2020 Sea to Sea Dynasty Draft Do-Over
Three years. That’s the general rule of thumb for how many seasons you give a guy in the NFL before considering moving on. Granted draft capital spent on a player determines if a team is willing to stick it out longer than that, or cut them loose even sooner than that. Sticking with that 3 year rule, I decided to redo all of the do-over drafts, going back to our very first “rookie” draft. All players selected in the do-over were available on the day of the draft, and I used their points for that season, and the next two to determine if they were worth being drafted and where they should have gone. Nice bonus for the 2020-2022 drafts is I have a little extra to go on for them, and I did use that to my advantage here and there. I’ll give an explanation for each team as well:
ORIGINAL DRAFT
DO-OVER DRAFT
Michael Style: Running Back was the right position at 1.01 originally, just wrong execution. Taylor rights that wrong. As a matter of fact, Running Back was such a big need that taking James Robinson at 2.01 would have been a huge boon, even though he really only had two seasons of nice production. Tagovailoa might seem a bit odd to round it all out, but his QB situation included Aaron Rodgers, and Drew Brees (at the end of his career). Taking Tagovailoa would have made the Justin Fields pick in round 2 of 2021 unnecessary.
Noobmaster69: The original draft for Simon went about as bad as it looks. He had needs all over the board, making it hard to go wrong with taking the Best Player Available at each pick. Jefferson could easily be the #1 pick, so getting him at 2 is a win. Simon spent two 1st round picks and one 2nd round pick on Tight Ends between the 2020 and 2021 drafts, and none of them panned out. Gronk's return was only for the 2020 and 2021 seasons, but taking him in the second would've prevented how his 2021 draft went. Henderson's run as a starting Running Back was short lived, regardless, he would've been the third option for the rotation that Simon desperately needed in 2020 and 2021.
Fear Itself: No first round pick, that was traded away the year prior to Ben. In the grand scheme of how that trade played out it basically boiled down to George Kittle for pick 1.03. Would Nathan have had the foresight to take Jefferson or Taylor or Lamb at 1.03? Would you rather have one of those three or Kittle? Just a fun little exercise. As for the way Nathan's draft shakes out in this iteration, it's three one-hit wonders...or close enough (Davis and Claypool were fine in 2021). Davis, Tonyan and Claypool all exploded in 2020. Nathan rolled into those playoffs as the #1 seed, before being bounced by the 6th seed in the second round. Those three might have helped him win his first championship a year earlier.
NUKEM: Gibson was better than Swift through their first three seasons, but Swift has outlasted Gibson in the long run. That's the value of knowing more than just three seasons worth of production, and I'll take advantage of that. If it wasn't for what transpired in 2025, Aiyuk would've been a first round pick. Instead you're left with 2 really good seasons in 2022 and 2023, 2 rotational worthy seasons in 2020 and 2021, a season ending injury in 2024, and that nonsense from 2025, so front half of the second round feels right. A defense in the redo? That's right. Rob actually did a trade post-draft which landed him Pittsburgh's defense. Pitt had a very good year in 2020, as did Miami. By drafting Miami he could've opted for a player at a different position with that trade, or perhaps a pick in the 2021 draft which had more going for it depth-wise.
Pretty Ponies: I don't think anyone would question if Lamb is the next best option behind Jefferson. Cody had such a need at Quarterback going into the year that he drafted Burrow and then picked Herbert and Hurts up after the draft. In a redo he definitely would not have had that luxury. Hurts has been the better long term fantasy starter, but Herbert's first 3 seasons were untouched. Plus, his need was so great he had to have someone to start in 2020 and Herbert's the only one of the bunch that could claim that. Dobbins had a promising rookie season, enough so that he would've been a major help for Cody, the years that followed would've hurt, but the pick would've been worth it because of 2020.
Ferocious Felines: Lamb became such an integral part of Fred's team that Receiver remains a priority. Higgins is a solid consolation prize. The Hines selection would've strictly been for the 2020 season, but considering Derrick Henry basically tripled what the entire rest of his RB corps did in that season combined, he would've been a useful addition. Thomas is kind of a luxury pick. Higbee was taken originally to provide Fred a backup for Kelce. Thomas would've been a one-and-done kind of pick, but he would've done enough in that one season to give Fred another option in the Flex.
Space Rangers: I had Lamar Jackson at Quarterback, and traded him away in 2023 in order to land the #1 pick to select Bijan Robinson. I made a couple bad decisions after that, and ended up trading for Burrow to fix that situation. Had I selected a QB in this draft, the best QB draft we've seen in our history, I would've saved myself some trouble down the road. Hurts has been the best fantasy player between the big three from this draft, and his lack of playing time in 2020 wouldn't have hurt me because I still had Jackson. 2020 was the year Meyers first started to come on the scene, but it would've been the four seasons after that where his impact would've been felt on my team. My biggest problem in 2020 was a consistent starter at WR2 and in my flex. Wilson had a very good 2020 season, he could've held down my flex spot and allowed me to rotate through my Receivers next to A.J. Brown.
Shenron’s Wish: Like I mentioned before, Gibson's first three seasons > Swift's. So, even though after 2022 there's not much to speak of for Gibson, he's still worth going in the first, especially in this somewhat weaker class. Bryar actually ended up trading for him during the season. Drafting him here instead would allow him to keep Godwin and still land his back. Evan Engram was underwhelming and Trautman was non-existent, so a better Tight End selection to pair with Engram is necessary, hence the Gesicki selection. He took Love either planning to stash him, or hoping the Packers would trade Rodgers, either way, Love wouldn't start in Green Bay for another 3 seasons, and Bryar would cut him before the end of the 2020 season. QB was actually a need though. Russell Wilson was still a high-end starter, but his backup was Big Ben. And over the next two years we would watch the sudden drop-off of Wilson leaving him with a major void at a position he relied on pretty heavily in our first two years. Carr would've been a serviceable starter until he found a long-term answer later.
Kade’s Dawgs: Curt's QB problems started fairly early on, thanks to Carson Wentz's injuries, and have continued into recent seasons. He's spent picks on Tagovailoa, Deshaun Watson, C.J. Stroud and Cam Ward. Burrow's injury history wouldn't have completely eliminated the need for another functional QB on the roster, but at least he would have a true QB1 when healthy. CEH was a giant letdown, but in 2020 and 2021 the Chiefs were still force feeding him to try and prove they didn't go wrong picking him. Curt could have used him to cope with injuries during those two years. His defensive situation was not great during the season, and he eventually brought in Washington and kept them around to close out the year. Washington was the second highest scoring defense of those available on draft day, so Curt gets them in the door from the jump.
ay_Bilat: A seemingly uneventful draft for the reigning champ, still better than his original outcome though. Schultz plugs the hole at Tight End, a position he struggled with until he traded for Travis Kelce in 2023. CMC was banged up in 2020 and 2021, two seasons that Gaskin played at a high level, so he would've helped stabilize the position. Renfrow was subpar in 2020, his real value would've come in 2021 when he exploded for over 100 receptions, more than 1000 yards and 9 scores, so why not use the last pick in the draft to cut the line a year early?