Welcome back to the bliggity blog. Just checked the google analytics and we got 30+ views yesterday, daddy likey. Today Nick and I will be covering the last 4 rounds of the draft (Round 7-10). This draft has been killer, but before we get into all that, I want to touch on something that happened in the MMA world today.
Chuck “The Iceman” Liddell joins “Dancing with the Stars”
MMAJunkie.com is reporting that Chuck Liddell’s next battle will be on the show, “Dancing with the Stars.” I’m sure a lot of fans are up in arms that the sport’s most famous fighter is going to be doing something not so masculine, dancing. I don’t really care about all that. Too often, MMA fans are too sensitive and close-minded in their opinions. If Chuck wants to dance on national television, then let him. He’s earned the right to do what he wants. One thing people are forgetting is that Chuck is still an ambassador for the sport. For people who don’t know about MMA or are just learning about it, chances are they have their fair share of negative opinions about the sport. Although Chuck is considered a “tough guy” for those who know him, they know Chuck to be a very laid back and caring individual. I had a chance to meet him a few weeks ago and he was super cool. Anyways, Chuck’s appearance on the show is great. It will introduce more people to the sport and hopefully shed a positive light on how the sport is viewed and win over some new fans. At the end of the day, the more fans of the sport the better. There is a big gap in the amount of money a lot of fighters are paid from the amount that is being made by the organizations that employ them. With a bigger following, it can only benefit the fighters and bigger followings come from innovative marketing such as your most known fighter appearing on one of the most watched shows in primetime multiple times a week. Nice work Chuck.
Ok, so back to fantasy football. I can’t say enough how tough this draft has been. Nick and I are scratching our heads almost on a round by round basis. I’m not surprised though real drafts almost never go according to plan. I expected this level of competition from RotoBowl but not from a $50 league. By no means am I complaining. I love the challenge. I’ve had to adjust my gameplan numerous times. With 10 rounds in the books, I like how my team is shaping up. It’s not very sexy but it should be built to last. Here’s my team so far…
· CURRENT STARTING LINEUP…
- QB – RODGERS
- RB1 – WESTBROOK
- RB2 – GORE
- WR1 – WARD
- WR2 - COLES
- TE –
With most of my starting lineup filled out, I’m switching my focus to accomplish the following in the next few rounds; get Westbrook’s backup, get talented players in good situations that are close to busting out, and some good WR3 candidates. With those goals in place, let see how I did. Nick’s commentary will appear in the Tahoma font.
Antsports.com $50 Early Draft 11 Fantasy Football League
ROUND 7
- Smoke on the Water – Greg Olsen
- Slumpbusters – Matt Schaub
- Flyswatters – Willie Parker
- Little Urban Achievers – Matt Ryan
- Cobra Kai – Derrick Mason
- Kings Alcoholics – Chris Cooley
- Joe Mamma II –
- Smack Attack – Kevin Walter
- Evil Closet Monkeys – Devin Hester
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose (Nick) – Ben Roethlisberger
- Villa Novans – Julius Jones
- FantasyFootballMMA.Blogspot.com – LeSean McCoy
My thoughts on Round 7
I was targeting Kevin Walter, Devin Hester, and LeSean McCoy with my back to back picks here. Walter and Hester went just before my pick. I expected Walter might be gone, but not Hester. No biggie, gotta roll with the punches. A big part of my success this year will depend on how well Brian Westbrook does. He is not durable and will miss games at some point. Well, the Eagles finally got their next Westbrook in this year’s draft. His name is LeSean McCoy. He is a guy I would target even if I didn’t have Westy, but because I do I made sure to target him earlier than normal (normal would be around the 9th round). This pick would be the equivalent to laying up in golf. I played it safe to keep the integrity of my team’s identity in tact. Getting McCoy ensures that I have the
ROUND 7 PICK – LESEAN MCCOY
- CURRENT STARTING LINEUP…
- QB – RODGERS
- RB1 – WESTBROOK
- RB2 – GORE
- WR1 – WARD
- WR2 - COLES
- TE –
- BACKUPS
- RB – MCCOY
Let’s check in to see how Nick is doing…
Ohhh, man. This draft is taking forever. I can't stand it. I'm only getting two picks a day. This isn't enough to keep me going. John and I constantly monitor our phones, like high school girls monitor their MySpace, waiting for the next email letting us know if someone has selected. We whine if someone takes more than an hour on the clock. This is miserable yet at the same time this is my favorite time of the year. The cruel irony of fantasy football drafts! Since I have 4 hours to kill waiting for the next pick let's see what's happened since the last time I did an update.
Round 7, pick 82: It's Saturday morning and I'm ready to draft it up. I still need my signal caller and there are a few I'm looking at. Right now there are just 8 teams away from my next pick and using the process of elimination only 2 of them need QBs. Sweet, looks like I'll get either Schaub, Ryan, or Palmer.
