The Chippewa Champions League · 2026 drafts
Maciuba misses three better tight ends by two picks
The defending champion drew overall 6, the same slot he won the league from in 2025, and spent it the same way: on the best running back anyone would let him have. Jonathan Taylor at 290.7 points is the 4th-best RB1 in the league and the least controversial man on this roster. Then at 134 Maciuba took Daniel Jones, the quarterback whose presence is the entire statistical case for Taylor, which is the smartest pick anybody made all night — an insurance policy on his own first-rounder, bought at a price nobody else was bidding. Fourteen picks, not one of them autodrafted, 1634.7 points, 2nd of 16. The man knows what he is doing right up until he does not.
Tight end is where he stopped knowing. Kyle Pitts Sr. at 144.7 points is 11th of 16 in a league whose best tight end is worth 201.0 points, and Sam LaPorta (160.0 points), Harold Fannin Jr. (158.0 points) and George Kittle (155.0 points) were all sitting on the board when pick 70 was made. They went at 72, 80 and 83. That is a fifty-six point hole between Pitts and the top of the position, started every single week, and it was entirely avoidable by waiting two picks. Then, having already sunk a pick into the position, Maciuba came back at 166 for Kenyon Sadiq, a rookie ESPN expects to open the year behind Mason Taylor, at 111.0 points. Twenty-one picks later he drafted a second defence. The Packers D/ST is worth 103.0 points that will be scored on a bench, parked behind the best defence in the league, on a roster that only got fourteen picks to begin with. Two tight ends and two defences on a fourteen-man roster is not a strategy, it is a filing error.
The good news is genuinely good. The Broncos D/ST went at 155, exactly where the market had them, and at 130.8 points it is the best defence in the league and the only slot on this team that finishes first of sixteen — vindication of a sort for the man who drafted the Patriots D/ST in 2018, 2019 and 2022 and kept doing it well past the point of evidence. George Pickens at 38 was the steal of the night, 217.2 points and the 2nd-best WR2 in the league, a hair off the best at 222.4 points, taken a full round later than he should have lasted. Jayden Daniels gives him 320.2 points at quarterback, 5th of 16. The soft spots are Rico Dowdle at flex, 11th of 16 at 172.6 points, and Will Reichard kicking at 13th of 16, neither of which will decide anything. Pitts might.
| Slot | Player | Proj | At this slot |
|---|---|---|---|
| QB | Jayden Daniels | 320.2 | 5 of 16 |
| RB | Jonathan Taylor | 290.7 | 4 of 16 |
| WR | Rashee Rice | 216.0 | 8 of 16 |
| WR | George Pickens | 217.2 | 2 of 16 |
| TE | Kyle Pitts Sr. | 144.7 | 11 of 16 |
| DST | Broncos D/ST | 130.8 | 1 of 16 |
| K | Will Reichard | 142.5 | 13 of 16 |
| FLEX | Rico Dowdle | 172.6 | 11 of 16 |
| Bench | |||
| WR | Jakobi Meyers | 145.7 | WR40 overall |
| RB | Rachaad White | 140.2 | RB39 overall |
| QB | Daniel Jones | 274.2 | QB22 overall |
| TE | Kenyon Sadiq | 111.0 | TE21 overall |
| DST | Packers D/ST | 103.0 | DST19 overall |
| WR | Jauan Jennings | 106.0 | WR65 overall |
Half-PPR season points. The lineup is fixed by draft order, so switching service changes the numbers and never who is in the chair. The written copy above is from the median and does not move.
