My SFB11 Draft Diary – How a Championship Team Was Built

I decided to document my journey through drafting my team for The Scott Fish Bowl 11. For those who don’t know, the Scott Fish Bowl is an annual, charity focused, Fantasy Football league, designed like a pro-am tournament. It is a superflex league, so most teams start 2 QBs every week and you start 11 players from your 22-man roster. Starting lineups consist of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3WRs, 1 TE, 3 Flex and 1 Superflex. There are also bonuses for Tight Ends with them getting an extra .5 per reception and first down. Kickers can be used in the flex spots as well. Many of the biggest names in Fantasy Football including the likes of Matthew Berry, Stephania Bell, Andy Behrens, Field Yates and others all participate in this tournament. Along with the Fantasy Industry heavy hitters, there are also former professional athletes, famous celebrities, many lesser-known fantasy analysts, and hundreds of fans.

This year, there are nearly 2,000 entrants in the tournament who are all vying to be crowned the SFB11 champion. The winner of the tournament will always have that notch on their belt and often gets opportunities in the industry from it. Every year there are interviews with the champion on various platforms and they’re always invited on the SFB Podathon the following year as well. I decided that I would document my draft, round by round, giving my thoughts for each pick. I look at this article as something I can point back to when I give my victory speeches at the end of the tournament when I am hoisting the trophy!

Round 1 – The draft started with the 1 and 2 picks going Mahomes/Dak. I was targeting Dak and didn’t expect him to go so high, so now I’m thinking I may get Kyler falling to me. I figured the next 4 picks would have some combination of CMC, Kelce, Allen and somebody. That somebody could be Kyler, but I was holding out hope. It actually went Kelce, CMC, Kyler and then we had a long pause, as the 6 pick was a guy with no Twitter handle, and we had no way to ping him that he was on the clock. After 7 and a half hours of fearing he would take Josh Allen and I would have to pivot to Lamar Jackson, he logged in and took Dalvin Cook! I RAN to the podium and accepted my gift of Josh Allen at 1.07 and couldn’t be happier.

Round 2 – Behind me in the 1^st round went Waller, Lamar, Russ Wilson, Justin Herbert and George Kittle. 7 QBs, 3 TEs and 2 RBs in round 1 for the Boyz II Men division. My game plan all along was to prioritize QB and I said I would absolutely have 2 QBs through 3 rounds at minimum and may even go QB/QB. With that in mind (and a slight Tampa Bay bias) I was looking at targeting Tom Brady in round 2. Rodgers went at 2.01, followed by a mini RB run of Henry, Kamara and Saquan. Right before my pick, the team in front of me took Brady! Snipe number 1! I considered Joe Burrow but I didn’t want to force the QB pick. I’m thinking I may have a shot at Burrow, Tannehill or Stafford in the next round so I decided to roll the dice. I snatched up Zeke, who I expect to have a big season with a healthy O Line and Dak back in the fold. I like my start and now I cross my fingers that one of those QBs I like makes it back to me.

Round 3 – Right after my Zeke pick, Tannehill goes off the board. I now only have 2 QBs I would like as my QB2 that I felt worthy of my 3^rd round pick and a long way to go. Let the sweat begin! Pitts goes next, followed by Hurts so Im still alive. ESPN’s Daniel Dopp then grabs Joe Burrow at the 2.10 and Im down to only 1 of my 3^rd round QB2 targets left! Next comes a RB run, Yes! 5 RBs come off the board in a row and there’s only 2 more bullets to dodge and I can get Stafford. Tyreek Hill comes off the board as the 1^st WR taken at the 3.04 spot and Joe Bond from Fantasy Six Pack decided to take a nap after being in the 2am timeslot of the SFB Podathon. The anticipation is killing me! I know he wanted Tyreek so now I am wondering if he takes a QB and snipes me for the second round in a row. He must have woken up and saw the RBs flying off the board and he decided to take Ekeler. Come to papa Matty Stafford! I love the upside he brings me as my QB2 in a Sean McVay offense and going from the cold, miserable Detroit living to LA life. I was able to stick to my plan while coming out of the 3^rd with a Josh Allen/ Ezekiel Elliot/ Matt Stafford start. I’m loving this so far – Lets write this all down so when I win this thing and they ask me about it on the Podathon next year I can cite this article!

