The League

Personally the rookie draft has been a big disaster for me over the years. Mostly busts with only a couple mild hits.

My draft this year:

1.15 Dalton, Andy CIN QB (R)
2.04 Brown, Vincent SDC WR (R)
2.07 Hunter, Kendall SFO RB (R)
2.09 Kaepernick, Colin SFO QB (R)

Overall, considering how mediocre this year's draft class is, I think I did decent. I seem to hit mostly on QBs thus I took a couple. What I like about this group of 4 is that all should have a chance at some playing time this year which is always good for a rookie. But I have zero expectations of any of them.

Dalton - Can't beat it for the price at that point in the draft. Very good chance at being a starter Day 1, certainly in 2012 for sure.

Brown - May get some playing time this year, depends if they bring in Steve Smith. But he has one of the top QBs in the game so worth the shot.

Hunter - Gore probably only has one more year in San Fran so take a shot that he replaces Gore next year.

Kaepernick - Anyone trust Alex Smith? I didn't think so.

So how do you think you did?

Well, I think everyone knows by now how high I am on drafting future talent. Although my though isn't always reality, I do tend to get luckier then not. So with that said the below group is a major steal IMO;

1.01 Ingram, Mark NOS RB (R) - Aruguably the best RB in the draft. Best situation?? Prolly not as I tried hard to trade out of this pick. Still with a injury prone backfield I could get lucky as hell and fall into a 1RB situation..

1.04 Thomas, Daniel MIA RB (R) - Here was my #1 player on my draft board. Took a big risk waiting till 1.04 to take him but I just felt lucky. If he had gone #2 or #3 I would have been majorly pissed for not taking him #1. Fortune was on my side this day and Thomas should be a major stud in Mia even if they bring back Ronnie...

1.07 Little, Greg CLE WR (R) - AJ. Green clearly #1 with Julio Jones the consensus #2 but Little was my #2 WR all along. He'll be the main guy in Cleveland and could be the steal of the draft at 1.07...

1.09 Helu, Roy WAS RB (R) - Yeah, go ahead and laugh but this guy could end up a Fantasy Stud playing for Shanahan. His main competition is Torain who is also on the Punisher roster. Taking Helu assures me of having the starting RB in Washington. This pick was a no brainer IMO..

2.01 Hankerson, Leonard WAS WR (R) - Again, laugh if you want to but Hankerson should walk into the season as the #1 WR and their biggest playmaker at WR. Any time you can get a #1 guy this late you are truly blessed. Last year I took Mike Williams at 2.04 and we all know how that worked out....

3.09 Shorts, Cecil JAC WR (R) - A weak, weak WR corp in Jacksonville gives any WR a hell of a chance. Shorts will play day 1 and slowly become their go to target IMO... This guy hasn't gotten much attention but he will soon enough... Watch drafts later in the year and you'll see this guy going higher and higher every one... He won't have a Mike Williams season year #1 but in year 2 look out.....

3.12 Burton, Stephen MIN WR (R) - Come on, I'm a Viking fan so what can I say.. Truth is Burton is 6ft 1inch, 221lbs and runs a freakish 4.38 with a 1.48 ten yard split. A injury or two (which the Vikings are good for) and Burton could be a nice bonus player.

Well, since my first pick was not until the number 12 slot of round 2, there is no way I can say with a straight face that I had a good draft. However, I will say that with my lowered expectations, I did OK.

2.12 Alex Green, RB GBP - the RB situation in GB is an interesting one. Is Ryan Grant the guy? Will he even be back this year? Starks showed some promise last year and would probbably be the one to take the starting role if Grant is not around. But Stark runs kind of upright and that can lead to injury problems, so could Green get in sooner than later? Maybe.

2.15 Titus Young WR DET - I was a little surprised to see Titus fall so far down the board and of course glad that he did. Although, if you kept up with the on-line chat happening during the draft, neither GP nor Amish thought he went too late, but I did. This year I can see Titus contributing on special teams and hopefully as a #3 WR out of the slot, using his speed to give the Lions a quick strike playmaker on deep routes. Maybe he could turn into a poor man's version of DeSean Jackson or maybe not, but at this point in the draft definitely worth taking a flyer.

