A Draft Analyzed

As noted below, last night's draft, co-hosted by Worldwide Leader rep Chris Mortensen, was jam packed with convoluted trades and lots of keeper running backs. The highlight of which was Larry Johnson, consensus best RB, being kept in the 7th round, affording his owner the opportunity to go out and get Antonio Gates early. Mort commended this as the quality pick of the draft, but lamented Matt Jones ineligibility at TE this year.

The following is a recap of Donny Davenport's draft with analysis by Donny Davenport. 'A Deuce on Your Head' was able to keep Tiki Barber and Hines Ward. (Keeper rules as follows - 1 guy from 1-3rd rounds, 1 from 4th through 14th, and your 15th rounder if kept all year) Here's the blow by blow recap:

1st Rd, 7th Pick -Domanick Davis - This should give you an idea how crappy the available RBs were. It came down to a choice between Davis, Rueben Droughns, and Kevin Jones (who slid all the way to the late 3rd or early 4th round). Davis will surely be injured by week three, and put together a very Brian Westbrook-ian season (3 amazing weeks of 33+ points, surrounded by 13 weeks of injuries and crap).

2nd Rd, 14th Pick - Tiki Barber (keeper)- This isn't bad for Barber, who probably would have gone 5/6 overall in a normal draft. Not as good as Larry Johnson in the 7th, but two solid RBs (when healthy/not fumbling) is a respectable start.

3rd Rd/ 21st Pick (via trade) - Anquan Boldin- Boldin was a 7th round pick last year, which would have made him attractive trade bait, but no trades were pursued by his owner, much to my disgruntlement, when that same owner selected Matt Hasselbeck (prior year 10th round pick by myself) in the SECOND ROUND!!! Insane. Boldin's also insane when healthy. Assuming the Warner, Navarre, Leinart QB triumvirate results in 45 pass attempts a week, he and Fitzgerald will go over 100 catches apiece again. I would have preferred Moss, but he had gone with the previous selection.

4th Rd/34th Pick - Jamal Lewis - Using the same strategy employed in Fantasy Baseball when selecting Thome/Giambi late, I'm assuming that the veteran RB bounces back from his prison recovery year. Mike Anderson hopefully is no more of an issue that Chester Taylor in prior years, and Lewis should be a decent option at the flex position.

5th Rd/ 47th Pick - Hines Ward (keeper). Nothing exciting, but should be good for a 1,000+ yards and an average no. 2 receiver in fantasy. blah.

6th Rd/ 60th Pick (via trade) - Andre Johnson. I've always wanted Andre Johnson on my team, and have never had him. He was still available, so I took him. I don't know if he'll be any good, but he went to 'DA U' as Michael Irvin would say, so that's gotta be worth something.

7th Rd/64th Pick - Dominic Rhodes. Addai was still available but I like having Rhodes to cover bye weeks for RBs in the flex spot early in the year, when I think he'll get the most run before Addai takes over primary responsibilities late in the year.

8th Rd / 77th Pick - Chris Cooley. I think he'll be good again, but who knows. The Washington Post wrote an article yesterday about how his 3 TD performance last year against the Cowboys, resulted in his own fantasy football team being eliminated from the playoffs. That's cool, I guess. Brunell seems to have a weak arm, so dump off passes to Cooley could be popular.

9th Rd- Terry Glenn- Big numbers last year. Unknown what impact TO will have. But once the crazy juice kicks in and Parcells goes wacky, who knows.

10th Rd - Drew Brees- I had him last year and he seemed okay, so it seemed like a good idea to get him again. (?) After Manning 1, Manning 2, Brady, and Hasselbeck, I don't see a big difference in QBs.

11th Rd - Vinatieri- Yawn. I'd rather we have a punter position than FG kicker. Since when is a 22 yard FG as important as a 30 yard run? We could award points based on touchbacks, yardage and deduct for kickoffs out of bounds, etc. It'd be as much fun as trying to calculate how many points your Defense has scored without Stattracker.

12th Rd - Trent Green- Sure, whatever... Yahoo likes the guy, projecting 4400 passing yards this year. Looks like he'll be my starter.

13th Rd - Jerramy Stevens - Somebody on ESPN really like this guy for fantasy this year.. Oh yeah, it was Chris Mortensen. Should be a decent cover guy for Cooley's bye. Instantly the winner of the Memorial Mike Sweeney Award for most likely to be offered in 75 trades this year. I can't wait to torture people with this guy.

14th Rd - Miami Defense. Who cares. One week they'll get some sacks and INTs and the next they won't. And it'll result in a loss one of those weeks.

15th Rd - Cedric Houston - RB Jets. If Martin retires or gets thrown away, and Jets don't trade for anyone, Houston could get quite a bit of work. Went to Tennesee, which is an SEC school, so Mort strongly endorsed this pick.

Looking at yahoo's ranking of my boys this year, it doesn't look so promising. Coming off two straight seasons of missing the playoffs, things aren't looking up this year. If Davis stays healthy or Jamal gets most of the carries in Baltimore, it should be a playoff season, but thats a big If.