Round 4 – Feeling saucy now, I’m looking at how to build off this start that I love. Only 2 WRs went off the board through 3 rounds so I’m thinking about the possibility of stacking Stefon Diggs with Josh Allen. 4 picks into the 4^th round, Diggs comes off the board, so there goes that. Ok, pivot, no problem. I can go RB2 here but looking at the teams picking behind me, 2 of the 5 already have 2 RBs so I like the chance of one of the 3 guys I like as a RB2 making it back to me in the 5^th. Time to focus on TE with the TE premium scoring in the Scott Fish Bowl. There are 2 picks in front of me and one of the teams has Pitts, so I’m fairly confident I can land Andrews or Hockenson. Part of my strategy was to get one of the top 5 TEs and both of them are in that group for me (Pitts is not). I’m sold, whichever one makes it to me is mine. Of course, neither gets picked and I had a decision to make. I went back and forth and asked for advice from trusted friends. The Razzbois said Andrews, the Besties said Hock, UGH! After much debate I went with my heart. At the end of last season, I said I would make sure I got some Hock this year so I did it. I think he has a legitimate shot at 100 catches this year so TJ Hockenson come on down! Allen/Zeke/Stafford/Hockenson. Building a championship team!

Round 5 – 3 more picks before me and Andrews is still on the board. Uh oh, I may have to consider doubling down on TE if he makes it back to me. That wasn’t part of the plan but the top 2 tiers of TEs hold so much value in this format and both Hock and Andrews have top 3 upside at the position with the target share they should get. David Montgomery and Miles Sanders both went after my last pick, so Chris Carson is the last of that RB2 group that I was targeting in the 5^th. I’m basically between Carson and Andrews, let’s hope one of them goes before me to make the decision easier. Joe Bond swooped in with snipe number 2 and takes Carson the pick before me. Do I pivot to WR or go double TE? Looking at data from last year’s SFBX scoring, the top 6 TEs finished in the top 36 overall at the flex position. Andrews, who was the 5^th highest scoring TE, finished outscoring all but 15 WRs and 14 RBs. With 20 RBs and 10 WRs gone I think the move is to go Andrews and then hammer WRs. Many people who have SFB success attribute a lot of the success to the play at TE so having 2 great ones gives me a positional advantage and what will likely be a unique build. Hopefully this sets the division into a little TE panic and people start reaching for TEs, leaving me some WR value next round. I decided to go for it, this will be a pivotal point in the draft. Bold strategy Cotton! Let’s see if it pays off for him!  

Round 6 – That didn’t work, 3 WR in a row off the board after my pick, then 2 RBs and another 3 WRs. I can’t fault my opponents, there were some great WR values there at this point in the draft. I was looking at targeting Robert Woods to pair with Stafford but he went 6.01. There were still solid WRs that Id like besides him. Julio, Evans, Godwin, Thielen, Golladay and DJ Moore were all still there with 5 picks before mine. 22 RBs have come off the board though, so I started to consider maybe taking a RB2 and waiting on WR again. Mike Davis and Javonte Williams are still around, and I started to think maybe I go that route if they make it back to me. Of the 4 picks in front of me, 3 of them already have 2 RBs but Mike Blewitt of Sportsgrid still has none. The next 3 picks were Evans, Godwin and Julio so my WR queue was dwindling also. That’s 8 of the 10 after my last pick! I read the draft board and all the guys picking after me had 2 or 3 RBs already and had some other team needs so I rolled the dice and decided it was time to get my first WR. The ones I really liked were starting to get picked off, so I went with Adam Thielen who finished last season as WR9 in SFB scoring. I closed my eyes and prayed Davis or Javonte made it back to me.

