Fantasy Football 2017: Sorry, but you drafted wrong

To all the fantasy football owners who already had their drafts, I have something to tell you: Sorry, but you drafted wrong.

You bought the magazines, read the articles and did hundreds of mock drafts. Basically, you did all the research humanly possible. It still doesn’t matter because you didn’t execute your fantasy football draft. You drafted wrong.

Take a deep breath and don’t freak out just yet. When I say “you” drafted wrong I don’t mean just you. I mean we all drafted wrong. There are players we all should have passed on but we didn’t. In fact, some owners took players nobody should have touched in the first round or two.

There are some players who will finish top 5-10 in their respective positions but went undrafted are currently on the waiver-wire.

I can’t tell you the name of these players because I honestly don’t know. If I did, I wouldn’t tell you jabronies. Instead, I would just enter 100 leagues and win them all. However, I do know I’m 100 percent right about this because it happens every year. Literally, every year. Don’t believe me?

Here’s one example of what your team could’ve been in 2016 if you drafted from the four spot in a 12-team PPR league (According to Fantasy Football Calculator):

More from Fantasy Football

QB: Matt Ryan, Atlanta Falcons – No. 2 FF QB
RB: David Johnson, Arizona Cardinals – No. 1 FF RB
RB: LeSean McCoy, Buffalo Bills – No. 4 FF RB
WR: T.Y. Hilton, Indianapolis Colts – No. 5 FF WR
WR: Michael Thomas, New Orleans Saints – No. 7 FF WR
FLEX: Doug Baldwin, Seattle Seahawks – No. 8 FF WR
TE: Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings No. 2 FF TE
D/ST: Minnesota Vikings – No. 1 FF D/ST
K: Matt Bryant, Atlanta Falcons No. 1 FF K
Bench: Drew Brees, QB, New Orleans Saints – No. 3 FF QB
Bench: Davante Adams, WR, Green Bay Packers – No. 9 FF WR
Bench: LeGarrette Blount, RB, New England Patriots – No. 9 FF RB
Bench: Jordan Howard, RB, Chicago Bears – No. 10 FF RB
Bench: Michael Crabtree, WR, Oakland Raiders – No. 12 FF WR
Bench: Tyreek Hill, WR, Kansas City Chiefs – No. 18 FF WR

This seems impossible right? Well, it wasn’t. This team was actually easy to assemble because a number of these players were either going undrafted (Howard, Rudolph, Adams, Hill, Bryant) or drafted late (Ryan, Vikings D/ST, Thomas).

So do me a favor and stop staring at your team and thinking that’s it’s the best team ever created because it’s not. Also, if you think you had an awful draft, it’s probably not as bad as it seems. Players are going to get injured while others underachieve and overachieve. It’s just the nature of the beast.

If you’re team gets off to a slow start, don’t panic. Just because a player does well in Week 1 doesn’t mean he’s going to do well the rest of the season. Here’s a look at some of Week 1’s top performers in 2016:

Alex Smith, QB, Kansas City Chiefs (No. 3 QB in Week 1)
C.J. Anderson, RB, Denver Broncos (No. 2 RB in Week 1)
Ameer Abdullah, RB, Detroit Lions (No. 8 RB in Week 1)
Willie Snead, WR, New Orleans Saints (No. 4 WR in Week 1)
Jordan Matthews, WR, Philadelphia Eagles (No. 6 WR in Week 1)
Dwayne Allen, TE, Indianapolis Colts (No. 2 TE in Week 1)
Julius Thomas, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 3 TE in Week 1)

Next: Fantasy Football 2017: Top 101 PPR Rankings (Aug. 30 update)

Did any of these players help owners win a championship last year? Nope. So don’t rush out the waiver-wire and drop half your team to pick up a bunch of guys who blew up in Week 1. Trust yourself, trust the process and trust your team.

Even though, you know, you drafted wrong.

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