Grading the TST Draft

First off, I want to say I'm sorry if I didn't include someone who wanted to be in the draft.  I did the best I could and actually had issues emailing some people (or people getting them or responding) so in some cases I actually did invite you, I just had no time and needed to move on the next person who could join.  

I am an idiot.  I schedule the draft for last week on Sunday thinking: hey everybody's home on Sunday.  Of course I needed to reschedule due to membership issues and it never occured to me that Labor Day was next weekend.  What happens?  Two hours before the draft, I get invited somewhere and how much of an asshole do I sound like if I say, "Hey I'm sorry maybe next time, I really need to make this fantasy draft."

Weighing the options, I figured I wasn't paying money in this league and I do really want to come over to this said person's house so I had to skip the draft.  So I had to miss my own scheduled draft and my team was picked on autopick of course.  With that said, let's grade the TST draftees in fantasy (and the fun of seeing autopick work out in true form!)

1st round

1. Jackson Walsh - Chris Johnson

2. Blair Rocket - Adrian Peterson

3. Carneros - Steven Jackson 

4. Habte E - Maurice Jones-Drew

5. revrue914 - Ray Rice

6. Smiff620 - Aaron Rodgers 

7. Midasknight - Andre Johnson

8. Trojan Rams - Peyton Manning

9. crasshoverrider01  - Frank Gore

10. stlcardsfan4 - Michael Turner

11. Danteslion - Drew Brees

12. abadino - Ryan Grant

13. NJ Hermits  - Randy Moss

14. abrantes - Roddy White

Biggest Reach - Peyton Manning.... kind of surprised 3 QBs were picked in first round... anyway Manning is the #4 QB in SI and #21 ranked player by ESPN... Steven Jackson was also a bit of a reach but since this is a Rams blog, that is probably more understandable (#7 RB by SI, #5 by ESPN), Roddy White as well was a reach (#11 WR by SI, #20 overall by ESPN - how bout that disparity?)

Biggest Steal - wanted to say Andre Johnson, but he was picked where he was supposed to... on the other hand Randy Moss was a steal - #2 WR in SI and #10 overall in ESPN... pretty good pick right there

Autopick - Hmmm.. well can't say I'd draft Michael Turner... i'd probably get drew brees to be honest

2nd round

1. abrantes - Calvin Johnson

2. NJ Hermits - Deangelo Williams 

3. abadino - Rashard Mendanhall

4. Danteslion - Larry Fitzgerald

5. stlcardsfan4 - Reggie Wayne 

6.crasshoverrider01 - Cedric Benson

7.Trojan Rams - Miles Austin

8. Midasknight - Tom Brady

9. smiff620 - Arian Foster

10. revrue614 - Sam Bradford

11. Habte E - Brandon Marshall 

12. Carneros - Ryan Matthews

13. Blair Rocket - DeSean Jackson

14. Jackson Walsh - Shonn Greene 

Biggest Reach - Let me think about this... Sam Bradford... Matt Ryan, which is the best case scenario for a rookie QB, had an average fantasy season, certainly not 2nd round worthy... HUGE reach... couldn't even let you go with a "this is a Rams blog" here... Arian Foster as well is about the same.... #48 RB and #48 overall by ESPN

Biggest Steal - Larry Fitzgerald... doesn't really matter who is QB is, he's getting the ball... plus #12 ranked by ESPN and #4 WR... HM to Miles Austin who has #3 on SI, but is lower rated by ESPN

Autopick - Again I got lucky, Reggie Wayne is a wonderful 2nd round pick and I would draft him if available probably'

3rd Round

1. Jackson Walsh - Beanie Wells

2. Blair Rocket - Antonio Gates

3. Carneros - Marques Colston

4. Habte E - Steve Smith (CAR)

5. revrue914 - Jason Witten

6. Smiff620 - Jonathan Stewart

7. Midasknight - Greg Jennings

8. Trojan Rams - Anquan Boldin

9. crasshoverrider01  - Jamaal Charles

10. stlcardsfan4 - Knownshown Moreno

11. Danteslion - LeSean McCoy

12. abadino - Matt Schaub

13. NJ Hermits  - Pierre Thomas

14. abrantes - Tony Romo

Biggest Reach - Jason Witten, the #74 ranked player on ESPN overall, and 5th ranked TE.... he was the 33th overall taken and 2nd best TE

Biggest Steal - Tony Romo, seeing as though he is ranked 3 spots below his actual draft position, this makes little sense, but I'm not at all sure why he's ranked 45th and the SEVENTH best fantasy QB... actual QB talent?  maybe... fantasy?  that's where he excels... In SI, he is 5th best which sounds about right.... 

Autopick - Never trust a Denver running back.... at least there's a new coach.... I would've gotten McCoy though

4th round

1. abrantes - JerMichael Finley

2. NJ Hermits - Phillip Rivers 

3. abadino - Steve Smith (NYG)

4. Danteslion - Joseph Addai

5. stlcardsfan4 - Dallas Clark 

6.crasshoverrider01 - Chad Ochocinco

7.Trojan Rams - Matt Forte

8. Midasknight - Michael Crabtree

9. smiff620 - Mike Wallace

10. revrue614 - Wes Welker

11. Habte E - Ronnie Brown 

12. Carneros - Felix Jones

13. Blair Rocket - Brett Favre 

14. Jackson Walsh - Mike Sims-Walker

Biggest Reach - Mike Wallace, #70 rated ESPN player and 25th WR on SI.... He was drafted 19 spots above slot and the problem is that he's not exactly a noticeable name so he could probably wait another round to get him... Brett Favre IS a noticeable name and even though he was higher up, I can see why you snab him early

Biggest Steal - Phillip Rivers... they are now a pass-oriented team and he has some weapons... Vincent Jackson being out is kind of an issue though

Autopick - Dallas Clark!  Good pick..... I feel like I'm getting lucky....

