As always, a lot of stuff is going on at the Footballguys Players Championship this week. Fantasy managers are chasing a $500,000 grand prize in drafts going off daily, and I have a front-row seat for all the action as one of the online facilitators of these drafts. If any of the drafters have a connection issue, cannot get into the draft room, or experiences any other obstacles in making their picks, I’m there in the draft room to assist. In this piece, I want to share a few of the things I have noticed while monitoring these drafts:
How does Baker Mayfield’s trade to Carolina affect the rest of the Panthers?
Christian McCaffrey continues to switch back and forth with Cooper Kupp as either the 1.02 or 1.03 in most drafts, but McCaffrey rarely moves to the 1.01 ahead of Jonathan Taylor. However, D.J. Moore has seen his stock rise among high-stakes drafters. He has moved past Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, and Mike Williams (on average), settling in at the end of the third round.
Robbie Anderson and Terrace Marshall have also ascended. Prior to the trade, gamers were selecting Anderson in FPC drafts in the 18th round. He is now comfortably in the 15th, but I have seen him go in some drafts in the 13th round. Marshall, who was previously not being selected at all, is now an 18th/19th round flyer.
In the Carolina tight end room, Ian Thomas continues to go undrafted while Tommy Tremble is a last-round pick. The takeaway from Mayfield-to-Carolina is clearly the ascendance of D.J. Moore.
After Rob Gronkowski retired, what are FPC drafters doing with the other Tampa Bay tight ends?
The first thing we need to point out here is that high-stakes drafters are still not yet sold on the first ballot Hall-of-Famer being done for good. Even after Gronk doubled down on his stance of being done with football, he is still going in the 17th round of the tight end-premium format (1.5 point-per-reception for the position) of the Footballguys Players Championship.
The two other names to know here then are Cameron Brate and Cade Otton. Brate is the person being paid by the Bucs, and fantasy players are drafting him in the 14th round. Nevertheless, I have had a few conversations with some high-stakes players who believe Cade Otton represents the better value in the 19th round. He will be one to follow, especially once we get to training camp.
Based on recent news, who is a player to watch in the next week?
I am not ready to say he is going to be a big ascendant now, but it will be interesting to see how Footballguys drafters handle Jalen Tolbert after The Athletic’s Jon Machota reported on Wednesday that he is going to be starting on the outside for the Cowboys Week 1. Once rookie fever dies down after the FFPC rookie drafts end in May, I do not usually see FPC players going gaga for third-round rookies. Although, maybe Tolbert is different.
Amari Cooper is in Cleveland, and Michael Gallup is not expected to be ready for the start of the season after his ACL tear. In fact, free agent addition James Washington has not been able to play in OTAs or minicamp. Tolbert was already working outside and the slot during both of those sessions, so if fantasy owners are going to put stock in this report, he should rise a round or two from his current 14th-round ADP.
Thanks for reading everyone! I will see you in the Footballguys Players Championship draft rooms!
Eric Balkman is an online commissioner for live Footballguys Players Championship drafts at MyFFPC.com. He is also the host and producer of The High Stakes Fantasy Football Hour, the RotoViz High-Stakes Lowdown, and the FFPC Live Best Ball Coverage shows broadcast on all FFPC media outlets.