3.04 Robert Housler TE ARI - Here's my "Aw what the heck, why not pick". The kid is 6-6 and 248 pounds. Could be a big red-zone target for some QB in Arizona (maybe Kevin Kolb?). Arizona's current TEs are nothing to be excited about, especially when they do not throw much to the TE, but maybe that is a result of the crappy TEs they have. With Fitz being the obvious threat and Breaston being an average receiver, why not sneak this guy down the seam (like Whitten or Gates) or into the Red zone for a jump ball. Probably just wishful thinking on my part

your wrong on Titus brother.... I was saying I couldn't understand why he was being drafted so late and Amish was saying he's gonna be a #3 or #4 which I disagreed. A guy with his speed playing opposite of CJ is certainly gonna get his targets. I would have taken him if he feel to my next pick.

1.11- Cam Newton: Pretty amazed he lasted till here. The implied odds are too good not to call and see the turn I could regret passing on Vereen/Baldwin but I think Cam is an absolute steal here. I have a need at QB anyway, but Cam looks like the real deal to me. As long as he can stay healthy, which might be more of a challenge for him if he doesn't learn to slide, I think he'll be a startable option... if not elite.

2.11- Greg Salas: Foresaw grabbing a RB here, but none I liked were left. I like Salas' velcro mits but hate that Pettite was selected ahead of him. Considered Kendricks and Titus here too but took Salas based on his sure hands.

Traded Ivory for 3.10: I wasn't super excited with my draft at this point as I expected to have an young RB to look forward to... but when I noticed Jerrel Jerrnigan was still available I perked up and offered Chris Ivory for the pick. I'm glad to have gotten anything for Ivory as I think he'll have a difficult time returning from the lisfranc, let alone getting time between Ingram/Pierre/Bush. Got him in the auction after the draft last year so it's a net gain IMO... and Jernigan was ranked in most "experts" top 5-top 10 WR pre draft rankings w/ a 2nd rnd grade. I don't know why going to the Giants has hurt his stock so much.

3.11: Julius Thomas... drafted before combine darling V. Green to a coach who hasn't utilized the TE... but dude is smart and I think he'll make a great, athletic, reliable target for Tebow. Should see the field quite a bit early on so I should know if he's worth holding on to right away.


Prob could've done better, but we'll see how it pans out. I'm excited to have a player as controversial as Cam Newton on board. He seems like a total doucher personally but the athletic upside is so through the roof and I have so little really invested in him it'll be fun to ride the roller coaster and see where the wheel lands.

Georgia Punishers wrote:your wrong on Titus brother.... I was saying I couldn't understand why he was being drafted so late and Amish was saying he's gonna be a #3 or #4 which I disagreed. A guy with his speed playing opposite of CJ is certainly gonna get his targets. I would have taken him if he feel to my next pick.

Actually what I was saying is he will be at least 4th in the target rotation. You got both Calvin and Burelson at WR, Best at RB and Pettigrew at TE. So that leaves Titus at #5 in the passing rotation. He's only going to be the slot receiver in this offense right now, especially the next couple years. That doesn't leave that many catches for him. About the time he will get a chance to actually "break out" and possibly start as the #2 WR, assuming he can transition to that, his contract will be nearly up in our league. So assuming you can actually make room to carry him for the full 5 years you may get some good production out of him in yr 5, maybe 4.

*That's* why he's a late 2nd rounder in our league, because the likelihood of immediate impact is small, but he is a decent long term prospect if you can make room for him to get him past year 3. It's great and all to be high on rookies, but it's takes a few years for most (those that aren't a top 5 stud) to have an impact and we just don't have the roster space to carry so many of them thru to the end. Around yr 3 on your roster you're going to be dropping a bunch to make room for the ones you've drafted the past 1-2 years. And all you'll be is in an endless cycle of rookies with little production and more importantly cap hits that will start to add up and cripple your team. For example you're already at 1.2 million cap hit for next year. It adds up fast.

