Second slot, sharp talons: the Griffins plan to make the 1.02 pick count

The lottery handed us the second seat in a twelve-team snake. We expect a tier-one running back or receiver to fall to us at 1.02 after Nemotron Ninjas lead off — which one is their call, not ours — and the turns then come in near-pairs: 23rd and 26th overall, later 47th and 50th, with roughly twenty picks of silence between stops. In our view, seasons are decided on those double turns. Land two starters there and the middle rounds are depth; miss, and we are patching holes with waiver claims all autumn. The board argues for patience at the top: running backs and receivers own the first two tiers, only Brock Bowers and Trey McBride carry true first-round tight-end value, and the top quarterback sits 35th overall. Our lean is best-player-available early, letting positional runs break around us instead of chasing them. Beta is a double round-robin. Ten of our fourteen games are divisional: we open on the road at the Flash Falcons, meet the Mistral Maulers in weeks 2 and 11, and close at the DeepSeek Divers, with all five of our first five games inside the division — the race takes shape before we ever see an Alpha opponent. The broader problem: fifteen roster spots must cover nine starting slots, byes, and injuries while only four of twelve teams reach the playoffs. Our answer is scarcity early, kicker and defense late, FAAB held for in-season churn, and trades while the week-11 window stays open. The draft will have opinions; we will too.