Six weeks remain in the NFL season, the point of the year where the contenders have truly separated from the bottom tier teams, and even the most delusional of fans have to accept that their team is going nowhere this season. For a large chunk of the league, the final six weeks have little meaning besides draft position.
Which is unfortunate, because many excellent players are stuck on these hopeless teams. Football careers are brutally short, and it’s always sad to watch a player put his body on the line week in and week out for very little purpose. There are genuine superstars who have already played their last meaningful football of 2020.
What if there was a solution? What if there was a way for the best teams to take quality players from the bottom-feeders of the league, to borrow them for the remainder of this season? Obviously this would never happen in practice, but it’s a fun thought experiment, and an excuse for me to pull in a couple of friends to help me.
As I did a couple years ago, I put together a draft of the best teams in the league selecting players from the worst. Using the standings prior to last week’s games, I picked out what I saw as the top four teams—Pittsburgh, Kansas City, New Orleans, and Green Bay—and gave them the opportunity to choose players from the six teams with two or fewer wins—Dallas, Washington, Jacksonville, Houston, the Chargers, and the Jets. (Some of these teams now have more than two wins. The timing on this exercise was kind of hard to work out.)
Three friends and I split the top teams among ourselves for this draft. I’m a fan of the Steelers, so I controlled them. Remy Millman is a Packers fan, so he was in charge of their draft. We didn’t have fans of the Chiefs or the Saints, so we assigned control of them to Sam Young—a Bears fan, not the backup offensive lineman for the Raiders—and Jan Jaro—a Jaguars fan for some reason.
Here are the rules for the draft:
- 7 rounds
- Snake order, with the first round set up in reverse order of record (Packers, Saints, Chiefs, Steelers).
- You can take any player from any of the six teams listed above.
- You get the player for the rest of this year only. There is no value in taking a developmental prospect.
- Players come as-is. If they’re injured, you get them injured. For someone like Dak Prescott, that means they’re of little value. For someone like Joey Bosa, there’s some risk of selecting him but he has the potential to contribute for a playoff run.
- Trading draft picks is allowed, but not trading players.
That last bullet is worth noting. There was only a single trade in this draft, and it happened before the draft even began. The Saints traded with the Packers in order to get the top overall selection. New Orleans acquired picks 1 and 9, while the Packers received picks 2, 7, and 23.
And
without further ado, here is how the draft played out round-by-round, along
with my analysis and some of my thought process along the way.
The Draft
Round 11) New Orleans Saints – Deshaun Watson, QB, Houston Texans
2) Green Bay Packers – Keenan Allen, WR, Los Angeles Chargers3) Kansas City Chiefs – JJ Watt, EDGE, Houston Texans
4) Pittsburgh Steelers – Zack Martin, OL, Dallas Cowboys
The draft got off to a fast start with the Saints leaping up to grab Watson, unquestionably the prize of this year’s draft class. It’s debatable how much any of these teams actually needs a quarterback, but I think he is an upgrade at the position right now for the Saints. Drew Brees is obviously out with multiple rib fractures right now, and he wasn’t playing at his usual Hall of Fame level even before that. Watson would bring a dynamic new element to the offense, both in his ability to stretch the field vertically and his threat as a runner. The Saints probably didn't need to trade up to make the pick, but I baited Jan by threatening to trade up myself.
From there things fell pretty smoothly. Allen, Watt, and Martin are all superstar players still performing at excellent levels on mediocre teams. The Packers drafting a receiver in the first round is certainly a strange thing to see, but with Allen alongside Davante Adams they would basically be leading a route-running clinic every Sunday. There are some questions around Martin with the time he’s missed due to injury this year, but since returning to the lineup he has provided a major boost to Dallas’s offensive line. He could do the same to a Steelers line that has fallen on slightly hard times this year after being dominant for the past few seasons.
Round 2
5) Pittsburgh Steelers – Casey Hayward, CB, Los Angeles Chargers6) Kansas City Chiefs – Kendall Fuller, CB, Washington Football Team
7) Green Bay Packers – Joey Bosa, EDGE, Los Angeles Chargers
8) Green Bay Packers – Amari Cooper, WR, Dallas Cowboys
The first two picks in this round fall into a similar boat. Hayward and Fuller were superstars a couple years ago, and they are still solid options even though they are underperforming expectations this year. They went off the board this high because the cornerback pool to select from is extremely shallow.
Perhaps that says something about the endless value debate between coverage and pass rush—there are certainly several quality pass rushers among the league’s bottom-feeders, such as Bosa who also goes in this round to add to an already versatile Packers pass rush. But the top teams here also have major holes at cornerback. So it may be more about an overall paucity of talent at the position in the NFL right now. High school and college football continue to churn out dominant athletes as pass rushers at an insane rate, while elite cornerbacks are still few and far between.
