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Subject: 2007 RIFC AA LEAGUE DRAFT RECAP
Posted by: judy
- [7771722] Thu, Aug 30, 2007, 21:47
RIFC AA Managers - You are each invited (although not required)
to post your general reflections on the completed draft.
Comments may be as detailed or as general as you wish. As a
catalyst, free free to comment on any of the following:
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able
to execute as you had planned?
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could
do over?
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the
most (other than your own)?
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
5. If you could start over, would you do anything differently?
OR you could do it this way:
1. What are your three favorite teams to root for?
2. What did you like/not like about your draft position.
3. Analyze your offensive draft picks.
4. Analyze your defensive draft picks.
Or any other comments.
Non-managers are also welcome to post general comments on
the draft, and to raise questions. |
| 1 | BoNkA
Donor
ID: 019742310
Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 00:59
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able
to execute as you had planned?
I took the #12 slot in hopes of grabbing Maroney or Rudi in round 1 and grabbing a good #2 RB in round 2. When Maroney and Rudi were both there, I decided to get Maroney, who should put up great numbers this year in a hopefully revamped Patriot offense. I had strong hopes that Rudi or Ronnie Brown would make it back to me in round two but Brown was snatched right before me.
I knew I wanted to go RB-RB and grab another RB and WR in the following 2 rounds while waiting as long as possible to grab a QB at good value. Other than that, I mostly go with the flow but try not to follow runs if there are better picks available to fill needed slots on my team.
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could
do over?
I liked getting Maroney at 1.12 but wasn't thrilled with James at 2.03. Grabbing Walker at 3.12 gives me a solid #1 WR, assuming he doesn't get hurt on me again like 2 years ago. I think Betts in the 4th round was my worst pick. Running backs were flying off the board and I knew I had to grab before they were all gone. There may have been better options available, but bye weeks limited my options greatly. Betts is a good player and has good potential, but only if Portis goes down or gets benched. It's a risky pick that I'll have to wait to see the payoff.
Other picks that I think I got good value with are Foster (9.12), Chambers (7.12), and Peterson (10.03).
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the
most (other than your own)?
After looking over everyone's teams, I'm not very impressed by any to be honest. Most teams have RB depth problems, mostly because of the NFL moving towards RBBC more and more.
Donkeyhunter's team stands out most to me. Granted he has no kicker at the moment, but you can almost throw a dart at all the kickers' pictures and you'll be fine with your selection. His QBs are young with potential, RBs are solid although not deep, and WRs are questionable but should perform well enough. Donkey has a solid LB corp which is essential to doing well in this format. Also, watch out for the Jag's defense.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
I was surprised at how many time-outs we had, sadly. I don't recall ever having to sit through that many in my previous 3 years of RIFC drafts.
As far as picks go, I think Vince Young went too early and couldn't believe Psychos waited until the 8th round to pick up a 2nd RB.
5. If you could start over, would you do anything differently?
I probably should have jumped on one of the better defenses early. I kept holding off in hopes of a good one falling to me and presenting great value. But after the ones I had targetted were gone, it didn't matter what defense I picked up. Other than that, I can't really complain too much about my draft and feel comfortable with my team..
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| 2 | judy
ID: 7771722
Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 14:08
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DRAFT RECAP
1. FAVORITE TEAMS:
1) Eagles (I bleed green and they are so up and down, it does
get exciting... and frustrating.)
2) Saints (I just like their lineup, esp on offense. They are fun
to watch.)
3) Steelers (I lived in PGH for 6 years -- ‘86 to ‘92. (The early
Bonds years and he was a jerk back then. I had tix to the World
Series in ‘92... Where were you when Sid slid?) The folks (men,
women and schoolkids) in PGH live and die for their Steelers!
2. DRAFT POSITION.
I chose slot #5 because I wanted to be sure to get either
Westbrook or Bush and didn’t want my two picks to be too far
apart. I was afraid to go lower and lose either Westbrook or
Bush. So my first 8 rounds had the #5, 24, 33, 52, 61, 80, 89
and 108th picks. I thought that was a good sequence.
CAVEAT: I do not draft any Dallas Cowboys and shy away from
Redskins (although I would have liked Cooley) and Giants. A
little NFC EAST rivalry issue there...
