I should have taken it as an omen. And not a good one. Our first Familialogy location draft in San Diego on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend 2019, and it was at a craft brewery. Wanting to be responsible, I called for a Lyft from the hotel to the brewery.

My driver was a nice man who said he was from Wisconsin. I asked him if he was a football fan, and he emphatically said he was a huge Packer fan. I quickly thought to my draft position for our draft, and I was sitting at #8.

Most mock drafts I did had the elite RBs flying off the board in the first 4 picks, which left people with a choice outside of those picks of either going with the next tier of RBs or the top WRs. When my turn came up in the draft, there was Davante Adams, sitting there waiting for me. The Green Bay WR was coming off an incredible 2018 season with 111 receptions, 1,386 yards and 13 TDs. Easy pick, right? Between that and my driver, I knew who I needed to take. 

Then Michael Thomas went exactly one pick later.

That would be the story of my draft.

Sometimes it’s fun to look back on the past year’s draft. Maybe it can be painful. We did it on a recent episode of Familia FFB, and through the fun, pain and “Ay Mijos!” we learned a few lessons. Here are some of the takeaways from the draft.

Round 1
With me being in the #8 spot, my primos and co-hosts Hector was #2 and Ricky #3. Ricky admits now that he was hoping Christian McCaffrey would fall to him. Hector had a feeling this was the case, and even threw out at a pre-draft Familia gathering the possibility of taking Run CMC at the #2 spot. Hector said he saw the blood leave Ricky’s face. 

The consensus ADP was that Saquon Barkley was the #1 pick. Even with his porous offensive line, Barkley had been masterful in 2018. That was an easy pick for our primo Raul Gutierrez. Hector had his choice of Alvin Kamara and CMC. Kamara’s nearly 1,600 total yards and 18 TDs made him appear to be the choice ahead of CMC. Hector took Kamara and Ricky happily grabbed McCaffrey. The championship may have been sealed for Ricky with that one pick, though some other great picks would follow.

If I had to do it over at #8, I should have taken into account that Adams and Packers were learning a new offense, which can be problematic in Year 1 of any regime. Thomas was the safer pick with the same offense and QB, plus his being in a dome he would be assured to be in great weather during the fantasy playoffs. 

What we saw in that first round was 7 of 12 picks were RBs. Even with our standard scoring, WRs were still at a premium early. Though only Thomas and DeAndre Hopkins had a return on that first-round pick. Adams, Odell Beckham Jr. and Tyreek Hill were the others. Just shows how hard it can be to predict year-over-year performance based on the previous year’s stats, and that injuries can throw a big wrench into things. Luck does play a part when it comes to injuries, because the players who got hurt had no history. 

Round 2
This round, well, again who could predict that 9 of the 12 players picked would miss at least 1 game due to injury? Dalvin Cook was a find in the #2 spot this round, and he was someone I had pegged to grab if he were there when I picked. With Cook gone, I looked down at my shirt and it was a Todd Gurley shirt. I grabbed him. Remember that bad omen from earlier? 

Ricky zagged when others zigged, grabbing Patrick Mahomes with the #10 pick this round, the first QB off the board. Interesting strategy after drafting the do-everything McCaffrey, with Ricky saying he did it to get the QB who lapped everyone at that position the previous year. Considering all the “Wait on QB” strategies out there, this one was interesting. 

Hector assured that there would be no stack, grabbing Travis Kelce. Looking at the round, there were multiple busts — James Conner, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Adam Thielen, Antonio Brown and Gurley. Derrick Henry and Aaron Jones were both on the board, and I liked both of them. I did need an RB, and trusted the Ram offense more than I was worried about his knee. Plus, I didn’t want to reach for one of the backs that would return top performances a few picks later. Even with the gift of perspective, not sure if I would have passed on Gurley at this point, especially needing a RB.

Round 3
Raul took Aaron Jones after Leonard Fournette to finish a RB-RB-RB start to his draft. If Barkley doesn’t get hurt, this is a massive RB group. Hector took Sony Michel and Ricky grabbed Henry, whom he said he liked more between the two based on that fantastic finish to 2018. Hector had been burned by taking Henry in previous seasons, and didn’t want to see him get underutilized again. Lesson: Draft for the season ahead, not those behind.

