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written by Jacob Phillips, for Jacob Phillips, by Jacob Phillips
2024 Fellowship Draft Grades and Season Predictions
Hello to all, it’s that wonderful time of year again! Where we all gather round with our rankings and cheat sheets while we are drinking heavily and yelling profanities at one another. Year 15 of The Fellowship and we went digital, our first totally online draft. Our reigning champion Cody had the first pick in this year’s draft, I’ll get right into drafts grades and season predictions with our 1.01!
The Champ, Amerika’s Most Wanted, it’s been a long road with many scoring and roster rule changes, but Cody has finally secured the trophy, a thing not accomplished by many in this league. With the 1.01, Cody decides to go with Jalen Hurts over Josh Allen, waiting 23 picks to see who was left for him, he goes with a RB and WR in Etienne and London, I like both these players, and the concern that Drake London can’t breakout should be removed as he gets the much needed upgrade at QB, who Cody ended up stacking as that was a theme on quite a lot of teams this year. It felt like everyone was drafting like it was best ball! Seems like Cody will be watching a lot of Philly, Atlanta, and Minnesota games late in the season. I love your depth at RB, but you’ll have to start all of them most weeks and I don’t think you’ll have enough points weekly to win enough games. All in all it was a good draft, I just think you fall a little short to make the playoffs. Draft Grade: B- Season Record: 6-8
Alright, Let’s get the bias out of the way and go to the other end of the board where we take a look at my team. At 1.12, a gift from the entire Fellowship, 2 of the top 4 WRs fall to me, grabbing the beast of a runner Pacheco and my QB1 Jared Goff, who gets to play almost all of his games in domes this year, where he has a solid history of consistently performing well. And there it was at the Round 5 and 6 turn, it was magnificent. The double TE, stacking LaPorta with Goff, and the beast offensive weapon on KC in Travis Kelce. Securing the entire Bears backfield, top 2 wideouts on the Browns, I guess I was also involved with stacking this year. Very fun draft, even if it doesn’t work out, a strategy we haven’t seen in a while was fun to pull off. Draft Grade: A- Season Record: 9-5
Next up we’ll stay on the far end of the board and take a look at Pele’s squad. I went with him next as I imagined him reading this and yelling at me about how I’m an idiot for leaving him out of the playoffs almost every year. Taking 2 bold picks to start with a reach on Jordan Love, he didn’t trust me to not take him and I’ll tell you now he was not on my radar at all. Following up with Ja’Marr Chase who has been waiting on his bag and threatening to hold out, it seems that there are constant injuries and distractions in that organization that they just can’t seem to pull it all together. Pele goes on to stack Waddle with Tua, and he also saw Joe Mixon the running back, and Kyren Willams the Punt Returner fall to him, redeeming himself with a solid Christian Watson and Tank Dell picks, he’ll be happy those are his WRs 3 & 4. The rest of the draft I didn’t care for other than Tyler Conklin, who will likely be a better start most weeks than Pat F, perhaps some activity trading puts him in a position to get further this year, but if he doesn’t make moves with this current roster, I don’t see a very good outcome this season. Draft Grade: C Season Record: 5-9
We head back to the beginning of the board and take a look at Dalton’s squad. Taking the early QBs and RBs let Dalton absolutely rack up 6 WRs between rounds 5 and 11! Tucker Kraft as his only TE is not ideal and even more odd that he didn’t grab Musgrave to at least cover his GB TE usage. Dalton is banking on Achane keeping his momentum moving forward after having a great season last year, as well as DJ Moore and Terry McLaurin benefitting from upgrades at Quarterback. I think we see Dalton miss the playoffs this year, but just barely. Draft Grade: B Season Record: 7-7
We stay with the early picks in the draft as Heff sheds his ankle weights that are Blake and takes on the Fellowship as a solo man. For the first four rounds Heff was coasting, just taking the scraps that everyone left behind. A pretty hefty Tampa stack and also taking Bryce Young as insurance to his QB room. Justin Fields was the weirdest pick of the night, but I see that as the only blemish for Heff. Gibbs and Barkley will be tough to dethrone as the best RB tandem in the league, and the value he got with his WRs and TE later look great after the dust settled. Even with all the milligrams, and the auction draft, I think Heff did a solid job and I see him making the playoffs. Draft Grade: B+ Season Record: 8-6
Next up we head to the middle of our draft order and hop on with The commish’s team. With a mini Arizona and Jacksonville stack, while CMC is leading the way, Kyle once again drafts a fantasy team that is threatening. His WR room is a lot of fun, hoping Zay and Reed make a big 2nd year jump, and 3 rookies that he looks forward to breaking out, as you have to imagine that at least one of them does. Evan Engram was a great value pick at TE and from rounds 11-15 he piled on some RBs that should be serviceable throughout the season, or he’ll be quick to drop as he scours the WW for RBs. I sense Kyle once again finds himself fighting in the playoffs late in the year. Draft Grade: A- Season Record: 9-5
Up next we take a look at the 4 time Fellowship winner, Joshy P, and his squad!
