Keeper value: +86 vs CPR (#58)
Taxi Keeper value: +1 vs CPR (#191)

Other notable keeper options:

Tyrone Tracy, NYG RB (+80; could be kept 144th overall, CPR #64)

Josh Downs, Ind WR (+61; could be kept 168th overall, CPR #107)

As always, I’ll begin with myself and then run through the rest of the league alphabetically.

For the second straight year, I participated in some pre-draft trades, including one for my keeper.

Josh Downs was honestly my preferred choice through much of the offseason. Tracy had a fumbling problem last year and Cam Skattebo will likely cut into his work eventually. Downs, meanwhile, is essentially the #1 wide receiver in Indianapolis in terms of target share and I'd get him in the 14th.

But after Eric traded for Brian Thomas Jr, and knowing I would have to overdraft ARSB if I wanted my piece of my Lions' passing attack, I figured I'd make an offer to Eric for the guy he likely was going to keep before his trade with Brandon.

LaPorta is a slightly better value in my estimation, I get a piece of my team's offense whether Gibbs is there for me at the third pick or not, and I only gave up five picks of draft capital in the back half of the draft to get him.

As for my taxi keeper, it's basically a wash on value, but on the off chance someone takes him earlier in the draft with some reports from camp suggesting the Jets run game may feature some type of timeshare involving Breece Hall and Allen, I figured I'd go ahead and take my shot on one of the slowest running backs in the NFL to maybe still carry some value as a 12th round keeper in year three.

Keeper Grade: B+

Keeper value: +30 vs CPR (#4)
Taxi Keeper value: -84 vs CPR (#267)

Other notable keeper options:

T.J. Hockenson, Min TE (+92; could be kept 159th overall, CPR #67)

Xavier Legette, Car WR (+67; could be kept 183rd overall, CPR #116)

As I've said before, I'll never fault a manager for passing on more picks of value when you're getting a Top 10 fantasy player outside the first couple of rounds. Even less so when you're keeping last year's LaDainian Tomlinson MVP winner.

Chase is an excellent value for Stephen. His Taxi keeper, meanwhile, is less so. He gave up $15 of FAAB to Cory Puffett for the right to keep Troy Franklin in the 16th round. Cory doesn't even have him close to his Top 192 players, which is the number of players drafted in the AFL each year.

That said, Cory has Jordan Whittington, Stephen's other Taxi Keeper option, ranked one spot lower than Franklin, so Stephen did upgrade, technically.

Keeper Grade: A-

Keeper value: +63 vs CPR (#32)
Taxi Keeper value: +40 vs CPR (#151)

Other notable keeper options:

Jauan Jennings, SF WR (+78; could be kept 170th overall, CPR #92)

After several years in a row of increasingly puzzling keeper decisions, I can finally give Evan some kudos again this year. While Jennings would have also been a strong choice, especially with him trending toward playing Week 1 in a 49ers offense starving for a target monster, McConkey is 5 years younger than Jennings and already far better so his long-term value is greater. Now, that value will diminish much more quickly for LMC since he's almost half the draft ahead of Jennings, but that hardly matters.

Add to that a solid taxi keeper in Drake Maye, and Evan has some insurance in case whoever he selects as his primary quarterback goes down or underperforms.

Keeper Grade: A

Keeper value: +122 vs CPR (#10)
Taxi Keeper value: +40 vs CPR (#141)

Other notable keeper options:

Trey Benson, Ari RB (+43; could be kept as taxi 181st overall, CPR #138)

Kyren Williams sure has bounced around the AFL a lot in the past calendar year. Just ahead of last year's draft, I traded for him from Brandon, then traded him to Alex Kincaid for CMC so I could take the latter first overall while keeping ARSB in the second round. That sure worked out swell.

In Week 7, Anthony and Alex swapped CeeDee Lamb and Kyren, and now Anthony has himself a pretty fantastic late-round keeper in the 25-year-old Rams running back.

The dude's been consistent and yet for some reason people just don't seem to like him in drafts. But in the 11th round? Go ahead, Ant!

