Do you realize that I haven't posted anything since my "Twas the Night" parody? Seeing as how I wrote that before the championship weekend I really never did give Dan his due. Sorry about that bud, but lets be honest drinking out of the mug has to be more enjoyable then having a blog dedicated to your championship team. Atleast that's what I'm assuming cause its not like anyone else has had this problem, just Dan. Gotta give credit where credit is due, CJ2K was as good as expected, Arian Foster was a late round gem, and the Bronco connection of Brandon Lloyd and Kyle Orton carried White Rice to numerous victories. With all that being said now is the hard part, defending his title. Dan himself knew it wouldn't be easy and he made some offseason moves to try to improve the already best team in the league. No surprise that he kept Chris Johnson and Arian Foster, but what surprising was the trade of his first round pick to Titus for Philip Rivers and really solidify three top keepers. Now with 3 great keepers but only one pick in the first thirty five selections would Dan be able to have a strong enough draft to put himself in position to repeat? Is there way to tell how we all did at the draft? Well not really, that's what the season is for, but what I can do is breakdown the draft from my point of view and maybe insult some people every once in a while. So without further ado here is the season two draft recap and the return of the IDP blog!
Will - Keepers Aaron Rodgers, Knowshon Moreno, DeAngelo Williams - A lot of people questioned the move of Will not keeping Miles Austin, but with the number 1 overall pick in this draft Will went ahead and upgraded at the wide receiver position by selecting Greg Jennings. The one two combo of Rodgers and Jennings should keep Will enjoying watching Green Bay Packers games. Now Will obviously has to wait till pick number 24 before he could pick again and hopefully in that whole time all he could think about was that Jimmy Graham was going to be one of the best tight ends in the NFL this year. He may have been a reach at that spot, but with no 4th round pick he couldn't really wait. Snatching up Stevie Johnson next solidified Will's starting lineup for the 2011 season (just minus the flex spot). AJ Green in the 5th and Thomas Jones in the 10th were two other picks I thought Will nailed. All and all I don't know that this team is a contender, but I am a bit concerned that i may not be able to call them the Buffalo Wills this season.
Jason - Keepers LeSean McCoy, Ryan Grant, Jason Witten - With two running backs on his team and a stud tight end Jason decided that he needed a wide receiver and Vincent Jackson was the next best pass catcher on his board and he did that for the next round too bringing Mike Williams back to his stable. Not at all worried about the health of Ryan Grant this season Jason didn't worry about selecting a running back till the always reliable Jonathan Stewart (its been awhile since you guys have had to endure my writing, but I can assure you that was sarcasm). I did like Jason snatching up Matt Schaub in the 3rd to solidify the quarterback spot, but selecting Eli Manning two rounds later well, that's the Jason Pack we all know. So lets all raise a Smirnoff Ice or 7 and toast to Jason once again being a bottom feeder in the league. Cheers.
Larsen - Keepers Tony Romo, Larry Fitzgerald, Micheal Turner - While Jason and Will both had two running backs Lars was the first player who would be open to select any position other then quarterback. Of course it would make sense to select Matt Forte the best player available at this point, but no Lars wanted Miles Austin. Well I'm sure he could get a running back in the second round...no? Anquan Boldin! Well atleast he has his 3rd round pick...no? He traded it to Death! Finally Lars selects Beanie Wells, and this is before Ryan Williams season ended. If Beanie is a beast then Lars lucked out, but as of right now he looks like he is going to need to trade some draft picks to be a contender this year, which might be ok for him since its a lot harder to ruin a draft when you aren't the one making the picks.
Pitz - Keepers Mike Vick, LaGarrette Blount, Mike Wallace - You remember how last year Peach did something dumb and then Dan got a really good draft pick which lead him to the playoffs and an eventual championship while Peach missed out and had to stay home? BOOM! I can't believe it took me this long to make a Peyton Manning/Peach is stupid reference. I feel like Matt Forte going right here may be a move that helps bump Pitz up. I like the Brandon Marshall selection, and even the Ahmad Bradshaw picks in the second round. The Ryan Williams pick in the 6th could have been a good one, its unfortunate about the injury. Pitz definitely improved his team and with the strength of his keepers this could be a playoff bound team this year, but lets be honest this team is going as far as Vick takes them.Also can I be the first to point out that Pitz's team is the most gangsta of all of us? I mean he's got Blounts and Fortes!!! Boomslang!
