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I Drafted Against the Smartest People in Fantasy Football

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14 min
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Jun 9, 2026
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Tue, June 9, 2026
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Episode Transcript

400
0:00I got to draft against 11 fantasy
0:02football legends in the League of Death.
0:03This long-running league has some of the
0:06greatest names in fantasy football. The
0:08inventor of zero running back, Shawn
0:10Siegal. We have Mike Clay. We have Scott
0:12Barrett, JJ Zachariason, Adam Levitan,
0:15Sigmund Bloom, Peter Overzet, Ryan
0:17Forbes, Pat Thorman, true legends of the
0:20game. They invited me, Davis Mattek. I
0:23drafted out of the three slot and let's
0:24go ahead and see what some of the
0:25greatest players in fantasy football are
0:27up to. I did begin with Jamar Chase out
0:30of the three slot. No real question for
0:32me of taking McCaffrey, Barkley, Taylor,
0:34or anyone like that. The thing that I
0:36think is very interesting about this
0:38league is that we have to start at least
0:40three wide receivers. Other than that,
0:42normal fantasy football league, two
0:43running backs, three wide receivers, one
0:45tight end, one quarterback, a defense
0:47slot, a tight end slot, and then a flex
0:49slot. The start three wide receivers
0:51does shift the strategy a little bit
0:54more like Underdog leagues. We saw my
0:56friend Scott Barrett who started with
0:58Puka Nacua, Nico Collins, and then
1:00Rashee Rice. No real surprises in the
1:02first round. Gibbs, Bijan, Chase, Puka,
1:04JSN, CMC, St. Brown, Barkley over
1:07Jonathan Taylor, then CD Lamb goes to
1:10Pete, Devon Achane to Rifo, and Justin
1:13Jefferson and Jente at the turn to Pat
1:15Thorman. I did what I thought was a
1:17little bit of a weird strategy for
1:18myself. I took Derrick Henry ahead of
1:21Kenneth Walker. You guys know I I really
1:24really want to win this league. I really
1:26really want to show my priors here. I
1:29took Derrick Henry and Kenneth Walker.
1:30Maybe a little bit of truth serum moment
1:32for me there. I also selected Breece
1:34Hall in the third round. Then Luther
1:37Burden, which I thought was very
1:38interesting because wide receivers you
1:40see got absolutely hoovered up in this
1:43league. Jameson Williams off early, Ladd
1:45McConkey off early, Tee Higgins off. I
1:47did take Burden ahead of both Davante
1:50Adams and Terry McLaurin. Then, right in
1:53the middle of the Bucky Irving fall
1:54that's happening right now, I selected
1:56him as the running back 23, ahead of
1:58Quinshon Judkins, ahead of Trevion
2:00Henderson, ahead of Eishael Tuton. I
2:02kind of wish I had that pick back. Not
2:05because I don't want Bucky Irving, I
2:06think he's fine,
2:08but I do think looking at the 2v2, would
2:10I rather have Mike Evans or Christian
2:12Watson and then Ramondre Stevenson over
2:15Brian Thomas Jr.? I do think that I
2:17probably slightly prefer that.
2:21I then took Josh Downs with my next
2:22pick. Then Rico Dowdle is my running
2:24back four. I took a long break after
2:27that. You guys see how late quarterbacks
2:29are going here. I took Joe Burrow as the
2:30quarterback four with Jamar Chase all
2:33the way down at round nine. Travis Kelce
2:35is my tight end one following up Bo Nix.
2:38Hunter Henry is my tight end two.
2:40Fernando Mendoza as my quarterback
2:42three. Dylan Sampson, De'Shawn
2:44Shribling, Gunner Helm, Trey Tucker, the
2:47Saints defense, the Bengals defense, and
2:49then one Mr. Tank Dell. So, in the end,
2:52my roster ended up being fairly normal
2:55overall constructed. I had three
2:56quarterbacks, I had five running backs,
2:59seven wide receivers, three tight ends,
3:01and two defenses. Going back to the
3:03draft though, I think there were some
3:05pretty interesting things that happened
3:07if you look at some of the great players
3:09here. So, obviously I wanted to see what
3:10is Sean Siegal, the inventor of zero
3:13running back do with his team? He starts
3:15his draft Christian McCaffrey and then
3:18Amari and Hampton rips off four straight
3:20wide receivers, A.J. Brown, Jameson
3:22Williams. I was very surprised to see
3:24Sean take D.J. Moore and D.K. Metcalf.
