Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Not sure you play in a scrub league? Let me share some of the things that scrubs do and also to help you differentiate what kind of focus you need to have in these things…David Dodds talks about it in his perfect draft scenarios, and I think it merits a lot of discussion. What I am going to do is run down some tell tale signs and some of it is tongue and cheek of course, and then I want to share a 10 team draft I completed last night…PPR, QB/ 2RBs/3WRs/TE…one caveat and that is the 6th round you can potentially keep that player and we have a cap of 3 players that you can keep from your 6th round picks…league has been in existence for almost 15 years and I have been in it for 10-12, I lose track….but they still refer to me as Junior(I’m 34) so basically the same people come back again and again. I left off Def and PK, see no need for that.
Things to help you identify a scrub league…
1-Most of the owners don’t compete in other leagues. You competing in 10 leagues seems really weird to them and they suggest you might need help.
2-Typically they walk thru the door with either ESPN FF Mag or some Rogue publication that looks like they ripped the cover off an NWA wrestling magazine form the 80’s and replaced it with a picture of Adrian Peterson for the 2008 season…”Can he be the next Tomlinson”…
3-You are able to acquire Owen Daniels as your TE2 in the 11th round and its PPR!!!
4-No one has a clue who Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, or Andre Hall are…
5-People with Carson Palmer on their team already as a keeper, go and select Drew Brees in the middle of the 2nd round…
6-Person with the #1 pick whop already has Frank Gore, selects LT, and then on the 2/3 turn decides to take MJD who they will never start other than week 8/9 when both RBs ahead of him are on a bye…talk about letting go of a clear advantage in that type of league…holy cow!
7-You have to come into a format like this to vent about it
8-People taking their QB3 less than 7-8 rounds into the draft
9-You seem to have your pick ready to go in less than 10 seconds, they seem to act like they never even opened a magazine before the draft started and take the full 3 minutes every time to make their pick, only to select Rashied Davis as their WR4.
10-They absolutely don’t have the foggiest clue how seriously you take this little hobby and make fun of you year in and year out despite your many accomplishments in the league…in other words no matter how many times you win, no matter how many other leagues you win and compete in, these guys will never recognize it and disregard you completely in the drafts.
Want to see what happened? I will tell you this…no need to send me a congrads or I messed it up…if you use the DD software, I did very well and according to that system I have the strongest overall team…doesn’t mean anything but I thought I would throw this out there as I see owners wanting some reassurance that they did alright…just load your picks in the DD unless you already used it during the draft…should give you a very easy indicator if you have playoff potential or not. In this league, I am unfortunately in a very tough division where I get to see LT twice and also some very crafty owners who seem to manage their rosters on Sunday well…however I still have a loaded team and I will be interested to see what happens. I’ll go thru the teams, where I think they messed up and also include keepers they may have. These are fixed rosters with exact roster spots for each position.
Team 1 (Frank Gore)(Roy Williams)
QB: Donovon McNabb (5.01), Brett Favre (8.10), Jeff Garcia (14.10)…I don’t like this group very much at all. Lot of faith in McNabb, we give 6 pts for passing TDs, and I can tell you that the years I have done well, I have had good QB play. Sometimes I could wait and grab a guy uindervalued but this year I feel there was a clear 4 some at the top. He was never in a position to get any of those guys though.
RB: LT (1.01), Gore(keeper), MJD (2.10), Mendenhall (6.10)-new keeper for him, Jerious Norwood(12,10)…very strong and building for the future but why go get an RB3 when you can only start 2? Made no sense to me and I felt he lost out on a huge advantage of LT and Gore.
WR: Colston (3.01), Roy Williams(keeper), Reggie Brown(7.01), Joey Galloway (9.01) Rashied Davis (11.01), and Reggie Williams (18.10)…it’s good but there are others that are better and way more stacked in this league as you will see.
TE: KW II (4.10) and Todd Heap (13.01)…if you like Heap it seems like you can get him El Cheapo right now…I didn’t have room for him believe it or not.
Team 2 (Vince Young) (Warrick Dunn) (Anthony Gonzalez)…one note and that is in a league like this and only 10 teams…you need guys at the keeper spots that will be taken aboive round 6 as that is where we take them. Who does he have that would be snatched before round 6 anytime soon…maybe Gonzalez in a year or two.