3. OFFENSIVE PLAYERS DRAFTED: (# = round drafted)
1 = Westbrook; 2 = Lynch (BUF); 3 = Colston; 4 = McNabb;
5 = Coles ; 6 = Hester; 10 = Washington (NYJ);
13 = Stovall (TB); 14 = Pennington; 18 = Feeley; 20 = Mare;
12 = Dayne; 22 = Celek (PHL); 23 = M Lewis ; 24 = Martin (MIA)
I really wanted either Westbrook or Bush, who I think are very
similar in how they will be used. I had Bush last year and
watched him grow. I finally decided on Westbrook because I
could watch him play every game. I hope he stays injury free... I
took Lynch because I think he will be the starter in BUF and was
the best potential starting RB left at that point (#24). I also like
to take a flyer on rookies. (See Bush in ‘06.) I wanted Brees for
QB, but he was taken, so I chose Donovan. He seems to be
healthy enough to put up good numbers this year and he is a
good man. I handcuffed Feeley to him just in case.... (Please
no... He already has a broken hand -- don’t have the impact
update yet!) Pennington is my BYE week QB. He should still
have the starting job in Week 5 and he puts up decent numbers.
He only has to play against the Jints defense that week and they
are not too strong.
I love my WR -- Colston, Coles and Hester. They are not the big
name WR, but I think they will a do a very good and steady job
for me. I had Colston from the start last year and he was great!
The way our draft was going, I felt I had to take a QB in round #4
and most of the top name WR were gone by my turn in round
#5. I think Hester will be a pleasant surprise and I will enjoy his
return yardage, if teams kick to him, as a bonus. My bye week
RB are Washington (NYJ) and Dayne (HOU). They are adequate
but not flashy and should get their share of action, but not too
much as my starters. Why I chose Stovall, I have no idea (Brain
cramp??) -- but it now looks like he might be the #1 WR for TB??
I took Mare for PK as he will be indoors for over half of his
games, he has a strong leg, and the Saints will score often. I am
not a fan of the TE position, so I saved it for last. I like the idea
of the flex WR/TE, but doubt I will use it except in the BYE week.
I already dropped Celek (PHL) for Z Miller, the rookie in OAK. It
will be interesting to see how MIA uses Martin and JAX uses
Lewis. I have no idea who will start for me. For some odd
reason, I have three on my roster -- probably because I didn’t
want anyone else at another position and have no idea who is
the best TE of the three! One will probably be the flex drop
player when I need a DEF and PK for the BYE weeks. I will
probably use opposing defenses to decide who starts for me.
Maybe one of them will become a star! (Not likely...)
4. DEFENSIVE PLAYERS DRAFTED
Last year I had no idea what I was doing while drafting. I didn’t
know many of the players beyond the stars, the NFC East, and
certainly had no idea about IDP’s. I didn’t read the points stuff
until way too late, drafted some crappy offensive players
(Cadillac was my other RB and you know what kind of a year he
had...) so I depended upon my IDP’s to get me points in games
and mostly they did well. So I work hard to get good IDP’s,
rather than load up on lots of extra offensive players (RB, WR)
who won’t get to play. That way I also don’t have to agonize
over which RB/WR to start or to bench. My guys are either
starters or bench/BYE fill-ins -- no decisions for me!
7 = Bulluck; 8 = Eagles DEF; 9 = Kampman; 11 = C Bailey;
12 = Posluszky; 15 = Dawkins; 16 = Wimbley (CLE); 17 = Hali;
19 = Gaither.
Bulluck has among the highest point total predictions of any IDP
so I took him pretty early. Kampman and Bailey are solid point
getters and I made sure to get them early when other folks were
still drafting offensive players. I feel I have top five DL, LB and
DB in those three and I was thrilled to get them all. Again, I
went with a rookie -- Posluszky who will be the BUF starting MLB
and should make lots of tackles. We shall see if Dawk can match
last year’s late season efforts... Wimbley with 67 tackles and 11
sacks and Hali with 65 tackles, 8 sacks and 6 ffumbles are both
solid sophomore starters. Gaither replaces Trotter as MLB for
the Eagles and we shall see how he develops. I set up my BYE
week schedule so that I can go with these 8 the whole season,
providing they continue to produce (and stay healthy). Taking
the Eagles DEF is a bit of a gamble if they cannot stop the run. I
know that the preseason doesn’t mean much, but I am worried
about that aspect. They will win the games, but I won’t get
many DEF points...(I’ll take the wins...)
Peter King (SI) made a list of the top 500 NFL players.
“The criteria: importance of the position (I had quarterback, left
tackle, pass rusher and cornerback at the top, but with room for
the explosive player), talent level and age -- with a nod to
young players on the cusp of a breakout season (I rank
opportunistic Jets safety Kerry Rhodes 29th) and to team-
oriented guys (selfless Javon Walker 80, selfish Terrell Owens
103).”
