He Hate Me Keeper League Mid-Season Draft Review 2006

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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This is Part One of my mid-season draft review (Part Two should be before sundown tomorrow). Draft results in their entirety can be found here.

For the draft grades and best & worst picks “then,” I mostly entered the selections from the the draft reviews at the times (from Hamlet and Omni – Mundi’s draft reviews were awesome, but he didn’t assign arbitrary grades or best & worst lists). Those reviews start on this page. I’ve included our ranks according to points scored partly as a curiousity, but mostly because I’ve scored the most points and want to make that clear to everybody.

I’m sure to have made plenty of mistakes and omissions, especially regarding injuries, so please point these out as you see them, and I encourage violent disagreements with my opinions, of course. Enjoy.
Fourth and Nineteen: 7-1, 1st Place, 717.51 points (5th)

Best picks:
Then – Tomlinson (1), P. Rivers (16)
Now – Tomlinson and Rivers. This team’s reward for avoiding the Peyton Manning trap is 1st place in the standings. Rivers should get a shot somewhere next year, making him a good 14th Round keeper. Delhomme (8) was also steal – he’s put up more points than Manning, and waiting until the 8th round to grab a QB made this a better team overall.

Worst picks:
Then – Lee Suggs (6)
Now – Suggs was bad, but Cedric Benson (3) has been a disaster – 108 total yards, no TDs.

Keeper Potential – Delhomme (8), Stokley (12), and Rivers (16) all look like good values.

Injury problems? – Kyle Boller (15) has missed basically the whole seaosn, but who cares? Otherwise they’ve been clean.

Grade
Then: C
Now: B. This would be higher, but there weren’t any particularly good picks aside from the three I mentioned above.

Also, as the 2nd place team, I wish to note for the record that Fourth and Nineteen has been pretty lucky so far, avoiding injuries and winning some close matchups. They’re 1st in the standings, but 5th in points scored.

Pentium None: 0-8, 14th, 467.65 (14th)

Best pick:
Then – Peyton Manning (he who can single-handedly propel a team to first place) with the 2nd overall pick.
Now – Hmm. Chris Chambers (5) was a pretty good value.

Worst pick:
Then – D. Foster (2).
Now – I’m tempted to say Manning (he who can single-handedly kill your fantasy team if you used the 2nd overall pick to take an average fantasy QB), but that wouldn’t be fair to the other nominees. Foster is still the worst pick, but J. Horn (3), M. Faulk (4), E. Johnson (6), and J. Pathon (9) have all been very disappointing or worse.

Keeper Potential – N. Burleson (11) and Roethlisberger (12) will make good keepers for the second straight year. Nothing besides those two, however.

Injury problems? – E. Johnson (6) has missed the whole year, but he was injured at the time of the draft. Burleson has missed a few games.

Grade
Then: C-
Now: D-. Sorry, man, this just wasn’t your year.

Cedric Benson Busts: 5-3, 4th, 740.57 (3rd)

Best pick:
Then – S. Alexander (1). The safe pick.
Now – Alexander has paid off nicely, but the best pick was Thomas Jones in the 4th. Let that be a lesson to you kids: just because a starting RB has a highly touted youngser behind him doesn’t mean he’s not the starter.

Worst pick:
Then – Carolina’s D (6), a keeper. No need to take a defense this high, especially one that doesn’t end in “altimore.”

Now – J.J. Arrington (3) was a total bust. No longer with the team. Carolina has indeed been a bad value (there are a few teams on the waiver wire that have out-performed them, which should not have been wholly unexpected).

Keeper Potential – Mi. Clayton (11) again, maybe Leftwich (7). D. Rhodes in the 16th was a steal; never know when the backup RB on the league’s best offense might come in handy (especially since Edge probably won’t be back next year).

Injury problems? – Housh (5) missed a few games. Nothing serious.

Grade
Then: C+
Now: B.

Baltimore Wierdos: 2-6, 13th, 674.67 (10th)

Best pick:
Then – S. Davis (9)
Now – Still Davis, of course. The 11th-best fantasy RB so far was picked up with the 116th overall pick . . . which wouldn’t be such an indictment of the rest of us if he hadn’t been pencilled in as the starter on a run-heavy offense from Day 1. Nice job.

