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The Kobayashi Maru is a fictional spacecraft training exercise in the Star Trek continuity. It is designed by Starfleet Academy to place Starfleet cadets in a no-win scenario (via Wikipedia).

WalterPicks is the Starfleet Academy. The members of the WalterPicks 32-person league are the Starfleet cadets.

I want you to envision yourself being put into a scenario where no preparation, rationalizing, REM cycles, fasted cardio, gallons of water, quinoa, or self-help books can help you complete the scenario in a fashion in which you feel satisfied.

That scenario is the WalterPicks 32-Person League. We drafted on Friday night, 7/31.

As if 32 teams wasn’t crazy enough, the starting lineup for each team is: RB, WR, flex, flex, flex, super flex (flex or QB), and six bench spots. Wait, I almost forgot. It’s TE premium as well (TEs earn an additional point for every catch).

Before analyzing my competitors' rosters, I will share my team, as well as a bit of an idea of what my plan was this year. The screen below can be found for your team when you tap the "My Team" tab in the WalterPicks app. It shows every player's projection and boom/bust percentage, as well as the "My League" button, where you can see the playoff odds of every team in your league amongst various other insights.

I attempted to emulate a strategy used in 2025 by another one of our lead writers, Patrick McDonnell. His first two picks were that year were Derrick Henry and Drake Maye. He locked in an elite RB, as well as a QB with upside. Then he drafted two TEs because of how valuable the TE premium is. With his final starting lineup selection, he drafted Keenan Allen (he was not on a team at the time, causing his ADP to plummet). Pat's lineup was a bit stronger than mine, but I did not acquire any additional high draft picks via trade before the draft.

I started with Saquon Barkley at pick 23, then drafted Patrick Mahomes in round two. I followed that up with two TEs with great weekly ceilings. My version of Keenan Allen was Deebo Samuel, a player whose ADP did not adjust properly based on recent injuries to the 49ers.

I don’t have the best team by any means, but I’m optimistic for this season, and am pleased with how well my plan was executed. I’m also excited to see how rookies Skyler Bell and Malachi Fields do this season (they’re on my bench).

Now, on to a few of my adversaries.

The best team is not difficulty to identify. It belongs to one of our incredible designers, Dean. He made some excellent pre-draft trades, and they resulted in him having a team that has a 98% chance of making the playoffs based on Walter’s projections.

His starting lineup consists of Travis Etienne Jr., Trey McBride, Jake Ferguson, Jakobi Meyers, Josh Downs, and Matthew Stafford. It’s nuts.

I was around Dean for the entire week, and he was consistently sending trade offers out to anyone he felt could upgrade his capital. Once his moves were made, he was satisfied, and all the creators in the house knew Dean would do a good job.

Post-Draft, Dean was exuding confidence, and every member of the league is fully aware of the powerhouse he built. Way to go, Dean!

In my estimation, our ELITE Product Manager, Bryan, drafted one of the most underrated teams. For a first-timer in this league, being able to have a strong starting lineup, while also having some decent depth, is very impressive.

I perhaps have myself to blame for Bryan building such a nice squad. Early last week, I was giving him tips on strategies, as well as the scoring format, because he didn’t truly know what he had gotten himself into. Perhaps he hustled me. Either way, Bryan’s squad will be a force to be reckoned with.

Our rockstar Intern, Dave, defied all the haters, nailing the draft from start to finish. He may not have the best team, but it’s certainly going to be a part of the “In the Hunt’ graphic when the playoffs come around. As you can see, the team didn’t have much confidence in our guy Dave. ⬇️

Dave is a man of few words. Is he just shy? Or is a silent assassin? Check out his team and then answer that question for me:

Assuming Kirk Cousins starts some games, this team is going to start the season strong. After the draft ended, Dave was hard to read. But, when I gave him a fist bump and said “nice draft,” he had a huge smile and you could feel the energy in the room build. He’s ready to win… NOW.

In totality, a vast majority of the creators that drafted in-person were very pleased with their teams. As each year has gone on, the members of the league have gotten sharper. This is going to be a league worth paying attention to. But first, here were the three worst picks of the entire draft.

In what can only be described as a debacle, Kyle (our legendary QA lead) auto-drafted Fernando Mendoza in the third round. It doesn’t sound horrible… but he drafted Josh Allen first overall after trading substantial capital to move up. He’s now starting Samaje Perine, Noah Gray, and Jalen McMillan. Poor Kyle.

Carnell Tate is an exciting pick without being provided further context. Luckily, I have further context to explain why this pick is among the worst. Cardinals.WalterPicks, the manager of this team, spent his first two picks on WRs. It sounds fun to have several great WRs on paper. But, in a 32-person league, taking a non-WR in the third round was absolutely mandatory. He’s likely facing an uphill battle on a weekly basis with Tank Bigsby starting at RB.

Henry is somewhat safe in a TE premium. But, the TEs taken after him have much higher ceilings that would’ve benefited Titans.WalterPicks’ roster composition more in my opinion. Within the next eleven picks of that round, Gunnar Helm, Chig Okonkwo, Oronde Gadsden, Greg Dulcich, and AJ Barner were selected. All of those TEs have a real shot at seeing a +20% target share. I don’t believe Henry does that.