FADUCO DRAFT REVIEW PART 1

FADUCO 2007 Draft Review

Last year, I gave very high grades to a few managers whose seasons turned out to be doo-doo. Part of the reason were keepers-related. People just remember the draft grade of A and forgot that their keeper(s) got hit with the Madden Curse or failed to score more than 2 TDs. But it is true that I may have been a bit too generous with my grading last year, I was afraid to offend some of the teams in the league. I’m going to give 2 grades, one strictly for the draft and one for overall team score. This year, less Paula and more Simon.

Also, I'm very sorry for the almost-1 week delay, I tried to have almost nothing to do with football this weekend after that debacle in Michigan. I also initially tried to compare all the picks to American Idol contestants, but a lot of times, it was like fitting a square into a circle. I gave up after the first 3 teams and now am going with mostly the traditional good, bad, ugly categories. However, each team will still have one AI highlight. Writing this has taken quite a bit of time, but I shall release the first half of the review for you.

Andrew:

American Idol - The Carrie Underwood prize - Tony Romo (who else?). The dude put up gigantic numbers with Hai and Tuna playing him on Madden 08 after the draft party. Of course, more than half his 300+ yards were to T.O...

The Good:
Handcuffed his 2 of his 3 primary RBs with Najeh Davenport and Reuben Droughns. Bravo to the new sheriff for these picks. I’m impressed that some thought went into them. I think Jerry Porter has a good shot of doing better than Branch and Clayton. His QB and coaches have been upgraded from last season. Definitely a “bought low” kinda pick. Nice value pick with Cooley in 6^th round too.

The Bad (boy):
Let’s just hope dating all those Hollywood starlets and college coeds doesn’t lead him down to the path of Travis Henry and his 9 bastard kids. In a more football-related topic, having Leinart and Romo may lead to inefficiencies due to their similar levels of ability. One of the two can score on the field a lot one week while sitting on Andrew’s bench and the other scores off the field while getting the starting nod.

The Ugly:
Deion Branch and Mark Clayton as your #2 and #3 WRs? What were you thinking? At least Andrew avoided carrying only 2 QBs with the same bye week (a cardinal sin) when he obtained Garcia as his 3^rd QB.

Draft Grade: B+
Overall Grade: B

Change of management looks promising. It’s more focused on the running game and solid in every category except WRs. Which is fine for the start of the season and a departure from the previous regime’s focus on the passing game.

Bill:

American Idol - Sanjaya Malakar category (What the Hell? award): As in the response for Bill being able to trade up from the #9 spot to the #1 spot in the first round. It is an unexplainable event that 2 Caucasian teams gave up a more favorable 1^st round slot for a more favorable 2^nd round slot. Why does Bill have so much sway with this particular demographic?

The Good:
Got handcuff for LT. And that first round maneuvering as discussed above.

The Bad:
Ahman Green, Donald Driver. Solid history of performance, but they may be more “history” than “solid” around the time of the playoffs. I can’t hate on Donald Driver too much, though. My autodraft machine picked him and Randy Moss in my other league because I was too busy watching the U.S. Open on my HDTV and forgot about the draft until round 6.

The Ugly:
Went pretty gung-ho on sleepers in the last half of the draft. Schaub, Robinson, Curtis, the other Adrian Peterson. I’m not sure how many will remain on the roster after the mid-point of the season. Definitely seems like a weak bench at this point in the season.Kellen Winslow has been a fantasy underachiever since entering the league. Last year was his best and I still regretted trading for him. Bill is taking a leap of faith having him with no backup.

Draft Grade: C
Overall Grade: B

If it wasn’t for trading up to get MJD, Bill would have gotten a D+ or worse. Having LT and Drew Brees means Bill will be very competitive nevertheless. Never discount the possibility of Bill to upgrade his team during the season through favorable trades, but with an aging or non-starter roster, he may receive less bites this season.

Donny:

American Idol – Clay Aiken Dream Crush Category: Donny had a major crush on Calvin Johnson. But this does mean Donny will be set at WR1 spot for the next 5-10 years. He’s the best WR prospect since Randy Moss, but has the attitude of a Marvin Harrison. Maybe he won’t deliver instantaneously, but this is a no-miss prospect.