| Rd | Overall | Player | Pos | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Jonathan Taylor | RB 4 vs 3 | routine |
Same overall 6 he drafted from in 2025, the year he won the league, and he spent it the same way: on the best running back anyone would let him have. Taylor at 290.7 points is the 4th-best RB1 in this league and the one man on this roster nobody is going to argue about. | ||||
| 2 | 27 | Rashee Rice | WR 11 vs 11 | routine |
Josh Allen and his 370.0 points went the very next pick, and the quarterback slot on this team spent the rest of the draft sitting 5th of 16. The consolation is that George Pickens, also on the board right here at 217.2 points, was somehow still there eleven picks later. | ||||
| 3 | 38 | George Pickens | WR 14 vs 10 | value |
Fourteenth receiver off the board when the market wanted him tenth, and at 217.2 points he is the 2nd-best WR2 in the league, a hair off the best at 222.4 points. Getting the higher-projected of his two receivers a full round after he could have taken him is the best thing that happened to this roster all night. | ||||
| 4 | 59 | Jayden Daniels | QB 5 vs 4 | routine |
| 5 | 70 | Kyle Pitts Sr. | TE 6 vs 5 | questionable |
Sam LaPorta (160.0 points) went two picks later at 72, Harold Fannin Jr. (158.0 points) went at 80 and George Kittle (155.0 points) went at 83, three tight ends who all out-project Pitts's 144.7 points and all of whom were sitting on the board when this pick was made. The result is a starting tight end ranked 11th of 16 in a league whose best is 201.0 points. | ||||
| 6 | 91 | Rico Dowdle | RB 32 vs 29 | value |
Three spots later than the market wanted him, and at 172.6 points he out-projects Chuba Hubbard (165.9 points, gone at 99) and J.K. Dobbins (165.5 points, gone at 105), so the logic holds up. It still leaves the flex 11th of 16. | ||||
| 7 | 102 | Jakobi Meyers questionable | WR 40 vs 42 | questionable |
ESPN's own case against Meyers names Brian Thomas Jr. as one of the men eating his targets, and Brian Thomas Jr. (148.1 points) was on the board and went at 108. Chris Godwin Jr. (152.0 points, pick 107) and J.K. Dobbins (165.5 points, pick 105) were there too, and Meyers was carrying a Questionable tag on draft day. | ||||
| 8 | 123 | Rachaad White questionable | RB 41 vs 40 | routine |
Second Questionable tag in two rounds, and Jacory Croskey-Merritt, the back ESPN says will be taking White's touches in Washington, was still sitting there and went at 126. | ||||
| 9 | 134 | Daniel Jones | QB | routine |
The clever one. ESPN's entire argument for Jonathan Taylor is that he averaged 24.8 points with Daniel Jones and 12.9 without him, so at 134 Maciuba bought the insurance policy on his own first-round pick. | ||||
| 10 | 155 | Broncos D/ST | DST 3 vs 3 | routine |
Taken exactly where the market had him and it produced the best defence in the league at 130.8 points, the only slot on this roster that finishes first of sixteen. The man who drafted the Patriots D/ST in 2018, 2019 and 2022 has finally found something better. | ||||
| 11 | 166 | Kenyon Sadiq questionable | TE | questionable |
Third Questionable tag of the draft, and this one is a rookie tight end ESPN expects to start slow behind Mason Taylor, taken by a manager who had already used pick 70 on a tight end. Denzel Boston (117.4 points) and Jerry Jeudy (113.9 points) both out-project Sadiq's 111.0 points and both lasted until 180 and 190. | ||||
| 12 | 187 | Packers D/ST | DST | questionable |
A second defence on a fourteen-pick roster, parked on the bench behind the best D/ST in the league, and worth 103.0 points it will never score. Jalen Nailor (109.0 points, gone at 194) and Rashod Bateman (105.1 points, gone at 199) were both still available. | ||||
| 13 | 198 | Will Reichard | K | routine |
| 14 | 219 | Jauan Jennings | WR | routine |
Last pick of the draft and the highest-projected name left on ESPN's board at 106.0 points, which is the correct way to end a draft. The services could not agree on him at all: CBS said 129.2 points, ESPN said 91.4 points and told everyone he was barely worth the pick. | ||||
Keeps going back to
- Matthew Stafford — 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2025
- Patriots D/ST — 2018, 2019, 2022
- Randall Cobb — 2012, 2013, 2020
- Dan Bailey — 2013, 2015, 2019
- Martellus Bennett — 2013, 2015, 2017
- Chiefs D/ST — 2014, 2016, 2017
- Eric Decker — 2013, 2014, 2015