Many of you in the Fantasy Football community are aware of the Scott Fish Bowl, and Year 10 of this awesome league starts Monday with the draft. You will likely see a lot of #SFBX trending on Twitter, which is probably because almost 1,500 people are involved.
The league is named after Scott Fish, who runs the Safe Leagues series of Fantasy leagues. He has analysts from all over the industry competing against fans to bring the Fantasy community together.
And perhaps the best part of all of this is the way the Scott Fish Bowl helps others. Scott has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Toys for Tots through his Fantasy Cares program. As a result of his efforts, Scott was named the Fantasy Sports and Gaming Association (FSGA) Humanitarian of the Year in 2019.
The league is a lot of fun, and there are unique rules. There are 1,440 teams split into 120 different 12-team leagues. You have a 22-player roster with a lineup of QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, 3 FLEX (RB/WR/TE) and one Superflex (QB/RB/WR/TE) with 11 players on the bench. No kickers or defense, no trading allowed and $100 to spend on waivers.
The scoring is fractional, and quarterbacks get six points for passing touchdowns, two points for a 2-point conversion, 0.04 points for passing yards and 0.5 points per completion. But there's also negative points for interceptions (minus-4), interceptions returned for touchdowns (minus-2), incompletions (minus-1) and sacks (minus-1).
Running backs and receivers get six points for a touchdown, two points for a two-point conversion, 0.1 points per yard, 0.5 points per reception and 0.5 points per first down. Tight ends also get an extra 0.5 points per reception and an extra 0.5 points per first down. And any kick or punt return for a touchdown is six points for that player, as well as six points if your player recovers a ball in the end zone for a touchdown.
It's an awesome format, and it prioritizes quarterbacks and tight ends in a big way. It's also a slow draft, which gives you plenty of time to prepare for each pick.
We did things a little different with our Scott Fish Bowl mock draft on CBS Sports, going through all 22 rounds during our Twitch stream Tuesday night. There are 12 of us from CBS competing in #SFBX: myself, Dave Richard, Heath Cummings, Ben Gretch, Adam Aizer, Chris Towers, Ben Schragger, Frank Stampfl, Will Brinson, Tom Fornelli, Chris Trapasso and Jacob Gibbs.
Dave and Tom couldn't take part in the mock draft, but Scott was gracious enough to participate. And CBS Sports HQ producer Jack Capotorto -- hopefully a future contender in the Scott Fish Bowl -- was also part of this mock.
You can see how each team built their rosters below, but I'll take you through my strategy from the No. 7 spot. That's also my real draft selection in #SFBX.
In Round 1, I had a tough decision between Ezekiel Elliott and George Kittle given the scoring bonuses for tight ends. I was hoping Travis Kelce made it to me at No. 7 overall, but he went fifth to Ben Schragger. It feels odd to say I settled for Elliott at this point in Round 1.
Round 2 was another dilemma with Deshaun Watson or a second running back in Joe Mixon. I felt like Watson was the last of the elite quarterbacks, and you want to get one of those guys if possible in the first two rounds. In total, nine quarterbacks (Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Dak Prescott, Kyler Murray, Russell Wilson, Watson, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Carson Wentz) went in the first 24 overall picks.
I was thrilled to get Josh Jacobs in Round 3 because now I have two standout running backs and Watson, and receiver is a position you can wait on in the Scott Fish Bowl. Quarterback, tight end and running back are the positions you want to target early, and only six receivers (Michael Thomas, Julio Jones, Tyreek Hill, Davante Adams, DeAndre Hopkins and Adam Thielen) were selected in the first three rounds. If you want to see what a team looks like that went heavy on receiver early, look at Jack's roster, which started with Thomas, Adams, Josh Allen and Chris Godwin with his first four picks.
I took my first receiver in Round 4 with D.J. Moore, but then I got my second quarterback with Ben Roethlisberger in Round 5, which felt kind of lucky. He's coming back from a serious elbow injury, but he was the No. 4 quarterback in this format in 2018 behind Mahomes, Brees and Ryan. Hopefully, I get that type of production again.
I love my quarterbacks with Watson and Roethlisberger, and I took a third quarterback with Teddy Bridgewater in Round 7. It felt early to draft Bridgewater there, but he was the No. 28 quarterback off the board. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a high completion percentage in Joe Brady's offense in Carolina, and he completed 67.9 percent of his passes last year with the Saints. That's solid in this format.
It felt kind of lucky to get Evan Engram in Round 6, and he could be a top-five tight end this year if healthy after dealing with a foot injury in 2019. Once I drafted him, I put Kaden Smith in my queue as a handcuff option, and I got Smith with my last pick in Round 22.
You can't settle for just one tight end in this league, so I also drafted Austin Hooper in Round 8, Jace Sternberger in Round 13 and C.J. Uzomah in Round 19. All of these guys are potential flex options since I can play up to five tight ends. I'm the most excited about Sternberger given where I drafted him and his upside as the starter for the Packers in 2020.
My running back depth behind Elliott and Jacobs is Raheem Mostert (Round 9), Zach Moss (Round 14), Joshua Kelley (Round 15), Jalen Richard (Round 17) and Benny Snell (Round 21). I regret not getting Tony Pollard to handcuff to Elliott, and Pollard was selected right after I took Sternberger.
At receiver behind Moore, I have Brandin Cooks (Round 10), Sterling Shepard (Round 11), Anthony Miller (Round 12), Steven Sims (Round 16), Larry Fitzgerald (Round 18) and Antonio Gandy-Golden (Round 20). Most likely, I will only play 3-4 receivers each week, and I like stacking Watson with Cooks, which could lead to some big scoring periods.
This is my weakest position, especially if Cooks and Shepard battle injuries again like they did in 2019. But if both are healthy, along with Miller being a potential third-year breakout, then I like my team given the talent I have at quarterback, running back and tight end.
Our draft order is as follows:
1. Will Brinson, Senior NFL Writer
2. Frank Stampfl, Fantasy Baseball Podcast Host
3. Adam Aizer, Fantasy Football Podcast Host
4. Heath Cummings, Senior Fantasy Writer
5. Ben Schragger, Podcast Producer
6. Jacob Gibbs, SportsLine Fantasy Analyst
7. Jamey Eisenberg, Senior Fantasy Writer
8. Chris Trapasso, NFL Draft Writer
9. Scott Fish, Scott Fish Bowl
10. Jack Capotorto, CBS Sports HQ Producer
11. Chris Towers, Senior Editor, Fantasy
12. Ben Gretch, Fantasy Editor
