In my last three drafts, Jonathan Taylor has not gone at the 1.01. In one of those, I had a shot at him with the 1.02 and selected Cooper Kupp.
Christian McCaffrey is a unicorn, and Kupp is coming off of the greatest fantasy WR season ever. Moreover, it’s a sign that fantasy drafters are getting savvier that we can even have this conversation. There are reasons to pass on Taylor early.
We’re currently drafting in a RotoViz Writers League for Underdog. I had the 1.02 and Taylor was there again. There are a lot of reasons I want to go WR in this spot, but in the end I did not.
Michael Dubner has a must-read article on the first five rounds of this draft where he breaks down player selection and draft tactics, while allowing the participants to explain their own strategies. You don’t want to miss it.
In the end, I selected Taylor. I love the theses for McCaffrey and Kupp, but their presence also gives you a chance to create more Taylor exposure than you’d otherwise get. Last year I wrote a deep dive into detailing why Taylor’s talent and profile provided more fantasy upside than was generally appreciated. In one of my luckiest titles, I claimed the 2021 fantasy season would be all about Taylor. Hopefully, you were able to join us in smashing your leagues.
Will it happen again? Perhaps. I at least want to explain why key elements of last year’s thesis continue into 2022 in an even more powerful way. Our prospect research – shameless plug for the RotoViz Rookie Guide – indicated that Taylor was the best RB prospect in a generation. Will that be enough to make him the next fantasy football legend?
A quick word of thanks to Anthony Shook, Dave Caban, Blair Andrews, and all of the great minds who have worked on the RotoViz tools in the past like Mike Beers and Frank DuPont. This was supposed to be a quick, 700-word piece looking at a specific area of Taylor’s profile, but it spilled into a 2,900-word epic. At every potential stopping point, a new idea sparked a detour to another tool. I ended up using seven of our 22 tools, and I’m constantly blown away by the research they facilitate.
A quick word of thanks to Anthony Shook, Dave Caban, Blair Andrews, and all of the great minds who have worked on the RotoViz tools in the past like Mike Beers and Frank DuPont. This was supposed to be a quick, 700-word piece looking at a specific area of Taylor’s profile, but it spilled into a 2,900-word epic. At every potential stopping point, a new idea sparked a detour to another tool. I ended up using seven of our 22 tools, and I’m constantly blown away by the research they facilitate.
