2021 Team Capsules: Ukraine Grainers

In a 12-part series, we take a look at each MFFL team, where they’ve been and where they’re going. We analyze the strength of their current roster build, what areas need improvement, and speculate what they might do in the coming months.

A look back

The Grainers have been a portrait of consistency over the past several seasons. They have been among the Top 4 scoring teams every year since 2016. They have also been North Division champions in four of the last five seasons. The one area that just hasn’t been fruitful is bringing home the championship. The Grainers have reached the Super Bowl once in the last six seasons, falling short to the Christmas Island Crabs in 2019. This past season they earned a first-round playoff exit, their quickest departure since the 2017 season. In fairness to them, they played without two of their best players for most of the season in Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle. McCaffrey, the bionic man who took the league by storm in 2019, played in just three games this past year. This, of course, makes their 9-4 North Division championship season, in which they finished third overall in points, all the more impressive. But when you have a winning culture, the fans are less than enthused about consolation prizes. The fans are hungry and the organization is itching to get over the hump and chase down that elusive title.

A look ahead

The Grainers possess one of the most complete rosters from top to bottom of any team in the MFFL. They have 18 players on their Active Roster — three of whom are tagged — and have the fewest remaining vacancies in the league. They also have quite the feeder system with a league-high 7 players in the Rookie Corral, tied for the most with San Juan. The Grainers are stacked at virtually every position. They could legitimately start the season today and field one of the best teams on paper without having to add any more pieces. The fact that they have the second-highest cash average and five draft picks — including two first rounders — means they can add an entire extra layer of icing on the cake. If they want to splurge and fill one of their final two Active Roster spots with a big-time free agent, they could. Or, if they choose to play it safe, save the cash for restructuring contracts later and instead bring up two players from their Corral, they could go that route, too. Either way, the Grainers appear poised to defend their division crown, compete again for the points title, and chase down that slippery Super Bowl championship.

The Stock Report

Stock Up: Jalen Hurts, QB/PHI; Damien Harris, RB/NE; Darren Waller, TE/LV.
Stock Down: Carson Wentz, QB/IND; Courtland Sutton, WR/DEN; Marquise Brown, WR/BAL.

Quarterback analysis

Although there’s never any guarantee, the Grainers could legitimately have four Top 15 quarterbacks when all is said and done. There’s always the chance, and perhaps the likelihood, that the Grainers dangle a morsel of food in front of the ravenous pack of quarterback-hungry teams and see which one bites first. Leading the quarterback room for yet another season will be Deshaun Watson, who is signed for an ultra-cheap, two-year deal at $1.3 million. What becomes of his legal troubles will be a hot topic this offseason. And whether he gets any kind of suspension will shape the Grainers’ starting lineup one way or another. They’ll of course be okay with the depth they have after acquiring Jalen Hurts and Carson Wentz from Christmas Island this offseason. Hurts’ job status is no guarantee at the moment, but he flashed the potential to put up monster numbers with his mobility. Wentz is looking for a fresh start and could be in for a resurgence while surrounded by better talent. Meanwhile, the most unheralded and yet steady quarterback for the better part of a decade, Matthew Stafford, is likely to return under the Transition Tag and his prospects for improvement this season greatly increased with a change of scenery. The Grainers have a lot of flexibility at the quarterback position at the moment.

Running Back analysis

As mentioned previously, the fact that the Grainers still had a successful season without star running back Christian McCaffrey is a testament to their depth and offensive system. With McCaffrey returning this year, once again under the EFT, the Grainers could be right back at the top of the league in points. The team traded third-year pro David Montgomery this offseason for extra depth at receiver in second-year pro Jerry Jeudy. Behind McCaffrey will be Damien Harris and Chase Edmonds. Harris showed some potential in sporadic breakout performances last season. Is he finally ready to emerge as a lead back? It’s difficult to imagine Edmonds as a full-time lead back and workhorse, but he currently sits in position to garner a bunch of touches. Either way, both Harris and Edmonds might find it difficult to get into the starting lineup this year because it’s a virtual certainty that the Grainers will activate second-year back Cam Akers from the Rookie Corral after the start of the new league year in June. After a slow start to his rookie season, Akers came on strong down the stretch and looks to be a prime candidate to push for RB1 territory. The Grainers also have second-year pros Ke’Shawn Vaughn and La’Mical Perine, but it’d take a massive effort for either of those two to get called up to the Active Roster.