QB: Kurt Warner(9.02)-nice pick, Vince Young(keeper), Marc Bulger (13.02)-wow! This is not that bad although it isn’t anything I would string together.
RB: Brian Westbrook (1.02), Reggie Bush (2.09), Darren McFadden (3.02), Ahman Green (14.10), Warrick Dunn (keeper)…why take a 3rd RB when you can only start 2…didn’t make sense to me either.
WR: Greg Jennings (4.09), Jericho Cotchery (5.02), Dwayne Bowe (6.09)-new keeper, Anthony Gonzalez (keeper), Kevin Curtis (12.09), and Jerry Porter (15.02)…this is a pretty good group when you consider he didn’t get started till the 4th round but found a sweet spot of Jennings, Cotch, and Bowe…I like it but again there are others that are stronger.
TE: Chris Cooley (7.02), and Heath Miller (10.09)…pretty good value there with Cooley.
Team 3 (Tom Brady)-one of the better keepers to start a draft with
QB: Brady(keeper), Aaron Rodgers (13.03), and Tavaris Jackson (18.08)…anything with Brady is going to be strong
RB: Jamal Lewis (2.08), Edge (3.03) LenDale White (6.08)-keeper?, Fred Taylor (9.03), and MoMo (14.08)-really fell hard. This is a so so bunch, nothing special in a 10 team league with PPR for sure.
WR: Randy Moss (1.03)-I wanted him to fall, Santonio Holmes (5.03), Sidney Rice (7.03), VJax (8.08), DJ Hackett (19.03), ARE (16.08)…how do you lose the edge if you have Randy Moss? I’m not that intimidated by this group, wish Moss had fallen to me but I would be ho hum coming out of the draft if I took Moss and ended up with this in a start3 league, especially if I had pedestrian RBs in a 10 team league.
TE: Antonio Gates (4.08) Alge Crumpler (11.03)
Team 4 (Brady Quinn) (Hines Ward)
QB: Big Ben (4.07) Jake Delhomme (12.07)…if Jake is healthy this is probably a pretty decent duo even though he is carrying Brady Quinn around.
RB: Adrian Peterson (1.04) Ronnie Brown (6.07)-keeper now, Julius Jones (7.04), Felix Jones (9.04), and Kenny Watson (11.04)…Peterson anchors it, Brown is a nice sleeper keeper pick for next season, the Jones boys are not that great when you factor in this is not a best ball league…how often do you want to seriously pencil those guys in as starters in ’08?
WR: TJ Housh (2.07) Wes Welker (3.04) Hines Ward(keeper) Patrick Crayton (8.07) Donte Stallworth (10.07) James Hardy (16.07)…I like Crayton and Stallworth a lot better in best ball…will be hard to figure when to start them.
TE: Dallas Clark (5.04) Ben Watson (15.04)
Team 5 (Carson Palmer) (DWill) Bernard Berrian)…remember these keepers
QB: Drew Brees (2.06), Carson Palmer (keeper), Eli Manning (8.06)…are you KIDDING ME!!!? You have Palmer and you spend a 2nd rounder on Drew Brees…what in samhell are you thinking? And OK, let’s say you could recover form that and you just were not comfortable with Palmer and the health of the passing game and Cinci for that matter…FINE! You still don’t take Brees unless Palmer is coming off keeper status…and you sure don’t need a QB3 in the 8th round when there are lots of pressing needs on that team. This guy is definitely not the brightest but he has been in the league for a long time and should know better.
RB: Joseph Addai (1.05) FWP (3.05) Ricky Williams (7.05) Justin Fargas (9.05) DWill (keeper)…this isn’t all that bad really.
WR: Chad Johnson (4.06)-yes I passed on him a couple of times. Derrick Mason (5.05), Roddy White (6.06)-keeper now I believe, Berrian (keeper), Hester (14.06) Justin McCareins (12.06)…could be worse.
TE: Greg Olsen (11.05) Donald Lee (13.05)…this was terrible when you look at how many really good TE fell down the board, to come away with this is rather bad IMO.
