Mikey D

Best and Worst Picks:

Round 1: Best- Aaron Rodgers (Wicked Weasels), Worst- Maurice Jones-Drew (1st and Goal) Big fan of Rodgers...I picked MJD as the worst because Amber wasn't there to draft. Boo.
Round 2: Best- Andre Johnson (1st and Goal), Worst- Shonne Greene (Royale with Cheese) Andre Johnson lasted until the 14th pick? That's a great steal...so why didn't you grab him, Jason?!? I think Greene might have come back to him in the 3rd round, in hindsight.
Round 3: Best- Calvin Johnson (I'm not a Pig-Cow!), Worst- Brett Favre (Royale with Cheese) Randy Moss and Megatron make a nice 1-2. It was the one guy Grace really wanted, so I'm glad she got him...I'm not too hot on Favre this year. I think the magic from last year is gone.
Round 4: Best- Greg Jennings (1st and Goal), Worst- Hines Ward (Wicked Weasels) I think Jennings bounces back big time this year...too early on to pick Hines; could have had him 3-4 rounds later.
Round 5: Best- Rashard Mendenhall (The WhIZ Kidz), Worst- Matthew Stafford (Royale with Cheese) The guy is the 11th ranked player overall...Stafford could have been had one or two rounds later.
Round 6: Best- Eli Manning (TakingItToTheIzzone), Worst- Ronnie Brown (Dublin Daredevils) Eli isn't a sexy pick, but Adam waited on his 2nd QB and it paid off: he got the last of the "stable" quarterbacks. 20+ TDs is pretty much a guarantee...I like Brown, but he's too much of an injury risk. I would have taken Beanie, Pierre, Jamaal, Jahvid, or Cedric instead.
Round 7: Best- JerMichael Finley (Royale with Cheese), Worst- Terrell Owens (Wicked Weasels) All-in on Finley this year...Owens could have been had a round or two later.
Round 8: Best- Cedric Benson (Wicked Weasels), Worst- San Francisco Defense (Dublin Daredevils) Seriously? How did Benson slip this far!?! Awesome value...I think the SF defense would have been there a few rounds later.
Round 9: Best- Jonathan Stewart (TakingItToTheIzzone), Worst- Mark Sanchez (Wicked Weasels) I was hoping Stewart would slip to me, but no dice. Nice job, Adam...HATE Sanchez. I don't see him making any sort of improvement over last year.
Round 10: Best- Vince Young (Kevinexhaustable), Worst- Stephen Gostkowski (1st and Goal) Not bad for a backup! And Kevin got his man. All is right with the world...this is what happens when you auto-draft. You get a fucking kicker in the 10th.
Round 11: Best- Arian Foster (The WhIZ Kidz), Worst- Sidney Rice (1st and Goal) Another starting running back, and in a high-powerd offense...had Amber been drafting, she would have known Sidney might not be back all year. Oh well.
Round 12: Best- Mike Wallace (Dublin Daredevils), Worst- Devin Aromashodu (The WhIZ Kidz) Anybody else see a DeShaun Jackson in the making with Wallace?...I took a guy who's listed as a #3 on his team's depth chart.
Round 13: Best- Jason Campbell (Dublin Daredevils), Worst- Ryan Longwell (Wicked Weasels) Great backup QB in the 13th...still too early for a kicker.
Round 14: Best- C.J. Spiller (Kevinexhaustable), Worst- TJ Houshmanzadeh (Dublin Daredevils) Of all the players in Round 14, Spiller has the most upside and potential...Thought about McGahee here, but even with Rice exploding last year McGahee had 14 TDs (14!!!) and is a Rice injury away from being a stud back. I just don't trust any Seahawk, and Houshmanzadeh disappeared last year.
Round 15: Best- Matt Forte (TakingItToTheIzzone), Worst- Kickers (Many Teams) Wow, Forte in the 15th? Bush and Dez Bryant too! It's amazing some of the players that slip through the cracks...kickers, bleah.
Round 16: Best- Heath Miller (Royale with Cheese), Worst- Josh Johnson (1st and Goal) Heath Miller is not a kicker or defense. He's a real player. Best pick....Whoa. Josh Johnson is the backup QB on the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. What???


