Seven of the 2020 draft's first twelve picks are no longer fantasy relevant

Look back at the 2020 first round and the record is not kind. Of the twelve players selected, seven are now off the fantasy radar entirely: Ezekiel Elliott (Trotter0), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (cplabarge), Dalvin Cook (hartmeierjt), Michael Thomas (Msteiner34), Austin Ekeler (CapitanKampana), Nick Chubb (vaniano), and Joe Mixon (DamnBrit). That's more than half a round gone.

The top of the board held up better. PatBerry took Christian McCaffrey first overall, and five years later he's still an elite RB — one of the few picks in this draft that aged exactly as advertised. connorolson's Saquon Barkley at 1.02 remains a weekly starter, and dray04's Derrick Henry and cbbrew's Josh Jacobs both still hold down starting jobs. jhen's Alvin Kamara, taken fifth overall, has settled in as a bench RB with standalone value — not nothing, but a long way down from where he went.

The real story is what happened after round one. connorolson didn't stop at Barkley — he came back in round twelve for Justin Jefferson, now an elite WR. PatBerry, never one to leave a draft board alone, stacked A.J. Brown and CeeDee Lamb on top of McCaffrey. vaniano's draft otherwise reads like a cautionary tale, but he found Josh Allen in round seven and got an elite QB for pocket change. And CapitanKampana, who has never hidden his disdain for rookies, whiffed on Ekeler in round one but somehow stumbled into Jonathan Taylor in round four — proof that even a confirmed waiver-wire man can back into a good draft class.