Round 7 – Im really starting to dislike Joe Bond picking ahead of me. For the 3^rd time in the 4 times he picked directly ahead of me he sniped me again. I missed out on Woods and had a big star next to Cooper Kupp in my queue to get a pairing with Stafford. Time to pivot again! My next WRs on my board were Golladay, Aiyuk and Dionte or I could go RB2 with Javonte, Mostert or James Robinson. I decided to lean RB since that dries up much quicker and I still have a long list of WRs to pick from the next few rounds. Also, 8 of my 11 opponents picked a WR with their last pick so it’s likely only a few others will go before my next pick. I debated the 3 RBs and went with Javonte Williams as a high upside guy. The Broncos traded up for him and if he does take over that backfield, he could be a league winner.

Round 8 – I kind of showed my hand now, I need to pound WR. You do need to start 3 WRs in the SFB format so I know I need to hammer a couple in these coming rounds. Dionte went the pick right after me, but I have plenty of ones that I liked still on my list with my main targets being Golladay, Aiyuk, Higgins and Sutton. There were 11 more picks ahead of me, so I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers that at least 1 of those 4 made it back to me. Golladay and Sutton were both taken at the turn by the same guy who took Woods from me, so I cursed Andrew Rosien under my breath. With 3 more picks before me I crossed my fingers for Aiyuk. All 3 teams picking in front of me have 3 WRs so I was hoping they’d all go in a different direction. Of course, the very next pick was Aiyuk, but luckily, I was still able to land Tee Higgins as my WR2 as the 29^th WR off the board. I’m still a believer that Higgins will continue the success he had last year and wont decline due to the Chase addition. I think there is going to be plenty of volume there to support all 3 receivers in that offense.

Round 9 – With 2 RBs and 2 WRs I could go either direction with this next pick. James Robinson is still hanging around and I like the value of him in the 9^th if he makes it. I also started to look at Trey Sermon who can also be a solid upside pick to go with Javonte. I think if Robinson or Sermon are there, I may go that route. The WRs I like best here would be Robby Anderson, DeVonta Smith, Jerry Jeudy or Juju. There are a bunch of WRs in that next tier that I’d be fine with as my WR3, so I thought that Id only go that route if neither of those RBs were there for me. We got through the turn with both RBs still there but Juju and Jeudy went off the board. 3 more bullets to dodge! Joe Bond, who is becoming my nemesis, takes Robinson with the pick before me and now has sniped me 4 of the 5 picks he has had directly in front of me: Brady, Carson, Kupp and now JRob. I couldn’t convincingly pull the trigger on Sermon, Anderson or Devonta and I was really torn here. I was debating and debating and started getting angry texts from my wife to come upstairs because it was getting late, and we hadn’t had dinner yet so I kind of rushed the pick but went with Smith. My thought was that at WR3 in the 9^th I could take a shot on the rookie with upside who doesn’t have DJ Moore and CMC to compete with. If he doesn’t pan out, I'll blame my wife for rushing me. 

Round 10 – Lots of places I could go here. Anderson, Cooks, Deebo, Landry, Fuller, Pittman all WRs I like. RBs are drying up but could go Melvin Gordon to lock up the Denver backfield or guys like Michael Carter, Ronald Jones, Zack Moss or Kenyan Drake. I could grab a QB3 like Zach Wilson or Cam Newton before there are no more starters left or I could wait a couple of rounds on a QB3 and take a Mac Jones, Tyrod, Love, or roll the dice on Watson. I think if Wilson is there I’d considered it but if not I go a different direction. I could even consider another TE and if Evan Engram lasts to me, I may actually do that. Zach Wilson made it back to me and with 4 of the 5 teams behind me only having 2 QBs I decided to pounce on the last surefire starter available for my QB3 and grabbed Wilson.

Round 11 – Coming back around I had a lot of directions I could go once again. There were 41 RBs and 41 WRs off the board and I had 2 RBs and 3 WRs on the roster. Kenyan Drake was the best RB option on the board in my opinion and there were some good WRs left like Landry, Mike Williams, Pittman, Waddle, Boyd and Fuller. Evan Engram was still sitting there, and it was tempting to grab that value on him in the 11^th as well. Ultimately, I decided that I was going to go with the RB and lock up my 3^rd RB to get someone with a guaranteed role in the offense that I would be somewhat comfortable putting in my lineup while I wait for Javonte to take over the role in Denver. I can come back around with one of those WRs that make it back and there were still plenty of solid late round TEs that I like later. Halfway through the draft I like what my team is looking like!