Now I'm not saying that the "shotgun" approach to rookies by taking a bunch and hoping 1-2 hit early isn't a bad thing. But it's a balancing act with cap hits and the roster limit for sure. But I think that's why the Helu pick was a "huh?" for a lot of people because that's an awful big salary to give a Shannahan one year wonder (if we follow history) and you'll take a pretty big cap him in a year or two to make room for your new crop of players. Taking him later with a much lower salary makes better sense. I think our salary cap tosses a wrench in the mix with the draft. Helu may be the "sexy take a chance" pick in many rookie draft, but it's a tough cap hit to swallow if he follows the road so many Shanny RBs have taken. That's all. I think taking him in the top 10 is a great boom/bust pick in many drafts if you've got nothing else you like, but less so with the salary he gets as a top 10 in this league.

Then again, my team has never made the playoffs so what do I know, obviously not much.

No sweat brother... If we all had the same opinion on players none of us would get the guys we want at draft time... I've always been a guy who thinks outside the box but its worked very well for me. I'm a strong believer in the frase that if it ain't broken don't fix it. I'm not seeing the same thing with Helu, his salary is only $1,325,000 which is much lower then the average for RB's in this league. Shanny's belcows we're all good for 2 or 3 years and I'll take that all day long. I think I turned things around for this team pretty good in year #1 and I like my chances even more this year. Just looking at rosters I think mine can hang around with just about anyone. But thats why we play the games... Watch me have a 1 win season....lol

Georgia Punishers wrote:Well, I think everyone knows by now how high I am on drafting future talent. Although my though isn't always reality, I do tend to get luckier then not. So with that said the below group is a major steal IMO;

1.01 Ingram, Mark NOS RB (R) - Aruguably the best RB in the draft. Best situation?? Prolly not as I tried hard to trade out of this pick. Still with a injury prone backfield I could get lucky as hell and fall into a 1RB situation..

1.04 Thomas, Daniel MIA RB (R) - Here was my #1 player on my draft board. Took a big risk waiting till 1.04 to take him but I just felt lucky. If he had gone #2 or #3 I would have been majorly pissed for not taking him #1. Fortune was on my side this day and Thomas should be a major stud in Mia even if they bring back Ronnie...

1.07 Little, Greg CLE WR (R) - AJ. Green clearly #1 with Julio Jones the consensus #2 but Little was my #2 WR all along. He'll be the main guy in Cleveland and could be the steal of the draft at 1.07...

1.09 Helu, Roy WAS RB (R) - Yeah, go ahead and laugh but this guy could end up a Fantasy Stud playing for Shanahan. His main competition is Torain who is also on the Punisher roster. Taking Helu assures me of having the starting RB in Washington. This pick was a no brainer IMO..

2.01 Hankerson, Leonard WAS WR (R) - Again, laugh if you want to but Hankerson should walk into the season as the #1 WR and their biggest playmaker at WR. Any time you can get a #1 guy this late you are truly blessed. Last year I took Mike Williams at 2.04 and we all know how that worked out....

3.09 Shorts, Cecil JAC WR (R) - A weak, weak WR corp in Jacksonville gives any WR a hell of a chance. Shorts will play day 1 and slowly become their go to target IMO... This guy hasn't gotten much attention but he will soon enough... Watch drafts later in the year and you'll see this guy going higher and higher every one... He won't have a Mike Williams season year #1 but in year 2 look out.....

3.12 Burton, Stephen MIN WR (R) - Come on, I'm a Viking fan so what can I say.. Truth is Burton is 6ft 1inch, 221lbs and runs a freakish 4.38 with a 1.48 ten yard split. A injury or two (which the Vikings are good for) and Burton could be a nice bonus player.

Overall I think you had a great draft. Ingram, Thomas and Little all have a great chance at being really solid. I think Hankerson is a decent pick too, although seems the Redskins don't have much luck with their WR picks lately. I like Shorts, could be a sneaky pick of someone that could actually get some playing time thie year. I like Helu, but I just don't like his salary at that spot for the risk of Shanny. Burton, I guess why not take a homer pick at the end of the draft. Doesn't hurt anything.

yugimoto wrote:Well, since my first pick was not until the number 12 slot of round 2, there is no way I can say with a straight face that I had a good draft. However, I will say that with my lowered expectations, I did OK.

