Fantasy Football Roster Construction: RB or WR In The Third Round?
Redraft season is on the horizon and roster construction is important to your success in season long leagues. Your fantasy football roster construction starts during the draft and this series will focus on the “this or that” of selecting a position during the draft and what the ramifications of that selection for your team is.
For this exercise, the position group selected with the first picks will be contrasted by the opposite position in the later pick. For example, if you took a RB in round two vs a WR in round two, the round 10 selection would compare taking a WR to pair with your second round RB and vice versa. All ADP is derived from ffcalculator.com and is based on 12 team PPR. Let’s check out part three.
Part One: Redraft Roster Construction: This or That?
Part Two: Redraft Roster Construction: This or That? (Draft RB Early or Late?)
ROUND 3 RB OR WR?
Is going “RB Robust” your method? How long are you willing to wait for your WR1? In the third round of your draft you are faced with a critical decision for your roster. For this example, let’s look at selecting Le’Veon Bell (ADP 33) or Odell Beckham Jr (ADP 34). Here’s what they did in 2019.
Bell – RB16 (215.0 FP) RB20 (14.3 FP/G)
Beckham Jr – WR25 (202.5 FP) WR35 (12.7 FP/G)
Bell’s first season in New York was marred by injuries to teammates and inept play calling by HC Adam Gase. Gase is still there, but QB Sam Darnold enters his second year in the system and should see some growth. The Jets are bad, and are likely in the race for the number one overall selection in 2021. This could mean a very nice receiving ceiling for Bell as he catches check downs from Darnold who will be seeing ghosts in 2020. OBJ’s first year in Cleveland was not what many fantasy owners expected. Former HC Freddie Kitchens struggled to get any rhythm for QB Baker Mayfield, and OBJ suffered. New HC Kevin Stefanski should be able to right the ship for Mayfield, but will it be enough for OBJ to return to WR1 status?
WHO TO PAIR?
If you selected Bell at 33, you could pair him with D.J. Chark (ADP 51). If you selected Beckham Jr at 34 you could pair him with Raheem Mostert (ADP 52). Let’s examine their 2019 seasons.
Chark – WR18 (223.8 FP) WR20 (14.9 FP/G)
Mostert – RB26 (169.2 FP) RB33 (11.3 FP/G)
Chark burst onto the scene in 2019, pairing with QB Garnder Minshew to break 1,000 yards receiving and announce himself as one of the best WRs in the NFL. Entering his third year, Chark will look to continue his success and continue to creep towards the top 15 WRs in fantasy. Mostert was a late bloomer on a San Francisco team that runs the ball extremely well. My biggest concern with Mostert is if he is the guy. Maybe it is Tevin Coleman. Maybe it is Jerick McKinnon. RBs off the board at pick 52 aren’t a surefire thing, and Mostert is the same way.
2020 PROJECTIONS
VERDICT
If you could tell me in this situation I could guarantee D.J. Chark at pick 51, I am taking Le’Veon Bell in the third round. Chark has elite game breaking ability and the Jaguars will be playing from behind a lot in 2020. With another year of chemistry with Minshew, Chark could improve on his 2019 numbers and be a top 15 WR. I would rather pair the floor of Bell with Chark instead of hoping Raheem Mostert is the lead back in 2020 for San Francisco. I do think OBJ ends the season in the top-15, but the total package of players here makes me lean Bell/Chark.
What do you think? What would you do?
