Good Forte. Jackson. Johnson. Blue in round 13. Vereen as a keeper. Bell as a keeper. Newton, but he’s already dinged up and that scares me this year. Smith is a solid backup option for that risk.
Bad Johnson (yes, I had him in “good” too. I don’t have any idea how he will go this year. Do you?) Gordon - too soon for that flyer. Waste a round 9 pick for the full season? Madness.
Huh? Johnson. Why take that chance when White and Hilton were on teh board? Hunter - is he really worth all the early hype? Josey - beccause he is an RB playing for Chip Kelly? Oh, wait - now he’s on the Jaguars practice squad.
Theme SongBloody Well Right, Supertramp. All the pieces sound good, but the soul just seems to be missing - doesn’t it.
That was my unquestionably bad pick; I was eyeing a couple of RBs there, and then they got taken, and the next thing you know my wife was distracting me, and the clock was ticking. Griffin was the highest guy on my board at that point.
I don’t hate the pick, as I think RG3 will bounce back this year. But yeah, I need another RB.
Good McCoy. Matthews is solid value and fantastic as for RB3. Brady. MJD as RB3 (you BASTARD). Jeffrey as a keeper in 6. Morris as a keeper in 9. Harvin as keeper in 10. Damn - you’re keepers were insane. And 2 picks in Round 8? I might hate you a little bit deep down in my soul.
Bad Gronk. Too risky in round 2. Your keepers gave you the luxury of risk, but I still don’t like the pick. Overloaded on the ground leaving shaky depth at WR and TE (and with Gronk you actually need TE depth.) Going 4 deep at RB before taking a WR left you with the likes of Bowe and Jennings.
Sure - this could be the year that Harvin makes dreams come true, I mean, he’s been saving up for the last 2.
Huh? You had such value in keepers you could afford to take risks. But Harvin is already risk. Don’t understand why you would take the biggest risk of the draft in round 2 at the expense of reliable WR depth, and then double down with a 4th RB before solidifying the position.
Theme SongPiece of My Heart, Janis Joplin. Love it through the pain, this team is scary - but liing on the edge might drag them into an early grave.
Good Having pick 2. Jordan Cameron as a keeper. Stacy as keep value (though I don;t love him this year). DeAndre Hopkins in a right spot. Dunbar in a value Round 13.
Bad Stafford in Round 2. But I hope I am wrong because that would be good for Megatron. Ridley in Round 5. Wright as a keeper in Round 10. Floyd as your WR1. Stafford made you do that. Wayne as your WR2 - “ageless” isn’t true, especially when it comes to torn ACL’s.
Huh? Latavius Murray. I had to olok him up and I still don;t know why you took him. And I;m not sure how drafting 2nd with 2 solid keeper values (and Kendall Wright) you ended up thin at both WR and RB, but you did. It’s a mystery.
Theme SongVoodoo Child, Jamaal Hendrix. Sure, the band gets a little thin behind the lead guitar, but it’s fucking Hendrix. If he’s on, the show is gonna rock.
Good AP and Giovani. Edging out Haruspex for the best RB combo in the league. (though you payed more).
Bad Your WR. Fitz, Colston, Randle, Sanu - there isn’t a high ceiling among them unless Fitz has found the fountain of youth. But with your RB solid and reliable is probably good enough for you. So only a small sin. Dennis Pita - I know you found yourself at teh tail end of the second E run - that’s a good time to shift positions. But I’m less enthusiastic about Pita than many - he’s JAG so far as I can see.
Huh? Foles before Cam, Kaep, or Cutler? Lots of folks agree with you this year, but I’m not one of them. Pita - I know you found yourself at the tail end of the second TE run - that’s a good time to shift positions. But I’m less enthusiastic about Pita than many - he’s JAG so far as I can see.
Theme SongRunning to Stand Still, U2. Bono and Edge make a powerful argument, but can the two stud RB strategy still bring down the house? Or has it been relegated to the Classic Rock station. [insert cliche here]
First, thanks for doing this.
Secondly, I think this is about a good a pick as a last pick can get. Murray is a possible beast, situated behind two old, injury-prone RBs in Oakland.
Guess I’d better finish these. I’ll try not to let Week 1 hindsight creep in.
