I believe 2018 might have been our most competitive draft yet, and if our Coaches' Poll is any indication, with a 3-way tie at the top, that appears to be the case.
Before we get into the power rankings, let's breakdown the draft.
The running back is king once again. Dominating the Top 10, were 7 RBs, which is the most taken in IFL's history. The RB meta has been slowly waning over the IFL's history, and WRs were the undisputed kings for a couple good years, influenced by Antonio Brown's scoring title in back-to-back years ('14 & '15). But with DJ & Gurley snagging the scoring titles in consecutive years, the meta has now shifted back to the RB.
All hail Todd Gurley.
Top 10 Draft Picks by Position
Aaron Rodgers got robbed from being the first drafted QB for the 3rd consecutive season thanks to TC's interesting reach for Deshaun Watson at pick 37. Rodgers went 38th to Nick. This is the lowest a QB has been drafted first in IFL history, beating out the previous low by 12 spots.
Gronk is the top drafted TE for the 4th consecutive season, but he too fell to his lowest spot, at 25th.
FIRST CHAIR
A further look at the first player drafted at each position:
QB - Deshaun Watson
Taken by TC in Round 3, Pick 37
Expert Consensus Ranking - 66
RB - Todd Gurley
Taken by Jord in Round 1, Pick 1
Expert Consensus Ranking - 1
WR - Antonio Brown
Taken by Nick in Round 1, Pick 6
Expert Consensus Ranking - 4
TE - Rob Gronkowski
Taken by Joe in Round 2, Pick 25
Expert Consensus Ranking - 21
K - Stephen Gostkowski
Taken by Curtis in Round 9, Pick 143
Expert Consensus Ranking - 205
DST - Minnesota Vikings
Taken by Curtis in Round 8, Pick 114
Expert Consensus Ranking - 189
POSITIONAL LATECOMERS
Also thought it was interesting to look at which team drafted the latest at each position:
QB - Sam Darnold
Taken by Jord at in Round 14, Pick 224
Expert Consensus Ranking 263
RB - Chris Thompson
Taken by Curtis in Round 6, Pick 82
Expert Consensus Ranking - 78
WR - Robert Woods
Taken by Jord in Round 5, Pick 65
Expert Consensus Ranking - 77
TE - Charles Clay
Taken by Jack in Round 9, Pick 142
Expert Consensus Ranking - 134
K - Chandler Catanzaro
Taken by Jack in Round 15, Pick 238
Expert Consensus Ranking - 352
DST - Detroit Lions
Taken by Drew in Round 15, Pick 227
Expert Consensus Ranking - 278
REACHES & STEALS
Anton averaged Average Draft Pick & Expert Rated Players to determine the "Logical Draft Position" for the Top 20 picks and compared that to the actual Top 20 picks to give a ranking for each pick:
I extended out Anton's nifty concept out to the first 6 rounds using Experts Consensus Ranking only, which you may view here if you're curious: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12wECwAf7Tr8bP-o1p9o-RjL0k5abrmV9cwVAMU76eow/edit?usp=sharing
According to the experts, Anton and Aaron both reached 6 picks for their 1st round picks, the biggest 1st round reaches, but as explosive as Melvin Gordon and Dalvin Cook have shown themselves to be, it could very well pay off.
Ewoldt, Jack and myself all received our 1st round picks 3 picks later than their consensus expert value, the best value picks of the first round.
The biggest reach of the first 6 rounds came at pick #50, when Curtis selected Jimmy Garoppolo, where the experts have him ranked 107 overall. Curtis is either insane or some kind of genius. Perhaps both.
The top steal of the first 6 rounds was done by the 2016 Champ, Brady, snagging Russell Wilson 73rd, despite the experts ranking him 42nd overall. 4 QBs rated lower than him were drafted sooner. That might offset somewhat Brady's recent bad news regarding his 3rd overall pick, McKinnon.
POWER RANKINGS
Now, what you're really here for:
For the first time in IFL history, Ewoldt is building some legitimate hype. Having two 1st round picks certainly helps, but he had a nearly flawless draft, snagging two steals, Wilkins & Trubisky (players that fell two rounds below their value) and five value picks: Tate, Goodwin, Stafford, Clement, and Allison (players that fell one round below their value); with only one slight reach, the Houston Texans in Round 10, one round above their consensus value. If Saquon is as good as he could be, and Keenan Allen, Zach Ertz and Golden Tate are there to back him up, the Hype Zone could be a powerhouse.
Coming in at #3, Ewoldt's X-IA rival, Jesse, lands his best draft ever at the #4 spot in the draft. With only two reaches late in the draft, a value pick in Tom Brady & 3 steals: Breida, Mahomes, and Vance McDonald, Jesse's big ballers Zeke & Larry are going to be a tough fight every single week. I've said it before and I've been wrong before, but this really might be the year of Jesse.
With those two leading the charge, X-IA has the highest aggregate power rating of any division, coming out strong after their league-worst performance last year.
Drew's team is solid, as always. What else is new? DJ, Kelce, and Hilton are a scary trio if I ever saw one.
Duncan put in another excellent draft this year. He'll give the BSC another run for its money. Le'Veon, JuJu, Wentz, and Olsen, as well as his epic namesake Thielen are going to put up points.
It's going to be a crazy competitive year. I can just feel it.
Who is ready for some man on man fantasy football action?