Plaxico Burress (6) was also a steal, which he turned into LaMont Jordan via a trade with the Fanboys.

Worst pick:
Then – T. Bell. This would have turned into a decent pick by now if the Wierdos hadn’t dropped him a month into the season – why draft a backup RB on the spec in the 2nd Round if you’re going to give up on him so quickly?

Now – Culpepper (1). No one could have forseen such a disastrous all-around season fro Pep, but still. This was even a questionable pick at the time, as you had to expect Culpepper to drop off somewhat from a career year after losing the best WR in the league. Culpepper '04 would be worthy of the #4 overall pick, but Culpepper '05 was very unlikely to have such a good year

I was going to say that R. Droughns was a reach in the 4th, but I see now that he’s got 641 yards from scrimmage, making him the 25th best fantasy back in the league. Not too shabby.

Keeper Potential – S. Davis (9) could be a good keeper if he can hold it together for one more year (doubtful). A. Gates (10, keeper), the best TE in football, will be kept with the 8th pick.

Injury problems? – Culpepper is done for the year, forcing the team to get rid of L. Jordan in a trade for K. Collins. Stephen Davis should spontaneously combust within the next week or two.

Grade
Then: D
Now: B-/C+. This mark gets a big boost from the Burress and Davis picks, and Bell’s being better than expected also gets factored in.

Varlos’ Zzzzzzz: 6-2, 2nd, 774.85 (1st)

Best pick:
Then – J. Witten (6). I had plenty of solid picks, but this was the only out-and-out steal at the time.
Now – Edge (1). There were a lot of very similar backs I could have gotten with the 5th overall pick (Holmes, McAllister, Dillon, Barber, J. Lewis), but I picked the right one. James, the 3rd RB drafted, is currently 3rd in fantasy points (behind the 1st and 2nd RBs drafted). Way to go me.

Worst pick:
Then – Keyshaun (8). He’s worked out; currently 17th among WRs.
Now – Lee Evans (7). Seemed like such a steal (and possible keeper fodder) at the time, but he’s been awful. Partly his fault, partly the fault of the Losman/Holcombe tragedy behind center.

Keeper Potential – McGahee (5) will be kept again, but won’t be such a steal next time around. A few other maybes – Bryant Johnson (16), B. Jacobs (13), etc. – but probably just McGahee.

Injury problems? – A lot, actually, especially at WR. My 3rd Round pick, Javon Walker, was lost for the year in Week 1. Fortunately, I also drafted R. Ferguson in the 12th; unfortunately, he’s also gone now. Torry Holt (2) has missed a couple of games. Bobby Engram (10) will have missed about a month before he finally gets back. Brian Griese (11) is gone for the year. Derrick Blaylock (9) is also done.

Grade
Then: A
Now: A. Top scoring team in the league even with all those injuries and a starting QB – Hasselbeck (4) – who’s just doing ok. Normally I wouldn’t toot my own horn, but this was the best fantasy draft I’ve ever had.

BoomGoesTheDynamite: 6-2, 3rd, 764.37 (2nd)

Best pick:
Then – P. Holmes (1).
Now – B. Westbrook (2). He’s neck and neck with Holmes so far, giving Boom a great RB combo.

Worst pick:
Then – K. Collins (4). Didn’t have to get a backup QB this early with Palmer (10) as a keeper, but he did manage to turn Collins+Larry Johnson into LaMont Jordan just couple of days ago, via a trade with the Culpepperless Wierdos.

Now – A. Johnson (3). The complete implosion of the whole Houston offense means that Johnson – who has, what, 80 receiving yards this year? – isn’t even with the team anymore.

Keeper Potential – Johnson (9) and Palmer (10) will make great keepers again next year. D. Bennett (6) might also be kept again. L.J. Smith (8) is a possibility. Probably the best keeper crop in the league.

Injury problems? – Bennett has missed a lot of time, but not too much otherwise.

