Draft!!!

[noptov52]

Camped

[noptov52]

I actually quite enjoy my team. I got a strong RB trio right off the bat, a stud TE, a deep (if not particularly stellar) WR corps, decent kicker/defense, and a make or break QB.

If there is one weakspot on my team it has to be QB where my fate rests in the mercurial hands of Vick with a potential hit (or bust) backup with Warner.

[Drax]

Holy cow! I need to be absent during the draft more often. Sheesh!

LT, Antonio Gates, Carson Palmer, and Baltimore D. Four "players" i really wanted, plus C-Mart and Housh are both players I wanted slightly less but still quite a bit. Jerry Porter, Heath Miller, C-Buck, Travis Henry, Charlie Rogers, Lelie, and Vinatieri are all players I am more than happy to be "stuck" with!

Man, I feel like I must have rigged the system! :biggrin:

[Zyzzyx]

WHERE!?!?



Oh... this isn't in the Tavern. Not about beer then. Durnit.

[Thuriniel]

Ugh. I ended up spending the whole day coping with a family crisis, and I return to find the worst draft I have ever had in 14 years of playing/managing FFLs. I had done some pre-draft rankings for the first 120 players, but had no intention of using the autodraft at all, and never figured that the POS system would draft me TWO kickers (who the fu** is Ola Kimrin?), and the Car DEF. I hadn't figured on drafting that highly, and didn't expect that the 12 RBs I had ranked above my top WR would go before I picked that late in the second round. I am seriously, SERIOUSLY hurting at RB. The Craptastic auto-rankings went and drafted me 3 WRs AND A TE(!?!), before selecting my FIRST RB at #69! After spending the entire day at the hospital, that draft is nearly enough to make me put a bullet in my head.

Anyone interested in trading a starting RB, please send me a PM.

[Drax]

Barrack, looking over your team, I must say you did one heck of a job drafting for your first time! Great job!

You have a great team (on paper; ie, preseason-wise). You have a couple question-mark players, but most of our teams do, and you have very capable backups. I'm very impressed.

[Drax]

Oh, one more thing...

Gratz, are you feeling okay? Did you have a headache during the draft? Just wasn't feeling well? Or did you miss it entirely?

I don't see a single Packer on your team... :lowlol: In fact, your team has looks quite imposing this year. In fact, if nothing else, you should have great trade bait, with a backup QB that trumps most others primary QB. :D

G'luck this year to all teams! Ought to be a fun season!

[Drax]

Ugh. I ended up spending the whole day coping with a family crisis... After spending the entire day at the hospital

Geez, Thur, hope everything's okay or, at least, better! You and your family will be in our prayers tonight and in the near-future!

[Thuriniel]

Thanks Drax, it was a long day, but was good news at the end. Family always comes first. Still, coming home to those draft results really bothered me. Fantasy Football is usually won in the middle-late rounds, and that is where the autodraft really sux0rs. :mad:

[Barrack]

Barrack, looking over your team, I must say you did one heck of a job drafting for your first time! Great job!

You have a great team (on paper; ie, preseason-wise). You have a couple question-mark players, but most of our teams do, and you have very capable backups. I'm very impressed.

Err.... I'm glad, but due to my forgetting, I was totally absent, I just now remembered. heh.

Well, I guess my dumb luck will hopefully shine through, lets see what I got.

[GravenStone]

Oh, one more thing...

Gratz, are you feeling okay? Did you have a headache during the draft? Just wasn't feeling well? Or did you miss it entirely?

I don't see a single Packer on your team... :lowlol: In fact, your team has looks quite imposing this year. In fact, if nothing else, you should have great trade bait, with a backup QB that trumps most others primary QB. :D

G'luck this year to all teams! Ought to be a fun season!

As I warned those drafting, I was running on 4 hours of widely scattered sleep, so I can lean on that for some of my more... esoteric choices.

As for the Packers, it's a contentious time here in Tundraland, and I think the offense is going to be hurting for the first several games - 40% of the O-line is new (both guards); the number one TE is still holding out; the number one WR threatened hold out, then went and got his poor little self injured. The defense is going to be pitiful, so the offense is going to be stressed even more to try and keep things competitive. All in all, it doesn't seem a ripe year for Packers picks just now - maybe later on after things stabilize (such as they will).

BTW, did you realize you were seeded first? I was ranting at the autopicks of all three of you guys (Serani's were much more Steeler's centric and thus less of a threat to my intentions) - starting with the very first pick of you swiping LT out from under me. We all thought the picker was going to nab Peyton Manning for you, since he was ranked #1 overall.

[Erudite]

I'm generally pleased with my draft. I would have liked to pick a spot or two higher than 7th, but not too bad. Much better than last year's 16th spot. :lowsad:

QB - I took Kerry Collins (OAK) in the 4th round. He's got some targets this year, with Porter back and Moss (obviously), so I'll expect he'll be given many opportunities to wing it out there. He's always had a big arm. Delhomme (CAR) was still there in the 9th round and is a pretty capable backup.