Team 6 (JeMarcus Russell) (Willis McGahee) (Deion Branch)
QB: Derek Anderson (6.05)-keeper, Jon Kitna (8.05)-I think he might surprise, Russell (keeper)…this is just OK…gonna be down some weeks when he faces Brady, Romo, Manning, Brees…
RB: Steven Jackson (1.06)-I have been lucky to have him fall to me at 1.07 a lot this year but not in this one, McGahee(keeper), Chris Perry (7.06), Ahmad Bradshaw (11.06) Leon Washington (14.05)…I like this group, plenty of pop at the top, McGahee will get on track eventually, and perry, Bradshaw, and Washington round out some nice options potentially on the bench. Good solid group.
WR: this is one of the hum dingers…Braylon Edwards(2.05), Torry Holt (3.06) Plaxico Burress (4.05)…now that is an impressive starting 3 if you ask me…should have the advantage at WR most weeks from what we have seen so far. S.Moss(9.05), Bobby Engram (13.06), and Deion Branch (keeper)…one too many injured Seadogs WR for my taste but the top of the order is pretty strong.
TE: Jeremy Shockey (5.06) Zach Miller (17.06)-I am convinced in the guppy leagues that no one has any clue what this guy can do…absolute armed robbery down here.
Team 7 (Larry Johnson) (Michael Turner) (Lee Evans)
QB: Tony Romo (2.04) Matt Schaub (10.04) Sage Rosenfels (17.07)…this person had the luxury to dip into the QB treasure chest with some of the keepers already on the roster. I think if you have a QB in that top4…the only thing you put behind them is a guy that could potentially explode and I think Schaub fits that bill…and this owner decided to take Rosenfels over a guy like Matt Ryan who would likely never get the call.
RB: Larry Johnson (keeper) Michael Turner (keeper) Chris Johnson (6.04)-keeper now, Ray Rice (7.07), Steve Slaton (14.04)…this owner opted not to take MB III, Portis, or Lynch with the 1.07 because of the advantage at RB going into the draft. I think even if they had taken MB III, they still would have ended up with a very strong team.
WR: Terrell Owens (1.07), Andre Johnson (3.07), Calvin Johnson (5.07), Lee Evans(keeper)-taken off that status now but still on team, Teddy Ginn (9.07), and Chris Henry (16.04)…the reality is there were only so many slots to fill. By this point some of you probably have figured out this is likely my team. TO, AJ, and Calvin are going to make for a pretty explosive trio at WR…and I really like Ginn and Evans in the wings to spot start as well.
TE: Jason Witten (4.04) and Owen Daniels (11.07)…just no way to pass up Daniels in the 11th round. If he does as well as some of us think he can, he might fight his way into the starting roster some weeks.
This team is very strong and I think there is enough talent beyond just the starters to help in any trades that might be needed should some deficiencies pop up.
Team 8 (Jay Cutler) (Chris Chambers) (Brandon Jacobs)…one of the more well rounded keeper trios.
QB: Cutler (keeper), Hass (7.08), Trent Edwards (17.07)…hass has no WR bu the should do better as the season rolls along. Cutler Hass has the potential to be a good duo at QB.
RB: Portis (1.08), Ryan Grant (2.03), Brandon Jacobs (keeper), Kevin Smith (6.03)-keeper now, Chester Taylor (10.03)…no need to reach for Grant when he had Jacobs already…could have done better had he laid off Grant, but then again that is personal biased.
WR: considering he didn’t start till the end of the 3rd round I think he did terrific…Marshall(3.08)-I wavered between him and AJ, Steve Smith (4.03)-armed robbery in progress, Marvin Harrison (5.08)-could be a steal, DeSean Jax (11.08), Ronald Curry (12.03), Chris Chambers (keeper)…one of the strongest at WR in the league IMO.
TE: Vernon Davis (8.03) and Randy McMichael (16.03)…this could pose problems possibly.
This is a good solid team and unfortunately in my division where we square off twice.