Recap Through 11 Rounds:

QB- Josh Allen

RB – Ezekiel Elliot

RB- Javonte Williams

WR – Adam Thielen

WR – Tee Higgins

WR – Devonta Smith

TE – TJ Hockenson

Superflex- Matt Stafford

Flex – Mark Andrews

Flex – Kenyan Drake

Bench QB – Zach Wilson

 

Round 12 – After my Drake pick, I was planning on targeting one of those WRs I liked last round. Pittman, Boyd and Landry all came off after my pick in the 11^th so when it got back to me my decision was between Mike Williams or one of the Dolphins WRs. I was eating ice cream with my 95-year-old grandma, so I read her the 4 names and told her to pick one. She picked Mike Williams so that’s who I drafted. Simple as that. No analytics, no statistics, just letting my grandma pick a name. Whether I win SFB11 or not, I got to make a draft pick with my 95-year-old grandma so that’s a win in my book!

Round 13 – Still some guys I liked on the board so I’m not thinking kicker quite yet. WRs like Bateman, Ruggs, Hardman and Gabe Davis intrigue me but none really excite me enough to do it. I could grab a 4^th RB like Nyheim Hines, Darrell Henderson, Chuba Hubbard or Phillip Lindsay but again, none excite me. I looked at the draft board and between this pick and my next there are 2 teams with no TEs and 2 teams with 1 TE. I looked at who was still available and Ertz, Kmet, Jarwin and Cook were all still there. I decided to go TE since none of those 4 would likely get back to me with those teams picking behind me in need at the position. Strengthening one of my already strong positions while also sticking it to the league a little. Competitive advantage! I do like Kmet but I decide to swing for the fences and took Zach Ertz. If he returns to form even a little bit that’s a home run pick. The icing on top would be if he were traded to Buffalo as speculated and then I have him paired with Josh Allen too!

Round 14 – We are officially in the portion of the draft where I am looking for solid bench players that I could flex a few weeks if I needed to. I love guys like Elijah Moore and Gerald Everett here, but I was thinking RB would be the way to go. I made out a queue for each position and after Phillip Lindsay and Tevin Coleman it’s all handcuffs and satellites. Lindsay and Coleman are the last 2 who could actually lead their backfields. Looking at the Elijah Moore ADP of 142.9 vs 173.9 & 188.1 for the other 2, I decided that Moore is the best pick and I’d take my chances on one of those backs making it back to me. I know Joe Bond is going to take Lindsey, and it would have been nice to snipe him back, but I had to draft the best players for my team. I picked Moore and figure Lindsay won’t make it back to me but crossed my fingers that Coleman does!

Round 15 – This one was the easiest pick of the draft so far for me. I do still believe that Tevin Coleman will be the Jets lead back, at least to start the season, and he was the last back on the board that I believed had that opportunity, so I picked him. Gerald Everett would have been a nice luxury, but I’m already solid at TE and needed another capable back.

Round 16 – Right after my 15^th round pick, I targeted the next round with guys still available that I liked. Gerald Everett would be the first pick, but I doubted he would still be there. There are 2 Bills WRS still available in Beasley and Gabe Davis or I could wait for Manny Sanders later also. Parris Campbell is also a good target here as well. If there is nobody that jumps out at me and these guys were to not make it, then we look at Blankenship as a kicker if he is there. All but Everett made it back to me, so I started to debate those wide receivers. Looking at Cole Beasley, I felt that in the 16^th round it was too good of a value to pass up. Beasley was a first down machine in that offense so in this format I decided to pull the trigger on him at what I felt was a great value.

Round 17 – I looked at 2 rookie RBs here with both Gainwell and Hubbard on the board. I like the Hubbard upside should something happen to CMC again. Ultimately, I decided to go with Gainwell thinking that he would also have great upside if Sanders went down, but also keeping in mind that he may have an immediate role as a pass catching back in that offense right off the bat.