3:28R.J. Harvey, who's going much later than
3:30this in Best Ball draft, goes in round
3:32seven. Then Makai Lemon. Then this was
3:34one of the biggest signals to me. Sean
3:36Siegal, one of the smartest fantasy
3:38football players I know, someone who
3:40I've read every word this guy has
3:41written about the game of fake football
3:43for many years, takes Jonathan Brooks at
3:46running back 37 in the ninth round
3:48before then ripping off three straight
3:50tight ends, two straight quarterbacks,
3:52doesn't take another regular skill
3:54position player, running back, wide
3:55receiver, until round 16.
3:59I think this construction is so
4:00interesting because it really
4:02illuminates
4:03the big change in fantasy football,
4:05which is that even the most stringent
4:08zero running back drafter has had to
4:10change their tune. The way that
4:11projected points are being drafted at
4:14the running back position is so
4:15different than the way it's been for the
4:17most recent two seasons. If you have
4:19both a safe floor and a reasonable
4:22ceiling at the running back position,
4:23you are gone by pick 60. If you have any
4:26reasonable ceiling at all, you're gone
4:28by pick 100. And even some of the guys
4:31with reasonable floors, like Aaron
4:33Jones, Rashad White goes in the eighth
4:35round here. Rico Dowdle goes to me.
4:38Blake Corum goes at the seven-eight
4:40turn. I I mean, I think some of this
4:42stuff is so different compared to
4:45seasons that we've had in the past that
4:47it's sort of hard to reconcile our
4:49previous strategies to way that we are
4:51drafting this year. I think that Levitan
4:53had a great draft. He got Jahmyr Gibbs,
4:55pairs him with Trey McBride, gets his
4:57wide receiver one in George Pickens,
4:59Davante Adams, who I know ETR is very
5:01high on. A huge call here, Jadarian
5:04Price at running back 22, going with the
5:06first pick of the fifth round. That is a
5:09pretty massive call. Jadarian Price is
5:11going much later than that if you look
5:12at ESPN, Yahoo, Sleeper.
5:15Even in Best Ball formats, Jadarian
5:17Price is more like a sixth-round pick,
5:19so I thought that was quite interesting.
5:21Then, Levitan backed him up with Chuba
5:23Hubbard. Not that much of a gap in this
5:25draft. We have the 12th pick of the
5:28sixth round for Chuba Hubbard, and then
5:30we had Jonathan Brooks go in the middle
5:32of the ninth round. Also thought the
5:34Xavier Worthy and Blake Corum turn was
5:36quite interesting. You also will notice
5:38how many teams went three quarterbacks
5:40in this draft. Levitan goes Stafford,
5:42Mahomes, and Ward. JJ, he the inventor
5:45of the late-round quarterback strategy
5:47goes Brock Purdy, C.J. Stroud, and Aaron
5:50Rodgers. I took three quarterbacks. Only
5:52two quarterbacks for my guy Scott
5:54Barrett, which I think is sort of
5:55interesting because Scott
5:58he's not a Best Ball bro. He's not in
6:00the streets with all of us drafting
6:01three quarterbacks in these Best Ball
6:02drafts, and I think that two
6:04quarterbacks in this league maybe makes
6:06a little bit more sense, but all of us
6:08kind of did three. Mike Clay did three.
6:11Danny Carter did three. Sigmund Bloom
6:13did three. Pete, of course, Best Ball
6:15bro Pete did three. RyFo did three, and
6:18then three quarterbacks with Deshaun
6:20Watson here at the end for Pat Thorman.