Grade
Then: A-
Now: B+. Would be an A if we were factoring in keeper picks. As it is, there weren’t any exceptional steals, just a lot of solid picks.

**Crabby Hermits: 4-4, 8th, 639.03 (12th) **

Best pick:
Then – W. Parker (11).
Now – Parker, easily. The starting rusher on the rushingest team in the league. It’s our own fault for assuming he’d be sent to the bench once the other guys got healthy.

Worst pick:
Then – C. Brown (2). A decent but injury-prone back on a bad offense with a RB of roughly equal quality (Henry) likely to steal a lot of carries. This should have been Westbrook.

Now – D. Clark (7). I thought he’d be pretty good, too, but Manning just doesn’t throw to him (183 yards, 1 TD). Brown has worked out about as well as we could’ve expected, but that’s still not saying much.

Keeper Potential – A. Lelie (6) again, but only if he has a big second half. Randle El (10) shoul be a good value in the 8th next year. Willie Parker (11) has a good chance to be the starter in Pittsburg again next year, and should be kept regardless. Alex Smith (16)? Only if the commish can’t find three other keepers.

Injury problems? – Lots. Dillon (1) has been banged up recently. Bulger (3) has missed a few games. D. Jackson (4) is still recovering from knee surgery. I. Bruce (5) has missed been out for several games. Alex Smith is injured, but that doesn’t really matter since he’s put up negative-6.33 points this year.

Grade
Then: B-
Now: B+/B. This would be a much better team if not for injuries. In the meantime, they’ve done a good job of getting by.

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Hey man, glad to see the thread. Was just thinking about busting your balls over it in the league page tonite. I’ll jump in with my midterm review as soon as you finish the second half. So far I’m mostly in agreement, though I haven’t gotten nearly enough credit for how heavily I touted Thomas Jones. Look at my team name for godsake!

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I really suck this year. I’m going to have to relive my glory year last year, hey, I did better than most of you then!

now I just give you easy victories.

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Not only that, but my strength of schedule has got to be really low. As you said, I’m only 5th in points. I haven’t yet faced the 1st, 2nd and 4th place teams in points (you, Munch and Mundi), and although I beat the 3rd place team - Omni - I get to play them again in week 14.
But hey, gotta beat up the weak teams when you play them… I figure if I can go 3-3 from here on out, I should be solidly in the playoffs. Don’t know how I’m doing that with the crappy draft I had - LT makes up for a lot of mistakes, and as you said Delhomme in 8 was great value. I still think Reggie Wayne and Eric Moulds will wind up as better than the #28 and #30 WRs when the year is done.

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An unschecduled family trip (walking across the Brooklyn Bridge) has come up, forcing a slight postponement. Part Two will be up tonight, before bedtime (say, around 9 Eastern?).

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Don’t even do my team; I’ll save you the time. Sucks.

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Part Two, chapters 1-3. The walk across the Brooklyn Bridge was followed by a walk back over the bridge and into Chinatown for dinner, so I’m back a little later than anticipated.
Feed My Family: 3-5, 12th, 603.12 (13th)

Best pick:
Then – B. Lloyd (11). A #1 WR in the 11th round. Good value, even if he does play for San Fran.
Now – J. Galloway (4). Currently the 5th rated WR, and a cut above #6 and below.

Worst pick:
Then – Galloway. See above, but it sure seemed shaky at the time – a #2 receiver on a mediocre offense. Shows what we know.
Now – J. Lewis (1), but there are lots of nominees. See below.

Keeper Potential – Probably Anquain Boldin (6) again, if he comes back and has some reasonable success this season. I don’t see anything else.

Injury problems? – Boldin’s knee is acting up again, but should be back within a few weeks. D. Staley (7) was injured at draft-time and hasn’t come back yet. D. Akers (8) has a bad hamstring injury. I forget, is the hamstring important for a kicker?

Grade
Then: C+
Now: D+. This is the over-the-hill gang. Lewis (1), Harrison (2), Green (3), Staley (7), and McNair (10) were all guys who had a real possibility of breaking down this year, and Feed My Family has lost every single gamble to some degree or another. That’s just bad luck.

