BIGFFBL's very own fantasy guru
Draft Review (Part 1)
First off I'd like to say that obviously some people in the league have been reading what I have to say about things like QB Double up, Early Kickers and Early Defenses. Because of that, we now have a much more competitive league, which is exactly what I was targeting, and no, not any kind of brainwashing.... When I look at all the current rosters, I don't see one clear cut team out of anyone that is "guarenteed" to go all the way this year.
Secondly I'd like to quickly go over some of the no-no's in fantasy football that I've preached and who has listened, and who has yet to learn. As for the QB Double Up's, there were only one team who used the QB double up situation (2 QB's before the 7th round - Smith). That's down from three from last season. As for early kickers, there were also only one team (Juice) that took a kicker before the 10th round, which is also an improvement from last year (3 teams last year). Finally we have the early defenses in which only one was taken before the 10th round (Juice), again, another improvement from last year (3). All of this, in my opinion, has helped our league improve GREATLY. Although some people might not think of this as a good thing (less competition), I think of it as a good thing for the league in having more competition, and having teams closer together in the standings. That is honestly what my intentions were while creating those articles. If there is one thing I'd like everyone to remember when it came to Jugs, and the BIGFFBL, that would be the stamp that I put on things to help the league grow as a whole.
Ok, here we go for the first five rounds of this years draft......
K Inside Straights Kevin Jones RB
K Team Juice LaDainain Tomlinson RB
K Team Nookie Tiki Barber RB
K Cardinals Peyton Manning QB
K Fat British Pigeons Dominick Davis RB
K Fantasy Superior Priest Holmes RB
K Air JC Shaun Alexander RB
K Team Tang Duante Culpepper QB
K Little Red Horse Deuce McAllister RB
K Flying Hellfish Edgerrin James RB
K Wong's LD's Corey Dillon RB
K Little Bastards Brian Westbrook RB
Fantasy Superior thoughts: I think that this was the first year in a while that there hasn't been a WR kept by an owner. Having 10 RB's being kept off the bat, makes things a little tougher on teams. I was pretty much forced into keeping Holmes, praying that he'll have one more healthy year in him. Or hell, even half a season is still worth 14 TD's or so from this guy.
Best keeper besides mine: The Edge is in a huge contract year and is looking to turn some heads his way. Last year was the year of the pass for the Colts, and I look for this year to be the year of the run with James.
Worst keeper: After the year that Peyton Manning had last year, it's nearly impossible to think that he will do that two years in a row, instantly decreasing his value on the fantasy world. Obviously he's still a great QB and will put up great numbers, but it won't be enough to carry a team unlike last year.
1.01 Inside Straights Willis McGahee RB
1.02 Team Nookie (from Juice) Randy Moss WR
1.03 Team Nookie Julius Jones RB
1.04 Cardinals Terrell Owens WR
1.05 Fat British Pigeons Jamal Lewis RB
1.06 Fantasy Superior Torry Holt WR
1.07 Air JC Stephen Jackson RB
1.08 Team Tang Clinton Portis RB
1.09 Little Red Horse Curtis Martin RB
1.10 Flying Hellfish Rudi Johnson RB
1.11 Wong's LD's Chad Johnson WR
1.12 Little Bastards Donovan McNabb QB
FF Superior thoughts: First off, I was kinda pissed off that I moved up in the draft from 8th to 6th, but in the end it worked out as I thought it would but more about that later. With all the "marquee" RB's off the board, my tiers told me to go with a top WR so that's what I did. Having a top WR with a point per reception is huge in fantasy football, especially when the top 4 WR's or so are always a step and a half higher than second tier WR's. I couldn't have been happier to start out with Holmes and Holt on my roster.
Best pick besides mine: I think Rich's pick of Terrell Owens could be huge to go along with his keeper, Manning. Yea, yea, we've all heard the preseason soap oprea going on with Owens, but the fact is this: When it's time to play ball, Owens plays ball and puts up huge numbers in the process. Great pick by Richie.
Worst pick of round: I could talk about a few so I think I will. It surprised me how many teams went with players who just haven't proved themselves on a consistant basis yet.....and by that I mean guys like McGahee, Jones, and Jackson. None of these guys have even started a full season yet so they haven't taken the beatings yet. I'll predict right now that two of the three guys end up being busts this season. Who it will be has yet to be seen......Oh yeah, old man Martin went a little too high for a guy being 32 years old and coming off a career year.
2.01 Little Bastards Ahman Green RB
2.02 Insides Straights (from Wong) Andre Johnson WR
2.03 Flying Hellfish Trent Green QB
2.04 Little Red Horse Roy Williams WR
2.05 Team Tang Lamont Jordan RB
2.06 Air JC Marvin Harrison WR
2.07 Fantasy Superior Tony Gonzalez TE
2.08 Fat British Pigeons Joe Horn WR
2.09 Cardinals Tatem Bell RB
2.10 Team Nookie Antonio Gates TE
2.11 Team Juice Javon Walker WR
2.12 Team Tang (from Inside) Anquan Bolden WR
Fantasy Superior thoughts: Another advantage to having a top TE in a league with points per reception is that your team has an advantage every week because it's more likely that you will gain points from this position because having a top TE and a average TE is a huge point difference. I'm not a fan of having two top players from the same team (Holmes and Gonzo), but I wasn't going to risk it on Gates especially since he's gone for the first game of the year.