By the time my pick came up, RBs had flown off the board. I knew I needed one because I didn’t feel solid with Gurley at that point. I had several choices of mid-tier RBs to choose from, and had in my mind that the RB in an Andy Reid offense is the way to go. Convinced myself Damien Williams would continue his great run at the end of 2018, ignoring that LeSean McCoy had just been signed. And I passed on Josh Jacobs and Chris Carson with the next picks that followed. I was 0 for 3 so far on making good picks to start.

Our Familialogy league was doing well to heed the “pile up RBs early” draft strategy, because some of the picks looked like reaches — Kerryon Johnson, Devonta Freeman, rookies David Montgomery and Jacobs. In all, 10 of 12 picks this round were RBs. Lesson learned: Unless you’re getting a RB who will be at least a majority share in a backfield, better to grab the best player possible. At this point, that player is more often a WR.

Round 4
This round saw more of a hit rate. Mid-tier RBs Mark Ingram II, Phillip Lindsay and Marlon Mack all delivered 1,000-yard seasons. George Kittle was a find here, right on the heels of Zach Ertz. That probably won’t happen again this year. Amari Cooper, Robert Woods and Julian Edelman all were fantastic.

I grabbed T.Y. Hilton. Coming off 1,270 yards in 2018, he looked like a great pairing with Adams. Injuries made his season a bust. How would Kittle have looked here? Hector’s idea of stacking Woods and Goff (a few rounds later) was inspired… if it were 2018. Woods was good. Goff, not so much. 

Raul closed the round with Julian Edelaman and on the other end of the snake he grabbed Kenny Golladay. For his first 2 WRs, to get top 10 players at that position here shows that waiting on WR can pay off. 

Round 5 
Hector selected Mike Williams, leaving Chris Godwin for Ricky. Both defensible picks, though Godwin was the superior player last year. Ricky’s first WR taken. The depth of the WR position shows that waiting on this position can pay off in the middle rounds. 

By this point the timeshare RBs were starting to crop up: Duke Johnson and Tevin Coleman. Second-half studs Kenyan Drake and Miles Sanders went here. Austin Ekeler was a find at the end of this round. 

I got Tyler Lockett, though I would have done better to grab Cooper Kupp, who went right after me. 

By this point the nucleus of your co-hosts’ teams was set.

Hector: Kamara, Kelce, Michel, Woods and Williams.

Ricky: CMC, Mahomes, Henry, Mack and Godwin.

Jorge: Adams, Gurley, D. Williams, Hilton and Lockett.

It was evident that Ricky would go heavy WR from here on out, and that he was set up nicely at RB. Hector appeared to have 2 solid RBs (even if they would bust) and was excellent in pass catchers. I did not like my RBs, and would have to be pounding that position in the next rounds.

We’ll give mostly highlights from here on out, to keep this article from going too long.

Round 6
Robby Anderson to me. A.J. Green to Ricky for his first clunker. Hector finished his stack with Goff. Aaron Rodgers went in this round, to show how far his star is falling.

Round 7
Latavius Murray went to Hector. Not a great return for Kamara’s backup. Ricky nabbed Dede Westbrook. Another subpar WR performance would follow. I got Devin Singletary, who had a nice finish. But his missing 4 games really hurt me with my RBs becoming a MASH unit.

Allen Robinson and D.J. Moore were top-notch finds this round. Again, showing depth of WR. Drew Brees, Carson Wentz and Ben Roethlisberger went here, as QBs started to get picked more readily. The first defense (Rams) went here. Feels early, but others would follow soon.

Round 8
“Picks are starting to get thin,” Hector said. Russell Wilson was the best pick this round. Many backup RBs started to go here. I grabbed Curtis Samuel and regretted it all season as D.J. Moore was the breakout in Carolina. Ricky went defense with Chicago, saying he wanted to get a good D locked down early. Hector picked Sterling Shepard, who missed 6 games. 

Seeing the backup RBs go here makes me want to just pick WRs and QBs right now. I held firm to my waiting until the last 2 rounds to take a D.

Round 9
The timeshare RBs are going here and we see more WR2 going here. Royce Freeman went to Hector, and Kareem Hunt, who was suspended for the first part of the season, went to Ricky. Cue the laugh track for my Kalen Ballage pick. At this point, 10 of 12 teams have QBs, so none went here. 