I looked it over -- the players I plan to play a lot all made it into
the top 283. In order: Bailey (6), Kampman (16), Dawk (55),
Hester (69), Bulluck (70), McNabb (72), Wimbley (81), Westbrook
(96), Pennington (107), Hali (112), Colston (155), Lynch (167),
Posloszny (221), Coles (283). Not too shabby.
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| 3 | judy
ID: 7771722
Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 14:11
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Question - how do you guys format it so it shows Bold and italics
in the thread? Is it because I have a MAC and/or use the Safari
browser that I cannot do it? I do it in the WP program, but it won't
carry over. Also, my lines are so short! Anyone know how come?
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| 4 | Slowhand-at work
ID: 16532417
Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 14:42
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[b]Bold [/b]
[i]Italics [/i]
just change the[]to<>
Not sure if it makes a difference with a Mac
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| 5 | BoNkA
Donor
ID: 019742310
Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 15:22
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More recaps!
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| 9 | judy
ID: 7771722
Fri, Aug 31, 2007, 16:27
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thanks -- it worked!
bold
italics
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| 10 | judy
ID: 7771722
Sat, Sep 01, 2007, 18:53
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disaster in the making already -- back up/handcuffed QB Feeley
broke his left hand and had surgery -- implications of that not yet
known...
had to dump a TE to get Kolb as back up... (I think he is better than
Feeley anyway...)
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| 11 | davepyro
ID: 22742121
Sun, Sep 02, 2007, 04:10
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I cannot get bold and italics either and I tried the key strokes. Please explain key meanings if not literal keys. I will try to do my recap tomorrow.
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| 12 | davepyro
ID: 22742121
Sun, Sep 02, 2007, 13:34
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned? Originally I was going RB RB WR RB QB, but picks 1.11 thru 2.04 were all RB. I looked at avail RB for next 10 choices and saw no significant differences so I went RB WR WR RB WR. I picked Travis Henry because I had him as a potential top 5. I saw some potential for RB in 3rd and 4th round, and FFI had Evans at #6 WR. I have subscribed to Fantasy Football Index weekly email updates for years, and they do a great job in yardage projections. Their cheat sheets and team write ups are right on. I rely a lot on Offensive line, schedule toughness, and defensive team reputations to make my Offensive selections. I thought at least 1 second tier QB would be there in round 5, but the 3rd tier ones were being picked by then so I waited even longer. I tried very hard NOT to be the tail end of a long run at one position.
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could do over? Take a RB in 3rd round. We start 3 WR in league so I grabbed quality, but RB's Green, Turner, Faulk, and Watson are not going to cut it at RB#2. Evans at #2 WR plays the hardest schedule in NFL, and I should have waited on him. Branch was still there in next round. Favorite picks were Henry, S. Smith, Cooley, Curtis, (stolen from Judy I hope), Jason Taylor, and Hobson.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
For entire teams I very much like Wolfer and footwedge. It seemed like whenever I looked ahead at my next pick that Rob Thayer or JackHammer took that person.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
I thought that Vince Young, and Jon Kitna were surprise picks. Most QB's and LB's went way to early. Some people kept taking RB's after they had 3 or 4 and I only had 1 or 2. I just hope they are looking for trades later. It was hard to predict next position picked by people near me. The time delays in the draft were very very annoying. People had numerous opportunities to leave a note and did not communicate inspite of Judy's attempts to keep things rolling. That was very inconsiderate.
5. If you could start over, would you do anything differently? Get myself a higher draft choice somehow. Also, tell Judy earlier to be Commishioner and get going even earlier.
There were numerous times people could have delayed their pick and they made it real early - that bodes well for this league.
Again, I thought Judy did very well even communicating to me on my government computer at work. We got away with it. Great job Judy.
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| 13 | weykool
Leader
ID: 41750315
Sun, Sep 02, 2007, 17:14
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
As for any draft my strategy is to always make my picks based on the best value at the time.
I always try to take into consideration the players ability compared to the other players/scarciry of positions when deciding on a pick. I look for opportunities to start position runs while at the same time avoiding being on the tail end of them.
Having played last year I made sure to get a few decend IDP's especially at the LB position.
Overall I was very pleased with my draft considering I was picking 9th.
I wasnt really happy about my draft position but I feel I made the best of it.
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could do over?
I was very pleased with my 1st 4 picks.
1.09 SA
2.06 Harrison
3.09 Brees
4.06 Boldin
SA was the #5 pick in RIFC and Boldin went a full round earlier.
My worst pick was Mike Bell at 5.09.
I was looking at scoring from last year and made my pick based on that.....big mistake.
