Draft Analysis

 


The leagues 2026 draft occurred on Sunday, marking the start of TFL's seventeenth season. And what a draft it was. The clock ticked down, buttons were pushed, and terrible decisions were made by all.

Managers took a break from their busy lives to step away from important activities like trimming trees and watching Bluey. They answered the call of the Build Your Own Taco Bar and took the muppet loving asses up onto the stage and announce their selections in front of the world. 

Let's take a moment to honor their sacrifices by having a look at exactly what went down!


GENERAL TRENDS

Drafted a higher-than-average number of players for a particular position

·       Patrick – 6 Wide Receivers

·       Anthony, Billy, Keith, and Steve – 5 Running Backs

·       Mike and Steve – 2 Team Defenses

Drafted a higher-than-average number of players from a single team

·       Charles – 3 players from the Falcons (Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts)

·       Greg – 3 players from the Cowboys (George Pickens, Dak Prescott, Brandon Aubrey) and 
                 3 players from the Ravens (Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers)

·       Keith – 3 players from the Buccaneers (Bucky Irving, Chris Godwin, Kenny Gainwell)

·       Mike – 3 players from the Patriots (Drake Maye, TreVeyon Henderson, Patriots D/ST)

Stacked a QB with WR or TE from the same team

·       Greg – Cowboys – Prescott / Pickens

·       Steve – Rams – Stafford / Adams

First off the board for player positions other than WR or RB

·       Anthony – first TE (Brock Bowers) with pick 4

·       Anthony – first QB (Josh Allen) with pick 17

·       Greg – first K (Brandon Aubrey) with pick 87

·       Andrew – first DEF (Rams D/ST) with pick 91

Last manager to take player position other than WR or RB

·       Greg – last manager to take a QB (Dak Prescott) with pick 74

·       Steve – last manager to take a TE (Hunter Henry) with pick 96

·       Patrick – last manager to take a K (Harrison Mevis) with pick 138 (Keith bypassed drafting a kicker)

·       Andy – last manager to take a DEF (Chargers D/ST) with pick 140

Notable “start styles” from the first three rounds

·       Andy – “Heavy RB / Zero WR”, selected 3 straight RBs (Gibbs, Brown, Hampton)

·       Billy – “Zero RB”, no RB selected until the 4th round (opened WR, WR, TE)

·       Anthony – “Early Onesies”, took TE (Brock Bowers) in the 1st round and QB (Josh Allen) in the 2nd round


MANAGER PROFILES

 

Andrew

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Joe Burrow (QB), Travis Kelce (TE), Dalton Kincaid (TE)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Nick Chubb (5x), Joe Burrow (4x), Aaron Rodgers (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: RB / WR (Tie) | 3rd: RB
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Has drafted more Cleveland Browns picks than any other NFL franchise by far, taking 31 Browns (11.3% of all career picks).

 

Andy

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Chase Brown (RB), Jaylen Waddle (WR)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Russell Wilson (4x), Stephen Gostkowski (4x), CeeDee Lamb (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: WR | 3rd: WR
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Made the earliest defensive selection in league history by drafting the Seattle Seahawks D/ST in Round 2 (Pick 17) back in 2014.

 

Anthony

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: None
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Arian Foster (4x), Aaron Jones Sr. (3x), Austin Ekeler (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: WR | 3rd: RB
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Has never drafted a kicker before the 12th round and almost always drafts them last - But has just set a new record for earliest TE selection with Brock Bowers as the #4 overall pick this year.

 

Billy

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: None
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Antonio Brown (5x), Chris Boswell (4x), Aaron Rodgers (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: RB | 3rd: RB
  • Interesting Draft Fact: The data proves that Billy is truly the biggest homer, having eclipsed Andrew with his preference for the Pittsburgh Steelers - 34 all-time selections (13.1% of the players he's ever drafted have been Steelers)

 

Charles

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Bijan Robinson (RB)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Bijan Robinson (2x), David Montgomery (2x), Mark Andrews (2x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: QB | 3rd: WR
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Heavily prioritizes elite rushing quarterbacks early, drafting Lamar Jackson in Round 2 in 2025 and Jayden Daniels in Round 2 in 2026.

 

Greg

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Saquon Barkley (RB)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Saquon Barkley (3x), Mark Andrews (3x), Devonta Freeman (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: RB / WR (Tie) | 3rd: RB / WR (Tie)
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Across 14 seasons, Greg has never taken a QB in Rounds 1–3, averaging Round 6.7 for his first quarterback off the board.

 

Keith

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR), Ashton Jeanty (RB)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Brian Robinson Jr. (3x), Jamaal Charles (3x), Todd Gurley (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: RB | 3rd: WR
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Allocates a league-high 36.0% of his total all-time draft capital to running backs and has completely bypassed drafting a kicker in 5 separate seasons.

 

Mike

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Josh Jacobs (RB), Drake Maye (QB), Patrick Mahomes (QB)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Josh Jacobs (4x), Patrick Mahomes (4x), DeSean Jackson (4x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: RB | 3rd: WR
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Leads the league with 14.7% of his career draft capital going to tight ends, while averaging 2.18 QBs drafted per season to stack signal-caller depth.

 

Patrick

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Garrett Wilson (WR), Josh Downs (WR)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: A.J. Brown (3x), Jalen Hurts (3x), Jake Elliott (3x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB / WR (Tie) | 2nd: RB / WR (Tie) | 3rd: WR
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Shows the strongest single-team concentration for the Philadelphia Eagles, with 10.6% of all his career selections coming out of Philadelphia.

 

Steve

 

  • Players Re-Drafted from Last Season: Christian McCaffrey (RB), Minnesota Vikings D/ST (DEF)
  • Top All-Time Drafted Players: Mike Williams (4x), Matthew Stafford (3x), Adrian Peterson (2x)
  • All-Time Favorite Early Round Positions: 1st: RB | 2nd: WR | 3rd: WR
  • Interesting Draft Fact: Invests far more draft capital into pass-catchers than anyone else in the league, using 37.6% of his all-time draft picks on wide receivers.