Okay, so I’ve been messing around with fantasy football for a while, and this year I really wanted to nail my draft. I had my eye on two big names, Christian McCaffrey and Austin Ekeler, for my first pick. They’re both solid, right? But I just couldn’t decide between the two of them.
I started digging into their stats from last season. I saw that Ekeler, who used to be this crazy high scorer a couple of years back, he was still good, but not like, “blow your mind” good. He was averaging around 11 touches per game last season. He’s okay, but not like before. McCaffrey, on the other hand, he’s always been a beast. I mean, the guy’s a point-scoring machine. The data showed that McCaffrey’s average points per game were just a bit higher than Ekeler’s last year, so that was a plus for him. Both of them averaged around 20 points, which is insane.
I spent days, no joke, just going back and forth. I read all these articles, like a madman. The thing is, I was in a PPR league, which means points per reception. So, even though Ekeler’s touches were down, he could still rack up points with catches. But then I found this thing about average draft position, ADP. It’s basically where other people are picking these guys. And guess what? McCaffrey was going way before Ekeler. Like, people were all over McCaffrey.
So, I’m thinking, okay, maybe the “wisdom of the crowd” or something, right? But then my brain goes, “Wait a minute, Ekeler could be a steal if everyone’s sleeping on him!”
Here’s how I finally made my decision. I simulated a bunch of mock drafts. I’m talking dozens. And every time, I saw the same thing. If I took McCaffrey, my team always looked stronger overall. When I took Ekeler, it was just… meh. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. And there was always this other running back or wide receiver I could have gotten instead if I had picked McCaffrey first.
Finally, draft day came. I was so nervous, you wouldn’t believe it. I had the third pick. When my turn came, I took a deep breath and went with McCaffrey.
- It just felt right.
- It was a gut feeling, but it was also backed up by all the research and the mock drafts.
I know it’s just one pick, but it felt like a huge weight off my shoulders. I ended up with a team I was really happy with, and McCaffrey, he killed it for me all season long. In the end, I gotta say, trusting the data, doing the research, and going with my gut, it all paid off. But man, what a stressful few weeks that was!
