Fantasy Football Mailbag: Favorite Draft Slots, Fighting Mascots, and More

This week, I asked the Fantasy Life Community Discord—which is active year-round and has over 6,200 members—and the Bluesky fantasy football community for their most pressing questions.

Here's what they want to know.

What is your favorite draft slot, assuming it’s a 12-team redraft?

Much like snowflakes, fingerprints, and Chicago Bears’ last-minute collapses, each draft slot is beautiful and unique.

Supposing my league doesn’t incorporate 3rd round reversals, I’ll gleefully take any of the first three draft spots. That gives me the opportunity to grab one of our top-tier players out of the gate and still have a ton of quality meat on the bone in the next couple of rounds.

It might leave me more vulnerable to positional runs, but that just means I’m all-in on the “get my guy” mentality the rest of the draft, which is how I like to operate anyhow.

And wouldn’t ya know it, our own Christopher Allen has already given me an excellent template for drafting out of the 1.01 spot.

Which players are better in redraft than best ball?

Shifting from best ball to redraft can be a trip because how one constructs their rosters is wildly different. Not just in which specific players to draft, but in managing things like stacking, Week 17 correlations, and the collective upside of your roster. Those things are massively important in best ball, but not nearly as much in redraft.

In redraft, a fast start is sometimes more important than a strong finish, since you can adjust your roster throughout the season using waivers and trades.

Someone like Travis Kelce piques my interest more since I think he’ll do everything he can to leave on a high note, but I am somewhat concerned he’ll wear down by season’s end. If Kelce peters out in redraft, you can at least stream your way to useful tight end production. In best ball, that’s a much bigger hit.

Likewise, I’ll pivot to the teammates of players who will start the season at less than 100%. Brandon Aiyuk could start the season on the PUP list, so Jauan Jennings is more tempting in redraft. To a lesser degree, it’s the same for Romeo Doubs, since Christian Watson’s ACL injury occurred at the very end of last season.

Which wide receiver currently drafted as a WR3 has the best chance to become a WR1?

Guys like Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, and even Chris Olave from that ADP group all have an outside chance at a top-12 season, but they’d all need significant touchdown volume to get there.

So I’m going to pick the dude with the highest variance in his fantasy projections: Travis Hunter, who is one of Dwain McFarland’s most-drafted players. If the Jaguars give him enough time to shine on offense—and I realize it’s a big if—then a WR1 finish would be well within reach.

Without mentioning injury/health/Achilles, what’s the case for CMC not being a top 3 pick in all formats?

You…stole all the good words! But I get it. After all, we’re just one season removed from McCaffrey leading the league in rushing and putting up 100 fantasy points more than the next-best running back

But here are a few words that I can say to explain why I won’t put him in the top three:

Age. CMC just turned 29, which in and of itself isn’t a huge issue—Derrick Henry, James Conner, and Aaron Jones have recently bucked the trend for older RBs—but coupled with his schminjury schmistory (I didn’t technically say it), it’s a bigger worry.
Touchdown regression. Let’s not forget CMC had a face-melting 21 touchdowns in that dominant 2023 season. I don’t think we can bank on that again.
FOMO. Perhaps the most important question is, who are you willing to miss out on by taking CMC? Ja’Marr Chase? Heck no. Bijan Robinson? Certainly not. So you’d have to be willing to pass up one of Saquon Barkley, Jahmyr Gibbs, CeeDee Lamb, or Justin Jefferson, who all feel significantly more secure right now.

Are we all wrong about ranking Breece Hall so low?

Hall is currently the RB12 in ADP, going behind Josh Jacobs and Chase Brown, but ahead of Kyren Williams. If you expect him to vastly outperform those guys, you’re hoping the coachspeak about utilizing all three backs “as much as possible” is a red herring or a motivation tactic for Hall.

I know at least one person wants nothing to do with Hall, and his name is Matthew Freedman. From his recent article on players he absolutely won’t draft (even if there’s a fire):

“New QB Justin Fields is likely to diminish Hall's production in three ways.

First, the Jets will probably be less productive with Fields instead of QB Aaron Rodgers (as well as No. 1 WR Davante Adams and starting OTs Tyron Smith and Morgan Moses). With Fields, the Jets offense will likely score fewer points and accumulate fewer yards.

Second, Fields is one of the league's best running QBs. The Jets will likely reallocate some of the team's designed rushing attack away from Hall and toward Fields.

