They clear waivers at midnight on August 31. I confidently predict that in three years, Jordan Shipley will be the best-value pick of this draft.
Players go on waivers some time before their games, after they clear waivers they’re free agents for anyone to take, right now everyone is on waivers for a couple days, and yes.
What does that mean? I don’t have the faintest idea how the auction effects this.
So once players come off waivers without anyone bidding on them, you can add them as free agents without using any of your budget?
Yep.
After the draft, all undrafted players are not free agents but go on waivers. People can put in waiver claims in 2 days, after which the players are either picked up as a waiver, or revert to free agents. This is a standard setting even without FAAB - all of my leagues have done this. FAAB is just a way to resolve waivers via silent auction rather than revolving list.
So wouldn’t it make more sense to call it a Waiver Acquisition Budget?
Oh, hush.
That would make sense, but that’s not what yahoo calls them.
I’ll be curious to hear what **RetroVertigo **and **dale **would’ve done with their first picks if they’d been there, and what a reconstructed 1st Round would look like.
Am I the only one who’s already looking for trades?
See previous page.
I think my team is loaded at RB/WR this season but I desperately hope I can cobble together enough QB production from my Cutler/Favre dynamic duo. Gonna be a wild ride.
Here’s my initial breakdown of my (mostly inherited) roster. This will be a little different than breaking down usual drafts since things like relative value and draft position are far less relevant and age is a much bigger issue. Instead of a round-by-round discussion we’ll do position-by-position with an eye to the depth chart and future seasons. Here’s each position sorted very roughly in what I project to be their current rankings on my team.
Awful Offals - Omniscient
Quarterbacks
Ben Roethlisberger (Pit - QB)
Matt Cassel (KC - QB)
Charlie Whitehurst (Sea - QB)
Tarvaris Jackson (Min - QB)
First glance at this inherited roster of players revealed a frightening dearth of talent at the QB position. I had hoped to address this in the draft this year but was largely unable to. I targeted Sam Bradford but I honestly thought I could land him in the 3rd round, I almost pulled the trigger in round two, but decided it was worth the gamble to wait. With Big Ben suspended to start the season, hopefully for fewer than 6 games, I’m in deep trouble. I really dislike Cassel but I was essentially forced to keep the guy as my fallback option to start the season. In retrospect I should have taken Bradford in round 2 with an eye to the future.
Tarvaris is basically nothing, though I kept him on the off chance that he retains the starting role after the Favre era ends (potentially mid-season). Whitehurst was a guy I was thinking about grabbing as a developmental project once Hasselbeck folds up shop, I drafted him by mistake when I did though he was queued up, ideally I’d have taken him last. I don’t think I lost out on anyone I targeted as a result so it’s all good. Hopefully I won’t have to worry about playing a QB other than Big Ben between say week 4 and, oh, 2015.
Wide Receiver
Wes Welker (NE - WR)
Legedu Naanee (SD - WR)
Hines Ward (Pit - WR)
Terrell Owens (Cin - WR)
Jabar Gaffney (Den - WR)
Nate Washington (Ten - WR)
Early Doucet (Ari - WR)
Mark Clayton (Bal - WR)
Dexter McCluster (KC - WR,RB)
My WR position wasn’t much stronger than QB when I adopted this group of orphans but at least I have a couple warm bodies here. Welker, embarrassingly, is the cream of the crop and he’s coming off a serious knee injury. He’s looked good so far so hopefully he’s fully healed and will return to his 100+ catch ways. Naanee was my first pick in this draft. I really didn’t know who I should draft with the 3rd overall pick and with Naanee bizarrely buried in Yahoo’s rankings I had a long internal debate on if he’d be worth that first rounder. I thought I could gamble with Spiller or Bryant there and hope Naanee would go unnoticed and still be there in the 2nd, but I think Naanee is by far the safest pick in the draft I just had to have him. V-Jax is out at least 3 weeks and I think there’s a really big chance he never plays for the Chargers again meaning Naanee is the #1 WR on one of the best passing offenses in the league. That sounds much safer of an option than Dez Bryant, currently the 3rd option on a crowded team. The odds of him supplanting Austin any time soon are virtually nil.
Hines Ward and Terrell Owens are the geezers of the group, not an ideal situation in a dynasty league, and with their respective QB issues I’m not comfortable starting either one. I wouldn’t be shocked if both guys got dropped after this season. Still, they could post their usual solid but unspectacular numbers and provide adequate insurance for the rick/reward nature of the top 2 guys.
Gaffney looks like he’ll be a star in Denver and will probably benefit greatly from the absence of Marshall. I don’t love Denver’s offense on the whole but someone has to catch balls up there and so far Gaffney looks to be the guy. If he turns out to be a bonafide #1 on even a mediocre offense he’s a great value. Washington is going to rely greatly on Vince Young holding his shit together and that’s not something I’m confident in at all, but he seems to be the top option in Tennessee at the moment. In other words, ditto.