Crap, ok, Ryan and Palmer... Wa... wait, the guy who has Peyton Manning just took Matt Ryan as his backup in the 7th?! What? What the F was that about?! And then yes, you guessed it, there goes Palmer. I was almost quickly rattled again but I stay fairly calm because I have 1 more QB left on my radar, Mr. Super Bowl himself, Big Ben. He was probably my 12th ranked QB but he was the last one left that I had deemed "starter worthy". He has one of the easiest, if not THE easiest schedule against the pass this year. He also has all the weapons to make this season just as explosive as 2007's.
I was considering letting him slide until the 8th since his ADP (average draft position) had him going about 13 spots later. But I didn't consider that for very long... I don't want to go into much detail but Mr. Roethlisberger forced himself on me. I kept telling him no, but he wouldn't listen. He said I was asking for it by waiting so long to take a QB. I finally gave in and let him on my roster. After I picked him I went and sat in the shower for over 4 hours. I kept scrubbing and scrubbing but I just still felt so dirty... But at least I finally got my QB situation taken care of. Now my team is starting to take shape.
Hahahahahahaha oh that Big Ben will get you every time! On to round 8, shall we?
ROUND 8
- FantasyFootballMMA.Blogspot.com – Felix Jones
- Villa Novans – Owen Daniels
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose (Nick) –
- Evil Closet Monkeys – Michael Crabtree
- Smack Attack – Cedric Benson
- Joe Mamma II – Ray Rice
- Kings Alcoholics – Darren Sproles
- Cobra Kai – Matt Cassel
- Little Urban Achievers – Kellen Winslow
- Flyswatters – Bernard Berrian
- Slumpbusters –
- Smoke on the Water – Lendale White
Thought on Round 8
I didn’t expect to see some of the RBs on the board that were in this round, specifically, Felix Jones, Darren Sproles, Chris Wells, and Lendale White. I knew that I wanted one of these 4 guys. I loved Wells earlier this year, but his dance with the injury bug thus far in the preseason has me a little scared of him. I do like White, but he’s a grinder, I’m looking for a HR hitter. It was a tough choice between HR hitters Felix and Sproles, but I went with Felix. Sproles will have more value if LT goes down, but I think on a game to game basis Felix will get more touches consistently. I know he didn’t play a lot last year because of a toe injury but when he did, he was what I like to call “lightning in a bottle.” Jones may crack my starting lineup 1-3 times this year during bye weeks and injuries. When he does, he may not go off, but I’ll be able to start him knowing that he won’t need a lot of touches to have a nice game. Jones is the type of player that can score 2 TDs while only getting 10 touches, the guy is that good. Plus if something happens to Marion Barber then Felix would see a larger role and add to his value and potentially be someone I could trade to upgrade at WR. Felix has been a guy that I have targeted in all of my mocks and I’m thrilled to get him on a real team. I was also considering Torry Holt here, but when I pick, I play to win, I know where Holt’s ceiling is and I preferred the wildcard here in Jones.
ROUND 8 PICK – FELIX JONES
- CURRENT STARTING LINEUP…
- QB – RODGERS
- RB1 – WESTBROOK
- RB2 – GORE
- WR1 – WARD
- WR2 - COLES
- TE –
- BACKUPS
- RB – MCCOY
- RB – F. JONES
Nick went with Beanie, let’s find out why…
Round 8, pick, umm, I'm not even sure anymore: This guy ahead of me just took Owen Daniels, the guy I wanted at TE. This is the 3rd time this draft he has done that. It's like he's inside my brain. This does not make me happy. But I take it like a man, I summoned the experience I gained from the prior Cutler tragedy and I used that wisdom to my make my team better, and in a way, myself better... I skip the TE position for now and a snagged a rookie back with some upside, Chris "Beanie" Wells. Now all I need is to lock up Hightower and I have the guaranteed, starting, Cardinal back.