Third, Fields will be less likely than Rodgers to check the ball down to Hall when pressured in the pocket and more likely to scramble.”

Is this Noah Gray season?

As I mentioned, there’s a real concern about Travis Kelce slowing down or falling off by season’s end. With that said, the Chiefs don’t utilize Kelce so much because they want to run their offense through a tight end. They do it because he’s Travis freakin’ Kelce, one of the greatest tight ends of all time.

So if Kelce were to go down with injury (or exhaustion) and Noah Gray were to step in, there’s no guarantee he’d become even a top-12 tight end.

In fact, in the 4 games Kelce has missed since Gray’s been in Kansas City, here’s his combined statline:

11 targets
6 receptions
47 yards
0 touchdowns

Just barely cracking 10 PPR points in four spot starts is certainly not the way to my heart, so I’m going to pass on Gray. If anything, Kelce’s presumed dropoff has me more interested in Rashee Rice and the other wide receivers.

Why isn’t Tee Higgins ranked higher in general? Top 5 PPG last year, Bengals defense should be worse, and they should throw a ton again.

Tee Higgins has an ADP of WR14 at the time of this writing, so he’s not being written off by the fantasy community. But we’re not giving him deference for last season’s elite fantasy production, either.

Paul Charchian recently wrote about downgrading Higgins in Guillotine league formats, and I think the heart of his concern carries over into redraft.

“In Higgins' last two seasons, he's played 24 games. In 12 of those games, he's finished as WR33 or worse. The common denominator for those dud games is a lack of targets and receptions. In those 12 games, Higgins has averaged just 5 targets and 3 receptions."

His lack of availability combined with his boom/bust nature has drafters a bit cautious, which I can appreciate. And yes, Joe Burrow should chuck the ball a ton this season. But Cincinnati already ranks 1st in pass attempts over the last three years, and Higgins only has one top-15 finish in PPG to show for it.

What are some of your favorite redraft variations? I play lots of guillotine and am in one vampire league. What else am I missing?

First of all, I’m excited to hear you’re playing in guillotine leagues, and I encourage all of our readers to try it out!

A few years ago, I put together an eight-team league where each manager drafted four whole NFL teams. Managers could build their rosters only from players on those four teams. Then you could build your roster out of any player from that team. A standard snake draft isn’t optimal for this (since the draft is so condensed), so I’d recommend an auction style.

What’s your favorite last-place league punishment that you have seen?

We’re no strangers to good league punishments at Fantasy Life, but the best I’ve personally witnessed was a recreation of ESPN’s annual Body Issue magazine. If you’re unfamiliar, this is where famous athletes posed in very artsy and tastefully nude or semi-nude photos.

The photoshoot from that punishment was then turned into a calendar and distributed to the rest of the league on draft day. The fella who came in last place seemed to have a great time making it, and certainly wasn’t lacking in body confidence.

It should go without saying, but it’s essential for the entire league to vote on this as the punishment before the season starts, and the voting has to be unanimous.

Which team has the widest range of outcomes this year? (Could see a path to 12 wins or four wins)

Probably the Bears.

…

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, nah I’m just playing. I saw “four wins” and that’s the first team that sprang to mind (that’s TWO sick Bears burns in one mailbag! Deal with it, Naperville).

The Patriots are itching to return to their glory days, and Mike Vrabel taking over as head coach should help them get closer. The man got 11 and 12-win seasons with Ryan Tannehill at the helm, after all (though he also had a monster truck in Derrick Henry paving the way).

If nothing else, Vrabel should help get the defense into shape, and second-best in the AFC East is very much up for grabs. I’m also a huge Drake Maye believer/apologist, and I’m trying to will a big ascension into existence.

Which players should be focused on more in TE Premium vs standard home leagues? How should strategies be different?

For those unaware, TE-Premium scoring boosts tight end scoring (usually by giving them more points per reception compared to other positions) in an effort to even out the playing field. It’s basically admitting that most tight ends are terrible for fantasy, so they need some help.

But the only thing TE Premium does for me is push the elite tight ends further up the board. In standard leagues, I wouldn’t dream of drafting a tight end in the first round. With this boost? I’m at least flirting with Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.

Punting the position is still the responsible thing to do, unless you have multiple Flex spots and can slot a TE in there. In that case, look for the uninspiring target hogs (think prime Zach Ertz … or modern day Zach Ertz) in the mid rounds.