DerierExtraordinaire: 5-3, 5th, 705.99 (7th)

Best pick:
Then – M. Moore (4). Had as good a chance as anyone to be the main back in the supposedly powerful Vikings offense (and did, in fact, win the job). Too bad the Vikings suck.
Now – Would be Cadillac Williams (3), but he’s effectively missed half the season with injuries and it looks like his workload is going to be scaled back all year. I hate to do this, but how about: Chicago’s D (14). The second-best scoring DEF (by a lot), and they’re still with the team. Nice one.

Worst pick:
Then – K. Warner (7).
Now – Warner, of course. If you’re going to wait until the 7th round to take a QB, you’ve got to do better than this. QBs taken after Warner (who could’ve gone undrafted without shocking anyone) include Plummer, Delhomme, and A. Brooks. And who’s the backup? Kyle Orton.

Keeper Potential – Braylon Edwards (8) will probably be back next year, but he’ll be kepot on spec, not production. Bob Marley (13) could conceivably wind up as something other than a pure backup (but I doubt it). I normally hate the idea of keeping Defenses, but Chicago will be worth a 12th next year. K. Orton (16)? I hope not.

Injury problems? – McAllister (1) is done for the year. T. Owens (2) will likely miss one or two games starting now. C. Williams (3) has been out/gimpy for most of the year. K. Warner (7) got hurt, lost his starting job, and somehow just got it back. B. Edwards (8) missed a few games with an infected elbow that had the docs giving amputation as a worst case scenario (and that’s always a conversation you want your player to be a part of).

All in all, a sure contender for worst injury situation in the league.

Grade
Then: C
Now: B+/B. And only the attrocious QB drafting keeps this from being an A. There was no way to know that McAllister, Owens, Williams, and Edwards would all be hit by injuries. He was right that Cadillac would get a lot of carries and be productive (when healthy), and he was right about M. Moore winning the job in Minnesota (no way for him to predict the Vikings’ total collapse). He was right about Marcel Shipp winning the RB job in Arizona. He picked up two very good defenses, Dallas and Chicago, currently 6th and 2nd, respectively.

If he’d taken Plummer or Delhomme instead of Warner, and if he’d had one or two fewer injuries, this would be the best team in the league. As it is, though, he’s got waiver-wire hero Mark Brunell at QB (who can’t possibly keep up his above-average fantasy performance . . . sorry), and a banged up offense that will struggle to make the playoffs. It’s a crying shame.

New York Fanboys: 4-4, 7th, 711.40 (6th)

Best pick:
Then – T. Barber (1)
Now – Ellis was fortunate to get Tiki with the 10th pick (I very nearly took him at #5), and he’s proven to be a good value there. The best pick, though, was Eli in the 9th. Shocker.

Worst pick:
Then – L. Coles (3).
Now – Coles. Even the Fanboys couldn’t tolerate his lack of production. He’s gone.

Keeper Potential – Plaxico (6) will be a pretty good value in the 4th next year. Eli (9) will be an exellent keeper.

Injury problems? – The entire Jets contingent on the Fanboys was hurt by the Pennington/Fiedler mess that turned the Jets into the least dangerous team in the league.

Grade
Then: C
Now: C+/A-. The former grade is in absolute terms, the latter is taking into account the constraints of Ellis’ loyalty-based draft strategy. It’s hard to imagine a much better team composed entirely of Jets and Giants. He probably should’ve taken Plaxico in the 6th instead of Pennington (who would’ve been available next round, for sure), but that’s the only obvious fault I can find.

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The funny thing is that it goes much further than that. Injuries killed the passing game, obviously, and that put pressure on the running game, which in turn features a nicked up Curtis Martin and an IR Kevin Mawae, not to even mention that Blaylock is also on IR. All that I can understand.

But wtf, Jets? How’s your top two draft picks looking? Mike Nugent?! Holy fucking shit he sucks balls. The second pick has to be better than Nugent, right? Justin Miller?! Shit, he was so fucking bad at returning punts that they were forced to put a starting wide receiver back there in Justin McCareins. That’s fucking pathetic. Nice top two draft picks, Terry “Dumbass” Bradway.