I like Nick’s pick here, especially if he can “handcuff” Wells to Hightower at some point in the draft. My next 2 picks were very tough, let’s see why…
ROUND 9
- Smoke on the Water – Torry Holt
- Slumpbusters – Percy Harvin
- Flyswatters – Matt Hasselbeck
- Little Urban Achievers – Ted Ginn Jr
- Cobra Kai –
- Kings Alcoholics – David Gerrard
- Joe Mamma II –
- Smack Attack – Domenik Hixon
- Evil Closet Monkeys – John Carlson
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose (Nick) – Tim Hightower
- Villa Novans – Trent Edwards
- FantasyFootballMMA.Blogspot.com – Rashard Mendenhall
My thoughts on Round 9
Ok so this is where I was going to target my WR3. I wanted Ted Ginn, but didn’t think he would fall to me but Domenik Hixon would be there for sure…wrong. Nick had asked me who I was going to get and our conversation led to him telling me that if I wanted Josh Morgan that I’d better get him with one of my 2 picks here. Well I did want Morgan, but not this early, but then again this draft has been tough so I had to adjust. Knowing that my window for Morgan was now, I had to make a decision on him. The decision become tougher because I did not expect Rashard Mendenhall to be here this late. I love that guy. I loved him last year but he got hurt and I think that at some point he will take over for Willie Parker and start for the Steelers either though an injury or just flat out beating him out. But I already have 4 RBs and don’t really need another one. There is one other player that I was strongly considering. I’m not going to say who it was because he’s still on the board and just might fall to me at the end of the 11th round. So needless to say I passed on this mystery player. I went with Mendenhall because if he becomes the starter in
ROUND 9 PICK – RASHARD MENDENHALL
- CURRENT STARTING LINEUP…
- QB – RODGERS
- RB1 – WESTBROOK
- RB2 – GORE
- WR1 – WARD
- WR2 - COLES
- TE –
- BACKUPS
- RB – MCCOY
- RB – F. JONES
- RB – MENDENHALL
Looks like Nick got his boy Timmy H, what did he think about that?
Round 9, pick ninety-something, probably: I got Hightower, success! I can't believe someone didn't snake him from me. I throw myself a mini-party and get blackout drunk. (Noooo, no, I didn't. I'm at work, silly).
Sometimes you have no choice but to let it ride, Nick did here and it worked out perfectly. WR3 time! Who’d I snag?
ROUND 10
- FantasyFootballMMA.Blogspot.com – Josh Morgan
- Villa Novans – Fred Jackson
- Parker Lewis Can't Lose (Nick) –
- Evil Closet Monkeys – Jamal Lewis
- Smack Attack – Eli Manning
- Joe Mamma II – Dustin Keller
- Kings Alcoholics – Donnie Avery
- Cobra Kai – Willis McGahee
- Little Urban Achievers – Ahmad Bradshaw
- Flyswatters – Le’Ron McClain
- Slumpbusters – Zach Miller
- Smoke on the Water –
My thoughts on Round 10
So you already know that I passed on a certain WR that I will reveal later. If I didn’t need a WR I would of taken Ahmad Bradshaw here, but I need a WR3 and Josh Morgan is my guy. Never heard of Josh Morgan? Well let me introduce you to him. Morgan is starting alongside Isaac Bruce in SF. Yes, I know the Niners don’t throw it a lot, but I don’t need Morgan to go off, just be consistent. Morgan had a nice preseason in 2008 and had some nice games in the regular season of ’08 as a rookie. This nice production came with some serious issues on offense all while Morgan was battling a staph infection which forced him to lose 15 lbs. With Crabtree holding out and Bruce aging, I expect Morgan to be a constant in this offense, at least to start the season. The 49ers start their season off with Ari, Sea, Min, Stl, Atl, and Hou after the bye week. All of those defenses have beatable secondaries giving Morgan the opportunity to get off to a fast start. If he can get the 12-15 points a game that I’m looking for out of my WR3, then I’ll be one happy camper.
ROUND 10 PICK – JOSH MORGAN
- CURRENT STARTING LINEUP…
- QB – RODGERS
- RB1 – WESTBROOK
- RB2 – GORE
- WR1 – WARD
- WR2 – COLES
- WR3 - MORGAN
- TE –
- BACKUPS
- RB – MCCOY
- RB – F. JONES
- RB – MENDENHALL
Nick goes after a TE with a tight end, jk
Round 10: Time to take my TE, there are a few left that I want and I could probably wait another round to get them. But the way this draft is going there's probably going to be a run on 2nd sting tight ends and I'll be left with Bear Pascoe as my only option. The thought of that was un-Bear-able. So I took Jeremy Shockey. Not bad in the 10th. He may have dropped off a little bit but he still has lots of talent and plays in the most pass-happy offense in the NFL. His only major concern is staying healthy, but I'll take that risk since he didn't cost me much. I walk away happy with my pick, which is good, because I have the feeling that it's going to be a long time before my next one... and the waiting begins again.
-Nick
With 10 rounds in the books, I’m really happy with my team especially with how tough this draft has been. At the start of this blog I said I wanted to accomplish the following with these 4 picks; get Westbrook’s backup, get talented players in good situations that are close to busting out, and some good WR3 candidates. Let’s see how I did…
- Get Westbrook’s backup…Check!
- Get talented players in good situations that are close to busting out…Check! Check! Got 2 of em!
- Get some good WR3 candidates… Got one and I like him. There’s still a handful of other guys that I’ll be shooting for in the 11th and 12th including the mystery player =)
Well that’s all for now folks. I appreciate you checking out the blog and hope you’ve enjoyed following Nick and I. Check back tomorrow for who we get next. Have a great Tuesday and always, YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!
-jg-
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