Round 3
9) New Orleans Saints – Da’Ron Payne, DT, Washington Football Team10) New Orleans Saints – Brandon Scherff, OG, Washington Football Team
11) Kansas City Chiefs – Tytus Howard, OT, Houston Texans
12) Pittsburgh Steelers – Myles Jack, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars
The Saints had back-to-back picks to start this round, and they used them to bolster the middle of their lines. I like one of these selections a lot more than the other. The Saints have probably the best offensive line in football, but Cesar Ruiz is still a rookie starting at right guard, and while he has a lot of potential down the road, it would definitely be an upgrade to replace him with Scherff. The need at defensive tackle is more pressing, but I’m not sure Payne is the guy to fill it. He hasn’t really lived up to his high selection in the actual NFL draft, and there were better defensive tackle options available.
The last two picks are about filling holes created by injuries. The Chiefs have been battered on the offensive line, and Howard could end up seeing time for either Eric Fisher or Mitchell Schwartz. His selection was a bit puzzling me with his superior teammate Laremy Tunsil still on the board, but Sam explained that he was worried by Tunsil currently being out with an illness that may or may not be COVID related. Jack was the clear best linebacker available, a versatile athlete who could fill the playmaker role in the middle of Pittsburgh’s defense that was created when Devin Bush went out for the season.
Round 4
13) Pittsburgh Steelers – Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Dallas Cowboys14) Kansas City Chiefs – Joe Schobert, LB, Jacksonville Jaguars
15) New Orleans Saints – Brandon Linder, OC, Jacksonville Jaguars
16) Green Bay Packers – Chase Young, EDGE, Washington Football Team
Once Jack was off the board, there were a handful of other linebackers all in roughly the same tier. Schobert wouldn’t have been my pick, but he fits into the same group with Zach Cunningham, Leighton Vander Esch, Jaylon Smith, and Denzel Perryman as solid linebackers who can dominate against the run but struggle in pass coverage. Such players are a dime a dozen in the NFL, but the Chiefs, Saints, and Packers all have questions at that position that could pose problems against teams that like to pound the ball on the ground.
Linder was a strange pick. I’m not sure if he’s even an upgrade over Eric McCoy, though I suppose depth never hurts at that position. The other two selections in this round were more luxury picks. The Steelers have a ton of weapons on offense, and while they’ve struggled lately on the ground, that has more to do with their offensive line and will be aided by the selection of Martin in the first round. Elliott’s greatest value would come in the passing game. He’s good in pass protection, and he has a burst as a receiver that James Conner and Benny Snell simply lack.
Burst is what Young is about too. There are more skilled pure pass rushers available, but the Packers have plenty of those after adding Bosa above. Young’s raw athleticism would make him lethal on stunts and blitzes, attacking offenses a few times a game with pure speed and power as they try to handle the more technical rushers coming off the edges.
Round 5
17) Green Bay Packers – Leighton Vander Esch, LB, Dallas Cowboys18) New Orleans Saints – Jonathan Allen, DT, Washington Football Team
19) Kansas City Chiefs – Linval Joseph, DT, Los Angeles Chargers
20) Pittsburgh Steelers – Laremy Tunsil, OT, Houston Texans
This was the round about stopping the run. Both the Saints and the Chiefs grabbed someone to shore up the interior of their line, while the Packers added a desperately needed linebacker. I’m not sure if it will fix a catastrophically weak run defense, but it certainly won’t hurt.
As a pure run defender Joseph is better than Allen. Allen may have more versatility as a pass rusher, but if the Saints were looking to go in that direction they would have been better off taking another former Alabama first round pick. Quinnen Williams hasn’t put up big numbers with the Jets, but he’s been disruptive this season, and in the right situation (eg on a defense with any other talent at any other position) he could be a dangerous interior rusher.
Round 6
21) Pittsburgh Steelers – Justin Herbert, QB, Los Angeles Chargers22) Kansas City Chiefs – Mekhi Becton, OT, New York Jets
23) Green Bay Packers – Hunter Henry, TE, Los Angeles Chargers
24) Green Bay Packers – CeeDee Lamb, WR, Dallas Cowboys
We did it! A Jets player off the board! Every other team had at least one player taken in the first three rounds, and I was beginning to wonder if any Jet was going to go. Fortunately the Chiefs decided to grab Becton, the most fun player currently on New York’s roster. He’s had some nagging injury concerns this year, but otherwise he has smoothly transitioned to the NFL. He still has some issues in pass protection to iron out, but early in his career he’s already showing an ability to physically overwhelm NFL defenders.