And then, just when you think you can’t get any more pathetic, the obvious no-brainer trade of Moss for Coles turns out to have been a better deal for Washington. Washington! How many years in a row can the Redskins fuck over the Jets? Jesus Christ!

Luckily the Giants have been fun enough to obsess ovr that the Jets’ woes are but a blip on my radar. My buddy the Jets fan, however, is bumming big time.

If only I had been true to my fandom and started Eli over The Chad in week 1, I might be over .500 at this point. Oh well, at least I’m in it. At this point last year I was 1-7 in the league. 4-4 is world’s better than that, and at least (I’m assuming) you guys don’t look at a game against me as a pushover easy victory. That’s something, I guess.

Fucking Jets fucking suck balls. But just to set the record straight, Coles is still a Fanboys starter. (He had a bye last week, but he’s back in at W/R in place of Jordan.) So is Curtis, which makes a grand total of two Jets in my starting lineup. sigh

I’m hoping to make a run now that I’m past my bye weeks, but unfortunately the Giants schedule gets much tougher down the stretch. I need to win the next two weeks to take advantage of the matchups against the 49ers and Vikings.

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I don’t exactly remember who I had last season, but I remember a very similar evaluation regarding injuries. Next year let’s draft early so as to make sure who you all shouldn’t draft in any $ leagues. And don’t forget that I had drafting problems, I was looking to take Brees in the 6th or 7th round. Regardless, a significant turn around compared to my ~2nd to last ranking last year.

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Yeah, Eli is the obvious quality keeper, but am I allowed to keep Plax, as I didn’t draft him but rather acquired him through trade? I’m curious because as it stands right now I really really want to keep him as opposed to burning a second or third to make sure I get him.

By the way, using the fanboy approach has opened a new layer of fun during gameday for me. I created a form in Excel that I print out on the back of my weekly picks sheet (love those threads, Omni!) that I use to track the performance throughout the day. I wait until the game is over to pencil in the passing and rushing stats, but during the game I track all applicable catches, field goals, touchdowns, extra points, sacks, et cetera in real time.

On the form I have the formulas that each of the three leagues I’m in uses, and so I can use a calculator to tabulate my results without ever leaving the couch. (Computer is in a no-tv room.) I find that I’m usually within 2 points of my actual yahoo total, and since I also include the yahoo estimated total for both me and each opponent, I have a pretty good idea of what’s what before ever going online. I have to say, it’s really quite fun, but only works if you both watch the games live, and have the same players on all your teams.

What do you guys do, just ignore FF until you get online, or feverishly watch the postgame wrapups on ESPNews? Either would drive me batty. heh.

All told, that one piece of paper per week gives me a huge amount of added interest on gameday. In addition to tracking the fantasy stats, I mark down all the final scores, note how the spread picker does, see how my picks and hypothetical bets do, and also track the divisional standings. You should see how much pencil is all over those suckers by the night game.

Damn I love the NFL.

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Yes, keeper positions are transitive, and you do indeed get to take advantage of using him as a keeper. The only way it’s lost is if the players hits the waiver wire.

Glad to be of service! Now go post some chatter in this weeks thread, don’t make me bump it ;).

I’ve got two M.O.s.

  1. Couch, Laptop, WiFi, Yahoo Statracker. Beer. Pizza.

  2. Bar. Beer. Hot Wings. 3 Dozen Big Screens. Direct TV NFL Package.

Both work wonders.

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hehheh. The downer is that calculating the spread picker picks is time consuming. While I could just skip doing it, those picks are actually the one thing I’m most interested in. If you notice, no team in the league is currently more than 3 games above or below .500 against the spread, which is a state of affairs that is both likely (considering the complementary motivations of setting and playing the lines) and conducive (sp?) to the spread picker being successful.

Such a simple system, and yet it would have earned money betting every game straight up. I’ve been feverishly trying to remember the other system that same buddy’s little brother came up with regarding over/unders. Same basic principle, same success rate. But it escapes me. (This was 7+ years ago that I last was betting.) All I remember is that the average number of points scored in the league was a key element.

