As with every fantasy draft, the season is more likely to be thrown away than won. This draft was no different as both teams had very different takes on how to go about the draft. We had time outs, snipes, organised position attacks and with that, the league antics started with a bang.

The draft order was randomised which turned out like this-

1- Geoff, GoingFor2DotCom- Team USA
2- Garry, GarryHaddow1- Team Europe
3- Freddie, TheFranchiseTag- Team Europe
4- James, AVFCJPS- Team Europe
5- Josh, Joshpattenden7- Team Europe
6- Jake, Jsnake- Team USA
7- Pittsy, PittsyNFL- Team Europe
8- Stocks and Murf, Team 5Yard Rush- Team Europe
9- John and BJ, Team FTLS- Team USA
10- Drake, DrakePFSA- Team USA
11- Brian, Shacknado- Team USA
12- Kevin, Ktompkinsii- Team USA

Team Europe held most of the middle slots as the US bookended each round. With time differences a factor a slow draft was put in place and it all began on Monday 17th August.

The Draft – First Round

The teams were set and the Europe chat room was in full swing ready to take on the task of drafting teams to take on the US but also a plan of attack to help stifle any US progress.

Team USA kicked the draft off with the very first pick. They put their draft strategy into full effect to stall Team Europe with an Auto pick with the 1.01 timer running out. McCaffrey was handed over and with that, the draft could kick on.

The first 4 picks all went the way of the RBs as CMC, Saquon, Kamara then Zeke were all taken. The first WR was then taken with the 1.05 pick as Thomas was Selected by Josh as part of Team Europe.

With the league being a Superflex league it was only a matter of time before someone grabbed a QB and like buses, 2 came along one after the other at picks 1.06 and 1.07. JSnake takes Mahomes followed by Pittsy taking Jackson.

The final 5 picks were selected without an issue as 2 more RBs- Clyde Edwards Helaire and Cook were taken at 1.08 and 1.09. To round off the first round, 2 WRs surrounded a QB. Davante Adams went at 1.10, Dak went at 1.11 and finally, Tyreek Hill went at 1.12.

Round 2 onwards

It was only fitting for Team USA to crack on in round 2 with another mistake. It wasn’t a timer fault this time but Kevin made a mistake at 2.01. With that he asked to change a player, swapping out Julio and drafting in Kelce.

From then on we had some good rounds rattle through. Team Europe looked like they had a mini-plan as most players drafted the same positions as each other round after round. This seemed to expose some of Team USA’s weakness.

A lack of communication showed between the group. Comments were made during the early rounds of being sniped by their team members and cracks and disorder started to run through the Team USA ranks.

This then prompted another Time fault near the end of the 5th round as Shacknado timed out forcing the second auto pick for Team USA.

QBs and the final rounds

Team Europe once again showed everyone how organised they were as round 6 came around. A mass run on QBs was taken as 5 of the 6 Europe teams grabbed a QB in round 5 then doubled up again in round 6. Just like that 10 QBs were off the table and had some of team USA scrambling to fix the issue.

Just in case the point hadn’t been highlighted enough, 4 of those 5 teams grabbed a third QB in as many rounds. Team Europe hammering the QB market as Pittsy joined in taking his 3rd QB too. In 3 short rounds, Team Europe took away 15 QBs from the draft board.

Team USA recovered as best as they could and a few more rounds went by as the remaining QBs were sifted through, RBs WRs and TEs started to get drafted again. Unfortunately, the heat of the draft got too much for Team USA as a third-time fault occurred in round 11 and the draft auto picked one more player for them.

One last time, Team USA decided to drop a clanger in the draft as the final few rounds. Drake gives everyone in the draft a shout out saying let’s get this draft done today. What are the chances that when the draft gets round to Drake a few picks later, he takes an age to make a pick.

Just to rub it in a little more, don’t forget Drake is picking in the 10th slot so very close to the turn. The draft comes back round to him and once more he takes well over an hour to make his pick. The draft was not completed that day.

The final flourish

Day 8, Tuesday 25th, saw us finally complete the draft. The final round started with the Colts D and finished with the Chiefs D. With another 4 teams picking up a Dst along the way. Freddie for Team Europe made an interesting decision not to draft a Dst at all. So at some point will have to grab one off the waivers.

Going back to the QBs, most teams managed to take 3 qbs apart from James, Drake and Kevin who only took 2. Jake must have been jealous of Team Europe. So decided to take 3 QBs in consecutive rounds from round 13, finally finishing the draft with 5 QBs on his team.

With the draft in the bag, we now wait for the season to begin. As I said at the start, the Draft can help you throw a season rather than win it. All the best to Team USA as they try to fix their in house issues and recover from a Team Europe draft win.

As we now countdown to the start of the season make sure to follow the Battle of the Podcasts President’s Trophy. Keep listening to the 5 Yard Rush Podcast and the For The Love of Sunday podcast. Or you can follow it all on twitter as the teams do battle @5yardrush and @FTLS_JBatts @FTLSunday

Until next time, Keep Rushing

Pittsy – @PittsyNFL