Team 9 (Laurence Maroney) (Larry Fitzgerald)
QB: P.Manning (2.02), Campbell (14.02), Matt Leinart (18.02)
RB: MB III (1.11), Maroney (keeper), Thomas Jones (3.09), Selvin Young (4.02), Matt Forte (6.02)-keeper now…he took 4 RBs in the 1st 6 rounds…I had a gameplan that looked like that till I ran scenario after scenario thru Draft Dominator.
WR: Fitz (keeper), Nate Burleson (5.09), Donald Driver (7.09), Javon Walker (8.02), Isaac Bruce (13.09), and Robert Meachem (15.09)-Patten went undrafted IIRC. Nothing wrong with Fitz and Driver, the rest will likely be hit and miss a lot.
TE: Tony Scheffler (12.02) and LJ Smith (16.02)…I like Smith better than Scheffler, this is not a bad combo, but again this isn’t best ball so you might come up short when forced to only start 1 each week.
Team 10…new owner, took over a bad team, Rivers was his only keeper and he drew last slot…but he got the 1st pick in the ever crucial keeper round.
QB: David Garrard (7.10), Philip Rivers (keeper), JT O’Sullivan (15.10)…this is not going to stand up to some of the other starters at all…10 team leagues are rough…what works in theory on an FBG Blackboard in the Shark Pool doesn’t always translate to real world…in a 10 team league Garrard has to be a marginal starting QB, and I wouldn’t want him every week.
RB: Marshawn Lynch (1.10), Earnest Graham (3.10), Jonathon Stewart (6.01)-new keeper for him, Rudi Johnson (10.01)-he was signed literally as the draft was going on, when word broke he picked him up, interesting pick I think, Deuce McAllister (13.10)-getting no love but he looked alright in preseason. This is not the worst group in the league but it also isn’t the strongest either…middle of the road maybe?
WR: Reggie Wayne (2.01), Anquan Boldin (4.01), L.Coles (8.01)-gift, Kevin Walter (9.10), Jabar Gaffney (14.01)-Jackson being cut makes him move up my board quite a bit…I was looking at him for my WR6 but it just didn’t happen.
TE: Tony Gonzalez (5.10) and Dustin Keller (17.10)
If any of you have drafts coming up this week, maybe even after the Thurs game, and you are wondering what it is like now that you have all the info…what Dodd’s mentions about the mindset of other owners, you need to really try and examine that. Do you talk to your league mates? Many times they will show their hands before the draft, take everything with a grain of salt but sometimes there is no reason not to ask for info. I sometimes throw out some of the guy I like and don’t like just to throw them off.
Some people are going to ask why I did this…I think most people that frequent these boards want to share what has happened in their drafts. You don’t want to wait till the season is completely over to reveal what you did. And we spend a ton of time in the off season discussing all these things, and we want to run back and share with others that take do take this hobby a little more seriously. What I am trying to impress on you is that its OK to share what you did, what happened and how it might relate to others, but you have to give some sort of breakdown and take. If you post your roster but you never loaded it into DD and then you roll into the Shark Pool and want feedback, you’re going to get directed to the coach’s forum. While we are on that topic...people bellyache that the coach's forum doesn't help, and to that I invite you to get to know Jeff Tefertiller or as I always knew him, Wannabee. That guy is one of the best at orchestrating trades, and bettering rosters, and he loves to do it. So my advice is that if you really need to be supported more than just getting a little info and actually want to trust someone else to pick your roster or come up with ideas to improve your team(not saying there is anything wrong with that), my suggestion is to seek out his help.
In closing, I know I did not have the perfect draft..in fact I am not sure one actually exists except in theory...HOWEVER, I felt oddly comfortable on almost every pick, i knew what was going to happen, and I typically had a good beat on who would be there and who wouldn't at the next pick...I really attribute that to the boards and FBG staff articles as well. There is always room for improvement in these drafts if we could rewind the tapes and start over, but you can still put up a very nice effort and come away happy if you plan it right. My draft almost got derailed with Moss going off the board at #3...but I dind't panic and in fact the next 4 rounds i got exactly who ithought I would get for the most part.
Good Luck!!!
Things to help you identify a scrub league…
1-Most of the owners don’t compete in other leagues. You competing in 10 leagues seems really weird to them and they suggest you might need help.
2-Typically they walk thru the door with either ESPN FF Mag or some Rogue publication that looks like they ripped the cover off an NWA wrestling magazine form the 80’s and replaced it with a picture of Adrian Peterson for the 2008 season…”Can he be the next Tomlinson”…
3-You are able to acquire Owen Daniels as your TE2 in the 11th round and its PPR!!!
4-No one has a clue who Chris Johnson, Ray Rice, or Andre Hall are…
5-People with Carson Palmer on their team already as a keeper, go and select Drew Brees in the middle of the 2nd round…
6-Person with the #1 pick whop already has Frank Gore, selects LT, and then on the 2/3 turn decides to take MJD who they will never start other than week 8/9 when both RBs ahead of him are on a bye…talk about letting go of a clear advantage in that type of league…holy cow!
7-You have to come into a format like this to vent about it
8-People taking their QB3 less than 7-8 rounds into the draft
9-You seem to have your pick ready to go in less than 10 seconds, they seem to act like they never even opened a magazine before the draft started and take the full 3 minutes every time to make their pick, only to select Rashied Davis as their WR4.
10-They absolutely don’t have the foggiest clue how seriously you take this little hobby and make fun of you year in and year out despite your many accomplishments in the league…in other words no matter how many times you win, no matter how many other leagues you win and compete in, these guys will never recognize it and disregard you completely in the drafts.
Want to see what happened? I will tell you this…no need to send me a congrads or I messed it up…if you use the DD software, I did very well and according to that system I have the strongest overall team…doesn’t mean anything but I thought I would throw this out there as I see owners wanting some reassurance that they did alright…just load your picks in the DD unless you already used it during the draft…should give you a very easy indicator if you have playoff potential or not. In this league, I am unfortunately in a very tough division where I get to see LT twice and also some very crafty owners who seem to manage their rosters on Sunday well…however I still have a loaded team and I will be interested to see what happens. I’ll go thru the teams, where I think they messed up and also include keepers they may have. These are fixed rosters with exact roster spots for each position.
Team 1 (Frank Gore)(Roy Williams)
QB: Donovon McNabb (5.01), Brett Favre (8.10), Jeff Garcia (14.10)…I don’t like this group very much at all. Lot of faith in McNabb, we give 6 pts for passing TDs, and I can tell you that the years I have done well, I have had good QB play. Sometimes I could wait and grab a guy uindervalued but this year I feel there was a clear 4 some at the top. He was never in a position to get any of those guys though.
RB: LT (1.01), Gore(keeper), MJD (2.10), Mendenhall (6.10)-new keeper for him, Jerious Norwood(12,10)…very strong and building for the future but why go get an RB3 when you can only start 2? Made no sense to me and I felt he lost out on a huge advantage of LT and Gore.
WR: Colston (3.01), Roy Williams(keeper), Reggie Brown(7.01), Joey Galloway (9.01) Rashied Davis (11.01), and Reggie Williams (18.10)…it’s good but there are others that are better and way more stacked in this league as you will see.
TE: KW II (4.10) and Todd Heap (13.01)…if you like Heap it seems like you can get him El Cheapo right now…I didn’t have room for him believe it or not.
Team 2 (Vince Young) (Warrick Dunn) (Anthony Gonzalez)…one note and that is in a league like this and only 10 teams…you need guys at the keeper spots that will be taken aboive round 6 as that is where we take them. Who does he have that would be snatched before round 6 anytime soon…maybe Gonzalez in a year or two.
QB: Kurt Warner(9.02)-nice pick, Vince Young(keeper), Marc Bulger (13.02)-wow! This is not that bad although it isn’t anything I would string together.
RB: Brian Westbrook (1.02), Reggie Bush (2.09), Darren McFadden (3.02), Ahman Green (14.10), Warrick Dunn (keeper)…why take a 3rd RB when you can only start 2…didn’t make sense to me either.
WR: Greg Jennings (4.09), Jericho Cotchery (5.02), Dwayne Bowe (6.09)-new keeper, Anthony Gonzalez (keeper), Kevin Curtis (12.09), and Jerry Porter (15.02)…this is a pretty good group when you consider he didn’t get started till the 4th round but found a sweet spot of Jennings, Cotch, and Bowe…I like it but again there are others that are stronger.
TE: Chris Cooley (7.02), and Heath Miller (10.09)…pretty good value there with Cooley.
Team 3 (Tom Brady)-one of the better keepers to start a draft with
QB: Brady(keeper), Aaron Rodgers (13.03), and Tavaris Jackson (18.08)…anything with Brady is going to be strong
RB: Jamal Lewis (2.08), Edge (3.03) LenDale White (6.08)-keeper?, Fred Taylor (9.03), and MoMo (14.08)-really fell hard. This is a so so bunch, nothing special in a 10 team league with PPR for sure.
WR: Randy Moss (1.03)-I wanted him to fall, Santonio Holmes (5.03), Sidney Rice (7.03), VJax (8.08), DJ Hackett (19.03), ARE (16.08)…how do you lose the edge if you have Randy Moss? I’m not that intimidated by this group, wish Moss had fallen to me but I would be ho hum coming out of the draft if I took Moss and ended up with this in a start3 league, especially if I had pedestrian RBs in a 10 team league.
TE: Antonio Gates (4.08) Alge Crumpler (11.03)
Team 4 (Brady Quinn) (Hines Ward)
QB: Big Ben (4.07) Jake Delhomme (12.07)…if Jake is healthy this is probably a pretty decent duo even though he is carrying Brady Quinn around.
RB: Adrian Peterson (1.04) Ronnie Brown (6.07)-keeper now, Julius Jones (7.04), Felix Jones (9.04), and Kenny Watson (11.04)…Peterson anchors it, Brown is a nice sleeper keeper pick for next season, the Jones boys are not that great when you factor in this is not a best ball league…how often do you want to seriously pencil those guys in as starters in ’08?
WR: TJ Housh (2.07) Wes Welker (3.04) Hines Ward(keeper) Patrick Crayton (8.07) Donte Stallworth (10.07) James Hardy (16.07)…I like Crayton and Stallworth a lot better in best ball…will be hard to figure when to start them.
TE: Dallas Clark (5.04) Ben Watson (15.04)
Team 5 (Carson Palmer) (DWill) Bernard Berrian)…remember these keepers
QB: Drew Brees (2.06), Carson Palmer (keeper), Eli Manning (8.06)…are you KIDDING ME!!!? You have Palmer and you spend a 2nd rounder on Drew Brees…what in samhell are you thinking? And OK, let’s say you could recover form that and you just were not comfortable with Palmer and the health of the passing game and Cinci for that matter…FINE! You still don’t take Brees unless Palmer is coming off keeper status…and you sure don’t need a QB3 in the 8th round when there are lots of pressing needs on that team. This guy is definitely not the brightest but he has been in the league for a long time and should know better.
RB: Joseph Addai (1.05) FWP (3.05) Ricky Williams (7.05) Justin Fargas (9.05) DWill (keeper)…this isn’t all that bad really.
WR: Chad Johnson (4.06)-yes I passed on him a couple of times. Derrick Mason (5.05), Roddy White (6.06)-keeper now I believe, Berrian (keeper), Hester (14.06) Justin McCareins (12.06)…could be worse.
TE: Greg Olsen (11.05) Donald Lee (13.05)…this was terrible when you look at how many really good TE fell down the board, to come away with this is rather bad IMO.
Team 6 (JeMarcus Russell) (Willis McGahee) (Deion Branch)
QB: Derek Anderson (6.05)-keeper, Jon Kitna (8.05)-I think he might surprise, Russell (keeper)…this is just OK…gonna be down some weeks when he faces Brady, Romo, Manning, Brees…
RB: Steven Jackson (1.06)-I have been lucky to have him fall to me at 1.07 a lot this year but not in this one, McGahee(keeper), Chris Perry (7.06), Ahmad Bradshaw (11.06) Leon Washington (14.05)…I like this group, plenty of pop at the top, McGahee will get on track eventually, and perry, Bradshaw, and Washington round out some nice options potentially on the bench. Good solid group.
WR: this is one of the hum dingers…Braylon Edwards(2.05), Torry Holt (3.06) Plaxico Burress (4.05)…now that is an impressive starting 3 if you ask me…should have the advantage at WR most weeks from what we have seen so far. S.Moss(9.05), Bobby Engram (13.06), and Deion Branch (keeper)…one too many injured Seadogs WR for my taste but the top of the order is pretty strong.
TE: Jeremy Shockey (5.06) Zach Miller (17.06)-I am convinced in the guppy leagues that no one has any clue what this guy can do…absolute armed robbery down here.
Team 7 (Larry Johnson) (Michael Turner) (Lee Evans)
QB: Tony Romo (2.04) Matt Schaub (10.04) Sage Rosenfels (17.07)…this person had the luxury to dip into the QB treasure chest with some of the keepers already on the roster. I think if you have a QB in that top4…the only thing you put behind them is a guy that could potentially explode and I think Schaub fits that bill…and this owner decided to take Rosenfels over a guy like Matt Ryan who would likely never get the call.
RB: Larry Johnson (keeper) Michael Turner (keeper) Chris Johnson (6.04)-keeper now, Ray Rice (7.07), Steve Slaton (14.04)…this owner opted not to take MB III, Portis, or Lynch with the 1.07 because of the advantage at RB going into the draft. I think even if they had taken MB III, they still would have ended up with a very strong team.
WR: Terrell Owens (1.07), Andre Johnson (3.07), Calvin Johnson (5.07), Lee Evans(keeper)-taken off that status now but still on team, Teddy Ginn (9.07), and Chris Henry (16.04)…the reality is there were only so many slots to fill. By this point some of you probably have figured out this is likely my team. TO, AJ, and Calvin are going to make for a pretty explosive trio at WR…and I really like Ginn and Evans in the wings to spot start as well.
TE: Jason Witten (4.04) and Owen Daniels (11.07)…just no way to pass up Daniels in the 11th round. If he does as well as some of us think he can, he might fight his way into the starting roster some weeks.
This team is very strong and I think there is enough talent beyond just the starters to help in any trades that might be needed should some deficiencies pop up.
Team 8 (Jay Cutler) (Chris Chambers) (Brandon Jacobs)…one of the more well rounded keeper trios.
QB: Cutler (keeper), Hass (7.08), Trent Edwards (17.07)…hass has no WR bu the should do better as the season rolls along. Cutler Hass has the potential to be a good duo at QB.
RB: Portis (1.08), Ryan Grant (2.03), Brandon Jacobs (keeper), Kevin Smith (6.03)-keeper now, Chester Taylor (10.03)…no need to reach for Grant when he had Jacobs already…could have done better had he laid off Grant, but then again that is personal biased.
WR: considering he didn’t start till the end of the 3rd round I think he did terrific…Marshall(3.08)-I wavered between him and AJ, Steve Smith (4.03)-armed robbery in progress, Marvin Harrison (5.08)-could be a steal, DeSean Jax (11.08), Ronald Curry (12.03), Chris Chambers (keeper)…one of the strongest at WR in the league IMO.
TE: Vernon Davis (8.03) and Randy McMichael (16.03)…this could pose problems possibly.
This is a good solid team and unfortunately in my division where we square off twice.
Team 9 (Laurence Maroney) (Larry Fitzgerald)
QB: P.Manning (2.02), Campbell (14.02), Matt Leinart (18.02)
RB: MB III (1.11), Maroney (keeper), Thomas Jones (3.09), Selvin Young (4.02), Matt Forte (6.02)-keeper now…he took 4 RBs in the 1st 6 rounds…I had a gameplan that looked like that till I ran scenario after scenario thru Draft Dominator.
WR: Fitz (keeper), Nate Burleson (5.09), Donald Driver (7.09), Javon Walker (8.02), Isaac Bruce (13.09), and Robert Meachem (15.09)-Patten went undrafted IIRC. Nothing wrong with Fitz and Driver, the rest will likely be hit and miss a lot.
TE: Tony Scheffler (12.02) and LJ Smith (16.02)…I like Smith better than Scheffler, this is not a bad combo, but again this isn’t best ball so you might come up short when forced to only start 1 each week.
Team 10…new owner, took over a bad team, Rivers was his only keeper and he drew last slot…but he got the 1st pick in the ever crucial keeper round.
QB: David Garrard (7.10), Philip Rivers (keeper), JT O’Sullivan (15.10)…this is not going to stand up to some of the other starters at all…10 team leagues are rough…what works in theory on an FBG Blackboard in the Shark Pool doesn’t always translate to real world…in a 10 team league Garrard has to be a marginal starting QB, and I wouldn’t want him every week.
RB: Marshawn Lynch (1.10), Earnest Graham (3.10), Jonathon Stewart (6.01)-new keeper for him, Rudi Johnson (10.01)-he was signed literally as the draft was going on, when word broke he picked him up, interesting pick I think, Deuce McAllister (13.10)-getting no love but he looked alright in preseason. This is not the worst group in the league but it also isn’t the strongest either…middle of the road maybe?
WR: Reggie Wayne (2.01), Anquan Boldin (4.01), L.Coles (8.01)-gift, Kevin Walter (9.10), Jabar Gaffney (14.01)-Jackson being cut makes him move up my board quite a bit…I was looking at him for my WR6 but it just didn’t happen.
TE: Tony Gonzalez (5.10) and Dustin Keller (17.10)
If any of you have drafts coming up this week, maybe even after the Thurs game, and you are wondering what it is like now that you have all the info…what Dodd’s mentions about the mindset of other owners, you need to really try and examine that. Do you talk to your league mates? Many times they will show their hands before the draft, take everything with a grain of salt but sometimes there is no reason not to ask for info. I sometimes throw out some of the guy I like and don’t like just to throw them off.
Some people are going to ask why I did this…I think most people that frequent these boards want to share what has happened in their drafts. You don’t want to wait till the season is completely over to reveal what you did. And we spend a ton of time in the off season discussing all these things, and we want to run back and share with others that take do take this hobby a little more seriously. What I am trying to impress on you is that its OK to share what you did, what happened and how it might relate to others, but you have to give some sort of breakdown and take. If you post your roster but you never loaded it into DD and then you roll into the Shark Pool and want feedback, you’re going to get directed to the coach’s forum. While we are on that topic...people bellyache that the coach's forum doesn't help, and to that I invite you to get to know Jeff Tefertiller or as I always knew him, Wannabee. That guy is one of the best at orchestrating trades, and bettering rosters, and he loves to do it. So my advice is that if you really need to be supported more than just getting a little info and actually want to trust someone else to pick your roster or come up with ideas to improve your team(not saying there is anything wrong with that), my suggestion is to seek out his help.
In closing, I know I did not have the perfect draft..in fact I am not sure one actually exists except in theory...HOWEVER, I felt oddly comfortable on almost every pick, i knew what was going to happen, and I typically had a good beat on who would be there and who wouldn't at the next pick...I really attribute that to the boards and FBG staff articles as well. There is always room for improvement in these drafts if we could rewind the tapes and start over, but you can still put up a very nice effort and come away happy if you plan it right. My draft almost got derailed with Moss going off the board at #3...but I dind't panic and in fact the next 4 rounds i got exactly who ithought I would get for the most part.
Good Luck!!!
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This was a major "feature" of my scrub 12-teamer draft last week. Can't figure out the attraction -- half the teams had at least 2 QBs by the end of the 8th, one guy kept 2 QBs then used his 1st rounder on a 3rd and another left with 5(!) QBs rostered. Kinda seemed like one or two guys got it going and most of these rest just panicked and blindly continued the run, regardless of team needs or other value on the board.I'm happy enough to fortify at other areas but man it put a hurt on my ability to procure a livable QB2. Not sure what to take from this. No way am I diving in early enough to grab a backup before these guys would so I guess I'll plan on being a bit underwhelming at QB2. Hopefully, some strategic changes will be in order next year if some guys realize that you can only start one and overkill at the position is just going to limit you elsewhere.
This is a great post - you refer to yourself in the third person and shower yourself with compliments! Classic!
This is a great post - you refer to yourself in the third person and shower yourself with compliments! Classic!
I really was expecting a much better team for his holier than thou attitude.
