The Dyn Ex draft continues...
1.05 WR Andre Johnson
2.08 RB Rashard Mendenhall
3.05 WR Michael Crabtree
5.01 QB Philip Rivers
5.08 TE Vernon Davis
6.06 RB Donald Brown
7.05 WR Hines Ward
8.08 RB Ronnie Brown
8.12 TE Tony Gonzalez
9.05 DL Terrell Suggs
11.05 QB Sam Bradford
12.08 LB Stephen Tulloch
Despite trying to find a 10th round (and later 11th round) pick at a bargain price, I elected to watch and wait until the 11.05.
I very nearly got extremely lucky to get DJ Williams with that pick nearly 7 full rounds after Patrick Willis and Jon Beason went off the board, but he went just a couple of picks ahead of the 11.05. Instead, I was happy to grab Sam Bradford. There's a reasonable argument here that it's way too early for a backup QB, especially after already drafting Philip Rivers early. However, I felt the tiers at the two or three positions of probably greater need/potentially higher scarcity remained deep enough to draft Bradford.
That suggests that I think Bradford is a bit higher than Carson Palmer and a few others yet to be drafted at the position. In a dynasty league, I think there's a clear decision to be made with your QB2 philosophy. When possible (and doesn't everyone), I like my QB2 to be more than a QB2. If given the opportunity, I like my QB2 to be a guy with strong QB1 potential. Bradford's hype has taken a hit for his recent arm injuries, his poor OL and his horrible weapons. I'm an optimist here, though. I'm not concerned with the durability issue and the surrounding cast can be fixed. I see a QB with ideal size, a very good arm strength/accuracy combination and good decision-making skills. Players like that project to 20+ TDs with a great completion percentage and TD/INT ratio. His floor would seemingly be a mid-QB2.
I was happy to still get Stephen Tulloch in the late 12th. I entered the draft expecting to slough the linebacker position a little bit unless there were too good to pass values on the board. That nearly happened with Barrett Ruud (LB6 in the 8th round) and DJ Williams (LB12 in the 11th). I was disappointed to not get a look at Karlos Dansby here, but Tulloch is a strong selection as the LB17. His potential -- 94-27-2 taking only 77% of his team's snaps -- is enormous. There's reason to be concerned that's he won't be a long term every-down player, but I think it's well worth the risk. Given the usual tendency of dynasty owners to underrate "old" linebackers in startup drafts, I'm expecting to surround Tulloch with some pretty good veteran talent along the way.
Still working under the "best player available within the tier framework" plan for now.
As an aside, this draft has started to break down a little sooner than I expected. Usually
, team philosophies and depth of draft boards begin cracking a bit 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the draft. Everyone values players and drafts differently, but I think that a few of the picks in the past two rounds suggest that the cracks in the dam may be happening much sooner than that for a couple of teams here.
Awesome strategic insight, Doc. Especially helpful at this point in the draft. Contemporary FF leagues are so competitive that it's almost impossible to start seeing value in any draft until around round 10 or so. While it's already been a very nice draft, hopefully your disciplined execution will yield some real bargains in the next several rounds.
It's amazing to see the difference between leagues. I'm in the midst of a
16-team dynasty startup right now. In comparison to your draft, QBs have been FLYING off the board.Pick Ovr Franchise Selection Date/Time Comments
1.02 2. Sicily Interceptors Rodgers, Aaron GBP QB Wed May 26 9:00:14 a.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
1.03 3. Ronkonkoma Hot Dogs Brees, Drew NOS QB Wed May 26 9:09:52 a.m. ET 2010
1.08 8. Natchitoches Numbchucks Manning, Peyton IND QB Thu May 27 4:48:41 p.m. ET 2010
1.11 11. Clydesdale Pants Crickets Schaub, Matt HOU QB Thu May 27 10:58:41 p.m. ET 2010
2.02 18. Lake Oswego "Insert Mascot Here" Rivers, Philip SDC QB Fri May 28 7:40:11 p.m. ET 2010
2.04 20. New Jersey Bandits Romo, Tony DAL QB Fri May 28 8:46:29 p.m. ET 2010
2.09 25. New Mexico MoJo Brady, Tom NEP QB Sat May 29 6:07:00 p.m. ET 2010
2.16 32. Aurora Borealis Flacco, Joe BAL QB Sun May 30 3:07:52 p.m. ET 2010
3.05 37. Petaluma Cow Tippers Kolb, Kevin PHI QB Sun May 30 11:23:18 p.m. ET 2010 Im sure this will raise some eybrows
3.07 39. Chicago Drunken Squirrels Cutler, Jay CHI QB Mon May 31 12:26:18 a.m. ET 2010
3.10 42. Boston Pooch Punts Stafford, Matthew DET QB Mon May 31 8:24:02 a.m. ET 2010 Apparently I'm playing for 2013.
