Draft Day: Aug 24 (but also TBD)
Reigning Champ: Coleman
Coleman’s Rule: TBD
Buy-in: $75
Commish Rake: $225
Weekly Cash: $10 x 16 = $160
2nd Place: $75
1st Place: $380
Sean’s rule last year added a third keeper.
Early = Rounds 3-7
Mid = Rounds 8-12
Late = Rounds 13+ and Free Agency
Here’s the spreadsheet: Mortydome Keepers
1. Evan: Godwin, Lavonte, Baker
2. Brian: Daniels, BTJ, Tracy
3. Doak: Tee, LaPorta, Chuba
4. Corey: Bowers, Goff, Bucky
5. Max: Jacobs, Jameson, Jonnu
6. Shelby: DJ, Winfield, Brown
7. Cameron: Pollard, Ladd, Nix
8. Sean: Cook, Puka, Van Ginkel
9. Oliver: Kittle, Sutton, [trade bait]
10. Spencer: Nabers, Shakir, Dobbins
11. Kennedy: Andrews, Garrett, Penix
12. Coleman: Watt, Kyren, Jauan Jennings
Keepers by Position
QB (5): Daniels, Baker, Nix, Goff, Penix
RB (9): Jacobs, Cook, Kyren, Bucky, Chuba, Chase Brown, Tracy, Pollard, Dobbins
WR (11): Nabers, BTJ, DJ Moore, Tee, Puka, Godwin, Sutton, Ladd, Jameson, Jauan, Shakir
TE (5): Bowers, Kittle, Andrews, LaPorta, Jonnu
DL (3): Garrett, Watt, Van Ginkel
LB (1): Lavonte
DB (1): Winfield
With 24 keepers, our draft usually started cracking in the fifth round. That’s when we’re used to seeing one absolute garbage pick. Last year it was Dak. The year before that it was Daniel Jones. Well, actually those were both Cameron’s picks, so I guess the fifth round is when Cameron starts cracking. Last year’s sixth round included Mostert (also Cam), Chubb, and Keenan Allen. In the 2023 6th, we saw a kicker (the only STA badge I’ve ever been bummed to hand out), Devin White, and Kadarius Toney. So this year we should see multiple teams crack in the fifth round. This matters a little bit for draft strategy because you should be prepared to draft your darlings sooner.
Sean’s rule definitely affects trades, but we have to see it in action. In this year’s draft, both WR and RB should dry up around the 4-5 turn. In terms of what will be off the board after 36 keepers and 48 draft picks: 10 QBs, 30 RB, 30 WR, 6 TE, 5 IDP, plus three more players. So when I’m trading near the deadline, I’m doing it with that 5th Round breaking point in mind.
Draft Advantage
Cameron: extra 1st (again), 7th, 10th
Doak: extra 3rd, two 4ths, 5th
Spencer: extra 2nd, 8th
Corey: extra 4th
Disadvantage
Kennedy: minus 4th, 5th
Coleman: extra 2nd; minus 1st, 5th
Sean: minus 2nd, 3rd
Oliver: minus 2nd, 4th, 5th, 10th
Even Steven
Evan, Shelby, Max: original picks
Brian: 4th round move-up
Projected First Round
1. Chase
2. Jefferson
3. Saquon
4. Josh Allen
5. Bijan
6. Gibbs
7. Henry
8. Lamar
9. Lamb
10. CMC
11. Jeanty
12. Taylor
Honorable Mentions: AJ Brown, Sun God
Coleman’s first championship leaves the following managers with zero: Shelby, Oliver, Brian, Max. I think Brian won one 10-15 years ago, but I can’t substantiate that at this time. You win a championship, you get a five-year grace period from caring about it. That grace period has expired for Evan, Cameron, Kennedy, and me. This is Year 5 for Spencer, who’s out for blood anyway after coming in dead last in 2024.
I am sweating Max’s ascension and Evan’s resurgence. Max has had a few years to figure out our rules and rhythms, and he finally squeaked into the playoffs last year. Evan wants this season so bad, he actually watched the Hall of Fame Game.
Coleman will absolutely, no doubt about it, think he learned something from setting up that huge draft haul that led to his championship. He will, y’know, try or whatever in the draft, but he will idle through the early season, and if things go south, he will sell it all for magic beans for 2026. I mean, we should all be doing some form of this, but Coleman is the one with the luxury to rest on his laurels.
I foolishly thought I could replicate Coleman’s magic beans strategy, and looking at my draft picks, I feel like it kind of fell flat. I also feel like my team wasn’t making that playoff push without a miracle anyway, but I regret trading mid-keeper Brian Thomas Jr. (essentially a two-year option) for a 4th Round pick. I knew he was legit, and I needed to be better about thinking fourth-dimensionally. But I’ll never forget and I’ll never regret trading Kyler for Sean’s 3rd after just two games, only to watch Kyler land somewhere on the spectrum from replacement-level downright droppable. Andrews for a 5th was fine because Kennedy gave him to me so cheap earlier in the year. I wanted the karma. My other extra 4th came from trading Mike Evans and a 7th for Jerry Jeudy and a 4th. I should have known the Browns would make Jeudy unkeepable by coming into the year with literally the league’s worst QB room (I’ll say it: worse than the Saints!).
Let’s get outta here with other bad trades from last season. This segment is brought to you by Oliver putting his 1st Rounder on the trade block this year. Feeling like trading has gotten you in a deep hole with no way out? Now, there’s Digging Deeper. Thanks to revolutionary innovations, you never have to face the consequences of your actions because with Digging Deeper you create and control the consequences right from the safety of your own imagination.
I traded Bo Nix for Josh Downs, which is defensible in a traditional single-season format, but the sheer amount of keeper years, the ability for Cameron to ride Nix for his entire rookie deal, that’s a clear L for me.
Brian traded me Tee Higgins for Brian Burns and a 9th. (This is also why I needed to restore some karma by giving him BTJ relatively cheap.)
Kennedy traded Mark Andrews for Antonio Gibson, which is bad enough, but he did it so that he would have both Patriots RBs. The lesson, if I have to spell it out: don’t trade a household name so that you can burn two roster spots handcuffing the league’s worst backfield.
In a related trade, Max traded Sam LaPorta for Isaiah Likely. All of this was tied up in Andrews having a rough start to the season and Likely scoring 25 FP in Week 1.
If I didn’t mention it already, Sean traded a 3rd for Kyler Murray.
Literally right after last year’s draft ended, Oliver traded Kyren Williams and a future 2nd for Joe Mixon and Chris Olave. And it almost worked!
Kennedy traded Romeo Doubs for Panthers legend Chuba Hubbard.
By far the weirdest trade, in terms of everyone sucking and nothing mattering, was when Brian and Spencer swapped Diontae Johnson, who got cut, and Travis Etienne, who got benched.
I remember us all getting mad that Spencer traded Josh Allen to Sean for a 2nd, but I think we can all agree that’s a normal trade. And it would have covered our collective ass in any collusion case Sean tried to make.
Oliver traded a 4th for Ladd McConkey, which was probably cool and smart, but then Oliver decided to “flip” Ladd, a 5th, and a 10th for Cooper Kupp, Maxx Crosby, and Jordan Love. Forget it, Jake. It’s Mortydome.