RB - I thought for a moment that Edge or Holmes might slip to me, but I ended up with Corey Dillon (NE) in the 1st round. I nabbed Tiki Barber (NYG) in the 2nd round. A little worried about that one, but it was either he or CMart, and CMart's age worries me. Rookie Cedric Benson (CHI) is my sole backup here.

WR - I have depth here. Hines Ward (PIT) in the 3rd round, Derrick Mason (BAL) in the 5th, Larry Fitzgerald (ARI) in the 7th, Jimmy Smith (JAC) in the 10th, and rookie Mike Williams (DET) in the 12th. All of these guys could put up 1000 yards this year.

TE - I'm weak here, with LJ Smith (PHI) as my starter. He's backed up by Ben Troupe (TEN).

K - Jason Hanson (DET) is my only kicker. Detroit has a young and potentially explosive offense. I think he'll get a lot of chances this year. I'll have to join the churn frenzy in week 10 to get a sub.

DEF - I nabbed the NYJ defense way down in round 11. I was happy it was still there. I hope Ty Law plays big for them. I backed it up with Tampa Bay in round 14.

_____

Complete aside - I like Ben Roethlisberger as much as anybody, but for the love of #$%^!, would y'all please stop drafting him in the first round? My friends laugh at me. :lowrazz:

[Shiz]

I am kind of hurting at QB, but the rest of my players are very solid. It was a great draft! 12 teams seems perfect to me now.

[Drax]

BTW, did you realize you were seeded first?
After inspecting my team, yes. :mrgreen:
I was ranting at the autopicks of all three of you guys ... starting with the very first pick of you swiping LT out from under me. We all thought the picker was going to nab Peyton Manning for you, since he was ranked #1 overall.
Who said I would've used the autopicker? As Thur and others have pointed out, Yahoo!'s opinions are, pretty much, exclusively their own.

Basically, everyone up until round 13 were on my pre-arranged draft list, so I came out very happy. My QBs may be a weak spot, as I have a relatively untested breakout candidate (my choice, however :) in Carson Palmer and a proven if unspectacular conservative tosser in Griese.

For a bit more insight, here's my pre-arranged draft list
Your Rankings
1. L. Tomlinson
12. C. Martin
13. A. Gates
19. Baltimore
30. J. Porter
35. T. Houshmandzadeh
46. A. Lelie
48. C. Rogers
57. H. Miller
69. A. Vinatieri
80. New York

Exclude Rankings
M. Bennett
K. Barlow
T. Bell
C. Brown
K. Robinson
T. Pinkston
L. Evans
M. Shipp
Miami
Dallas
N. Kaeding
D. Staley
D. Foster

[Raveneye]

Picking 5th ended up tougher than I thought it would be. I had designed my strategy sheets around picking 4th-8th, but somehow many players did not fall where I expected them too. Some of this was due to other folks nabbing QBs, TEs and DEFs early, and then there were the out of left field picks like the all-Steelers team Serani is fielding. The end result was that I had really tough choices to make between good players available in nearly every round for the first 10 or so rounds.

A prime example was the very first round. I knew Tomlinson, Alexander and Manning would be gone by pick #5. McNabb going 4th surprised me, but left me several solid options at RB (my usual 1st pick). I almost reached for McGahee, as I think he'll have a monster year, whoever got him is in for a treat. I went with Edge though because the numbers don't lie, and as disgruntled as he is he is also lookig to prove to the league that he's still got it for any other team that wants him once his contract expires at the end of this season, and let's face it, he's Indy's only real solid option at RB.

I'm happy with my selctions, I think I got some good values in the middle rounds. I have two Top Tier QB's in Bulger (who has the softest schedule of any QB in the NFL this year) and Matt Hasselbeck (who will excel this season behind a tighter O-line and with a more talented receiving corps). I have a trio of excellent starting RBs in Edge, Jones (DAL) and Dunn (ATL).

Chad Johnson is a stud WR, and I think M. Clayton will have a very decent season with Greise tossing to him in Tampa. I think Jermaine Wiggins will possibly be the surprise TE success of the year, as with Moss out of the picture the TE will be even more important in the Vikings passing game. Shayne Graham quietly earned the fourth highest fantasy points total among all kickers last year, and the Bengals offense is even better this year, so I expect a similar showing.

I'm a little unhappy with Jacksonville as my only DEF, but I let too many good ones slip away while trying to nab other positions, so they will have to suffice. My bench is average, with a couple of sleepers like Toefield and Stallworth hanging around, but with the amount of CHURN I do in a season I expect most of my bench will not be around for more than a few weeks. :smile:

I'd say my best "value" of the draft was getting Hasselbeck as my backup QB in Round 8. My worst values was likely taking Jacksonville as a DEF. I liked Chicago and Cincinnati, both of which were there, but I could not bring myself to take the risk as I only carry one DEF on my roster usually.

