First of all, thanks to Clayton for running the draft and solving the various issues that arose during the draft. It was, despite being very lengthy, a fun draft with a good group. I feel for BusMan having his connection drop... I know he's a tough hombre in these competitions and was here due to past success.
Anyway, not sure what to think so far of this team... made one stupid and unintentional mistake when I looked at the wrong bye week at TE (see below) but other than that kinda shifted on the fly as best I could.
Schaub, Matt HOU 11 7.09
Manning, Eli NYG 7 8.04
Smith, Alex SFO 7 20.04
My original QB plan was to try to take a guy near the end of the first tier... changed strategy a bit on the fly for a few reasons and ended up taking a few guys from tier two. I do think getting a solid QB you can rely on is important, but at least they are only getting 4 points per TD. After passing on that top tier, I decided to take two back-to-back and did OK with Schaub and E. Manning. Neither has a bye, so hopefully one will be good enough each week. Towards the end of the draft I was going to take a guy like Hasselbeck, but missed on him in Round 18, so I took Alex Smith in Round 20. Not overly optimistic about him, but he does play a full five weeks (unless he is benched, which is always possible) and a few of them are decent matchups. Not the best QBs in the league, but probaby not the worst.
Jackson, Steven STL 5 3.09
Ingram, Mark NOS 11 4.04
Grant, Ryan GBP 8 5.09
Woodhead, Danny NEP 7 11.09
Barber, Marion CHI 8 16.04
Jackson wasn't a target, but I was hoping to take Best and he went the pick before. Unfortunately, with a Week 5 bye, I immediately knew I had to get a solid third option to cover that week, which meant picking RBs the next two rounds, too. Ingram was my next pick, and then I reached a bit for Grant because the non-Week 5 pool at RB was just about dry. GB at least starts off with a decent schedule, so hopefully Ingram/Grant can cover Week 5... and with Jackson's schedule not great, I will need them anyway. I missed an opportunity to insure Ingram with Thomas around the 10th, so I scrambled for Woodhead after. I'm not expecting much from Barber, but he's worth a shot as late as the 16th, especially with no bye week. I would have liked to have another RB, but due to my screw up below, I had to waste a roster spot... (see TE)
White, Roddy ATL 8 1.09
Jackson, Vincent SDC 6 2.04
Amendola, Danny STL WR 5 9.09
Williams, Mike SEA WR 6 10.04
Nelson, Jordy GBP WR 8 12.04
Washington, Nate TEN WR 6 13.09
Hill, Jason JAC WR 9 15.09
Went WR/WR right out of the chute and then crapped the bed a little a the position. Amendola should at least catch a ton of passes, and I know he has a Week 5 bye, but by Round 9 you have to start taking some of these guys, and I don't have any other byes that week here. Regretted taking BMW over M. Floyd in Round 10. Nelson and Washington are, hopefully, best-ball type guys that produce a few big games a year. Finally, Jason Hill is at least starting and should do something each week... hoping Gabbert doesn't start Week 1. I like my first two WRs, but could have used a better #3 and eight in total.
Witten, Jason DAL 5 6.04
Davis, Fred WAS 5 14.04
Heap, Todd ARI 6 18.04
OK, so here's where I screwed up... I'm OK with the Witten pick despite the bye week. There was just nothing else that was screaming at me on the board when I took him. I thought about backing him up earlier many times, but there was always something else I seemed to need that round. So then, it is getting desperate, and I look down see F. Davis is on a bye Week 6, and take him, as I'm not confident in Cooley's knee. Then I realize a round or two later the source I looked had a typo and Davis was off Week 5 as well, not Week 6! Not a huge deal, but now it meant I had to burn another pick on a TE just to get one playing Week 5, and there was pretty much nothing left. So I reluctantly took Heap, when I much rather would have took another flyer on a RB or WR. Oh well. I have three TEs now. Maybe it'll somehow turn out to benefit me... but I doubt it.
Feely, Jay ARI 6 21.09
Akers, David SFO 7 22.04
Succop, Ryan KCC 6 24.04
Three uninspiring kickers, but at least all three should kick for five weeks. Not exactly stellar offenses here, though.
49ers, San Francisco Def 7 17.09
Raiders, Oakland Def 8 19.09
Texans, Houston Def 11 23.09
Make no mistake, these are three pretty bad defenses. Will three bad options a week yield one good score? We'll see.
Overall:
Not overly excited about my team, and not overly down on it at the same time. To me it seems very.... average. And to advance in this format, you have to have playmakers capable of exploding to give you those nice best ball scores each week. Not sure if this team has it. I don't think I'll finish at the bottom, but I'll need a few breaks to finish at the top.