It's that week in May when I gather a dozen fantasy experts (virtually, of course) to hold the annual Experts Draft and Experts Auction that run in our magazine each year. Both went off with only a minor hitch or two, although the guy doing both from England until 4 a.m. his time might feel differently. Some of the highlights:
Deshaun Watson was the 14th quarterback selected in the draft and the 20th-most expensive in the auction. One team that selected him had two other veteran starting quarterbacks. The other one had Patrick Mahomes and Trey Lance. No one, it seems, is counting on Watson for this season.
How bad are things in Houston? About as bad as you might expect. They had one player taken in the first eight rounds of the draft, and one player go for more than $8 in the auction. The same player, Brandin Cooks (and honestly even he seemed overvalued).
Aaron Rodgers was the 7th quarterback selected and about 10th-11th in terms of price. Looks like people expect Rodgers will be playing this season as opposed to hosting Jeopardy, even if it's not definitely in Green Bay.
Travis Etienne and James Robinson went back to back in the draft, in that order. Etienne was $3 more expensive in the auction ($13-$10, out of a $200 salary cap). Forget clarity on how to select these players -- no one seems to be certain which Jacksonville running back will be better this year.
Rookie quarterbacks: No one can say for sure how the Jimmy Garoppolo-Trey Lance depth chart will play out in San Francisco. Maybe each will start 8 games, maybe one will start the entire season, or something in between. In any case, 32-33 quarterbacks were selected in both the draft and auction. Lance went in both, Garoppolo went in neither. Similarly with Chicago: Justin Fields went in both, Andy Dalton went in neither. (In fairness, I understand that the two rookie, running quarterbacks have potential upside that veteran pocket passers Garoppolo and Dalton lack. Nobody is going to win a fantasy league due to the contributions of Dalton or Jimmy G, even if they start a lot more games than the rookies.)
People believe in Najee Harris. He went at 2.01 in the draft, and was the 7th-most expensive running back in the auction ($37). Pricier than Mixon, Ekeler, Chubb and Akers, to name but a few.
Sticking with the rookie theme, expect to pay a premium for new Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts. He was the 4th tight end drafted and the 4th-most expensive in the auction. Kelce, Waller, Kittle...Pitts. You've been warned.
And one more: people like JaMarr Chase. A 6th-rounder in the draft, and $15 in the auction, which was only behind about 20 other wide receivers.
Things change quickly in the NFL. Michael Thomas, you'll recall, was the consensus No. 4 overall pick a year ago. This year he went midway through the third round of the draft and was the 10th-most expensive wideout.
How to destroy the value of a quality fantasy tight end? Sign two of them. Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith both went in double-digit rounds of the draft and for $3 apiece in the auction.