I thought everyone drafted rather well, except maybe for Thurniel who got shafted by the autopicker (been there buddy, last year it selected Tommy Maddux as my starting QB in the 12th round!) and Serani who wasn't really drafting from stats anyway but simply playing favorites. I could literally hear the jaws dropping when Ben Rothelisberger was taken in the first round! :wink: You go girl.

My first game is a tough matchup against Gratzyn's goons, including McNabb and Harrison (yikes!). My team may not have any flashy names (OK, Johnson is pretty flashy) but I'm hoping they will all prove to be reliable workhorses that can get the job done each week. If not, the spinning blades of CHURN await!! :smile:

[Asharad]

RE...you actually have an excellent team there.

[Lycos]

The first 2 - 3 weeks will really make or break a lot of teams. The season always seems to have some serious injuries occur in week 1 and 2. Some big names go down for the season or most of the season. It'll be interesting to see how it effects the other teams. :biggrin:

Overall, I'm ok with my picks. My QB slot is weak. Culpepper better stay healthy this season. But I had Jake Plummer last year too. He's not half bad if you catch him at the right part of the season. He never seems that consistant. :D

[Caranthir]

I'm not too unhappy with my team. I've got crappy TEs, but I think I can live with that.

[Raveneye]

RE...you actually have an excellent team there.

Hey, you say that like you're surprised. :lowlol:

Thanks. I thought you made out really well between getting Green as a QB and Alexander, Jones and Williams as RBs. Smith and Johnson are solid WRs and NE is a fantastic DEF plus CHI is a sleeper that will be great in matchups. You got a steal in CLark at TE too, I think he will perform well on a weekly basis.

It's kinda funny, if I put your QB, Alexander and DEF together with my WRs, J. Jones and Graham(K) I'd pretty much have the team I'd been hoping to draft. :lowcool:

[GravenStone]

My weak spot is likely my RBs, at least as they stand now. My habit of drafting on minimal preparation aside from keeping an ear out to news reports means I once again drafted a probable back up as my #2 RB (Droughns) - oops. But I'm relatively happy with my WRs, and just had to jump on Manning up front, even though he's unlikely to have such a statistically broken year again as last. My TE is a bit iffy, depends on how he rebounds from last years injuries. Decent K and a bit of a stretch for Defense. We'll see how it goes...

BTW, I don't have McNabb and Harrison, Thur got those guys.

[Raveneye]

BTW, I don't have McNabb and Harrison, Thur got those guys.

Weird, I could have sworn I was up against those two when I checked last night. Oh well, you've got Manning and Wayne, a combo likely to be just as bad (if not worse) for me to face.

I like your team though. If you think you're weak at RB just wait a couple of weeks. Injuries will happen, rising stars will top the depth charts, and there will be at least a half-dozen decent pickup opportunities by Week 3 of the regular season. Living in Ohio, I read a different story every day about Droughns. M/W/F he's the starter, TU/TH/SA he's behind Suggs, who can say what will happen come game time?

[Drax]

Weird, I could have sworn I was up against those two when I checked last night. Oh well, you've got Manning and Wayne, a combo likely to be just as bad (if not worse) for me to face.
Devil's Advocate here, hi, how ya doin'?

But you, Raveneye, have the Edge, who may receive just as many chances to score as Manning, and may have a good day with drop-off passes as the Baltimore Defensive line hounds Indy's O-line.

Okay, /off D.A.
:lowsmile:

[Erudite]

But you, Raveneye, have the Edge, who may receive just as many chances to score as Manning, and may have a good day with drop-off passes as the Baltimore Defensive line hounds Indy's O-line.

Baltimore's D is severely overrated this year, and Indy will scorch them in the first week. (That's my Bold Prediction™ :lowrazz: )

[noptov52]

As long as Jamal Lewis rushes for 200 yards vs the crappy Indy D I will be happy.

[Thuriniel]

McNabb going 4th surprised me
Like I said, I had only mucked about with the player ranking as I was never going to use it, but my idea was grabbing a solid QB with McNabb (at 6pts a thrown/run TD) in the second half of the first round (where I normally pick), and picking up one of 10-12 RBs early in the second round. The fact that every single one of the RB's I had ranked above my top WR went before I picked again at 21 was an eventuality I wasn't expecting, and hadn't planned for when I had every expectation of drafting for myself. When I look at how the draft unfolded, there was a real opportunity to draft a solid team if only I could have gotten a retarded monkey to draft for me instead of Yahoo. :frown:

[Serani]

I'm pretty happy with things. When I get back to my real internet access, I might putz around a bit, but all in all, aside from being more Steeler heavy than I like (I didn't actually pre-rank all of those guys! - And I learned THAT lesson in year 1), I think things went well.

Anyway, I guess if there's people we want, we can always start offering trades and the like.