I picked up Dunn in round 7 so hopefully it wont hurt me too much.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
Other than my own I dont really see a team that stands out.
I think we have a good group of managers so the talent was spread fairly evenly, (at least on papaer)
Any team with LT has to be considered a front runner.
Jackhammer and footwedge look to have solid teams.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
I thought the pace of the draft was fine.
At times I thought it moved too fast.
We finished well ahead of time.
In other GURU drafts we have come down to within the last few days.
I understand how it can be annoying when somone is repeatedly on the clock and uses the entire clock but we also had most of the managers using Q's that made up for it.
If 6 managers have a Q and we make 6 picks in 1 hour then the 7th manager takes a full clock it would be the same amount of time as all 7 managers using only 1 hour.
5. If you could start over, would you do anything differently?
Obviously take someone other than Mike Bell with my 5th round pick.
I think Judy did a wonderful job at keeping everyone informed and I'm looking forward to a very competitive season.
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| 14 | E'ville Destiny
Leader
ID: 29017810
Sun, Sep 02, 2007, 20:41
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
I knew RB would be tough so I wanted to get best available with the first two picks. With the 11th pick I may have reached a little with Jones-Drew. It was a toss-up with Bush because of the return value. I figure whatever he doesn't get in carries he'll make up in return yardage. On the second pick more doubt taking Benson just because I wasn't ready to go WR even though I contemplated Smith or Harrison. I wanted to hold off on WR feeling I could get servicable guys later in the draft. That part of the straegy I feel good about.
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could do over?
I liked Santonio Holmes in the 7th and Jacoby Jones in 18. I think Holnes could have be a 4th round value. I wouldn't go that early but just a feeling. Also Jones could get some decent play at WR + the TD returns in preseason have me thinking a better receiving Hester.
I didn't like Bulger in the 3rd. I think I could have waited for a comparable QB and taken another RB - A. Petersen possibly.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I liked Slowhand early but the lack of a strong QB would leave me a little concerned. I also like wolfer donkeyhunter and Bonka.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
I felt the draft went real weel. As usual someone one or two picks ahead of you alters your plans but that's expected with the quality of managers here.
5. If you could start over, would you do anything differently?
Probably but I feel like I can live with this draft
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| 15 | SwinganaMiss
ID: 1472415
Mon, Sep 03, 2007, 10:48
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1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able
to execute as you had planned?
Going with the second pick I knew I would have a tough time with the second RB. I wasn't necessarily planning to go RB WR WR, but didn't want to reach for a RB that wasn't worthy. As expected, by the time things got back to me I was looking at several RBBC backs or questionable starters. I had CJ as my top WR, so that was easy, and Wayne was the last of my Tier 1 WR, so I opted to go that route. I felt it was too early to go for a top QB, even though I knew those would be gone before the draft got back to me.
Beyond the early rounds I wanted to build LB depth, since that position typically outscores the other IDP positions significantly. I feel good about what I have as far as IDPs go.
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could
do over?
My favorite picks....
Chad Johnson at 2.13, my TEs in 12th and 14th, and Fletcher at 8.13.
Worst picks....
Hasselback/Williams at 4.13/5.2: The QBs were flying off the board and I had only Romo and Hasselback on the current tier. I wasn't feeling good about what would have come back to me 25 picks later. On that turn I was debating Barber/Williams and Moss/Hasselback. With two WR already I decided to go for QB. In retrospect I should've gone Barber/Moss or even Barber/Williams.
The only other significant misstep was Gamble at 17.02. Wasted pick as I've already dropped the guy. Somewhere I thought I saw he would be the PR, but then elsewhere saw he would not.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the
most (other than your own)?
Based on my un-scientific look at the teams, I like the looks of Slowhand and Pops.
Slowhand has LT and is solid across the board, with most significant question mark being at QB.
Pops can be very good if Lamont Jordan can get anything going this year.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
The QBs going so early, as I mentioned earlier. Seemed these were gobbled up at least a round or two earlier than the other RIFC leagues (once we got past the top tier), and a couple went 3-4 rounds earlier.
Other things I noticed comparing our draft to the other RIFC leagues was that we were consistently drafting DBs later and DEF earlier (after the first couple).
5. If you could start over, would you do anything differently?
Other than the miscues in 4th and 5th round I was fairly happy with results. If Bell/Jones or Williams can maintain some consistency I will do OK.
Looking back I might've taken a later pick, closer to the middle. In such a deep league I didn't like the huge gap between my picks. I sometimes felt it was too early to reach for someone, but didn't have a chance to get them by the next time it was my turn.
