One of the “newer” trends, if we can call it that in fantasy football, is the use of a superflex position (meaning you can slot a QB into the flex spot). I wanted to participate in at least one such draft with this format this season. Jake Ciely invited me to participate in the Flex Draft and I was able to wiggle into the superflex league. What follows is my report on how the 12-team draft played out. Hint: it went very, very well.
PARTICIPANTS
*Players listed in draft order.
1 Andy Behrens
2 Welsh & Bogman
3 Matt Schauf
4 Ray Flowers
5 Brad Evans
6 Michael Beller
7 Fred Zinkie
8 Rob Waziak
9 Bob Harris
10 Chris Raybon
11 Michael Florio
12 Frank Stampfl
RULES
Starting Lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, SUPER FLEX, DEF
18 player rosters, with a flex position AND a superflex position.
Yes, there are two flex spots and no kicker (good riddance).
4 points for a passing score, (-1) for an interception with 0.5 points per reception are the rules that standout from the normal 1 point per 10 yards rush/receive yards and 1 point per 25 passing yards.
MY ROSTER
QB: Watson, Rivers, Stidham
RB: Barkley, Chubb, Akers, Mattison, Kelley, Pollard
WR: Sutton, Metcalf, Landry, Slayton, Perriman, Pittman, Cobb
TE: Ertz
DEF: Colts
ROSTER REVIEW
I love it when a plan comes together.
FIRST: This is a superflex league, but I still found it surprising that Lamar Jackson went #2 overall. That left me with my #2 back at the fourth spot in Barkley, so I couldn’t have been happier.
SECOND: Plan going in was to take a WR here, but when Chubb was still there it was an easy call to roster the dynamic runner. The fact that he was the 13th back off the board was a gift from the gods above. No one can compete with my top-2, and it ain’t close.
THIRD: Going in I was thinking a second RB, a second WR or my first QB. Given how I crushed the first two rounds in the backfield, and with five signal callers off the board, I went with Watson who will be an excellent all-around option this season.
FOURTH: Thinking wideout here, but when Ertz was still there – sign me up. The consistency he brings at the spot is well worth paying a premium. Ertz had more yards than Mark Andrews, more catches that George Kittle and more scores than Travis Kelce in 2019.
FIFTH: I knew I had to get a wideout here and I was hoping against hope that Sutton would be the guy left for me. Thanking the heavens above, I was able to scoop him up as an ideal WR1 for my squad given that he was my fifth-round pick.
SIXTH: Lining this one up, I was thinking wideout #2. I had Keenan Allen at the top of my wish list followed by Metcalf, though I’m not disappointed by my fall back option in the least after the impressive work that Metcalf displayed in year one.
SEVENTH: I was going handcuffing here. Kareem Hunt isn’t a traditional handcuff to Chubb being that he has stand alone value IF he can stay on the field (he’s the rare handcuff who has that weekly starting ability). Alas, I was sniped by Mr. Schauf at the pick directly ahead of me, the lone time all night Matt or Brad Evans took my guy. I stayed in the backfield and pivoted to Cam Akers.
EIGHTH: Jarvis Landry, even in a half point PPR league, even with concerns about Week 1 with his hip, is as ideal as you can get as a WR3. I don’t love the Chubb/Landry combo, I try to avoid teammates like that, but Landry was easily the most stable option left on the board and as you are all aware by this point, I literally think Jeff Mans might sell off his Mercedes to get in on the Browns offense this season. Landry as WR#3 has me feeling really good.
NINTH: By taking Landry I was risking things for my second QB spot. Sure enough, Newton/Lock went before the pick was back to me. I was nervous when I saw five signal callers go off the board, but luckily Rivers was still there to nab. Rivers is in a new offense, with a strong offensive minded set of coaches, and good offensive line. I can see him being slightly better statistically than last season, and that plays just fine as a superflex option in my mind.
TENTH: Why didn’t Bob Harris take Mattison after he drafted Dalvin Cook in the first round? He admitted on the livestream that he got too cute. Look, I’ve said it. Jeff Mans has said it. Ted Schuster has said it. I think everyone on staff has said it at some point. If you draft Dalvin Cook, with the contract issues and the health concerns, you MUST draft Mattison. Note that is not recommend. You MUST do it. With Alexander sitting there in the tenth round I could wait no longer and grabbed Mattison myself. It had to be done.
ELEVENTH: Slayton should be part of a pretty darn good offense, and he’s a perfectly fine WR4 option who, with health, could bump up his production in WR3 land.
TWELFTH: Kelley will serve as depth at the RB spot after I missed out on Darrell Henderson who was taken before this pick came up (he was my target to back up Akers). Kelly would likely take over and have a prominent role if Austin Ekeler were to go down.
THIRTEENTH: Another example of – what are you thinking in not handcuffing your back? Why Mr. Schauf didn’t back up Ezekiel Elliott… well, I just couldn’t allow that to continue to be the case so I grabbed Pollard. If Elliott goes down, there is no doubt that Pollard will be a weekly top-20 back – at worst. By the way, you might be asking – why didn’t you backup Barkley, Mr. Handcuff? Good question reader. The reason is that the Giants offense would change if Barkley is out, there is no obvious handcuff there, sorry Dion Lewis, and they would merely ham and egg it if Barkley was out with a cast of potentially thousands. Oddly, Barkley and Christian McCaffrey are about the only two top-15 backs that I wouldn’t be aggressively targeting their handcuff.
FOURTEENTH: Perriman figures to play 90 percent of the snaps, doesn’t he? Not expecting him to be the guy from the last month of last season, but I also think this is absurdly late to have him still sitting there in an offense where he could emerge as the #2 option in the passing game.
FIFTEENTH: Pittman was a target of mine before the draft. I usually avoid the QB/WR thing as a plan, but I happened to land with Rivers and Pittman. Still, both guys were drafted at fair prices, and with the uncertainty with the Colts’ wideouts at the moment, it wouldn’t be impossible to see Pittman produce along the likes of Metcalf last season.
SIXTEENTH: Taking a third QB is something I figured I should do with the extra rounds in this draft. Stidham could be a totally wasted pick if Newton has his head on and is physically alright. Same time, it appears there is still a scenario where Stidham could start for the Pats in Week 1. Right after my selection went Justin Hebert, and that was the debate in my mind as I made my selection of Stidham.
SEVENTEENTH: The Colts defense is a top-5 group according to our current rankings.
EIGHTEENTH: I coinsidered a second tight end, but if Ertz goes down I will be scrambling anyway, so I passed. Cobb could lead the Texans in receptions this season and he should have a role of prominence, especially when Will Fuller goes down with injury. Man, I did the QB/WR twice, didn’t I?
In the end, I really like this club. Covid and injuries will play a part, but if you were to tell me before this draft started that this is the team, I would end up with I would be doing backflips. If I could do backflips, which I cannot (I could barely do somersaults as a kid, despite being a rather good athlete).
FINAL RESULTS
1 – The draft was livestreamed so you can watch the whole thing. Note it was less than 90 minutes as it went blazing fast.
2 – Here is a link to the draft board.
3 – Here are the results if you don’t want to click on either of those.