In a dynasty league, what are some clever ways to determine the following year’s draft order to keep teams competitive in season without penalizing teams that are in full rebuild mode or just flat bad and need the draft capital?

I understand the desire to keep leagues active all season long, but in dynasty, the most fair method is still the simplest: The worst team at the end of the regular season gets 1st pick in the rookie draft. 2nd worst gets 2nd pick, and so on for the bottom six teams. The playoffs decide the draft order for the remaining six teams.

I’d rather try to incentivize the loser’s bracket to set their best possible lineups during the playoffs. So, incorporating a punishment for the loser of the loser’s bracket (let’s call them “The Supreme Loser”) could be the way to go.

Which quarterback from the 2024 draft will have the best fantasy season?

The obvious answer is Jayden Daniels. Even though I expect slight regression from what we saw last year—presumably with fewer last-minute heroics—Daniels has earned his place among the top QBs. His rushing floor insulates him even if his “hero-balling” succeeds a little less frequently this year.

But if not him … I’m warming up to the idea that Caleb Williams is a great late-round draft target.

Will the Ashton Jeanty/Pete Carroll union live up to the hype?

Going back to 2012, Pete Carroll’s rushing offenses in Seattle ranked inside the top five as often as they fell outside the top 10. Granted, Carroll’s backfields seem to have dealt with more injuries than any other in the history of time and space, so maybe the boom/bust results should be expected.

Carroll is also extremely unreliable when it comes to offseason coachspeak. In fact, we should almost just predict the exact opposite of whatever he says.

So then…it’s great news for Jeanty managers that Carroll alluded to a split backfield!

Which skill position group is the most likely to have last year’s #1 repeat?

Using full PPR and Points Per Game (rather than total points) as our basis, the leaders at each position were Lamar Jackson, Saquon Barkley, Ja’Marr Chase, and George Kittle.

Asking Barkley to repeat as the top running back after racking up 378 touches and scoring a career high 15 touchdowns seems … what’s the word … foolhardy? (And yet hard fools such as myself just couldn’t stay away from him in the Scott Fish Bowl.)

The smart money is on Chase, who’s never left a season without at least 128 targets, even that year he only played 12 games.

Which of Godwin, Aiyuk, and Rice has the best path to succeed this season as they all return from injury? Who of the three is most likely to play with a different team next season?

As I mentioned earlier, Aiyuk could very well start the season on PUP. And Godwin has to contend with Mike Evans, who still has no wrinkles in his game, and a highly touted Emeka Egbuka coming in hot from the draft.

Almost by default, I’m putting Rice at the top of the pile this season. Legal expert Drew Davenport doesn’t believe a suspension will happen for him in 2025, and Rice was absolutely streaking out of the gate last year prior to his injury.

As for the second part of that question, Godwin just locked up an extension with the Bucs and has said he wants to finish his career with Tampa Bay. Rice will still be on his rookie contract next year, and the Chiefs have little to no incentive to trade him. That leaves Aiyuk, who secured an extension of his own with the 49ers last offseason, but who seems to be following the Stefon Diggs Guide to Contract Disputes. So we’ll see.

How would you strategize beating, not the Browns mascot, but the Browns logo (a giant helmet) in a fight? You’re toast, Trowbridge. Also, what are the odds MarShawn Lloyd can become a thing?

While inviting questions for this mailbag column over on Bluesky, I flippantly mentioned fighting NFL team mascots. And some of you really took this to heart.

So let me just say this: If you don’t think I could roundhouse kick that big-ass helmet up and down Huntington Bank Field, then you clearly haven’t seen all the sweet karate trophies in my childhood bedroom.

Also, MarShawn Lloyd is super talented and could be used in the receiving game alongside Josh Jacobs. And if Jacobs breaks down—1,000 touches over the last 3 years can do that to a guy—Lloyd would probably split time with Emanuel Wilson.

When fighting team mascots, what would you use to fight them?

I once again invoke the power of my roundhouse kick. (Seriously, so many karate trophies in my childhood bedroom. And medals! And engraved PLAQUES!) So nothing else is needed.

Send me Sir Purr, Sourdough Sam, Steely McBeam (yes, these are all real mascot names, I looked them up,) and whoever else wants to come through that tunnel. They’re all getting put to sleep.