6:22All of that I think is quite
6:23interesting. Let's take a look at the
6:26zero running back build in this. My guy
6:28Scott Barrett
6:30goes Puka, Nico Collins, and Rashee
6:32Rice. I think this is an incredible
6:34start. He does get David Montgomery as
6:36running back one. I would like this
6:38build quite a bit better if he were able
6:40to get Kenneth Walker or Javonte
6:42Williams cuz I think David Montgomery
6:44likely will have what is going to be
6:45considered a very good season. I don't
6:48think David Montgomery can have a great
6:49season. He just cannot have a running
6:51back one season in my opinion. Adds in
6:54Mike Evans. Of course, the key thing is
6:56when you're drafting as your a running
6:58back team, you've got to win the
6:59onezies. It is non-negotiable. If you
7:01were not winning at quarterback or tight
7:03end in a zero running back build, I just
7:05don't particularly see any way that you
7:07can generate high enough scores to have
7:09a ceiling to win a week. So, I thought
7:11this was very smart of Scott to take
7:13Lamar Jackson. Then continues to build
7:16out his running back room with Tony
7:17Pollard and Man Don't Guy. A huge value
7:20here on Jalen Hurts in the ninth round.
7:22George Kittle is also an awesome pick
7:24here. If George Kittle plays in week
7:27one,
7:28this will week be one of the biggest
7:30values in this draft. I mean, I don't
7:31even think it is particularly close.
7:33Kittle is definitely trending towards
7:35coming back in week one according to the
7:36most recent report from Adam Schefter.
7:39We know that he's generally been about a
7:4012 and a half, 13 and a half fantasy
7:42points per game guy. We know that he's
7:44definitely better in best ball because
7:46Kittle has never been a target dominant,
7:48you know, 100 catch guy, but he does
7:50have more I mean, this is actually true.
7:52He has multiple games in his career with
7:54three catches and three touchdowns. One
7:55of the most explosive guys at the tight
7:58end position. Certainly, I would be
8:00taking him ahead of Dalton Kincaid,
8:02probably even Fant and honestly, if we
8:03knew that he was 100% healthy. Then
8:06Scott adds in Jordan Mason and Isaiah
8:08Pacheco. You know, do I love Isaiah
8:10Pacheco? Would I have rather taken
8:12Keaton Mitchell? Sure, but I don't think
8:13you can castigate him that hard. Then
8:16Rashid Shaheed and Jaylen Nailor. Not a
8:18huge fan of the Nailor pick, but I get
8:20what he's doing there, just trying to
8:21build in a little bit of safe floor. Pat
8:24Freiermuth as the third tight end, I
8:26think is great. I think Scott drafted a
8:28phenomenal team in this league. A much
8:30more balanced build from my guy Mike
8:32Clay where he takes JSN, Jeremiah Love
8:35and Garrett Wilson. Builds in some
8:37ceiling with Skyy Moore. Very
8:38interesting that he took both Skyy Moore
8:41and Judkins in this league. That's sort
8:43of a an interesting way to build your
8:45fantasy football team where you know
8:47these are two guys who are coming back
8:49from pretty grizzly leg injuries, but
8:51you're sort of making the double bet on
8:53modern medicine. Like if one of these
8:55guys is healthy with the tightrope
8:56procedure in the lower body injury, it
8:58probably means the other one is going to
9:00be healthy. And if neither of them are
9:02healthy, if neither of them are
9:03efficient, then your team probably
9:04wasn't going to be that good anyways. We
9:06did just recently get some good news on
9:08Cam Akers Akers actually that he was
9:10able to take place uh take part in
9:14organized team activities, which I think
9:15is pretty big. Also, some belief here in
9:17Marvin Harrison Jr. for Mike taking him
9:20as the wide receiver 35, taking him
9:22ahead of Brian Thomas Jr., which I would
9:24not do. Then also selects Kyle Pitts and
9:26Michael Pittman Jr. Michael Pittman Jr.
9:29in these self-contained 12-man leagues,
9:31I can tell you that in my home league,
9:33that in high stakes leagues this year,
9:35Michael Pittman Jr. on any team where I
9:37start heavy at running back is going to
9:39be a prime prime target for me. I think
9:42he is a week one starter wide receiver
9:45three. Like I imagine when we get to
9:47week one, Michael Pittman Jr. is
9:48probably going to be ranked in the top
9:5036 in my wide receiver rankings over on
9:52FlockFantasy. Gets a huge value here
9:54with Drake May and honestly Trevor
9:56Lawrence. Backs Kyle Pitts up with
9:58Dallas Goedert and Kinyoun Sadeeq. Also
10:00adds in Daniel Jones.
10:03Overall, I just think you can see here
10:06how the wide receiver stuff shook out.