As for his taxi keeper, I'm not mad at it but I probably would have gone with Trey Benson. I had him as a slightly higher value, but Ant clearly is looking for the potential upside.

After all, Trey Benson is Trey Benson, but J.J. McCarthy? He could be anything. He could even be Trey Benson!

Keeper Grade: A

Keeper value: -26 vs CPR (#57)

Other notable keeper options:

Justin Fields, NYJ QB (+84; could be kept 162nd overall, CPR #78)

Brock Bowers, LV TE (+39; could be kept 79th overall, CPR #40)

Keon Coleman, Buf WR (+18; could be kept 114th overall, CPR #96)

After being reminded on keeper lock day that Bijan Robinson was ineligible to be kept after being a 1st round keeper in 2024, William had to make a new selection.

I was pretty stunned that he didn't go with Brock Bowers. Fields would have been an okay choice, but Bowers was so good last year and got a massive upgrade at quarterback this offseason. Now the second year tight end will be in the draft pool for everybody on Sunday.

Mahomes was so bad for fantasy last year. In the AFL, he finished as the QB10 after William made him the third quarterback taken at the back of the third round.

Mahomes has seen his ANY/A decrease every season since his first full year as a starter. William will need him to reverse that trend to keep this decision from looking foolish in hindsight.

Keeper Grade: D

Keeper value: -17 vs CPR (#100)

Taxi Keeper value: +116 vs CPR (#66)

Other notable keeper options:

Brock Purdy, SF QB (+64; could be kept 134th overall, CPR #70)

Rashod Bateman, Bal WR (+46; could be kept 155th overall, CPR #109)

Justin Herbert, LAC QB (+29; could be kept 110th overall, CPR #81)

I was very puzzled when I found that Sean had locked Godwin in as his keeper on FleaFlicker. I have to assume this is a move for the future. Mike Evans' time in Tampa may be nearing its end, and that could make Godwin a solid value in the 5th round of the 2026 AFL Draft.

But there's no guarantee that will happen, and for this year there's a lot of concern around his availability to start this season. He's still fighting back from a dislocated ankle in the middle of the 2024 regular season. While he was not placed on the PUP and so won't be forced to miss the first four games of the season, that move seems to have been more about ensuring he can participate in team activities sooner, not an indication he'll play before the first month (or more) of the season is past.

Nix, on the other hand, is an excellent taxi keeper for Sean. Had he played in 2024, he would have finished as a Top 10 QB in the AFL. If he can repeat that performance, Sean may be able to contend even without Godwin for a significant portion of the regular season.

Keeper Grade: B

Keeper value: +11 vs CPR (#17)

Other notable keeper options:

Rashee Rice, KC WR (+35; could be kept 141st overall, CPR #106)

Dallas Goedert, Phi TE (+20; could be kept 100th overall, CPR #80)

As far as quality of players, the only option Kincaid had who is higher in my player rankings is Saquon Barkley, who Alex would have had to keep with his 4th overall pick. There's a shot Barkley would fall to him there anyway, and if not he'll get someone else of similar value.

Rice probably would have been my choice for long-term value potential. Even with our changes to IR rules this year, Alex could have put Rice there and he would have been eligible to be activated before his six-game suspension ends.

Keeper Grade: B+

Keeper value: +176 vs CPR (#14)

Taxi Keeper value: +85 vs CPR (#86)

Other notable keeper options:

Darnell Mooney, Atl WR (+92; could be kept 190th overall, CPR #98)

Baker Mayfield, TB QB (+60; could be kept 123rd overall, CPR #63)

Will is making the smart decision to move Pearsall up into the 15th to preserve Irving's value in the 16th moving forward.

The decision takes Pearsall's keeper value down from +104 vs CPR to +85, but Irving's talent showed through last year. He could be a Top 12, or even Top 6, running back for the next several years if he can stay healthy, and that extra round of value he'll carry into future AFL Drafts will likely be more valuable than Pearsall's.