Josh had 2 really good picks to start the draft, unfortunately he could not keep the momentum going for his squad in my opinion. It was clear after round 4 that Josh was going to struggle to keep up, maybe it was the tight dress fitting his figure, but for starting with 3 WRs and still not having the best WR room in the league with all of his other positions also lacking. You might want to hang on to the dress for one more year Joshy P. TE woes already, and his QBs do not inspire a playoff team to me this year. Draft Grade: C- Season Record: 3-10
Down to the last 5 squads we take a look at another owner with multiple championships, with Jesse. Starting off with the Dallas stack, taking CeeDee as the first receiver off the board, and watching Dak fall to the middle of round 2 was a great sight as I thought I’d might take him with the 2.01. Taking a couple of stabs at rookies with Nabers and Daniels, Jesse has a solid core here and he followed it up with Trey McBride and Rashee Rice, fully embracing the 0 RB Strategy. Not grabbing one until the 8th round, but snaggin 5 in a row. I’m not the biggest fan of the roster Jesse assembled this year, I’m used to him picking safe, consistent performing players and most positions he has guys that don’t have a long career of success in fantasy. New faces for Jesse hoping for enough points to fight for a playoff spot this year with a boom bust strategy, which I think he will be just good enough to sneak in. Draft Grade: B- Season Record: 7-7
This season has brought changes to many owners’ strategies and one I was excited to see was Andrew’s new model of how he built his roster. He let the board fall to him this year and didn’t overly reach at any position. Breece Hall and Josh Jacobs are a solid RB pairing, which has been a bugaboo for Andrew’s teams in the past. Absolutely taking value with his WRs as Nico, Aiyuk, and even Dallas’s TE and WR2 fell to Andrew in the draft. With a good snipe of JSN and handcuffing rookie RB Allen to Breece, Andrew has a roster looking to compete this year, with quality depth. Geno Smith just needs to be a serviceable QB2 and this team looks primed for points this season. One could argue that the lack of pressure of a live draft helped Andrew have one of his best drafts in many years. Draft Grade: B+ Season Record: 8-6
We only have one two headed monster this season, as Drake continues to lean on Corey to lead him to salvation, after falling off from being a yearly threat to our playoffs. The time for QBs are now, and the age of RBs has fallen. Corey being the words of wisdom, Dracorey, start their draft with two QBs from the AFC North. Locking up the always potent Baltimore running game with Lamar and Derrick Henry, this team is staring at guaranteed points weekly. James Cook is a great pick as I think he is going to have a great year in Buffalo and finish inside the top 10 for RBs. Cooper Kupp is a pick that I don’t care for but, that’s all I really have bad to say about this squad. The QBs are strong, Drake still got his RB depth and they should be using most of them every week, with a sprinkle of Cortland Sutton from time to time. With their last 8 picks, DraCorey, took only WRs and TEs, hoping for a breakout, in case Deebo and Kupp don’t make it back inside the top 10 for WRs. Overall it was a good draft for the pair and should return to the playoffs this year. Draft Grade: B Season Record: 7-7
We have two teams left and only one playoff spot remaining according to my predictions thus far. We hop on board with our other owner that was in a dress this draft, with Schmidty. Mike started the draft off with what appears to be a new strategy this year. After finishing last place in multiple leagues last year, he stated that it has changed him and even wrote up his own rankings this year. Unfortunately for Schmidty, the 9 spot is not a friendly location to be drafting from, taking A-Rich in the first and a great pick with AJB in the second, he was off to a good start. Feeling pressure to get the QB2, he grabs Purdy in the 3rd, and lets Pittman fall to him in the 4th creating Colts a stack of his own. Following that, he grabs two PPR RBs from the NFC South and gets value with George Kittle and Christian Kirk in the middle rounds. With Carr as his QB3, getting Raheem Monstert late, has Schmidty looking to make a playoff run this year with firepower coming from every position. I like this new draft mentality as it should return Schmidty to the glory of the Fellowship playoffs. Draft Grade: B+ Season Record: 8-6
The final team to assess for this year is our one and own, Matt Behm. Fading CMC, QBs, and WRs to start, Matt Behm takes Bijan Robinson, who I like as the 2nd best RB this season. Taking Puka Nacua round 2 over a 2nd RB or Daniels was not my favorite move here, as well as picking Caleb Williams eventually over Daniels in the 3rd round. He did get to stack Puka with Stafford and also saw Davante Adams fall to him in the 6th round, which might have been his best two picks of the drafts this year. Dalton Kincaid is a guy I really like, and I think benefits the most this season in Buffalo. Stefon Diggs through Sam Darnold are just all not great picks, even with the mini stack in Chicago. I like the picks of Trey Benson, Brian Robinson Jr, and Xavier Legette, but ultimately I think Matt Behm’s team is lackluster and see him posting a sub .500 season, and missing the playoffs. Draft Grade: C Season Record: 6-8
That’s everything gentlemen, I truly think this season will be incredible to watch, it feels as though we have no concerns with injuries heading into the new season, and every one has a fresh slate and fair start overall. I want to say thank you everyone for being apart and involved as we enter our 15th season of the Fellowship. Best of luck to you all this season!
Draft Grades
Cody B-
Dalton B
Heff B+
Matt Behm C
Jesse B-
Kyle A-
Dracorey B
Andrew B+
Schmidty B+
Josh C-
Pele C
Jake A-
Record/Seeding
1. Kyle 9-5
2. Jake 9-5
3. Schmidty 8-6
4. Heff 8-6
5. Dracorey 8-6
6. Andrew 8-6
7. Jesse 7-7
8. Dalton 7-7
9. Cody 6-8
10. Matt Behm 6-8
11. Pele 5-9
12. Josh 3-10