Kirby - Keepers Frank Gore, Dwayne Bowe, Antonio Gates - In case you didn't know, which means that you haven't been reading my blogs, Kirby traded away his second round pick and Michael Vick for Anquan Boldin (mention Kirby/Pitz trade rape and that's the second of the SDFR blog checklist) so he had to make sure he nailed the first rounder. Its hard to say there was a better player available at 5 then Peyton Hillis. Now I didn't realize how critical the second round pick was, until I saw Kirby's draft. Kirby then went to select Josh "I just win games in real football" Freeman, Kenny "the suspended" Britt, and Julio "Rookie Wide Receiver in a lockout year" Jones (side bar I do actually like this pick, more so to own him next year though). Kirby's draft did improve in the later rounds with good late fliers on Roy Helu and Mike Williams (Seattle), but I feel like there is just too many question marks to this team.
Peach - Keepers Peyton Manning, DeSean Jackson, Hakeem Nicks - Ok so Peach has the number 6 overall pick and hasn't had a quality running back since this league has started so naturally this guy takes a wide receiver. Now I can't lie I had Dez Bryant as a target on my board...but not nearly as high as Peach did. Funny part about this pick is that only four backs went off the board before Peach selected again and he still ended up with a potential star back in Felix Jones. He did then select four more running backs (Mike Tolbert, Reggie Bush, Brandon Jacobs and Pierre Thomas) which sets him up to potentially have a decent stable of backs who could touch the rock on any given week...or maybe he just made another stupid first round pick. I won't hold judgment this time, but I am going to remind him that Peyton's neck is broken and that was in fact a stupid pick.
Alec - Keepers Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, Reggie Wayne - Alec was one of the few of us who had four players whom he wanted to keep and so he wasted no time bringing Percy Harvin back to his fold. I feel I need to make fun of Peach for wanting Dez Bryant, but I can't knock Alec for wanting to grab "his guy" to his already balanced team. If there is a player you want, don't assume you will just be able to get him later. His draft isn't very sexy, but it could be very solid. Alec jumped on Vernon Davis to make sure he had a good tight end...but was able to get Cooley much much much later in the draft. Too early for Davis??? Yes yes it was. Now it wasn't Jimmy Graham early, but still early. Marshawn Lynch, Steve Smith, and CJ Spiller seem like they could be solid for Alec this year, I mean we all know their names and they have been associated with fantasy football in the past, but that was the past. All three of the players play on what the French call "God Awful Teams" (I won't even mention the uncalled for Redskin love), but again he was cooking us food all night so I think I'm going go easy on him and just say all three guys could be the lone shinning spot for their struggling teams.
Titus - Keepers Ray Rice, Calvin Johnson, Darren MacFadden - Up comes the guy with the most picks in the first two rounds. Secretly everyone hoped that Titus would do something like draft a quarterback and I dont know maybe a tight end or something in the first round...we just never expected him to do it! Now here's where its interested in watching how people draft. Titus clearly went need using his extra picks to set up the strongest starting lineup possible, and right now its hard to argue that there is a more intimidating team in the league. Though it is fun to notice that nobody outside of Charles Peach is hoping that Peyton Manning's injury isn't that serious more then Titus. In his first five picks three players are from the Colts and two of which need Peyton to throw them the ball. The James Starks pick could comeback to be a gem in this draft, same with handcuffing Micheal Bush...but this still seems like a potentially great draft came up a little short.
Stilt - Keepers Matt Ryan, Andre Johnson, Rashard Mendenhall - This team is interesting. First off the number one pick on this team failed a fitness test...and hes a running back. The next four players selected all have had some sort of major surgery in the last 2 years (Welker, Finley, Rice, Hardesty). They might all bounce back and have great years, or ya know, not. I do actually really like the Tim Hightower pick, but lets talk more about the picks I don't like. Braylon Edwards, failed a drug test, David Garrard, cut, Tony Moeaki, out for the season. I know all these things happened post draft, but Stilt's guy made fun of my first pick so I had to be harsh. Speaking of my pick....