Round 10
More Kickers (3) went this round than QBs (2). Cam Newton and Tom Brady were picked this round. I picked Hunter Henry, whom I would drop after his broken kneecap. Ricky took Larry Fitzgerald and Hector grabbed Geronimo Allison. None of these players made real impact. Carlos Hyde was the only 1,000-yard rusher picked here, so there are still gems to be found.

Round 11
Raul picked Dak Prescott to be his backup to Matt Ryan. That turned out to be the strongest QB group in our league. Hector went for Justin Tucker. “Tucker was probably my highest scoring player the whole year!” Hector said.

There are those leagues that want to get rid of the kicker. Hector isn’t one of them. “Luck is such a big part of what fantasy is,” he said. “Straight up dumb luck. A kicker could be a variable for that dumb luck. That’s why the kicker should be there.”

Ricky kept banging on WR with James Washington, another washout. But the champ would make up for it a round later. 

I finally went QB with Jameis Winston. I bought the Bruce Arians hype, at least for a month when a couple turnover-filled performances preceding more than a month of the Bucs playing away from Tampa convinced me to drop Winston and play the waiver wire for the rest of the season. If only I’d waited another round.

Round 12 
Here it is. The worst pick in the draft. Smells like caca de vaca. A year after grabbing Mahomes as my backup in the 11th round for the best pick in 30 years of playing fantasy football, I made my absolute worst selection. With the 137th pick of the Familialogy Draft, I selected Malcolm Brown.

Number 138 was Lamar Jackson. Yes, that guy.

From pick 1 to this one, it just sums up the whole draft. I’ll beat myself up for this until at least next draft. I had my eye on Jackson, but going back to Gurley’s knee health, I was worried and needed to draft his handcuff. My primo Manny Arredondo got to enjoy Jackson all season. I got to start Brown once. Once!

Ricky scored with Michael Gallup late in this round, giving him a wonderful late-round pairing of Godwin and Gallup. More on this strategy later. 

Hector grabbed Mitchell Trubisky, followed by Anthony Miller 3 picks later for a stack that unfortunately didn’t pay off. Kyler Murray went to primo numero uno (out of 40) Nico Gutierrez. I doubt he gets him this late again this year.

Round 13 
This was only significant in that Courtland Sutton and D.K. Metcalf went in this round. This is indicative of so many drafts. There are some gems — usually QB and WR — that go in the later rounds. The final two rounds were predominantly Kickers and Defenses, with the only fantasy skill player of significance being Darren Waller.

2019 Takeaways to Help in 2020
There are several observations from last year that can help in this year’s draft:

• If you do reach for one of the top QBs in the early rounds, you have to be secure in your RBs. Ricky sandwiched CMC and Henry around Mahomes for an awesome foundation. At that point it allows you to take some flyers at the WR position, which showed its depth last year and may be even deeper this year. Even if you have to play the waiver wire, you can find WRs after draft day.
• The First 3 RB strategy is popular for a reason. Even though Barkley’s ankle injury was a crater for Raul’s team, he was set up with a contender with 3 solid WRs and Matty Ice by the 7th round. 
• Take a chance on WR talent in the latter rounds. Few RB picks in the back half of the draft paid off. Several young WRs hit pay dirt, especially those in their 2nd and 3rd years. It’s easy to get hyped on rookie RBs, but young WR breakouts are more plentiful.
• Handcuff, or not? Grabbing the handcuff sounds good in theory, but you lose out on the chance to draft a high-upside player. Just remember that someone picked a handcuff RB right before the 2019 MVP. Who will be this year’s late-round pick who becomes MVP? 

As you can see, there are many ways to draft to win your league. The Early-QB strategy won in the end here — Ricky’s 3rd title — but plenty of fantasy owners won by drafting RB in the first 3 rounds. Waiting on QB landed Prescott and Jackson in the late rounds. Our draft is just a microcosm that you can use to show you what is possible. Stay consistent, and if you hit on a  stud late in the draft, make sure your league mates never hear the end of it. 

As for my greatest lesson for our next draft: Save the ride fare. I’m going to walk.