Yay!: Studly #1 and #2 wideouts and Wallace and Wheaton have legit WR2 potential themselves. Romo is a perenially undervalued fantasy quarterback (and real-life QB, for that matter) and waiting on him let you build up real depth at the other skill spots. Obviously Julius Thomas in the dying rounds is almost unfair. Probably smart to handcuff Rashad Jennings at a relatively low cost, because it also gives you a keeper option. Rice is probably being downgraded too heavily this season and he’s a nice choice in the fifth.
Boo!: I would have used one of those top picks on a running back, because your backfield is full of question marks. Johnny Manziel? Seriously? In a meaningful round? He is going to bust hard and that’s assuming he even sees much of the field this year. Wasted pick. Also you forgot to draft a kicker. I assume this was deliberate, but what’s the point?
Bottom line: Lots of potential here, but you’re going to need something slightly unexpected to happen for any of your RBs to even be in the RB2 class (Jennings keeping a bell cow role, Miller keeping his job, Rice avoiding an RBBC.) C+.
Yay!: Brees is a matchup-proof starter who allows you to go “light” on a backup. Which means you get to spend a late pick on a guy like Bortles. Great keeper potential. I like the RBx3 approach in rounds three to five, but you actually kept Tate a good seven picks ahead of his ADP. I don’t really like the Jackson pick; he and Spiller aren’t so good that you can start them both, and he’s too expensive as a handcuff. I don’t like Ebron as a starter at all; rookie tight ends very rarely produce. As a keeper/backup to Gates, sure. Bryant is a great fantasy kicker, for what that’s worth.
Boo!: Other than Brees and Bryant and maybe Spiller, nobody on this roster scares me as a future opponent (and even Bryant has never posted a truly elite season). It’s basically just a bunch of JAGs. It’s almost like you drafted for next year.
Bottom line: This team is… fluffy. If you win a game, it will be because Brees had a five-TD day or everyone else had their best game of the season. C-.
Yay!: I’m a little down on Lynch this year, but not as much as everyone else. He’s a steal at this point in the round. Russell Wilson is a solid starter and decent value in the sixth. You went RB-heavy as usual, which as you know is a strategy near and dear to my heart. Bennett is a tremendous value in the 10th round. Brown could very well be the Chargers’ starter by this time next year. Chris Ivory is arguably the steal of the draft.
Boo!: Unlike the guy who was drafting for next year, you seem to have drafted for three years ago. Steven Jackson is one million years old and will be retired ere long. Unfortunately, the person you’re stealing from with the Ivory pick is yourself, because you also have CJ2OLD. [Future RNATB: they both looked pretty good yesterday, though]. Don’t know why you bothered drafting Flacco. If you need a backup, there will be equal or better talent on waivers. Amendola is a waste; he’s usually broken and he was unproductive last year even when healthy. NE has too many receivers to trust any beyond Gronk and Edelman. If Miles Austin couldn’t do anything with Romo’s passes, he’s not going to do anything with CLE QB’s. As good a value as Bennett is, you don’t need him with Greg Olsen already on board, and he’s not quite valuable enough to make worthwhile trade bait. Garcon was good last year but dependent on volume, which won’t be available with D-Jax and a (possibly) healthy Jordan Reed on board. You could have had Roddy White with the pick (assuming you hadn’t made Garcon a keeper.)
Bottom line: Like the previous team, there’s nothing scary here except Lynch and maybe a few cases of osteoporosis. Your draft was obviously hurt by the lack of keeper quality, and… well, you don’t look to be in much better shape for next season. C-.
Yay!: Good quarterback, great wideouts, one good RB. After that, it gets a little hazy. Decker is a superb value where you got him.
Boo!: Your RB situation is pretty dire even if Richardson improves. If he doesn’t, it’s terrible. The Falcons can support two productive wideouts but I would be really worried about having the 1 and 1A guys from the same team. One Matt Ryan elbow strain and you are effed. You also have two Packers wideouts, so now things are just weird. Terrance Williams is a huge luxury pick considering you’d already taken three WRs in the first five rounds. Given that, Decker is just… well, I don’t know what, but he’s never going to see the field for you. The Indy defense is without Robert Mathis for four weeks, plays Denver in Week 1 and isn’t good anyway. Why? Jacquizz Rodgers is NAG: Not Even A Guy. He’s strictly a third down back and one who’s already shown us what he is: not startable.
Bottom line: I usually like your drafts, but you totally went off the WR deep end here. Maybe you are planning some trades, but they’d better be awesome because your draft sucks. F.
Yay!: Now this is more like it. Balance in terms of positional groups, balance in terms of risk and reward. You also have a questionable RB2 situation but at least your RB2BC options have potential. I’m down on D-Jax this year but I like him better than Garcon and as a #2 wideout he’s a nice thing to have. Tate could be huge. Davis is great and I was really hoping he’d drop to me in Round 5 (since my 4th rounder was a keeper.) Boldin is a great value where you took him though he offers zero keeper appeal at age 70. I even like the Geno Smith pick, given the round.
Boo!: Cutler, Cutler, Cutler. In the time it took me to type that he threw two interceptions. Yeah, yeah, new Monsters of the Midway, blah blah. He’s still Jay Cutler, the human question mark. I would rather have any of three or four quarterbacks still on the board. If he succeeds, you might win the league. If he fails, you won’t make the playoffs. Given his risk level, you probably should have done more than Geno Smith as a backup.
Bottom line: I can’t downgrade too much just because I hate the guy you have at one position (especially since there really aren’t that many guys you missed out on in the next round.) B.
Yay!: You avoided drafting any Ravens until Round 4. That must have been physically painful for you. You have Aaron Rodgers, and you got him in the second round. That must have been sweet. You have Jeremy Hill (cheap). Bradshaw is an interesting flier prospect who has double value since Trent Richardson could get hurt or suck very badly. I don’t see Mike Evans doing much this year but if he does he’ll be beastly.
Boo!: Outside Rodgers, it’s mostly question marks. Ellington is a mirage, a projection that will never actually exist as a #1 RB. Gore is 90 years old. You have three Ravens wideouts; have you never seen your own team play? You don’t really need Heath Miller with Witten on board, though he’s a nice value at his draft spot. You don’t really need to roster a second QB if you have Rodgers, at least not one like Cassel who will be available on waivers anyway. What will you do at wideout/flex while Welker is out?
Bottom line: I usually dislike your drafts, and I am usually wrong. But this year I’m not. D+.
Yay!: Peyton Manning with the final pick of the first round. That’s just unfair. Followed up with the best pick of the second round. Emmanuel Sanders is an annoyingly good fifth rounder. Sankey in the fourth is a very fair value [or at least seemed to be before yesterday - Future RNATB]. White, Cooper and Eifert are all good values. Garrett Graham is a brilliant value pick; he’s got real potential with Owen Daniels out of the picture.
Boo!: TY Hilton went at a full round too early - his average landing spot is the beginning of the fifth. You could have had Colston or Vernon Davis instead, who are both better bets to score 10+ touchdowns and will likely be about as productive in yardage terms. You have zero RB depth, and you really should have handcuffed Foster in the late rounds when this became obvious. You didn’t really need to draft Fitzpatrick; he’s just there for the bye, and again there will be equal options on waivers.
Bottom line: I love the first two picks and most of the middle ones, but there are some bad ones sprinkled in (particularly towards the end). When you draft Manning, the rest of your team just has to produce at a marginal level. What you want is no-risk guys, and forget ceiling. Instead you have a bunch of risky high-ceiling guys, except Williams. C-.
Not bad for an autodrafted team. Sorry that my attention is taken with other matters, I’m finalizing a divorce and starting with a new girlfriend. Not much of an excuse but it’s better than being dead.
By the way, don’t forget to check your lineups tonight, everyone. I always forget about the Thursday night games for the first few weeks of the season, and every year it costs me a game somewhere.
Saturday night, things looked good for my team - Doug Martin was listed as questionable but indications were positive.
Sunday morning, Martin is ruled out. There goes my #1 RB. Was able to swap someone in, but not a good start.
Then, in the first quarter of the early games:
[ul]
[li]Knowshon Moreno gets hurt on his first carry, out for the game. #3 RB gone. OK, it’s Knowshon Moreno, it’s probably more newsworthy when he doesn’t get hurt, but…[/li][li]Desean Jackson gets hurt, leaves the games with one catch for 19 yards. #2 WR gone.[/li][li]AJ Green gets hurt and leaves without a catch. #1 WR gone.[/li][/ul]
At that point I pretty much gave up on my team for the weekend. Turns out while I lost big time to Munch, I actually posted a decent score, thanks to Jay Cutler and the Buffalo DEF.
This morning, I found out in addition that Mark Ingram, who had a good game, is probably out a month (#2 RB gone), and that Vernon Davis left his game in the 4th quarter and may be out for a few games as well.
Can I sacrifice Geno Smith to whoever I offended? And maybe get one or two of these players back for next week?