Good point. And like I should talk about bad trades.
Wish I started Allen Hurns!
Hrrrm. Brandin Cooks had an awfully good first game (7/77 and a TD, plus 18 rushing yards).
There’s do-overs for trades, right?
Since this is already late, I’ll add to these over the next few days as time permits. Standard disclaimers apply. A lot depends on my subjective impressions of the players drafted, so don’t take it too hard if I didn’t like your draft – I don’t necessarily know what I’m talking about.
furt (Fightin’ Quakers)
- (1) Bishop Sankey (Ten - RB)
- (13) Travis Kelce (KC - TE)
- (25) Jerick McKinnon (Min - RB)
- (37) Paul Richardson (Sea - WR)
- (49) Lorenzo Taliaferro (Bal - RB)
- (61) Richard Rodgers (GB - TE)
- (73) Jimmy Garoppolo (NE - QB)
The Good. Kelce was a sneaky-good pick. Everyone seems to love him coming into this year, and if I’d noticed that he was in the draft pool I would’ve considered taking him with the 12th pick. Richard Rogers was a stupid-good value in the 6th, even if it meant doubling up on the TE position; he’s already the starter, and if he becomes big part of the offense in GB, well, there are a lot of passing yards and TDs to go around. Richardson’s a good value in the 4th, one of the last of this year’s bumper crop of good rookie WRs.
The Bad. I just don’t think Sankey has any kind of upside. Though I acknowledge that opportunity and positional scarcity make him a reasonable pick, at the top of the draft I’d really want someone who doesn’t seem like an ordinary talent. McKinnon was the first RB to come off the board after a steep dropoff in value, and he’s on the one team that we know isn’t going to go to a RBBC approach, so it seems like he’s gonna need to wait a couple years or get pretty lucky to have a shot at contributing.
The Overall. C+. A proficient job at infusing young talent, although it’s not the draft I would have had. For a year in which you mostly neglected to exploit the copious WR talent, it feels like there should be more upside at RB.
Ellis Dee (New York Fanboys)
- (2) Carlos Hyde (SF - RB)
- (10) Jordan Matthews (Phi - WR)
- (38) Isaiah Crowell (Cle - RB)
- (50) Jordan Todman (Jax - RB)
- (62) Jonathan Dwyer (Ari - RB)
- (74) Jarvis Landry (Mia - WR)
- (85) Cody Parkey (Phi - K)
Traded the 2.2 pick for QB Ben Roethlisberger.
The Good. Hyde is the heir apparent to Frank Gore, which means real upside. No one knows exactly how that Chip Kelly offense is going develop long-term, but until that becomes clear all things are possible with Philly pass-catchers, and Matthews is a good one regardless; I love that pick. Jarvis Landry was a great value with the 50th (non-keeper) pick.
**The Bad. **I don’t love the Roethlisberger trade; that would be fine for some teams, but IMO you should be laser-focused on getting young guys with potential (Bortles wound up being taken with your pick). Todman has been in the league 3 years without doing anything, better to take an unknown quantity, even one that’s further back on the depth chart. I’m generally super-skeptical about drafting rookies in this league who *weren’t *drafted in the NFL (Crowell), but that might just be my thing.
**The Overall. B. **Missed an opportunity by trading away the 2.2 pick, but you added a lot of value with those two 1st Rounders.
dalej42 (Warner’s Brothers)
- (3) Teddy Bridgewater (Min - QB)
- (15) Tre Mason (StL - RB)
- (21) John Brown (Ari - WR)
- (27) Khiry Robinson (NO - RB)
- (39) Indianapolis (Ind - DEF)
- (51) Shaun Hill (StL - QB)
- (63) Dri Archer (Pit - WR,RB)
Traded the 1.5 pick for RB Bernard Pierce.
The Good. Nice job on the RBs. Khiry Robinson was another guy I didn’t realize was in the draft pool, and someone has to emerge eventually in New Orleans. Between these 4 guys (including Pierce), and Montee Ball and Moreno, you’re set up to have a really good RB corps in the future. Overall a good mix of upside and opportunity with this group.
The Bad. Bridgewater and Brown were both taken too early. Admittedly they seem to love Brown in Arizona, but he’s got at least two WRs locked into the depth chart in front of him for the foreseeable future, and in general homer picks seldom work out. Forced to use draft picks on backups at QB and DEF.
**The Overall. C+. **If Bridgewater turns into a Top 5 QB then this could be a great draft, but he profiles more as a guy who’s better in real life than fantasy, and there was a real opportunity cost to taking him with Sammy Watkins and some good RBs still on the board.
RetroVertigo
- (4) Terrance West (Cle - RB)
- (5) Eric Ebron (Det - TE)
- (16) Cody Latimer (Den - WR)
- (28) Zach Mettenberger (Ten - QB)
- (40) Alfred Blue (Hou - RB)
Traded RB Bernard Pierce for the 1.5 pick.
The Good. Ebron is nice, and fills a need. Latimer is groovy. Alfred Blue is a better-than-average lottery-ticket-RB for the 4th Round.