The Good:
Got good value with Santana Moss and Chris Chambers in his later picks. Could come in handy when Donny has to employ the 3^rd WR for his flex position. Maybe Donny can transform the Chambers pick into one of PJ’s running backs when the season starts and Chambers outperforms his ranking. Getting the Ravens will also mean another worry-free position for Donny.

The Bad:
Passed on Terp TE Vernon Davis for Tony Gonzalez. Gonzalez had to block in the red zone instead of running patterns last year due to KC’s injuries on the O-line, and this year, there are still questions on that O-line.

The Ugly:
Woah, it’s been awhile since someone only carried 3 RBs in this league (2 if you consider Reggie Bush a WR). Donny is going with WR depth instead of RB depth, something he hasn’t really done in the past. This will end badly, unless Portis gets injured and Betts becomes the East Coast version of Priest Holmes for Al Saunders.

Draft Grade: C+
Overall Grade: C

Keep in mind these grades are for this season only. Donny drafted for the long-term, you could say this is a rebuilding year for him. He may have a slow start, as Johnson and Reggie Bush establish themselves, thus the hole may be too deep to climb unlike last year’s comeback. But I wouldn’t want to play him after week 12.

Hai:

American Idol – Musical Guest category: Ratings would go through the roof if Michael Jackson appeared on AI. It would have been great to see him giving advice to some teenage boy contestant. Hai drafted almost enough Jacksons to be one short of the Jackson Five. He should have drafted Tarvaris Jackson with his last pick and goten a kicker earlier. That would have earned Hai bonus points.

The Good:
Good balance of old and young players. Hai’s starters are all proven players, but he’s backing them up with players who have potential. Vincent Jackson is touted by many to be a sleeper WR. Cedric Benson will at least get the goal-line carries for the Bears, even if his yards per carry is mediocre. Even if Brandon Jackson doesn’t become the starter for GB, Hai has already won because he racked up bonus suck-up points to his boss, a big-time Nebraska fan.

The Bad:
Hai may have to face some moral dilemmas in week 9. Two of his best 3 RBs will be out on bye and his Philly D will face the Cowboys. I’m sure Kevin and Bill will try to watch that game with him. At least Hai has his backup defense San Fran facing Atlanta that week. Could have kinda handcuffed Marion Barber with Julius Jones, but then the bye week problem would be even worse.

The Ugly:
Between Hai having to cheer for the Eagles on Defense when Kevin and Bill come visit (except for week 9 as mentioned above), and me cheering them on Offense, we may have to repaint Hai’s condo that ugly shade of green.

Draft Grade: B+
Overall Grade: A-

Look for a return to the playoffs if Marques Colston and the Philly D deliver for Hai. Last year, Hai had a team that was undone by the Randy Moss cancer. On paper, this team has no real weakness except maybe the QB backup. And even Kitna has a higher-than-average ceiling.

Katy

American Idol – Justin Guarini Bust award. The latter half of Katy’s draft was littered with wasted picks. Lorenzo Booker – not even the Dolphins’ backup. Michael Bush – injured on the PUP list. Anthony Thomas – he has no upside

The Good:
The first three picks seem pretty reasonable. Given the scoring system in FADUCO, it’s a nice thing to get a consistently scorer for your defense. TJ Housh is a solid pick, and DeAngelo Williams got handcuffed with Deshaun Foster.

The Bad:
As usual, Team Katy is the first to pick a kicker, this time as early as round 7. Instead of picking scrub RBs in the later rounds, Katy could have gotten a nice WR in round 7. Instead, this leads to...

The Ugly:
Carrying only 2 WRs. This is taking RB love to the extreme. By the end of the draft, Team Katy carried Eight RBs! And it’s truly quantity over quality since about 3 of them could have lasted till waiver time. True, there are always decent WRs to be had in the free agent pool, but this new strategy is indeed a bit curious. By the way, trying to hoard RB picks was tried by Hai a few years ago in our minor league draft and Hai’s team subsequently crashed and burned.

Draft Grade: D+
Overall Grade: C+

Katy’s record oscillates between playoffs and bottom dweller. Yes, a lot of those playoff years started with dire predictions which did not come true. So by now, it seems like I’m crying wolf. However, you can’t always finish seventh in points yet third in win-loss record. Look for around 7th place in points, without the record this time.