The great thing about the first pick in a Superflex start-up draft is that you get your choice of quarterbacks. If you're right, you could have the best player at the most valuable position for a decade or more. The worst thing about having the first pick in a Superflex start-up is everything else.
Unsurprisingly in this mock, quarterbacks and wide receivers dominated the first two rounds to the extent that when I picked again at pick 24, the top two players on my board were Jonathan Taylor and Christian Mccaffrey. Knowing that I wouldn't pick again until pick 48, that felt extremely dangerous. Then again, having Mahomes, Taylor, and McCaffrey in 2024 feels pretty dangerous to the rest of the league. So I decided to try it out, so you all can see how it worked. You're welcome.
While you can see the full results of this draft below, I'll just give a few thoughts here. For one, if I have two running backs in my first three picks of any Dynasty league I know one thing, I had better be a contender this season. That attitude informed most of the rest of my draft, with Mark Andrews, Mike Evans, and Calvin Ridley being three of my next four picks. The one exception in that stretch was J.J. McCarthy, because I think there's a legitimate chance circumstances make McCarthy a very good QB2 as a rookie. I could also afford to make a pick like that because I assumed a veteran QB would fall even later, and he did. I scooped up Aaron Rodgers with the 96th pick in the draft.
The second thing about taking two running backs that early was that I didn't want to draft many more. Jaylen Warren (Round 11) and J.K. Dobbins (Round 14) were the only other running backs I selected. I loved the value on Warren, but more importantly, this team is built around McCaffrey and Taylor and winning now. If those two go down, my team won't be good enough to win with backup running backs, so it's not worth spending too much on them.
The final thing about drafting to win now is that you have better be prepared, and enthusiastic, about rebuilding. For this, you must know yourself as a Dynasty manager. I believe in two speeds in Dynasty, win-em-all or lose-em-all. And, honestly, I enjoy the rebuild almost as much as the title chase. If you are one of those managers that can't stand the thought of tanking, I wouldn't ever advise drafting a win-now team in a start-up, I would try to be more balanced than I was in this draft.
The analysts who participated in this mock draft are:
Heath Cummings, CBS Fantasy
Adam Aizer, CBS Fantasy
Matt Donnelly, Dynasty Vipers
R.J. White, CBS Fantasy
Dan Schneier, CBS Fantasy
Alfredo Brown, Footballguys
Joshua Cho, @jbchoknows
Ben Wasley, Fantasy First Down
Dave Richard, CBS Fantasy
Aaron St Denis, Fantasy Pros
Mike Kash, FFRPG
Jay Felicio, The Athletic and FTN Fantasy
And here are the full results: