Monday, July 5, 2010

Draft Order

The annual drawing of the names out of a hat has been done (and with the usual indifference by Grace)! With baseball being the only sport going right now, it's time to start looking ahead at football. Well, it's time for me to start looking ahead at football...The rest of you will probably be normal and wait for at least training camps to start.

2010 Knob Hill Fantasy League Draft Order:

1. Adam

2. Grace

3. Amber

4. Brian

5. ???

6. Mike

7. Stacey

8. Kevin

***

~We still need someone to take that #5 slot. Adam, do you think Brian or Jane would want to have a team? I liked them.

~Weird coincidence that Adam and Kevin flipped draft spots from last year. But if last year proved anything, it doesn't matter where you draft- both Adam and Kevin made the playoffs.

~I have to keep my pledge and name my team in honor of Tom Izzo, but am struggling coming up with something. I don't want it to be an MSU dedication, but rather more about Izzo. Ideas would be appreciated.

~Mikey D

14 comments:

Grace, Money Smart Fashion said...

tom izzo is awesome! done and done.

love you!

Kevin said...

Tom IZ #1
Kneel Before IzZod!
TD's for T.I.
The NFL's Izzone
The REAl Tom Terrific
Izzo's War Drill
The WhIZ Kids


I'm really stretching here...

Mikey D said...

The WhIZ Kids! Love it!

Grace's dad gave us an autographed baseball of the original Whiz Kids awhile back. Really neat; it's got former Spartan and HOFer Robin Roberts...and the rest of 1950 Phillies!

There's my name. Thanks!

Adam said...

I don't know how I feel about the #1 pick. Normally, you should be excited and the selection is obvious. I don't know that it is this year. Suggestions on my pick?

Mikey D said...

Chris Johnson or AP; the cream of the RB crop.

Chris Johnson is a beast, has no other back to compete with on his run-first team, and from my initial research, has a run-friendly schedule.

AP is Mr. Consistent. He's not going to break three 60-yd TD runs, but he's a lock for 10+ TDs. He's done it the last few years. And since our scoring is TD heavy, he's a safe bet. Plus you have to figure they don't want to throw as much with Favre as they did last year.

Who else are you possibly thinking about?

Adam said...

I've only been thinking about Johnson really. I'm just not completely sold on AP. CJ just doesn't strike fear like LT did a few years ago. There's not a "how can I keep up if he goes off" feeling.

Mikey D said...

Haha, CJ strikes fear to me! Just listen to these stats:

-2000 yards rushing + 500 yards passing last year. WOW.

-16 total TDs last year (14 rushing, 2 receiving).

-He finished the season with 11 straight 100+ yard rushing games (including a 228 yarder performance).

-His best game was Week 2 when he ran for 197, and caught 9 passes for 87 yards...and scored 3 times. He does it all.

-He's had 85, 89, 91 yd TD runs. He can score whenever, from wherever.

If I had number 1, CJ would be my pick...and I'd be pretty darn happy =).

Mikey D said...

*When I said passing, I meant 500 yards receiving.

Kevin said...

It's a QB league now. I would take Brees or Manning #1.

Mikey D said...

Would you take Brees and a 2nd tier back...a Mendenhall/Greene/Mathews

or

Chris Johnson and a 2nd tier QB, like Romo/Rivers/Schaub/Favre?

I'd take the latter. Maybe I'm just blinded because I love CJ, but I'd have two guys I could trust- well, as much as you can trust in fantasy. CJ would be good for 10+ TDs and, say, Rivers for 25+ (probably more for each). I don't know if I could pass on that for Brees and an unproven/less upside RB.

Agree that it's a QB league now. Having a good QB is nice, but at that right price. Brees at #1 overall would be too steep of a price, in my opinion. In last year's fantasy championship, for example, Stacey had McNabb and Roethlisberger- not exactly studs like Brees. What she also had was MJD...while you had AP and Gore. That's 3 of the top 5 players on this year's draft board!

Now if you think Brees or Manning will throw around 50 TDs, well that's a different story...

Kevin said...

I guess it depends on who you think everyone else is going to draft. If you like a player that you think will slide to you at pick #16, (let's say you thought Mendenhall was going to be a breakout star this year) then yeah, I would take Brees/Mendenhall over Johnson/Favre.

If you thought Matt Stafford (or some other QB) was going to be breakout star, maybe go with Johnson or AP.

Kevin said...

Of course, Steve Slaton was my "breakout star" last year, so take my advice at your own peril...

Mikey D said...

I understand what you're saying. I suppose if I felt Mendenhall was going to be a stud I'd want to get that sure-fire QB to pair with him.

But I do think it's much easier to predict a QB's stats than a RBs. You can guess what you're going to get from Rivers or Romo (25TDs) because they've done it for multiple years in a row now. RBs vary from year to year; they're much harder to predict. That's why there's something to be said about taking a stable back like AP, MJD, or CJ (jesus, all these damn initials)- you know what you're getting. The "breakout" guy should be taken later...

...unless you're a gambler! Let's say CJ/Romo are safe for 37 TDs (12 & 25 respectively). And let's say a Brees/Mendenhall combo could get either 47 TDs or 27 TDs (boom or bust). Which would you go for? Safe? Or risk/reward?

Kevin said...

Haha, go big or go home!

I say go for risk/reward. If everyone else in the league is following the same strategy, someones's going to get lucky and get the reward. The "safe" play will usually get you a first round loss in the playoffs.



....unless your late round sleepers payoff! If you plan on taking a lot of risk in the later rounds, then you're probably better off playing it safe in the early rounds with guys who are more consistent.