Round 18 – Hubbard would still be considered here if he made it back to me, but this is the round my bullseye is on Emmanuel Sanders. He is a guy I have been loving to pick late in drafts as the Bills signed him to play the John Brown role, paying him basically double what Brown took in Las Vegas. I do also like Brown as well as flyers on AJ Green or Christian Kirk in Arizona so those would be my main targets in this round. Looking deeper at RB it was getting pretty gross. Gio Bernard was still available also and I am a die-hard Bucs fan with no Bucs on my roster so I started to consider him here along with Chuba. Chuba went in the beginning of the round so he was off the table. I looked at guys like Justin Jackson and Rashaad Penny coming off the board and noticed 60 RBs have been taken so I decided it was time to go with Gio. I snatched up my first Buccaneer and hoped that Sanders would get back to me in the 19^th.

Round 19 – Stay the course JB, its Manny Sanders here. If hes gone, pivot to John Brown. Fallback plan can be AJ Green, TreQuan Smith, Christian Kirk or Sterling Shepard or even my first kicker. Bullseye was locked on Sanders and fingers were crossed. Of course, the pick right after I went Bernard, was none other than Joe Bond taking Emmanuel Sanders. Smith and Brown followed in the same round and Green also went right after the turn. My decision was between Kirk and Shepard and I decided to go with Shepard since I am very high on Daniel Jones this year and think he will need Shep as a big part of his bounce back season.

Round 20 – Getting down to the end here and I only had 3 picks left. Devontae Booker was a guy I wanted to target as he is the Saquan handcuff and, if Saquan isn’t ready for a full workload in the beginning of the season, Booker could have some immediate fantasy impact. George Kassapis drafted Saquan and he picks after me so as long as nobody else had the same thought I figured I could land Booker here. Christian Kirk, Amari Rodgers, Nico Collins and Van Jefferson were my WR targets left but I can likely get one in the 21^st. My other options would be to snag Dan Arnold, Jordan Akins or CJ Uzomah as my last TE or taking Jason Myers, Matt Gay or Mike Badgley as my first kicker. Myers and Gay went with the 1^st 2 picks of the 20^th round and then a string of 4 WRs so I landed myself Devontae Booker.

Round 21- With only 2 rounds left my sights were set on getting a kicker and possibly a 4^th TE. The only TEs I really liked were Dan Arnold, Jordan Akins and maybe CJ Uzomah. The only kickers left that Id really consider are Badgley and McManus. If I wanted to take an 8^th WR, I have guys like Christian Kirk, Nico Collins, DeSean Jackson and Van Jefferson on the radar as late flyers. Arnold went the pick after mine, so my thought was to look at Badgley or McManus here and come back in the 22^nd with a queue of the above named TEs and WRs and take what gets to me. When it got to me, the thinking changed. I noticed Andy Dalton was still hanging around and although I didn’t need a 4^th QB, picking a guy who is a starting QB at the moment seemed like the best value play in round 21. I selected Dalton figuring I wasn’t missing much by not picking one of those other guys and if Dalton holds the job for at least 7 weeks, maybe I have another option for a bye week fill-in.

Round 22 – It’s the final round and, as excited as I am to post my final team screenshot, I am going to miss the high of this draft. As I mentioned last round, there weren’t a lot of players I loved that were left to pick. My final round queue consisted of Badgley, McManus, Akins, DeSean Jackson and Van Jefferson. This guy will likely be the first one cut for the first waiver wire pickup I put in for anyway. When it got back around to me, I ended up taking Mike Badgley as my “Mr. Irrelevant” and that concluded the draft for me.

All in all, this was an incredibly fun and competitive draft. I must tip my cap to the whole Boyz II Men Division who all did a phenomenal job drafting. There was not a single slouch in this group which made every pick difficult and certainly made me think a lot. This will be an extremely competitive division and I look forward to competing with all my new friends. Andrew Rosien, John Williams, Daniel Dopp, Tim Turner, Mike Blewitt, Dan Getschel, Joe Bond, George Kassapis, Joshua Cho, Kevin Hanson and Nicholas Martinez – good luck to you all in your quest for second place! Unfortunately for you guys, you got placed in the division with the future Scott Fish Bowl 11 Champion! Here is a look at the final squad!