Best pick of round: For the value, I'm going to have to go with Harrison although I do like Ben's pick of Gates as well. This is no way Harrison should have dropped this far, but due to a little lack of communication we had at Arrowhead, some people thought Harrison was gone to Wong.....but indeed he was still there.
Worst pick of round: Trent Green, Tatem Bell, and Roy Williams. I list these players only becauase each of these guys would have still been there a round, if not two rounds later. All these guys have great potential to have a great season, but the risk of them not having a good season far outweighs the reward I feel in each of these cases.
3.01 Inside Straights J. J. Arrington RB
3.02 Team Juice Marc Bulger QB
3.03 Team Nookie Mike Vick QB
3.04 Cardinals Chris Brown RB
3.05 Fat British Pigeons Carnell Williams RB
3.06 Fantasy Superior Reggie Wayne WR
3.07 Air JC Hines Ward WR
3.08 Team Tang Nate Burleson WR
3.09 Little Red Horse Michael Clayton WR
3.10 Flying Hellfish Darrell Jackson WR
3.11 Wong's LD's Deion Branch WR
3.12 Little Bastards Lavernous Coles WR
FF Superior thoughts: With 23 RB's off the board already, why go for the average RB when I could get another above average WR, so I took Wayne. This year I look for Wayne to take over what Harrison has done over the years. Wayne is young, faster, and improving. I look for Wayne to take over for Harrison's duties this year and have a pretty good year. It also looks like I started a WR run, which only helped me get who I was looking for in the next round. So far this draft as gone EXACTLY how I wanted it to go.
Best Pick besides mine: Hines Ward, definately. Great value here for Ward. Even though Burress is gone, Ward will get plenty of looks like he always does. If his TD output improves this year which I believe it will, JC has a steal here....as he did a round earlier with Harrison.
Worst pick of round: Mikey passed over plenty of good WR's to get a rookie in an offense that is being led by Kurt Warner. Didn't Ben have Vick last year as well? How'd that work out for him? What makes no sense to me here is how he passed up a chance for a pretty damn good #2 WR for Vick, and he still gets Hasselbeck in the 7th round. Hindsight can be a bitch......
4.01 Little Bastards Jerry Porter WR
4.02 Wong's LD's Warrick Dunn RB
4.03 Flying Hellfish Jason Witten TE
4.04 Little Red Horse Tom Brady QB
4.05 Inside Straights (from Tang) Kerry Collins QB
4.06 Air JC Fred Taylor RB
4.07 Fantasy Superior Thomas Jones RB
4.08 Fat British Pigeons Brett Favre QB
4.09 Cardinals Larry Fitzgerald WR
4.10 Team Nookie Donald Driver WR
4.11 Team Juice Kevan Barlow RB
4.12 Wong's LD's (from Inside) Steve Smith WR
FF Superior thoughts: My feelings about Thomas Jones are like this......he is like a poor man's Priest Holmes. He catches tons of balls from the backfield and will have plenty of chances to score TD's. Now this was before the Bears signed Cedric Benson but I don't feel that Benson will have the impact this season like fantasy owners out there think that he will.....unless Jones gets injured of course.
Best Pick of round: Steve Smith, hands down. He just kept dropping and dropping for Wong it seemed like. When you can get a #1 WR this late in the draft, something is going your way. He seemed to be the forgoten man after being out all of last year with a broken leg. Look for Smith to have a good year and Wong needs all he can get right about now.
Worst pick of round: My god....Tom Brady in the 4th round?!? Come on now.....I think that Harrison deal a few rounds ago really flustered Jason a little bit by this time in the draft. Yes, Brady may be a Super Bowl MVP and have multiple Super Bowl rings, but that means nothing when it comes to fantasy football. Brady is an average QB at that when it comes to fantasy stats.
5.01 Inside Straights Jimmy Smith WR
5.02 Team Juice Deshaun Foster RB
5.03 Team Juice (from Nookie) Drew Bennett WR
5.04 Cardinals Alge Crumpler TE
5.05 Fat British Pigeons Jeremy Shockey TE
5.06 Inside Straights (from FFB) Dallas Clark TE
5.07 Air JC Aaron Brooks QB
5.08 Team Tang Lee Suggs RB
5.09 Little Red Horse Jermaine Wiggins TE
5.10 Flying Hellfish Michael Bennett RB
5.11 Wong's LD's Ronnie Brown RB
5.12 Little Bastards Todd Heap TE
FF Superior thoughts: Well I had no pick this round and there was no need for me to panic because I pretty much only missed a TE run, in which I already had mine. Michael Bennett will either be a steal in round, or he'll be just an average 5th round pick. The potential is there, but has been injured so much that no one was willing to take a flyer on him until he fell far enough that the Hellfish were willing to take the risk. I like Deshaun Foster in this round....another high risk, high reward player.
Worst pick of round: This isn't a horrible pick but Wiggins would have been around another 2-3 rounds in my opinion (11.06 ADP). Better off to go somewhere else for depth rather than waste an early pick on Wiggins. I guess this goes to show that Jason was obviously flustered still at this point in the draft......
Next up....rounds 6 through the end......