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It has been mentioned more than once that I should have taken Westbrook over Chris Brown in the draft.

The Eagles don’t want to run the ball, and Travis Henry is fragile this year, so I took a chance. It still may pan out…

Alex Smith, the QB, is already in the dumper. He may have future keeper value, but at this point he’s a bust.

Damned injury bug! My team trains in the hospital.

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Moridwon: 3-5, 11th, 668.87 (11th)

Best pick:
Then – B. Favre (5). Always puts up big numbers, and he was expected to be invlolved in lots of shootouts with that terrible defense. Even with half his offense is on the sidelines with injuries, he’s been a solid fantasy QB (currently 5th in points scored).
Now – R. Brown (3). Solid starter in the middle of Barlow/Faulk territory.

Worst pick:
Then – R. Moss (1). It was a bit early for Moss, coming off an injury-plagued year, downgrading from Culpepper to Collins, and playing all his games on grass instead of turf. K. Colbert (7) was also a puzzler.
Now – K. Jones (2). I liked Jones a lot, and I still think he’ll turn it around in the 2nd half. So far, though, he’s been a major disappointment.

Keeper Potential – S. Jackson (4) will be kept again in the 2nd if he keeps up this pace. R. McMichael (8) has a good chance of being kept again. T. Williamson (11) should be a good value in the 9th next year.

Injury problems? – Moss is a little gimpy, but that’s about all.

Grade
Then: B+
Now: C+. Only Favre, Brown, and the Jackson keeper have lived up to expectations. Everyone else has disappointed ot some degree.

Rhinosaurs (neuroman): 5-3, 6th, 693.75 (8th)

Best pick:
Then – J. Jones (2). Another guy I liked, who’s had a disappointing year.
Now – M. Anderson (3). A starter is a starter is a starter. When will we ever learn?

Worst pick:
Then – D. Driver (4). #2 WR who was poised to become a #3 any day. Of course, due to injuries he’s now the clear #1 and is putting up good numbers.
Now – C. Portis (1). Take away the 49ers game, and he’s got under 600 yards from scrimmage with 0 TDs. Not what you need from your #1 pick.

Keeper Potential – Brees (8) is a sure thing (he’s not marked, but he must have been a keeper this year, right?). D. Stallworth (10) and K. McCardell (11) could both be kept if they have solid second halves.

Injury problems? – J. Jones has missed a few games (with, I believe, ankle problems). Roy Williams (5, keeper) has missed the last three weeks with a strained quad.

Grade
Then: B
Now: B. Driver’s working out better than expected and some nice mid-late round steals (Plummer in the 7th, Stallworth, McCardell) counter-balance the semiflops from Rounds 1 & 2.

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Fightin’ Quakers: 3-5, 10th, 683.35 (9th)

Best pick:
Then – D. McNabb (2). A prolific passer who also scrambles, and the safest bet at QB this side of Peyton Manning (ironically enough). Even with all his injury problems this year, he’s still the #2 QB in the league.
Now – S. Smith (4). Scooped me; I totally wanted Smith but thought he would last another couple of rounds. This year’s Muhsin Muhammed is, by far, the #1 fantasy WR. (Incidentally, the Quakers also have last year’s Muhsin Muhammed: Muhsin Muhammed, whom they kept with their 8th Rounder).

Worst pick:
Then – M. Bennett (3). Also, Arizona’s defense (14)? What the hell was that about?
Now – Bennett. No longer with the team, for obvious reasons.

Keeper Potential – Smith (4) and L. Fitzgerald (5) would be expensive keepers, but they deserve serious consideration. Reggie Brown might be worth a late-rounder if TO doesn’t return to the Eagles. Hasn’t Frank Gore (10) been impressive? He’ll the be the starter (and a solid keeper) next year if the 49ers know what’s good for them. Heath Miller (9) will be a good value.