All in all it was a good draft. Good luck to all this season.
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| 17 | judy
ID: 7771722
Mon, Sep 03, 2007, 21:50
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Here is the address of the regualr season thread:
http://rotoguru1.com/cgi-bin/read.pl?
board=footst&thread=851&last=1188873828
Someone add a link please?
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| 18 | Slowhand
SuperDude
ID: 056744223
Tue, Sep 04, 2007, 00:21
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Here is a link to the rgular season thread....
Very busy weekend ;not much of a holiday :-(
Hope to post my recap in the next day or two.
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| 19 | Toral
ID: 575542418
Fri, Sep 14, 2007, 07:36
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Back after 2 weeks without internet access:
1. What was your plan/strategy entering the draft? Were you able to execute as you had planned?
Choosing 5th for draft position, position #4 was still open. That position would allow me to choose whichever of Frank Gore and Larry Johnson was still active. I would have preferred Gore but he had passsed Johnson in ADP by that time and it was Johnson who was still available. I wasn't worried by his holdout/potential slow start since I'm mostly interested in how my players are going to perform in the playoffs, when it counts. I am worried about his workload last year and possible limited opportunities due to a very poor Chief team, but feel him worth the gamble.
My expectation was that my second round pick would be right on the cusp of the end of the second tier of running backs, and the decision would be whether to choose such an RB if available or to opt for a high-end WR. Sure enough, the second-last guy on my list, Thomas Jones, was available, and I picked him over Chad Johnson. Jones' success may well decide my season. In retrospect, I might have pondered more about how what I expect to be the Jets' poor season would impact Jones' rushing opportunities. However Cadillac Williams was gone by my 3rd round pick and I preferred not to try to cobble together a 2nd RB from what was left choosing later.
In previous years I had sometimes tried to cobble together a QB combo from 2 players available in the 7th round or later. This year I looked to select one of my top 6 QBs if available in the 4th or 5th round of the draft. In round 4, Jon Kitna, my #6 ranked pick, was available, and I grabbed him in what has been a criticized choice. I expect Kitna to be better with more experience of Mike Martz's offence and the WR corps is highly talented; Kitna will be a passing machine and I would only like for him to cut down on his Ints a bit. Looking at subsequent QB picks, I'm glad I didn't wait till later, even if Kitna might well have lasted till 5.04 or later.
Otherwise I planned to look for the best available value among WRs and 3rd/4th RBs for the first 9 or 10 rounds, before looking for a #2 QB. I leave IDPs for later, having found that my ability to select the prime of second-tier IDPs has in the past compensated for an absence of earlier-round stud selections. I expected to pick 3 or 4 backup RBs in the last 8 rounds, as lucking in to an eventual starter there can prove to be the key to a season.
I had really expected to grab any one of a group of comparable TEs late, but with Antonio Gates available at 3.04, I decided to grab him, mostly because I've never owned him before and I decided to try a new experience.
2. What were your favorite picks? Which do you wish you could do over?
I made a dumb mistake with my 7th round pick. I was picking in a huge hurry. One page of my list was all chosen. The next part of my list was on the next page, but I was using a two-column format and instead of flipping to the next page, I looked to the right hand column, which contained players who should have gone 3 or 4 rounds later! I guess I know why I'm in AA! Hence 7.04 Brandon Marshall, who could really save my butt by fulfilling his potential and coming up with a good year.
Of my pix, I liked my 8th through 11th round pix: Chester Taylor, Bernard Berrian, Jake Delhomme and Adrian Wilson. I'm confident my LB picks will have me winning more games from IDP points than I lose. There was another mistake here, a bye-week duplication, and I had to try to recover by trading LB Thomas Howard for Osi Umenyiora. That would have been a nice deal if I could have used Umenyiora as my only DL, but by the time the trade went down I already had Charles Grant there.
I could use the younger half of an RIBC corps; the younger half being the guy more likely to be starting come playoff time, when it counts, a Jerious Norwood or LenDale White type.
3. Looking over all of the teams, which ones do you like the most (other than your own)?
I like Swinganamiss with his Bell/Jones combo and a strong LB corps, JackHammer with an impressive offence, and dror_steinberg with a balanced team.
4. What surprised you most about the draft?
Its speed. In contrast to others, I felt it went very fast for an AA draft with few problems. judy did an excellent job of keeping it moving.
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| 20 | judy
ID: 7771722
Sat, Sep 15, 2007, 23:24
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Toral
Are you telling me that Brandon Marshall was a mistake? You
snatched right out from under my nose! He was all set to be my #7
pick. Sheesh!
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