My own personal thoughts on my team. I did a bunch of statistical work this summer because 1)I had the time, and 2)I lacked a real hobby. I looked at a lot of things, from rankings, to projections, to the previous year's points and draft results. From all the number crunching and analyzing, I basically reached the following conclusions:

1)After the top-7 QBs, there's quite a drop off in terms of production and uncertainty.
2)Andre Johnson and Randy Moss are clearly the top-2 WRs. But after that, 3-11 on most draft boards are basically interchangeable in terms of projected production, but the dropoff after the first 11 is significant.
3)WRs, compared to RBs, are safer picks. More WRs live up to their pre-draft ranking than RBs.
4)There is definitely an elite-tier of running backs, but the RB position on a whole is deeper than any other position. This is primarily due to the running back by committee approach, with more quality backs available. What makes CJ and AP so valuable? Talent AND opportunity. There are a lot of talented backs out there...it's guessing the ones that will get the most opportunity that's the hard part.

So with those thoughts in mind, my plan was to grab two elite QBs with my first two picks, followed by two of the WRs that were ranked in that 3-11 range. After that I wanted RBs, and I felt like there would probably be a RB or two that would slip down and be a great value pick. I could fill out my WR3 late with a Johnny Knox, Mike Wallace, or Malcom Floyd type player with some good upside.

So it was mission accomplished with Brees and Brady (although I was shooting for a Rodgers-Romo pairing, but hey, elite is elite), and then Miles Austin in the 3rd round (apparently I like him more than most people). I was hoping Marshall would fall, but Kevin nabbed him on his back to back picks. I was looking at Jennings and Jackson, but I really wanted Finley as my TE, so I was nervous about taking two guys from the same team, which left me with just Jackson. I don't hate Jackson, but when I looked at the RBs, with DeAngelo and Mendenhall still there...I just couldn't resist. I just liked them more than Jackson.

In hindsight, I regret that decision because Mendenhall still made his way to me in Round 5, which is a great value, but I could have had my WR2 in the 4th and still gotten a good RB in the 5th. I liked Steve Smith (NYG) in the 5th as well, and would have taken him instead of Mendenhall, but like DeAngelo, the value was just too good. So given the choice...I went with the RB that will get 250+ touches.

If there was one player I really wanted, it was JerMichael Finley. I think he will be the number one tight end this year. I thought he'd make it around to me in Round 7, so I gambled and took my other pre-draft favorite, Jamaal Charles. Two questions: Who had the highest YPC last year? Charles. Highest YAC (yards after contact)? Charles. Yes please. I'm buying.

My hopes for Finley were washed away quickly when the run on tight ends occurred and Jason took him one spot before me. I figured I'd finally attend to my receiving corps, but then there was Jahvid Best. An electric starting running back that can run and catch? That's worth more than grabbing some crappy receiver like Dwayne Bowe (who I got a couple rounds later anyway).

I finally addressed my receivers with Bowe, Knox, Aromashadu, and Berrian. Sounds weak, but I think at least one will emerge as a weekly starter. I'm glad I grabbed both Chicago guys. I'm a believer in the Martz offense and the fact that it makes players better for fantasy purposes (case in point: Roy Williams and Jon Kitna). Knox has been raved about by the coaching staff thus far in the preseason. Aromashadu and Cutler developed a connection with monster games towards the end of last year. One will hopefully emerge. And Berrian (nicknamed BTwice)...look, Harvin is liability, and Rice is gone. Who's left? By default Berrian will be the team's number one, and with Favre throwing him the ball I could get 7-8 TDs possibly from this deep threat. In the 14th round I think I could have done worse.

The receivers are definitely a work in progress, and are my team's biggest question mark without a doubt. I'm pretty comfortable with my other positions (especially after trading for Finley), and given that I'm pretty deep at RB I'm hoping I can pull off a trade midway through the year and upgrade at WR. We'll see. Overall I thought my draft was a little crazy, but I'm more comfortable with this team than after last year's draft.

I'll probably do a post with some predictions in it the next day or so.

~Mikey D