2.12 Alex Green, RB GBP - the RB situation in GB is an interesting one. Is Ryan Grant the guy? Will he even be back this year? Starks showed some promise last year and would probbably be the one to take the starting role if Grant is not around. But Stark runs kind of upright and that can lead to injury problems, so could Green get in sooner than later? Maybe.

2.15 Titus Young WR DET - I was a little surprised to see Titus fall so far down the board and of course glad that he did. Although, if you kept up with the on-line chat happening during the draft, neither GP nor Amish thought he went too late, but I did. This year I can see Titus contributing on special teams and hopefully as a #3 WR out of the slot, using his speed to give the Lions a quick strike playmaker on deep routes. Maybe he could turn into a poor man's version of DeSean Jackson or maybe not, but at this point in the draft definitely worth taking a flyer.

3.04 Robert Housler TE ARI - Here's my "Aw what the heck, why not pick". The kid is 6-6 and 248 pounds. Could be a big red-zone target for some QB in Arizona (maybe Kevin Kolb?). Arizona's current TEs are nothing to be excited about, especially when they do not throw much to the TE, but maybe that is a result of the crappy TEs they have. With Fitz being the obvious threat and Breaston being an average receiver, why not sneak this guy down the seam (like Whitten or Gates) or into the Red zone for a jump ball. Probably just wishful thinking on my part

Not bad with the picks you had. If Grant is done Green has a shot. I think Titus has a shot in a couple years so you'll have to hold on to him for a while. Housler...perhaps Arizona will finally use the TE so why not for a 3rd rounder if you need a TE.

bonesman wrote:1.11- Cam Newton: Pretty amazed he lasted till here. The implied odds are too good not to call and see the turn I could regret passing on Vereen/Baldwin but I think Cam is an absolute steal here. I have a need at QB anyway, but Cam looks like the real deal to me. As long as he can stay healthy, which might be more of a challenge for him if he doesn't learn to slide, I think he'll be a startable option... if not elite.

2.11- Greg Salas: Foresaw grabbing a RB here, but none I liked were left. I like Salas' velcro mits but hate that Pettite was selected ahead of him. Considered Kendricks and Titus here too but took Salas based on his sure hands.

Traded Ivory for 3.10: I wasn't super excited with my draft at this point as I expected to have an young RB to look forward to... but when I noticed Jerrel Jerrnigan was still available I perked up and offered Chris Ivory for the pick. I'm glad to have gotten anything for Ivory as I think he'll have a difficult time returning from the lisfranc, let alone getting time between Ingram/Pierre/Bush. Got him in the auction after the draft last year so it's a net gain IMO... and Jernigan was ranked in most "experts" top 5-top 10 WR pre draft rankings w/ a 2nd rnd grade. I don't know why going to the Giants has hurt his stock so much.

3.11: Julius Thomas... drafted before combine darling V. Green to a coach who hasn't utilized the TE... but dude is smart and I think he'll make a great, athletic, reliable target for Tebow. Should see the field quite a bit early on so I should know if he's worth holding on to right away.

I probably would have taken Gabbert over Newton if it were my pick, but Newton will have all the tools and opportunity to be huge. Just needs to keep his head on straight. I thought about Salas myself but it's a total logjam there in St. Louis. But I do like Salas and could snag a starting position sooner then later. Jernigan could be pretty nice pick long term. Thomas, who knows what they will do there but TE's have been coming out of nowhere in the league lately, why not take a shot?

bonscott wrote: I probably would have taken Gabbert over Newton if it were my pick

hehehehehe :p

LOL

I think we were all taken by surprise by Newton for sure. He went undrafted in most other leagues I'm in although in a "standard" league I actually took him in the 13th as a backup to Romo and took a lot of heat for doing so since this was late August and he didn't look good in pre-season. Needless to say I started him all season starting week 2 with Romo on the bench and I came in 3rd place and just missed the championship game by .8 pts.

I'll eat crow all day long here in this league on Newton.

bonscott wrote: I think we were all taken by surprise by Newton for sure.

Definitely... but I knew he could be elite year #1 and was shocked so many people here passed on him. He certainly exceeded my expectations though... by a lot. I'd be surprised if he doesn't regress some next year with a little sophomore slump... should be good for 300 points though. Fun guy to watch.