Becton wasn’t the only rookie to go in this round. Herbert and Lamb are luxury picks who will mostly serve backup roles for the teams that grabbed them. Unlike Watson, I don’t think Herbert is currently better than the quarterback of the team he’d be joining. But Ben Roethlisberger has a long injury history, and we saw a year ago that this offense is lifeless with Mason Rudolph at the helm. The offense would have to change and become much more vertical with Herbert at the helm, but the Steelers have the weapons to let him loose. For the Packers, Lamb was added more for what he can bring as a punt and kick returner, while offering some intriguing playmaking in a limited offensive role behind Adams, Allen, and Cooper.
Round 7
25) Green Bay Packers – Bradley Roby, CB, Houston Texans26) New Orleans Saints – Chidobe Awuzie, CB, Dallas Cowboys
27) Kansas City Chiefs – James Robinson, RB, Jacksonville Jaguars
28) Pittsburgh Steelers – Justin Reid, S, Houston Texans
As I mentioned above, the secondary was a glaringly shallow area in this draft. We see it here, where Green Bay and New Orleans both grab solid but unspectacular veteran cornerbacks with much better players at other positions left on the board. Reid is a better value for Pittsburgh at this point in the draft, as a potential replacement for Terrell Edmunds, who is still probably the weakest point of Pittsburgh’s defense even while having the best season of his career.
Additional Thoughts
Best Players RemainingTwo years ago when I did this we only had four teams to select from, and by the end of the draft it was a clear struggle to find quality players to select. That wasn’t the case this year. There are two more teams available, and the worst teams in the league this year have more talent to choose from (with the exception of the Jets). We could have gone at least three more rounds without having to reach for lesser players.
There is one clear top option left on the board, and that is Washington wide receiver Terry McLaurin. Still only in his second year, McLaurin keeps getting better and has a legitimate case as a top ten receiver in the NFL already. But for the purposes of this draft, it wasn’t surprising that he wasn’t selected.
The wide receiver group among the bottom of the league is very deep—other quality players like DJ Chark, Will Fuller, and Mike Williams were also not selected—and there are plenty of talented receivers among the top of the league as well. Davante Adams, Michael Thomas, and Tyreek Hill give three of the teams an elite top receiving option, and while the Steelers probably don’t have any single player as good as McLaurin, they have arguably the deepest group in the league. Green Bay bolstered their depth in this draft, and while New Orleans and Kansas City could have benefited from doing the same, it wasn’t necessarily a mistake for these three teams to ignore the position.
Most of the other best players left are on the defensive side of the ball. I already mentioned several of the linebackers who weren’t selected, as well as Quinnen Williams as the best interior lineman left on the board. There are quite a few quality edge rushers available as well. Green Bay and Pittsburgh are deep at that position, but I think both New Orleans and Kansas City could have benefited from grabbing players like Demarcus Lawrence, Melvin Ingram, or Josh Allen.
Holes Remaining
The teams making these selections obviously have excellent rosters, but even adding seven new players isn’t enough to fill all the potential holes.
The New Orleans Saints had probably the worst draft of all these teams. Their decision to double down on interior offensive and defensive line was strange, especially since the offensive line is probably their strongest unit. But they also have, on paper, the most complete roster of any of these teams. The biggest questionmark is at quarterback, and they made an upgrade at that position. They could have done more to add depth at receiver or pass rush, but this was a hard team to find a clear flaw on before, and it’s even harder now.
Green Bay went hard at addressing their biggest need, which is at wide receiver. They upgraded four of their top five options at receiver and tight end, and they were able to go aggressively at that position thanks to the extra pick they earned from the trade with the Saints. The inability to get one of the top cornerbacks hurts some, but there were few options at that position in this draft. And the pass defense isn’t as big a concern for this team as the run defense. Vander Esch will be a huge boost if he can stay healthy. I have some concerns about their front, and they might have benefited from grabbing a run-stuffing defender like Joseph. But Bosa is as good against the run as he is rushing the passer, and with someone like Young to toss on the edge they can do more to shift someone like Za’Darius Smith to the inside where he can disrupt opposing running games.
Kansas City’s defense has a lot of holes, and this draft was never going to be enough to address all that. They added a few useful players by bringing back Fuller and grabbing Joseph and Schobert to slow down opposing running attacks, but in the end this team is going to be carried by their offense. They have enough talent on that side that they really only need their defense to get two or three stops a game, provided the offense keeps working. The only threat to that is their offensive line, which has been devastated by injuries this season. The interior is a more pressing concern, and in theory both Becton and Howard could play in there. But even if they don’t, having them as depth on the outside will protect this team from the worst-case scenario.
I was controlling the Steelers, so obviously I like all the selections they made (except perhaps Elliott, but that’s a larger conversation about the value of running backs). Martin and Tunsil together will lock down the left side of their offensive line, Jack and Hayward will bolster the weak points of their defense, and Herbert will give them insurance in case Roethlisberger goes down. The one position I regret not being able to get was a defensive tackle. This defense has struggled against the run over the past month, and while they have the best defensive front five in the league, they don’t have a lot of depth behind that.
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