Doucet was everyone’s sleeper darling before Leinart started stinking up the place in preseason action. I’m not expecting much, hopefully he’ll get healthy and get more looks than Breaston. Clayton might be the 2010 version of Doucet getting crowded out by Boldin, but with his injury history maybe the guy gets on the field enough to have value. McCluster is the interesting one to watch and was the reason I passed on Bradford. He’s been used all over the place in KC and I’m hoping that Todd Haley gets even more creative come the regular season. Maybe he’s this year’s Percy Harvin, at the very least I’ve got one rookie with some upside.
Running Back
DeAngelo Williams (Car - RB)
Joseph Addai (Ind - RB)
Clinton Portis (Was - RB)
Kevin Faulk (NE - RB)
Kareem Huggins (TB - RB)
Mike Hart (Ind - RB)
I really hate this group. I’ve been burned by Williams, Portis and Addai in the past and Portis certainly isn’t half as valuable in a dynasty league. Williams needs to stay healthy but if he does I think he’s a safe play every day, obviously he’s the highest rated guy on this team. Addai has looked to be the favored guy in Indy and Donald Brown looks like he’s MIA so hopefully I can trust that I have the primary ball handler in the best offense in the league, but Addai already has a minor concussion so I certainly can’t trust the guy to last all season. Portis get Shanahan back which might mean his value gets a bump, but the guy is simply worn out and you never know when Shanny will decide Willie Parker is going to get the start. Yuck, I have a feeling that flex spot it going to be a WR for me most of this season.
The backups don’t give me much security. None of these guys are on good running teams nor are they assured much if any reps. Faulk seems to be timeless and will vulture a bunch of red zone TDs but you simply can’t feel safe playing a RB in the Pats system at all. Huggins is the 2nd stringer in Tampa mostly by default and with Cadillac’s injury history there’s a good chance he’ll play, but I’m not sure any Tampa RB should be starting in a fantasy lineup. Hart was purely a Addai handcuff and he’s actually the backup I feel best about simply because I think he fits the Indy scheme so well.
Tight End
Dallas Clark (Ind - TE)
Michael Hoomanawanui (StL - TE)
Donald Lee (GB - TE)
Dallas Clark is a stud. Unfortunately TE is a really deep position this season and I’m not sure having the top TE is worth being so thin at WR and RB. Nevertheless this is the situation I’m in. He’ll start as long as he’s healthy and I’m desperate to have him earn that top TE rating. Uh oh, it’s Uh Oh. Hoomanawanui is an Illini alum that I love and he’s going to be a red zone monster if the Rams get anything out of their offense. He exploded in their last preseason game and if I’m really struggling with those flex spots I wouldn’t be shocked if he gets some starts for me. Bradford certainly seemed to like dumping it to him. Lee is mostly trash. Finley is the guy in GB and Lee probably won’t be a 2-TE option for much longer with Havner and Quarless around. We’ll see if he makes the team, I might hang onto him just in case Finley gets hurt if the Packers do the same.
Kicker
Kris Brown (Hou - K)
He’s a kicker. I got one. Yay me. Presumably that Houston offense will be pretty good again.
Defense
Carolina (Car - DEF)
Tennessee (Ten - DEF)
I debated having two defenses but these two have different bye weeks and might be good enough to warrant some matchup plays. Tennessee was iffy last season but they could score some points against bad teams. Carolina is exciting people in preseason. It’s nothing to get excited about but I’m not complaining about my options here.
Varlos trades Pierre Garçon to We Do HGH (Stringer) for WR Mike Williams (Tampa Bay).
Basically, Williams is the guy I thought I’d wind up drafting with the 7th pick, and I’d already talked myself into him. Now I’m immediately wondering if I just did something rash and stupid.
As Reggie Wayne’s owner I could not accept that trade fast enough. I bet they put up pretty similar numbers this year though.
Sorry I missed the draft. I laid down for a quick nap and woke up at midnight! I’m weakest at running back, so I would have taken Gerhart or Hardesty.
Omni, Kareem Huggins isn’t the 2nd stringer in Tampa. Right now he’s 5th on the depth chart, and only because Earnest Graham has been moved to fullback. Huggins will probably wind up on the practice squad.
Mike Williams has already locked up a starting job in one of the bigger training camp shocks, so while I think you’re crazy for dumping Garcon’s guaranteed production for an extra 2-3 years of potential, Varlos, Williams has a chance to put up good numbers.
Is Josh Freeman still going to be their QB? Cause that’s why he held no interest to me at all. Garcon with Manning is miles ahead of Williams with Freeman. I like that Josh Johnson though.
Yes, still Freeman. And while I would have preferred that they let Johnson have the starting job and use the Freeman pick on another position, I think Freeman might surprise you this year.
I hate Yahoo.
I had Hardesty, Dez Bryant, and Bradford as my 4-6 preranked players. I ended up with Bradford so I at least got some QB depth (which I needed). What getting screwed with my first pick did was prevent me from getting a TE (Greshim) in the 2nd, where I’m most lacking.