Injury problems? – A. Green (1) is kaput. McNabb has been hurting all year (not that it’s slowing him down for our purposes). Was Bennett hurt? (Does it matter?) T. Henry (6) was a good gamble, but he’s been injured

Grade
Then: C
Now: A-. The injury to Green is killing this team, but there were lots of very good picks here. McNabb was worth the 2nd Rounder. S. Smith might have been the best pick in the entire draft. L. Fitzgerald (5) was a steal, as was Heath Miller (9). F. Gore (10) is getting some touches and should be a nice keeper. Ditto Mark Jones (11).

Mundi Morning Blues: 3-5, 9th, 740.02 (4th)

Best pick:
Then – H. Ward (4), who’s worked out nicely in spite of some injnury problems.
Now – S. Moss (8). I doubt he can keep up this pace, but he’s currently the 3rd rated WR in our league. W. Dunn (5) is a close 2nd in this category.

Worst pick:
Then – A. Vinatieri (11, keeper). You don’t keep Kickers, and this is why. Vinatieri is currently a below average fantasy Kicker, which should not be shocking. Their numbers will fluctuate greatly from year to year, as will their opportunities.

Now – T. Gonzalez(3). Age has finally caught up with him, and this was too early to take a TE for whom age was a known issue, especially if one had yet to draft a QB or WR.

Keeper Potential – W. Dunn (5)? Probably not, but his production warrants the discussion. S. Moss (8) looks good. T. Glenn was the steal of the 16th Round.

Injury problems? --Some bumps and bruises, but nothing crippling.

Grade:
Then: B-
Now: A. Everyone pay attention to this guy, because Mundi always drafts well. He got two solid backs on the corner of Rounds 1 & 2 (Rudi and D. Davis). Ward was a steal at the start of the 4th, and Dunn was a steal at the end of the 5th. T. Brady (6) has put up solid numbers, as has Rod Smith (7). S. Moss was a major steal in the 8th. Cincinatti was a good D to pick up in the 15th. Terry Glenn (Terry Glenn!) was there for him in the 16th.

Christ almighty. I just hope his run of bad luck continues so I don’t have to face him in the playoffs.

16

I’m going to review my own comments from the immediate post-draft analysis and in many cases probably parrot some of VarlosZ’s thoughts. Take it for what it’s worth, and don’t expect anything resembling objectivity. :wink:

Delhomme has so far outstripped expectations, and has been a real steal. The backup situation is no better now than it was before (the Boller injury was a non-factor) though Rivers could indeed be a great keeper, some of you may recall me making some heady predictions for him.

The RB situation played out as expected, though Freddy has managed to stay mostly healthy if mediocre. I should be lauded for my prescience regarding Cedric Benson. If I recall he dropped Pittman early in the game when Cadillac was burning things up and he’s probably regretting it now.

The WR situation has been as maginal as projected, hurt by the new look Colts scheme. However he’s been saved to a degree by the fact that pretty much all of them have been average, none being a total bust. With the exception
of Stokely they’ve all put up right around 52 points. Week-in-week-out they bolstered his totals without disappearing totally any given week. They haven’t won him any games, but they didn’t lose any either. A classic ensemble performance. This is the key to his success so far IMHO.

The rest of the squad has been as typical and predictable as expected, which in many ways is high praise for the collection of secondary positions.

All in all, this team has gotten a lot of breaks to get where it is now. The biggest was in week one when he beat me by a whopping 1.17 points. I still can’t give this team a grade commensurate with it’s record primarily due to the fact that this team could easily end up out of the top 6. There’s basically no hope if Delhomme gets hurt, and without LT this team really sucks. So far the lack of depth hasn’t hurt him, but that rarely lasts a whole season.

Grade: B

Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. It’s not fair to say that you could have seen the Peyton slump coming, but you certainly put all your eggs in one basket and got screwed for it.

The lack of a valid running back option was apparent then and continues to be a major factor in this teams struggles. I’m surprised you never made a concerted effort to trade Big Ben for a RB or Peyton for a quality pair. Once you saw how good Big Bens year was looking to be you needed to do something with it. Big Ben as a 10th rounder is a good keeper, but not great, certainly not good enough to punt this season away. I know a few teams would consider a Peyton trade for a pair of RBs who put up numbers.