**The Bad. **Terrance West seems like not a lot of bang for your buck at the 4th overall pick; I just don’t see much difference between him and the next 4 RBs taken. As a TE Ebron is probably low upside, and came with a cost (Pierce). Latimer would be an amazing pick if Peyton Manning was 28 years old, but Denver’s passing offense is probably gonna look a lot worse a year from now (though I still like the pick). You had TWO chances at Sammy Watkins/Mike Evans and passed twice. Mettenberger may never get a shot in Tennessee if Locker plays well this year, and there’s no obvious path to a non-backup job if that happens. Would have been better to take Carr, who’s impressed in camp and is already starting.
The Overall. C. You may have done well dumping Bernard Pierce if his game today is any indication (6 touches vs. 16 for Justin Forsett), but the haul feels a little thin for having 4 of the first 28 picks.
I seem to have bumbled my way to brilliance, though Cooks was basically a decoy in the second half.
Crowell went for 32 yards and 2 TDs today. Not bad for an undrafted rookie. I’m a little pissed I didn’t take him in the third now.
VarlosZ
-
- (12) Brandin Cooks (NO - WR)
- (20) Davante Adams (GB - WR)
- (22) Johnny Manziel (Cle - QB)
Traded WR Brandin Cooks (and 2015 1st Rounder) to RNATB for WR Sammy Watkins (and 2015 3rd Rounder)
Traded the 3.12 pick (RB Charles Sims) for K Stephen Gostkowski
Traded WR Kenny Britt for the 2.10 pick (QB Johnny Manziel)
Traded WR Michael Floyd to dalej42 for QB Cam Newton
There’s actually a lot to go over here for a guy with three draft picks…
The Good. Solved my QB problem in a big way by trading a player I probably would seldom start (Floyd) for one of the top 3 or 4 dynasty QBs, then drafting Manziel, who’s, you know, whatever, but he definitely has upside and was a decent value there. Adams is a 2nd Round pick on an elite passing offense; depending on the ranking site he was considered somewhere from the 6th-10th best rookie this year, and I got him with the 20th pick, so I’m happy. I actually love what I did with Gostkowski: I was gonna have to spend that last pick on a Kicker or drop one of my players to make room after the draft anyway, but then it occurred to me I could probably just trade the pick for the *best *Kicker. Free equity! Cooks was an excellent value when he somehow fell to me at the 12th pick…
**The Bad **… but I kinda squandered that value by making the Watkins trade. Now, that trade could very easily work out well for me, but I agree that, for now, strictly speaking, going from Cooks to Watkins wasn’t worth a 1st Rounder. Failed to draft a RB; while I have a lot of useable/upside RBs on my roster, the position is far from rock-solid. The Britt trade is fine, but it’s probably a better deal for Beef than for me; only makes sense for my roster because he was like my WR8.
The Overall. B+?. I don’t know how to grade myself. I like all the picks I made (duh), I’m very happy with the Cam Newton trade, and the Gostkowski thing really was nifty. I only really get dinged because the Watkins trade wasn’t great value. It wasn’t *awful *value, though, and, from another perspective, if you’d told me before the draft that I’d move up from my 12th pick to get Watkins for the price of moving back from the 1st to the 3rd next year, I’d say that was a steal. So, overall, I’m gonna call this a very successful draft. (Besides, I had a lot of fun negotiating all those trades, along with several that didn’t happen, and isn’t that the only criteria that matters?)
Petey (Isotopes)
- (7) Mike Evans (TB - WR)
- (19) Jeremy Hill (Cin - RB)
- (31) Derek Carr (Oak - QB)
**The Good. **Every pick was a good value. Evans never should have been there at 7. Hill was the last RB in his tier before a huge dropoff. Carr is already starting, and for dynasty purposes I think he’s very nearly as valuable – nearly as good a bet – as Manziel, Bortles, or Bridgewater (who went 9, 17, and 28 picks ahead of him, respectively).
The Bad. Well, it wasn’t very imaginative, just taking the best player on the board each time. I mean, come on, let’s think outside the box, people.
The Overall. A. He just let the draft come to him. Nothing to criticize.
Omniscient (Ides of Martz)
- (8) Andre Williams (NYG - RB)
- (14) Blake Bortles (Jax - QB)
- (24) Jace Amaro (NYJ - TE)
- (32) James White (NE - RB)
Traded QB Ben Roethlisberger for the 2.2 pick (Bortles).
**The Good. **I like the Roethlisberger trade; Omni didn’t really need him with Andrew Luck and Jake Locker on the roster, and turned him into a valuable asset. Andre Williams will get a shot to be The Guy in New York, probably sooner rather than later. Amaro was a decent value at the end of the 2nd according to the ranking sites. The pickings at RB were REALLY thin in the 3rd Round, and White is a very nice upside RB find for that spot.