5th round

1. Jackson Walsh - Hines Ward

2. Blair Rocket - Ahmad Bradshaw

3. Carneros - Brent Celek

4. Habte E - Ricky Williams

5. revrue914 - Percy Harvin

6. Smiff620 - Hakeem Nicks

7. Midasknight - Marion Barber 

8. Trojan Rams - Reggie Bush

9. crasshoverrider01  - Dwayne Bowe

10. stlcardsfan4 -  Brandon Jacobs

11. Danteslion -  Vernon Davis

12. abadino -  Donald Driver

13. NJ Hermits  - Justin Forsett

14. abrantes - Jahvid Best

Biggest Reach - Ahmad Bradshaw, the 76th overall RB and #34 rated RB by SI... I will give it to him that his stock has rose since he is basically going to be splitting carries with Jacobs

Biggest Steal - Vernon Davis - He was a top flight fantasy tight end, I'm suprised that he's ranked so low on ESPN at #67, but on SI he's the #2 TE.

Autopick - Brandon Jacobs - I can live with it, but its not at all what I would do.... Jacobs is trending downward in terms of his playing time and production and I hope I don't catch his drop in stats 

6th round

1. abrantes - Pierre Garcon

2. NJ Hermits - Santana Moss

3. abadino - Jeremy Maclin

4. Danteslion - Vincent Jackson

5. stlcardsfan4 - Braylon Edwards

6.crasshoverrider01 - Tony Gonzalez

7.Trojan Rams -  Vishante Shiancoe

8. Midasknight - Jerome Harrison

9. smiff620 - Owen Daniels

10. revrue614 - CJ Spiller

11. Habte E - Joe Flacco

12. Carneros - Robert Meacham

13. Blair Rocket -  Dez Bryant 

14. Jackson Walsh - Kellen Winslow

Biggest Reach - Vincent Jackson only because he could sit out up to six games.... that means you're getting just 8 games of production and he cannot equal the points of a 6th round pick in 8 games.... the supposed 3 game suspension though might make it worth it...risky for sure though

Biggest Steal - Jeremy Maclin - I am biased as I am a Mizzou fan, however I think he'll rack up yards in his second season and being with Kolb will benefit him more than it will hurt him 

Autopick - Braylon Edwards - I really hate this pick

7th round

1. Jackson Walsh - Jay Cutler

2. Blair Rocket - Nate Keading

3. Carneros - Matt Ryan 

4. Habte E - Chris Cooley

5. revrue914 - Ladianian Tomlinson

6. Smiff620 - Thomas Jones

7. Midasknight - Zach Miller 

8. Trojan Rams - Michael Bush

9. crasshoverrider01  - Eli Manning

10. stlcardsfan4 - Kevin Kolb

11. Danteslion - Sidney Rice

12. abadino - Lee Evans

13. NJ Hermits  - Santonio Holmes

14. abrantes - Darren McFadden

Biggest Reach - Whoever drafted Keading, here's good advice: kickers are for when you have you're starters filled, and their backups.... reason being is because it normally doesn't correlate year-to-year well... Keading was best fantasy kicker, the year before Josh Brown was, Adam Vinateira probably was.... Point being is that the kicker you draft could either be a stud or a stump and it doesn't matter if he's the first kicker or the 12th kicker chosen... and that waiver wire is awesome for kickers (connect the dots - 14 teams in league - 32 teams in NFL.... no team - smart team - would have two kickers - you have you're choice between 18 starting kickers)..... also Sidney Rice is out for most the year so that's probably a reach....and LT is not starting caliber either for fantasy

Biggest Steal - I like Michael Bush here (apparantly seeing that Reggie Bush was also drafted by Trojan Rams, he has a thing for Bushes).... McFadden is a bust IMO and I think Bush will stand out

Autopick - Kevin Kolb- Wonderful... couldn't have picked better myself

Rest of Draft

Its pretty obvious that this was a Rams' blog draft seeing Bradford in 2nd round.  But other Rams players were.. uhh.. I can only say that they were picked perhaps optimistically.... Rams D/ST was picked (i really don't know), Josh Brown was picked by Carneros- great pick actually....

Trojan Rams picked up laurent robinson, revrue914 picked up Michael Hoomanawanui (after triple checking,,,,), and Smiff620 took Danny Amendola in Round 9; NJ Hermits took Brandon Gibson in Round 10 and Keith Toston in the second to last round (...).  Mardy Gilyard and Denario Alexander (hmmm...) was chosen by Team Carneros

Oh and as for my autopick, it went awful after the starters.  I got Brian Westbrook who has next to no value as a backup, Mewelde Moore, and Peyton Hillis.  Seriously, I got three crap running backs for backups.  But I did manage to get Vince Young and Greg Olsen as backups which are amazing.  

I'm dissapointed I missed draft as it seemed like a fun one (just based off the Rams players.  Who has best team nickname?... go over to Blair Rocket's to vote who has best team.