3.13 45. Detroit Jaz Ryan, Matt ATL QB Mon May 31 3:41:32 p.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
3.16 48. Kingston Red Stripes Manning, Eli NYG QB Mon May 31 6:27:45 p.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
5.12 76. East Bay Soul Chickens McNabb, Donovan WAS QB Wed Jun 2 1:31:04 a.m. ET 2010
5.13 77. Syracuse Crush Roethlisberger, Ben PIT QB Wed Jun 2 8:04:55 a.m. ET 2010
6.15 95. Sicily Interceptors Palmer, Carson CIN QB Wed Jun 2 11:53:53 p.m. ET 2010
7.01 97. New Jersey Bandits Henne, Chad MIA QB Thu Jun 3 6:21:40 a.m. ET 2010
7.09 105. Kingston Red Stripes Sanchez, Mark NYJ QB Thu Jun 3 1:38:33 p.m. ET 2010
7.12 108. Pittsburgh Left Nuts Favre, Brett MIN QB Thu Jun 3 6:29:55 p.m. ET 2010 Did he retire yet?
8.01 113. New Mexico MoJo Freeman, Josh TBB QB Thu Jun 3 11:14:37 p.m. ET 2010
8.05 117. Pittsburgh Left Nuts Young, Vince TEN QB Fri Jun 4 1:03:42 p.m. ET 2010
8.06 118. Ronkonkoma Hot Dogs Smith, Alex SFO QB Fri Jun 4 1:39:02 p.m. ET 2010 Damn, I wanted vince young.... oh well
8.09 121. Aurora Borealis Leinart, Matt ARI QB Fri Jun 4 1:54:59 p.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
FOUR 1st rounders and 13 gone by the end of round 3. Stafford was picked as a QB1 at the end of the 3rd.
Needless to say, I wasn't going to chase the run, so I held off until Favre at 7.12 and then went with VY at 8.05. With 1.05 who will probably be Bradford, I feel good about that... but it's interesting to see how the different leagues value players differently. Also, note - this is a contract league, and player salaries are based on their performance last year. QBs in general are expensive - nearly double the cost of every other position. And rookies are fixed based on draft position, with 1.01 being $3m and going down from there.
LBs were, as usual, the first IDPs off the board, with Willis going first at 3.09 (WAAAAAY too early for my tastes). We're now in the 9th round and I haven't taken my first IDP - I'll probably break the seal soon with a DE, and then turn towards collecting a few underrated LB2 prospects.
LBs:
3.09 41. Natchitoches Numbchucks Willis, Patrick SFO LB Mon May 31 1:13:48 a.m. ET 2010
3.15 47. Boston Pooch Punts Beason, Jon CAR LB Mon May 31 6:27:44 p.m. ET 2010
4.15 63. Sicily Interceptors Harris, David NYJ LB Tue Jun 1 8:14:32 a.m. ET 2010
5.08 72. Detroit Jaz Laurinaitis, James STL LB Tue Jun 1 11:00:08 p.m. ET 2010
5.10 74. Lake Oswego "Insert Mascot Here" Ruud, Barrett TBB LB Wed Jun 2 12:34:40 a.m. ET 2010
5.14 78. New Jersey Bandits Lofton, Curtis ATL LB Wed Jun 2 8:06:35 a.m. ET 2010
6.06 86. New Jersey Bandits Ryans, DeMeco HOU LB Wed Jun 2 6:03:56 p.m. ET 2010
6.07 87. Lake Oswego "Insert Mascot Here" Williams, DJ DEN LB Wed Jun 2 6:48:44 p.m. ET 2010
6.12 92. Petaluma Cow Tippers Posluszny, Paul BUF LB Wed Jun 2 11:02:22 p.m. ET 2010
6.14 94. Ronkonkoma Hot Dogs Morrison, Kirk JAC LB Wed Jun 2 11:08:42 p.m. ET 2010
7.02 98. Sicily Interceptors Vilma, Jonathan NOS LB Thu Jun 3 6:21:41 a.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
7.03 99. Ronkonkoma Hot Dogs Jackson, D'Qwell CLE LB Thu Jun 3 6:21:41 a.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
7.04 100. Natchitoches Numbchucks Cushing, Brian HOU LB Thu Jun 3 6:21:41 a.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
7.05 101. Petaluma Cow Tippers Hayes, Geno TBB LB Thu Jun 3 9:38:12 a.m. ET 2010
7.06 102. Detroit Jaz Mayo, Jerod NEP LB Thu Jun 3 9:38:13 a.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
7.11 107. Chicago Drunken Squirrels Dansby, Karlos MIA LB Thu Jun 3 5:05:23 p.m. ET 2010
7.13 109. Syracuse Crush Tulloch, Stephen TEN LB Thu Jun 3 6:29:56 p.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
7.16 112. Kingston Red Stripes Levy, DeAndre DET LB Thu Jun 3 9:48:43 p.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
8.04 116. Syracuse Crush Timmons, Lawrence PIT LB Fri Jun 4 1:02:53 a.m. ET 2010 Pick made based on Pre-Draft List
DLs & DBs:
6.13 93. New Jersey Bandits Allen, Jared MIN DE Wed Jun 2 11:04:02 p.m. ET 2010
7.10 106. Boston Pooch Punts Williams, Mario HOU DE Thu Jun 3 1:41:22 p.m. ET 2010
8.02 114. East Bay Soul Chickens Pollard, Bernard HOU S Fri Jun 4 12:30:34 a.m. ET 2010
8.03 115. Lake Oswego "Insert Mascot Here" Cole, Trent PHI DE Fri Jun 4 1:02:52 a.m. ET 2010