**The Bad. ** I like the trade, but I don’t love what you did with it: there were still some very good RB and (especially) WR rookies on the board, and Bortles IMO isn’t a good enough prospect to justify taking a QB over them (plus you don’t need him, for the same reason you didn’t need Roethlisberger). Andre Williams has stone hands, and this ins’t 1995: aside from the Michael Turner, how many really good fantasy RBs have there been in the last 15 years who were an absolute zero in the passing game? Amaro flunks my eyeball test, though that’s purely subjective. What makes White valuable is that anything can happen with the Patriots’ RB corps, but that cuts both ways.
The Overall. B. All of the picks were decent-to-good, but they all have question marks. Extra points for getting the 14th overall pick for Roethlisberger. A penalty for failing to come out of a loaded draft with even one WR, a position at which you’re thin.
That’s fair.
My thought process was that Eli looks like he’ll be lucky to crack 3000 yards this season, and my only backup is Geno Smith, so I was highly attracted to someone who could start week 1, and Ben can do that for me.
I’m still looking to trade for a starting QB. Thinking about trading for another TE now, too.
Self-review:
The (absurdly) early returns on the Watkins/Cooks trade are promising: Watkins’ career begins with one catch for three yards, while Cooks had 7 for 77 with a touchdown, plush 18 yards on an end around. I also have an extra first rounder for next year, of course. I can’t claim to have been any sort of great genius here; I didn’t much care for Watkins but needed a wideout, and I didn’t much care for Cooks either. Since I was getting a first rounder back it was a no-brainer.
I’m very happy about landing Freeman at the tail end of the first. He’s not starting now and probably won’t until next year, but I have a million RBs and don’t need him to. He’s not big, he’s not fast, but he does everything well and he’s at least big enough for a Westbrook-esque run/pass workload. He’ll probably be my flex starter for years. The only RBs I wanted more were Hyde, Sankey and Andre Williams, who were gone. Jeremy Hill could be great but he’s locked into a permanent timeshare with Gio Bernard already in Cincy. Nobody else left really moved the needle; they’re all injury fliers.
I needed a TE, and ASJ was unquestionably the best prospect on the board after Ebron. He made a degree of difficulty catch in the first quarter of the Panthers game with a great run afterwards. He then promptly injured his knee when Doug Martin ran into it and wasn’t heard from again in the game. Brandon Myers is a better blocker and played more in the second half because of the Carolina pass rush, so I’m not worried. I do have to think about trading for/adding another TE, though, because ASJ probably isn’t an every week starter right now and Jordan Reed is injured. Again.
Thrilled to get Brian Hartline. I was very surprised to see him on the board, in fact. He goes for a thousand yards every year, and nobody notices because he doesn’t score touchdowns. He’s got a new offense and Tannehill is steadily improving, so I’m expecting that to change. Even if it doesn’t he’s worth rostering for his ~75 catches per season.
I’m not really sure how to grade this draft. I landed the consensus #1 prospect - and promptly traded him away. Considering I addressed every hole except QB (damn you, Omni, for taking Bortles!) generally with the best player available, AND landed an extra first rounder for next year, I think I have to give myself an A.
Which player on my team is the next disgusting animal to be kicked out of football?
Actually, he had 3 catches for 31 yards.
I’m not TOO worried about the trade. It’s lots just one week, and lots of crazy shit can happen in one week. Plus, I think the assumption was always that Cooks was a better bet to produce good numbers in Year 1. That’s largely where his value comes from: the immediate impact and relative lack of volatility. It’s almost impossible for him to totally bust.
By the way, I’m now switching to all cat pictures for my Yahoo avatars. As soon as I went to a cat picture in this league around the middle of last year, I started my run that led to a championship, plus this was the only league I had a cat picture going for Week 1 and I started off with the week’s highest score. I don’t want to jinx it, but I ***may ***have just cracked the code.
Of all the people who I’d expect to be superstitious…
So he did. That’s why I never look at ESPN.com’s player pages, because their stats view is confusing. NFL.com was down though.
Well, of course the real reason is that I like pictures of cats. Awwww, he’s got a little helmet. And look, he’s catching the football!
This plays perfectly into my theory that you are some kind of gestalt entity that sprang into being spontaenously from the Internet.
I agree. They break up the information you want to find into different tabs in a non-intuitive way, and I guess they bury where a guy was taken in the NFL Draft, which should be front and center on any player page, right under his height & weight.
Heh. You ever read Speaker for the Dead? I guess that *could *be me.
Weird. It automatically created links for me. I’ve never seen the board software do that before without me typing the “www.” part.
My first game sucked a fairly sizable dick. The projections still put me at 13-1, so that’d be nice to rip off a 13 game winning streak. And that’s without Gordon.
You know, I never noticed it until now, but other than the first year, where I finished last, I’ve never finished lower than third in this league. Four years in a row in the top 3.
Is this anyone else’s favorite leagues? I’m in 4 currently, and was up to 6 last year. The long term nature of this league really invests you in your entire roster, and I think the general level of investment has spurred on good amounts of communication too.
Oh, absolutely. Far and away. It’s actually solved for me the age old FF problem of competing interests when watching games. It kinda sucks the fun out of it when you have a player in one league but your opponent has him in another league that week. But now, it’s just whatever is good for my Dynasty team trumps other fantasy considerations.