2020 Rookie Dynasty Draft – The Results. Rounds 3,4,5 & 6

The CRDL Is A PPR IDP Dynasty League With 11 Starters On Either Side Of The Ball – All Points Made Will Be In Respect Of This. Use This Information As You Will!

Missed rounds 1 & 2? Check them out here!

Quick ‘needs’ recap – “Still need to address DB, find some LB depth and then I should still have some picks left over to take some wild punts on players.” – King Thrym, yesterday.

I also needed another DL as I was looking a little light there.

So, on to round 3 – Jotunheim Giants in blue

1. Antonio Gandy-Golden
2. Zach Moss
3. Van Jefferson
4. Donovan Peoples-Jones
5. AJ Epenesa
6. Yetur Gross Matos
7. James Proche
8. Kenneth Murray
9. AJ Dillon
10. Justin Hurts
11. Tee Higgins
12. Antonio Gibson

After the glut of picks in round 2 having just the single pick in the 3rd felt pretty strange but I got the guy I wanted.

AJ Epenesa is a big, bruising pass rusher who bull rushes his way in to the back field with alarming regularity. Per sports-reference.com, in 2019 Epenesa had 32 solo tackles, 17 assists, 14 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, 3 passes defended and 4 forced fumbles in just 13 games. The season before saw him rack up 16.5 TFL, 10.5 sacks, 3 PDs, 4 FF and a fumble recovered for a TD.

I think ‘disruptive’ sums him up.

While I don’t expect him to return those sorts of numbers in his first season in the NFL, I think there’s an excellent chance of him becoming a dependable IDP asset as part of Buffalo’s ascending defence.

I was tempted by Yetur Gross Matos here but I feel Epenesa is the better prospect and, as I already have Brian Burns, I didn’t want to double dip from the Panthers D-line. There were a number of other picks I considered here including Kenneth Murray and Tee Higgins who went later in this round. It hurt missing out on Murray but I still felt happy with the linebackers available and Epenesa was the last of the 2nd tier lineman for me putting him at a great value according to my board. With my army of wide receivers drafted so far I couldn’t justify taking Higgins and I had him in a tier below Epenesa regardless.

Round 4

1. Kyle Dugger
2. Devin Duvernay
3. Jordyn Brooks
4. Curtis Weaver
5. Lynn Bowden Jr
6. Deejay Dallas
7. Brandon Aiyuk
8. Zach Baun
9. Darrynton Evans
10. Grant Delpit
11. Derrick Brown
12. Laviska Shenault

Back to multiple picks in this round.

From the way the draft was working out I wanted to come away with one of my 4 top defensive backs in this round and 3 were still on the board – Dugger, McKinney and Delpit.

I don’t know if it’s the small school (“Outta’ Lenoir-Rhyne!” seems to be said every time Dugger is mentioned), the electric do-it-all play, the draft capital, the landing spot or that he was drafted by a dog but I had to have Dugger. He’s a prototypical Pats guy and I can’t wait to see how they get him involved.

Passing on McKinney and Delpit was tricky. If I’m honest with myself I should probably have McKinney above Dugger on my board but I went with my gut – McKinney being a Giant means I still get to support him anyway! As far as Delpit’s tackling woes go I’m not concerned and think he’s going to have a great NFL career. Any of these guys would have made incredible 4th round value so I was thrilled with getting Dugger here – Chinn was my top ranked DB and him going in the late 2nd I still think is a great pick.

Two picks later and I’m back on the clock.

Both McKinney and Delpit were still on the board but the Dugger pick had taken me up to 5 DBs on my roster and Jordyn Brooks was staring me in the face.

There’s something about Seahawks first round picks and I think the LJ Collier pick last year had people looking unfavourably on Brooks. I’d try and explain why I liked him but Samuel Gold did a much better job than I could ever do going through his film on YouTube so I’ll just direct you there – I would like to learn about Jordyn Brooks. I’m a complete newbie when it comes to assessing film but I’ve enjoyed watching some this year and I’ll look to do more of it next year. I might do a post where I go through my favourite NFL content producers at some point.

The 4th saw the end of the slides of Aiyuk, Baun, Delpit, Brown and Shenault – what a round! The depth in this years class just seems ridiculous so if you can move some picks around don’t fear a lack of talent in the 4th.. in IDP leagues at least anyway.

5th Round

1. Josh Uche
2. Logan Wilson
3. Willie Gay Jr
4. Cole Kmet
5. Devin Asiasi
6. Julian Okwara
7. Justin Madubuike
8. Xavier McKinney
9. Terrell Lewis
10. Eno Benjamin
11. Jeff Okudah
12. Lamical Perine

Yet another multiple pick round..

