April 30, 2009
I hope you guys don't think this is getting to be overkill, but many commenters seem to be interested in this ongoing dynasty draft. So here is how it's gone so far:
1.01 Moreno, Knowshon
1.02 Wells, Chris
1.03 Brown, Donald
1.04 Crabtree, Michael
1.05 Nicks, Hakeem
1.06 Greene, Shonn (mine -- after trade)
1.07 Britt, Kenny (Drew Silva's -- whoops, with Shady McCoy on the board)
1.08 McCoy, LeSean
1.09 Harvin, Percy
1.10 Sanchez, Mark
1.11 Maclin, Jeremy
1.12 Robiskie, Brian
2.01 Heyward-Bey, Darrius
2.02 Stafford, Matthew
2.03 Brown, Andre
2.04 Coffee, Glen
2.05 Davis, James
2.06 Johnson, Gartrell
2.07 Tate, Brandon (Drew Silva's -- long-term flier pick)
2.08 Peerman, Cedric
2.09 Freeman, Josh
2.10 Jennings, Rashad
2.11 Williams, Derrick (mine -- good call Dude Abides)
2.12 Pettigrew, Brandon
Continue reading "UPDATE II: In-Progress Dynasty League Draft" »
I can't help but follow up on Chris' post yesterday after doing some work on my running back outlooks. While the Saints reportedly were interested in trading up for Beanie Wells, their need for a big back was vastly overstated.
Pierre Thomas was the hardest player in the NFC to stop for no gain or a loss of yardage last year. That's a pretty important short-yardage skill. He also led the NFC in % of touchdowns on runs inside the ten-yard line and first downs/carry. Go through almost any short-yardage metric and Thomas did very well. They don't need a bruiser.
On the flip side is one of our favorite players: Chris Johnson.
Continue reading "Chris Johnson, All Day thrive despite Stuffs" »
April 29, 2009
You guys are more conservative than an NRA rally. In the Michael Turner/Frank Gore dynasty trade discussion, the consensus was to stand pat. This time around, most of you again recommended to stay put.
Resident dynasty wizard Chris Wesseling constantly drives home the point that late first-round picks are probably the most overrated dynasty commodities going. Also, I thought cgeezy made the best argument for selling the picks for Shonn Greene on page five of the comments. I traded the picks and got the Iowa Hawkeye. Greene has no experience as a receiver and won't play on third downs in the league -- at least for a year or two -- but his fit in the Jets' offense and opportunity was too good to pass up.
Continue reading "UPDATE: Welcome aboard Shonn Greene" »
While Pierre Thomas has been a Rotoworld poster boy since last offseason, Gregg Rosenthal and I had serious concerns about his value leading up to the draft.
Gregg wondered if Thomas’ value had already reached its peak considering Sean Payton had been openly pining for a big back since the season ended. I labeled Thomas and Steve Slaton as the two backs with the most on the line the draft.
The Saints made it through the draft without selecting a bruiser, and Payton later admitted the backfield upgrade was more of a luxury than a necessity. As I pointed out last December, Thomas is a far more effective player -- and a better fantasy investment -- than Reggie Bush. Gregg took it a step further, opining that Thomas’ late-season emergence changed the pecking order in the Saints backfield going forward.
Now that the Saints bypassed Chris Wells and Knowshon Moreno, Thomas will remain the lead back in New Orleans. He’s a RB2 with upside and should be selected ahead of Bush in fantasy drafts this summer.
Tiffany and I are back with a post-Draft Fantasy Fix. Mark Sanchez, who follows Rotoworld on Twitter, kicks us off with a quick Fix shoutout. (He doesn't "follow" me, though, so I'll have to tell him what's up.) We then rank the top backs and receivers in the class. Enjoy.
April 28, 2009
I am currently involved in a 12-team dynasty league draft. After executing a trade that brought me another first-round pick, I am armed with two picks in the top 12. My selection is one away. Here is who's gone so far: This is a non-PPR league.
1.01 Sports Grumblings - Moreno, Knowshon
1.02 FantasyFootballStarters.com - Wells, Chris
1.03 FantasyTailgate.com - Brown, Donald
1.04 TheFootballExpert.com - Crabtree, Michael
1.05 FantasyFootballCafe.com - Nicks, Hakeem
1.06 FantasyFootballWhiz.com - Greene, Shonn
1.07 Rotoworld (Drew Silva) - Britt, Kenny
1.08 Footballguys_Smith - On the clock
1.09 Rotoworld.com (Evan)
1.10 FantasySharks.com
1.11 Rotoworld.com (Evan)
1.12 FFToolbox
Continue reading "In-Progress Dynasty League Draft" »
I participated in a couple of classic post-draft exercises on Monday:
1. We conducted our Mock Draft for the magazine.
2. I started working on the running back rankings for the magazine. (And a Fantasy Fix taping this morning.)
I'll go into details on both sometime soon, but immediately something jumped out to me among the running back rookies: the lack of depth.
You've got the big three in the first round (Chris Wells, Knowshon Moreno, and Donald Brown.) They will all be big fantasy factors. You've got Shonn Greene, a huge sleeper who may produce like a member of the big three. And then you've got ... not much.
Shady McCoy has long term potential, but he's ultimately Brian Westbrook's caddy. After that, you have to dip down to real long shots like Andre Brown, James Davis, and Rashad Jennings. I'm not buying the Glen Coffee experiment yet. Some of these guys may emerge, but they aren't likely to be counted on as draft picks in most standard leagues, unless they are deep league fliers.
This was a weak draft in general, although the top wasn't bad at running back. Just don't expect the depth of previous years.
April 27, 2009
Tom Curran and I talk draft winners, losers, Mark Sanchez, and Brian Orakpo for Rookie of the Year in Three and Out.
Leading up to the draft, Steve Slaton owners had to be feeling a bit queasy about the possibility of an early-round running back pick. Instead, he managed to make it through the draft with his value completely unscathed.
I was convinced the Texans would find a talented bruiser to take over short-yardage and red zone work since it was an area of weakness for Slaton as a rookie. Now I’m getting served with a full helping of crow.
Undrafted free agents Jeremiah Johnson and Arian Foster were added shortly after the draft. Johnson, a change of pace back, is no threat to Slaton, though Foster has the bulk to work his way in down the line if he can stay healthy. Still, the fact that the Texans didn’t draft a back speaks volumes about their faith in Slaton. He’s the obvious choice as the draft’s biggest winner and should remain a Top-15 back in 2009.
The Browns had a nice draft. (They even have the grade to prove it.) But from a fantasy perspective, they left the proceedings with a lot of questions dangling.
1. Instead of a confusing race between Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson, we now have a three-man race that includes Brett Ratliff. The former Jet seems most likely to be a backup, but he's a Mangini favorite. It reminds me of when Mike Martz added J.T. O'Sullivan to San Francisco last year as the underdog in a three-man derby.
Quinn looks unlikely to be dealt now, but you can't know for sure now because of the logjam at the position. Cleveland tried to see what they could get for Quinn and weren't happy with what they found.
2. Remember when we heard at various points the Browns had first-round picks on the table for Braylon Edwards and Quinn? The media got played there: Mangini apparently wasn't just spreading Michael Crabtree information.
Continue reading "Draft doesn't answer Browns questions" »
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