Wide Receiver analysis

The Grainers said goodbye to veteran Tyreek Hill this offseason, shipping his rights to Christmas Island for Courtland Sutton and Ke’Shawn Vaughn. Chris Godwin will be back and will assume the No. 1 role, seeking to improve from last year’s disappointing WR32 finish. The Grainers, remarkably, had four wide receivers finish between 32 and 36 last year who will all be back this season. Joining Godwin will be Brandon Aiyuk, who had a promising rookie season, Will Fuller and Marquise Brown. Fuller had a good 2020 and was headed for his first complete season as a pro before getting suspended for the last few games of the campaign. Fuller finds himself in new surroundings this year but should put up many FLEX-worthy performances — when he’s healthy. Brown, meanwhile, has been tremendously disappointing after being selected ninth overall in the 2019 Draft. Sutton missed almost all of the 2020 season after tearing his ACL. He enters the final year of his rookie deal and has a lot to prove. Between Godwin, Sutton, Aiyuk, and Fuller, the Grainers will have some lineup decisions to make unless a couple of these players separate themselves from the pack. The Grainers also have the 7th and 8th picks in the first round of this year’s draft, giving them the opportunity to add a few more playmakers, with receivers being a possibility.

Tight End analysis

The Grainers have been loaded at tight end for the past few seasons. After acquiring George Kittle via trade several years ago, the team signed Darren Waller to a 3-year, league minimum contract in the 2019 Auction. Both players have been dynamic receiving options and it’s been difficult for the Grainers to find ways to get both involved in their offense at the same time. Not only have both been effective playmakers, but both were extremely cheap options as well. Kittle’s cheap deal expired this past season, though, and he’s been tagged with the NFT, putting his salary in line with his level of play. Assuming the Grainers match the highest offer for Kittle — and they have the funds to do it — the Grainers will once again have two Top 5 tight ends who will create mismatches for opposing defenses.

Biggest Objective

The Grainers will have quite the boring offseason this year unless, for whatever reason, they elect to shake things up. They currently have 16 players under contract with two more — Matthew Stafford and George Kittle — on tags. The team is likely to activate Cam Akers from the Rookie Corral, leaving them with one roster spot to fill. If they wanted to, they could use some of their cash surplus and bring in another strong free agent. Or, they could play it conservatively and either activate another player from the Corral — perhaps a Henry Ruggs or Denzel Mims — or they could promote one of the rookies they draft with one of their two first-round picks. Whichever way they play it, their biggest objective is keeping the band together for another run at greatness this year.

“What could be…”

It’s hard to imagine that anything short of catastrophic injury will affect the Grainers’ outlook this season. Even an injury to the MFFL’s most explosive and dangerous weapon, Christian McCaffrey, as well as one to Kittle, couldn’t keep the Grainers down last year. As previously mentioned, the Grainers will keep an eye out on Watson’s legal troubles, but even if he misses some time they should cruise right along with one of the three other quarterbacks they have. They would take a slight hit in production from the position but not enough to derail them. McCaffrey and Akers ought to be a dynamic duo this year and Sutton ought to return strongly from injury with both he and Godwin putting up much better seasons than last year. The players who could make the most difference are the ones who have questions to answer. Can Aiyuk, Mims, Ruggs and Jeudy take big second-year leaps? Do Damien Harris and Chase Edmonds have a shot at RB2 value? The scary thing for other MFFL teams is that the Grainers don’t necessarily need any of those players for anything but sporadic FLEX starts. But if one or more of them do break out, it’s only going to further boost their offensive production. The Grainers ought to have some tough competition in the North Division and Northwest Conference this season, but will be trying to get to the top of the mountain after years of coming up short.

Next up: Christmas Island Crabs