I’ll keep this brief because I’m way behind after my trip, and I don’t want to keep you waiting any longer. Here are the final tallies for our draft contest:
- MWalsh26-1: 6 points
- Eleven-1, Eleven-2, drock-1 and EstimatedProphet-2: 5 points
- drock-1: 4 points
- copanut-1 and copanut-2: 3 points
- TomPaulBillyBob and MWalsh26-2: 2 points
- EstimatedProphet-1: 1 point
I have to say, we all acquitted ourselves well, certainly better than the national talking heads. Unlike them, we at least understood the real priorities for the team, and were well acquainted with the strengths and weaknesses of the players on the board. Every single one of us had at least one draft with one of the big DLs as the first pick, between Harmon and Grant. Personally, I picked Grant on the assumption that Harmon would already be gone, otherwise Harmon would have been my choice. We all picked an RB high, though none of us got the right one. We were all looking for a project QB, generally at value positions. Most of us picked a double-dip at DL. Several of us correctly predicted the trade of George Pickens for draft stock, although we were a week ahead of our time.
Well done, gents, and congratulations to MWalsh26 for being the master of his domain.
p.s. Please review your scores for potential mistakes. Next year, I’ll endeavor to revise the rules to make them less error prone, because frankly, scoring this way is a PIA and not a good fit for my dubious skill set, like Mike Tomlin with the challenge flag.
UPDATE:
Eleven pointed out that I scored differently this year. He’s right – I did it in a rush to get it off my plate. I suggested that using the historical method would not significantly impact the results since the same rules apply to everyone, and it turns out I was wrong. For clarity, this is the scoring system:
- 2 point – Correct name (drafted)
- 1 points – Correct name (UDFA)
- 1 point – Correct position/round
- 3 points – Correct name AND correct position/round
Note that the position/round assessment is for anywhere in the round, and not necessarily the original pick number. Thus all of us who selected DL for pick 156 still got credit even though the actual pick came at 164 due to a trade. This still counted as a hit because either pick fell in the 5th round.
Here are the revised results using the historical methodology:
- Walsh-1: 9
- drock-1 and EstimatedProphet-2: 8
- Eleven-1 and Eleven-2: 7
- drock-2: 5
- copanut-1 and copanut-2: 3
- MWAlsh26-2 and TomPaulBillyBob: 2
- EstimatedProphet-1: 1
The winner did not change, so I was correct as far as that went, however this methodology does provide some clarity for second place, as it pushed Eleven from a tie for second down into third place. I guess the lesson is be careful what you wish for!
However, as consolation, I make the observation that Eleven had a great run with points for each of his first four picks, which nobody else was able to do – not even our resident brain, MWalsh26. That’s pretty impressive.
Make your 2026 season predictions below. Same rules as last year – including a bonus point subtracted for the Steelers’ record prediction winner. Entries must be submitted by midnight before the season opening game.
