surprise to see Spears, Bigsby, and Johnson drafted ahead of Rice, Mims, and Reed, who were often get drafted before some of these running backs. Spears and Bigsby have a quicker path to playing time than Johnson, so Johnson is the only reach in this round. Khalil Herbert and D'Onta Foreman will both be ahead of him on the depth chart, whereas Spears and Bigsby will only have Derrick Henry and Travis Ettiene ahead of them, and their coachings staffs drafted them to keep their starters healthy by giving them less work.
• Jalin Hyatt was the other reach in this round. He should not get drafted ahead of players with better NFL draft capital and a less crowded wide receiver corps than him. He has a loaded wide receiver room in New York and has to earn a role ahead of WanDale Robinson, Darius Slayton, Sterling Shepard, Parris Campbell, and my favorite of the bunch, Isaiah Hodgins. Hyatt has been a polarizing player throughout the draft season, and his situation worsened once the Giants drafted him. Some managers like him because he was drafted 6th in one of my leagues and 20th in this draft. He's gone at 24 and 28 in my other drafts, and I have him ranked 24th.
• As for our pick, we didn't plan to pick a second tight end, but LaPorta was the highest-ranked player on our board. We had him ranked #14. Jayden Reed was the other player we considered taking there, but he's 22nd in our rankings. We debated it but thought Green Bay's crowded pass-catching room and new quarterback would make Reed slow to break out. We did not consider Mims because we thought it would take him too long to break out in Denver. Bottom line, we went with our board and now have three very young tight ends on our roster with Mayer, LaPorta, and Dulcich. We're sure one, if not two, will break out this year.

Round Three

25. Will Levis

26. Israel Abanikanda

27. Zach Evans

28. Cedric Tillman

29. Chase Brown ** Our Pick

30. Deuce Vaughn

31. Evan Hull

32. Tank Dell

33. Kayshon Boutte

34. Luke Schoonmaker

35. Luke Musgrave

36. DeWayne McBride

• It's hard to criticize any of these picks in the third round of a salary cap league. We only do three rounds in a league like this because you can only extend two rookie contracts after three years. You can pick up the one-year option for one player and sign an extended new deal with another, and both cost a lot of money. If you hit on all three rookie picks, you'll have to let one of them walk after three years. We've tended to extend the wide receivers we've hit on in the draft and pick up the option on running backs or use the franchise tag on running backs, treating them more like year-to-year players. We've extended contracts to Terry McLaurin and CeeDee Lamb. We could extend Amon-Ra St. Brown this year and Chris Olave next year. All of that to say, these third-round picks are players managers pick for upside and hope to see quickly so that they can decide what to do with them.
• We were happy that Chase Brown fell to us at 3.5. We love his college production and landing spot and feel like he has the easiest pathway to playing time compared to the other running backs drafted in this third round. He should have a chance to get playing time this year, and if he does well enough, the Bengals could move on from Joe Mixon after this season. 

My Roster

• We now have 13 players under contract on our squad, so we can pick up 12 players in the free-agent auction. We have the fifth highest amount of salary cap space, so we can be aggressive in the free agent auction once the top players are taken at the highest prices. We must sign a quarterback to a long-term contract in the auction, where Justin Herbert and Tua Tagovailoa are our top targets. There are four top-tier running backs in the free agent pool now, and the teams with more salary cap room will likely fight each other for those running backs. We'll aim to pick up some of the middle-tier running backs and sign them to longer contracts, which is what we did when we signed Jamaal Williams in free agency two years ago. We're stacked at wide receiver, but we will add a free receiver in the free agent auction as well, but we won't have to spend up on the high-priced guys like other managers will. We may decide to pick up a cheap veteran tight end, but we'll know before the free agent auction in August if our young tight ends will be every-down starters or not. Our core is extremely strong. After we add a few pieces at the right price, we'll be poised to make another championship run.

Quarterbacks

• Matthew Stafford

Running Backs

• Austin Ekeler, Najee Harris, Jamaal Williams, Chase Brown

Wide Receivers

• CeeDee Lamb, Chris Olave, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Terry McLaurin, Josh Palmer

Tight Ends

• Michael Mayer, Sam LaPorta, Greg Dulcich

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