10:08This is just a very wide receiver heavy
10:10format even with some of the teams
10:12taking early running backs. Like I took
10:15Derrick Henry ahead of Kenneth Walker.
10:16So, if looking at this draft board, you
10:19can see that by the end of round six, 36
10:22wide receivers are off the board. That
10:23is significantly more than in the best
10:25ball sites right now. By the end of
10:27round nine, 50 wide receivers have gone
10:30off the board, which again is
10:31significantly more than other formats.
10:33And I think that the quarterbacks
10:35falling is maybe one of the most
10:36interesting things. Because what's
10:38happened in a lot of higher stakes and
10:40more competitive formats is quarterback
10:42pricing has actually been pushed up. You
10:45know, Reebs took Josh Allen in the third
10:47round. Lamar goes in round six. Daniel's
10:49goes in round seven. And then all the
10:51other guys are going, you know, after
10:53pick 90, which is just a very
10:55interesting dichotomy of the way that
10:57the quarterbacks have been drafted. But
10:59you can see the guys like Jalen Coker,
11:01Michael Wilson, Jakobi Meyers, Wan'Dale
11:03Robinson. All of those guys are going
11:06much earlier than sort of their standard
11:08average draft positions in this league.
11:10Now, part of that is that not every
11:12fantasy football league is going to be
11:13start three wide receivers with one in
11:15the flex. But I do just find it very
11:17interesting
11:19that basically amongst
11:21a room of fantasy football drafters that
11:24I could not take more seriously. Like
11:26I'm looking at what all these guys are
11:28doing and then trying to implement that
11:29into in rankings and into my strategy,
11:32it does still show that wide receivers
11:35are king. Even if we grant that running
11:38back points are sort of scarce, that
11:40running is up in the NFL, and that
11:42passing is generally less effective than
11:45it has ever been, that that makes wide
11:47receiver points more important. Cuz
11:49looking at the end of the draft, look at
11:50how the way a lot of people close these
11:53out. Very few wide receiver picks
11:55between rounds 15 and rounds 20. Now,
11:58granted, a lot of us took defenses, but
12:00you actually are seeing more tight ends
12:01go, you're seeing more running backs go,
12:03you're seeing people taking third
12:05quarterbacks in this range of the draft,
12:07which basically to me indicates that
12:11the the the era of the wide receiver
12:13dart, particularly in these
12:15self-contained leagues, is sort of over.
12:16Like, ask yourself, is there any chance
12:19that you're going to be starting Trey
12:20Sermon against your buddies? Do you want
12:22to start Jalen McMillan or Ryan Flournoy
12:24or Jerry Jeudy? I mean, generally
12:26speaking, the answer is going to be no.
12:29Which sort of points me back to the
12:31central conceit of fantasy football this
12:33year, which that I don't even
12:35particularly think that I have an answer
12:37for yet, which is how do you balance out
12:39the fact that fewer wide receivers are
12:42scoring a greater amount of fantasy
12:44points than ever. You still need the
12:46wide receiver points. You're not going
12:48to win your league without wide receiver
12:50one scores, but then also balance out
12:52the fact that there are kind of fewer
12:55attractive running back twos than ever.
12:56You know, generally used to be the case
12:58that guys like I shell tune or R.J.
13:01Harvey or Jonathan Brooks, sort of these
13:03not a super clear path to playing time
13:06or not a super clear path to running
13:08back one volume, but high upside, you
13:10know, physical skill sets, good
13:12offenses. These guys we could get a huge
13:14discount on. One of the situations that
13:16I always think of is the 2024 Chase
13:18Brown Zach Moss situation. Chase Brown
13:21had an ADP lower than Zach Moss, despite
13:24clearly being the better and higher
13:25upside pick in that backfield. But, I
13:28want you guys to take a look at this
13:30draft board. I want to tell I want you
13:31guys to tell me, did I do a good job?
13:33Did I hold my own in this league?
13:35Comment down below who had the best
13:37draft amongst all the drafters in this
13:39league. Make sure that you are
13:41subscribed to the Maddock Fantasy
13:42Football channel. You can check my
13:43rankings and content out over at Flock
13:46Fantasy. You can use code Davis to sign
13:48up over there. Link is in the
13:50description. But, make sure you like the
13:51video. Make sure you are subscribed to
13:52the channel, and I'll be back with you
13:54guys very soon.

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