The WR core looked to be the strong point of the this team and it was just shitty luck that Burleson turned out to be a toad and Horn and Chambers have suffered from being on crappy passing teams. Even if they all had come up as home runs, this team would still be struggling near the middle of the pack.

The rest of the crew was as forgettable as predicted and you needed some value to offset the RB issues. Didn’t happen. That New England pick is looking like a really big goof. My biggest overall complaint is that I only get to play you once.

Grade: D-

I’ve got to say I’m feeling pretty good with how I did here when you consider how many really crappy choices I made. At the QB position things played out pretty much as expected, though I had hoped Aaron Brooks would squeak into the line up once in a while. I could have been really dangerous if I’d have been wise enough to take Delhomme or picked up Brunell. Hasn’t won me any games, but at least they’ve always kept me alive.

The RB situation is a great one. The Thomas Jones steal totally offset the Arrington gaffe so long as everyone stays healthy. Depth remains a concern, but Rhodes has been getting some points and I picked up Chris Perry to remedy the Quentin Griffin goof, he’s been very nice for a waiver wire move. If Rudi goes down I’m golden.

The WR position has been a strength, however due to my own stubbornness with Michael Clayton I missed out on a couple big days by Curtis (who’s a huge steal). So far doubling up on those Bengals hasn’t hurt me with Palmer playing like Peyton of last season.

The balance of the team has been overhauled via the waiver wire, with much success. I’m praying Detroit’s D keeps playing over it’s head, if they do life could be good. If these guys stay healthy I’ll be right there at the end of the year, currently riding a 4 game streak and putting up some pretty big numbers. Thank you Mr. Alexander and Mr. Jones.

Grade: B+ (I’m adding the plus as a bonus for recovering from the Arrington/Griffin snafu)

More than a little ironic that my comments for Manning and Culpepper were basically identical to start the year, and here we sit with the two teams who drafted them sitting on the bottom of the heap. Two guys that were simply destroying fantasy scorebaords last season, and now there are totally toast. For how disappointing Manning has been, you can multiply that by a 100 for Culpepper. Dave is probably relived that he’s done for the year (and maybe career!) putting him out of his weekly suffering.

Davis has been a terrific pick, and giving up on Bell hurt. Dave’s been busy, and successfully, working the trading block. Doing a terrific job adding a Culpepper replacement in Collins and adding Larry Johnson (who could explode if Priest’s head is bonked), basically all it cost was Plaxico.

The wideouts are pretty mundane, but Gates is a monster who has really made up for any and all WR shortcomings. He’s the 6th overall pass catcher in the league, WOW. Frankly I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team come together and knock off a couple big dogs down the stretch run.

Grade: C+ (Serious props for the smart trades)

This was a very good draft then, and it’s been played well up until now. The QB are just right, Edge turned out to be much better than I expected. The tremendous depth at WR in the draft was perfect since that’s where he absorbed all his injuries. Hell, even that Tampa D turned into a gem. Once Holt and Engram come back to full speed this looks like the team to beat in the long run. Avoided any panic trades and the only real Achillies is depth at QB and RB. It’s certainly no minor factor, but thats a common thread between the top teams. I’d say more, but this team just doesn’t deserve much critisism.

17

Maybe. The big danger is that they’ll be in position to take Reggie Bush. I think they are skittish about his knees holding up for 300 carries.

Besides that, I think I’ll disgree with you on one thing – taking McNabb was NOT a good pick; I was choosing 15th, which meant I was in the end of the third round. By the time I got a chance to take a second RB, there were no certain starters left. I would have been much better advised to take a 2nd RB, and then pick up an adequate QB later.

I screwed the pooch royally, knew it immediately, and began thinking keeper at every pick.

18

Quick note, Brees was not a keeper. I’d be surprised if I drafted him at 6 next year, but anything is possible.

I’d agree and say my team is squarely in B/B+ territory. With some luck, I can make the playoffs.

19

Agreed that there is no way you drafted Brees. He was a complete bust who was expected to start only enough games to drive home the point to Rivers that holding out was uncool.

Brees did not raise himself above sucking until after last year’s fantasy draft. I’d be surprised if he was drafted by anybody in any round.

20

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