Death - Keepers Drew Brees, Steven Jackson, Jahvid Best - Ok, remember what I said earlier about if you like a guy you take him? I really like Mark Ingram. I like Mark Ingram like Romeo likes Juliet, like Lennon liked Yoko, and like Jin liked Sun. Ummm I didn't mean to come up with all tragic couples, crap. Honestly I still love the Ingram pick, and getting Santonio and Ochocinco in the third. And yes I'm still pretty happy with the late round flier on Cedric Benson. Now about that Daniel Thomas thing....it's like when you go out one night and get really drunk. You meet a girl and hit it off. Get her number, hook up that night, but slide out early in the morning cause you gotta go to work. Well you go all day thinking about the girl and you decide to show her off to your friends. Well oh crap, shes bigger then you remember! Now you're being judged by everyone, so you hide her...still hook up every once in a while, cause you know you still want to justify why it happened in the first place, but you cant take her out where people can see her! Like ever. I really hope Daniel Thomas loses weight....
Hittner - Keepers Jamaal Charles, Roddy White, Maurice Jones-Drew - Perks of the wrap around, pick up two parts you need back to back. Hittner didn't have the wrap around so he just settled on getting the two guys he wanted after Titus took a tight end and Dan drafted a player with the HIVY (more on that next). If you didnt know already Shonne Green was the player I originally wanted right before I took Daniel "Heart of Gold" Thomas, so of course that pick is getting full support. Honestly if this Brandon Lloyd is close to the player he was last year this could be one of the better drafts of any of us. Bradford should have a break out year and Danny Woodhead will be more consistent then anyone is giving him credit for. A few fliers on high end receivers (Manningham/Floyd) and this draft will be very solid. Oh, note for next year...AD likes to handcuff runningbacks.
Dan - Keepers Chris Johnson, Arian Foster, Philip Rivers - With only one pick in the first thirty five selections and keeping a quarterback and two running backs I think it's fair to say Dan was thinking wide receiver. What we all may not have expected was for him to be that aggressive with the pick. Jeremy Maclin probably goes in the first round had he not been diagnosed with AIDS right before our draft. Fortunately for Dan its just the HIVY and JMac should continue to provide that first round talent...but I'm pretty sure he has to leave the field if he bleeds at any point during a game, so that probably drops his stats a bit. After the risky Maclin move Dan didn't exactly make another splash instead going with solid players like The Law-Firm, and aging receivers Donald Driver and Deion Branch. There really isn't much else to break down with this team, if Arian and CJ2K do what they are suppose to do the rest of the team could consist of Scott Polyniak and Eddie Baum and Dan will be headed to the playoffs, so I'm going to tell a quick Owen Daniels story. Last Wednesday at my annual "Catches Cup" draft somebody took Owen and got the old "great pick, hes going to be the guy who breaks out this year" comment from another drafter. This prompted a third drafter to add "Owen Daniels has be the guy who is a great pick and is going to break out this year for the last three years and never breaks out". I think everyone in the room agreed with both statements, I honestly can't think of another player who is such an enigma. Ah well, here's hoping for hearing that statement next year.
This was going to be the part of the blog where I would actually rank the order of who had the best draft, the problem is I started writing this the week after the draft and I'm going to finish the day before the season. Walking out of the draft I thought Hittner, Pitz, and I had the best three drafts, now I'm not quite as sure. I wanted to say that Peach had the worst draft possible, but again I'm not so sure. This leads to my main point, we have no idea what the hell we are doing. We try to pretend that we do, "Of course Jahvid is going to break out", "I totally knew Arian Foster was going to be great, why else do you think I took him in the eleventh round", "I won't draft Bengals this year!", and well what ever random shit Jason says. You don't win the league in August (unless you pull Arian Foster out of your ass). There are going to be trades, waiver battles, midseason buyers and sellers, and plenty of idiotic drops by Jason. These are going to be the moves that decide the winner down the road, all you can do right now is set yourself up with a solid core that you can move forward with. Is Percy Harvin, Dez Bryant, Dallas Clark, Greg Jennings or Miles Austin a guy you can mount up with this season? I feel like Mark Ingram is, hope I still do in November.
The Drew Brees/Aaron Rodgers/James Stark/Mark Ingram/Greg Jennings show kicks off our second annual season in less then 24 hours, so the only quote I can think of comes from the old wiseman Lil John ...........
"LET'S GO!!!!"
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