Keeper Grade: A+

Keeper value: +82 vs CPR (#9)
Taxi Keeper value: +44 vs CPR (#143)

Other notable keeper options:

Buffalo Bill DEF (+39; could be kept 163rd overall, CPR #124)

Jameson Williams, Det WR (+27; could be kept 102nd overall, CPR #75)

Tyler Bass, Buf K (+24; could be kept 187th overall, CPR #163)

Alex is one of just three managers keeping the same player he did in 2024, joining Stephen April with Ja'Marr Chase and one other manager we haven't gotten to yet.

Achane had a bit of an underwhelming 2024. His touches went up by about 2.5/game compared to his rookie season in 2023, but his yards per touch went down a good bit, particularly in the run game.

Still, it's not like 4.5 yards/carry is bad. But at that level, he'll need to do more than barely crack 200 attempts, even if his passing volume carries over.

Still, in the 8th round Achane is a terrific value. Paired with Caleb Williams, who hopes to have a Bryce Young-like bounce back (but without the mid-season benching), this could be the foundation of a really strong team now that he can focus on the receiving positions in the early rounds.

Keeper Grade: A

Keeper value: +22 vs CPR (#46)

Notable keeper options:

D'Andre Swift, Chi RB (+39; could be kept 77th overall, CPR #38)

Tony Pollard, Ten RB (+22; could be kept 53rd overall; CPR #31)

Jeffery joins William Battle and Alex Kincaid as the only managers without a taxi keeper. Of them, only Alex even had an option: Luke McCaffrey.

None of Jeff's options stood out as a significant value. While I would have selected Swift since he could have been kept a round later and I have him several spots higher in my player rankings, Kittle is a solid choice in the 6th round.

The 31-year-old 49ers tight end has been consistently the third tight end taken in fantasy drafts this offseason, often by the end of the third round in formats most similar in scoring to ours, which would take him off the board well ahead of my rankings.

While Swift likely won't fall to the 7th, it's possible Jeff could get him, or a running back in a similar tier, at a spot that will make this decision pay off in retrospect.

Keeper Grade: A-

Keeper value: +66 vs CPR (#23)

Taxi Keeper value: +141 vs CPR (#44)

Other notable keeper options:

Sam LaPorta, Det TE (+79; could be kept 137th overall, CPR #58)

James Conner, Ari RB (+36; could be kept 56th overall, CPR #20)

Last year's A++ keeper grade turned out to be a curse. Sam LaPorta underwhelmed all year until his TE1 performance in the final week of the fantasy regular season, and C.J. Stroud suffered a sophomore slump.

I would dock Eric for his decision to trade draft capital to take BTJ while having LaPorta as a slightly higher value. Yes, Thomas is ranked well ahead of LaPorta in my player rankings, but Eric is losing a little more than a round of draft capital in terms of keeper value in addition to moving back two rounds in the draft.

He did get five picks of value back from Cory by trading LaPorta to him, however, so for me this is the difference between an A+ and an A. Hopefully a strong running back will fall to him at the 1.08, or he may find himself weak at that position.

Keeper Grade: A

Keeper value: +113 vs CPR (#16)

Taxi Keeper value: +163 vs CPR (#21)

Other notable keeper options:

Chase Brown, Cin RB (+92; could be kept 105th overall, CPR #13)

Chuba Hubbard, Car RB (+90; could be kept 112th overall, CPR #22)

Brian Thomas, Jac WR (+65; could be kept 88th overall, CPR #23)

With over 270 picks of value, this would have easily been the first A+++ I've ever given on my draft grades. Imagine drafting a rookie WR in the third round, keeping him out of your lineup the entire season while he puts him WR15 numbers, and still finishing in the top third of the league to make the playoffs.

That's what Brandon did last year thanks in part to the insane value he got from Nacua and those three other keeper options he had.

The only reason I'm knocking a plus off his grade is because he should have done more to shop Brown and Hubbard around to get more than the two rounds of draft capital he got by trading BTJ to Eric.

Keeper Grade: A++