Josh Uche vs Logan Wilson was one of the toughest pick battles I faced in the draft. By my board I had Wilson as the higher ranked prospect as I expect him to rack up great tackle numbers but I ended up selecting Uche. The only knock against Wilson for me is that I have Germaine Pratt on my roster (along with 4 other Bengals!) so I didn’t feel like I could really pick him despite how high I am on him.

That’s not to say Uche isn’t an exciting prospect.

Again the Patriots landing spot is a great one – it looks like they’re planning ahead to keep their defence strong and so grabbing pieces of this seems like a no-brainer. Uche didn’t put up the stats at college to wow anyone but I see him as a developmental prospect who I can sit in my taxi for a year – possibly mirroring the Pats plans! My other consideration here is that, as an outside linebacker, Uche might be D-line eligible on Sleeper and I value the flexibility that adds really highly. Lets hope they add that once the positions are finalised!

Wilson then became a Bogtrotter. At least that solved that headache for me.

Back round to me then and once again I went linebacker.

A bit of a flyer here on a guy I really like – and not just because he cheated on a chemistry test. Stupid chemistry. Gay didn’t play much due to his suspension but looked the part when he was on the field, so much so that the Chiefs grabbed him at the end of the 2nd round. More than happy to take a chance on someone with so much upside this late – he’ll be another taxi squad occupant.

The other pick I considered at this point was Okwara at the Lions. Unfortunately I thought he was at the Panthers for some reason and so ruled him out for the same reason I ruled out Gross Matos. Oh well. I’d probably have taken him over Uche had I realised as he’s listed as a D lineman by Sleeper.

The 5.10 was my next pick and, with Okwara and McKinney both gone, I turned my attention to taking punts at running back.

I love stashing running backs away on the taxi and I’m always tempted to fill it with nothing but, however, there are other positions worth targeting and so I tried to behave myself. With that said, running back time.

The choice was between Eno Benjamin and Lamical Perine.

I can see a path for both of these guys to make an impact in 2020 with Benjamin being a change of pace back for Drake and Perine just replacing Bell if the Jets trade him! The most likely scenario here is clearly Benjamin sharing some of the workload with Drake as I think he might be better than Edmunds. Having just rechecked where they were drafted though feel free to disregard what I’ve just written as nonsense. Perine with the 4th round draft capital is likely to see some snaps to give Lev Bell a rest which should set him up with a chance to replace him in 2021 if they can trade him. As a 7th round pick Benjamin will have his work cut out for him – I still like the talent but Perine should have been the pick here. Nevermind! Should probably swap them on my rankings..

With that the last round was upon us. The draft had been a huge amount of fun up to this point with everyone in on a Zoom call with either myself or my co-commish announcing each pick and so I wanted to savour the last round and my final pick.

And so..

Round 6

1. Jordan Love
2. Ross Blacklock
3. Thaddeus Moss
4. Jordan Elliot
5. CJ Henderson
6. Darrell Taylor
7. Josiah Deguara
8. Brycen Hopkins
9. Harrison Bryant
10. JaMycal Hasty
11. Adam Trautman
12. Justin Rohrwasser

I don’t think I needed to highlight my pick for you to know who I took.

Notes from this round include the lack of respect for this tight end class and Justin Rohrwasser being made Mr Irrelevant.

49ers signed a free agent running back did they? JaMycal Hasty you say! Giant he is.

With that the 2020 Cecil Road Dynasty League Rookie Draft came to an end. Much fun was had by all and some excellent classes were assembled – here’s a final look at the new Jotunheim Giants. Yes there’s a lot of picks, ‘the Giant Culling’ that lead us here will be explained at a later date.

• QB Joe Burrow
• RB Clyde Edwards Helaire
• RB Anthony McFarland Jr
• RB Eno Benjamin
• RB JaMycal Hasty
• WR Ceedee Lamb
• WR Jalen Reagor
• WR Denzel Mims
• WR Michael Pitman Jr
• DL Javon Kinlaw
• DL AJ Epenesa
• LB Jordyn Brooks
• LB Josh Uche
• LB Willie Gay Jr
• DB Kyle Dugger

Haha! What a class! No matter what happens from here I’m thrilled with the draft and the picks I made. There will undoubtedly be mistakes. Players will bust and guys I passed on will become stars but I’m happy with my choices and that’s all I care about. Well, I’d like all my guys to be slam dunk picks but that’s for future me to know and for current me to dream about!

Hopefully there was something of value in that for someone whether it’s reaffirming a selection or highlighting someone new. How do you think I did? Who was a good pick? Who did I whiff on? Either let me know in the comments or find me on twitter @kingthrym.

Until next time, draft well and may all your picks be McCafferey.

King Thrym

Head Coach of the Jotunheim Giants.