Where did the season go wrong?

In a league that is perhaps the most challenging I've ever done (partly because of the 15 other teams I compete against), I barely missed the playoffs this week. The team's destiny was in it's own hands and it completely fell apart...landing an overall record at 6-7. Which in itself was completely miraculous considering the total points scored by my team is currently the 5th lowest in the league.

Two other leagues that I participate in (not including this one we're reviewing) I'm safely at least the #2 seed going into the playoff week 14.

I thought it would be useful for next year to do a small recap about where things went wrong....starting with the draft.

Note that this is a PPR league - so top receivers CAN do as well as a top running back.


KEPT PLAYERS (from 2006 team)

We're allowed to keep 3 players. So here were my choices from last season's team.

Laurence Maroney - Consensus top 10 pick going into the season by many fantasy experts. Stuck in a pass happy offense, hurt for a number of games, and now losing touches to the "other Faulk". Heath Evans likes to get the touchdown glory.

Cedric Benson - High NFL draft pick with great college pedigree. Thomas Jones traded in the offseason - he had no competition. He underachieves all year, especially against horrible run defenses. Cedric's offensive line didn't help matters. He starts to pick it up (just in time for the playoffs) and then gets hurt.

Antonio Gates - has a good overall season, but throws up a stinker last
week thanks to Philip Rivers.


Short Draft Recap


1) Marques Colston - does nothing for the first weeks of the season
(mainly why I lost a couple two point games early), but overall turns out
okay. Throws out a stinker last week too.

Two draft picks in round 2

2a) Matt Leinart - supposed to be break out year. With two great
receivers, does nothing, then goes into time share with Kurt Warner. Then gets hurt.

2b) Reggie Brown - third year receiver - does not break out. McNabb's
injury killed his potential...and then Kevin Curtis becomes the go to
guy.

Braylon Edwards was picked three picks later.

4)LenDale White - underachieves for the first few games. I traded him in
week 5 for Javon Walker. We know how that turned out. White goes on a hot streak, and Walker stays injured.

5) Todd Heap - hurt all year. Nuff said. (Chris Cooley picked round 6).

8) Patrick Crayton - he was streaky - but turned out to be a good value pick.

9) Sammy Morris - wonderful backup to Maroney and really worked out well (while he was healthy). Matt Schaub was also picked this round.

10) Jason Campbell. My starting QB for most of the year. Had some really big games, but still learning and inconsistent. Dwayne Bowe was also picked this round.

Rounds 11 / 12 were mostly DEF and Special Teams picks.


FREE AGENT PICKUPS


I'm normally pretty active in the waiver wire. These may seem as reaches, but with 15 other teams bidding for players...here's what I was able to pickup. Note that these are only players that I STARTED any given week for my team.

Chris Henry (CIN) - Had a big game for me, hasn't done much since...filling in for Javon Walker

Priest Holmes (KCC) - Sounded promising, I sang his praises through a number of weeks...reinjures his neck and retires.

Kolby Smith (KCC) - Still playing! Put a decent number of points up for me last week.

Rex Grossman (CHI) - Started him once - didn't do well for me.

Brian Griese (CHI) - Started him a couple of times - with mixed results.

Fred Jackson (BUF) - Good game last week - got 14 points.

Adimchinobe Echemandu (HOU) - weeks ago was the hot waiver pickup. The next week, hardly plays...and scores less than a point for me.


SUMMARY


So where did this all go wrong? Mainly it was a lack of a "fantasy playmaker" for me. Someone that would consistently score a few points a week - with no major drop offs. All these guys have been mostly boom or bust - with my scores fluctuating wildly week to week. It may not be that a RB is the position that will do this for you anymore (meaning not just the top 10, but rather the top 20 used to be a safe play). It may come down to a good QB carrying your team - as long as he can stay healthy.

Draft recap - Adrian Peterson goes first (as he should)!

If you recall from earlier posts, the league I'm going to describe below is a pay league, but also a keeper league.

Given that you can keep any three players on your roster, teams that had been stacked from the year before will have to let go of good players. Also, high impact rookies will also be available to be drafted.

Note that my team picks are the bolded ones.

Round 1 of the draft went as follows:

1.01 Peterson, Adrian MIN RB
1.02 Wayne, Reggie IND WR
1.03 Lynch, Marshawn BUF RB
1.04 Colston, Marques NOS WR
1.05 McNabb, Donovan PHI QB
1.06 Green, Ahman HOU RB
1.07 Evans, Lee BUF WR
1.08 Rivers, Philip SDC QB
1.09 Williams, DeAngelo CAR RB
1.10 Johnson, Andre HOU WR
1.11 Williams, Roy DET WR
1.12 Bell, Tatum DET RB
1.13 Coles, Laveranues NYJ WR
1.14 Driver, Donald GBP WR
1.15 Norwood, Jerious ATL RB
1.16 Burress, Plaxico NYG WR

Not totally unexpected, Adrian Peterson went first. Since my keepers were already Laurence Maroney, Cedric Benson, and Antonio Gates - I went with the top receiver (I thought) left on the board. Marques Colston is a bit of an injury risk, but he's the #1 receiver on a great offensive team. It's not like the rest of the receivers left here didn't have questions of their own.

I thought the Tatum Bell pick was a reach this early, especially with the uncertainty surrounding Kevin Jones' return.

Round 2 is below (because of my trade of TO, I had two picks in this round):

2.01 Johnson, Calvin DET WR
2.02 Jackson, Darrell SFO WR
2.03 Moss, Santana WAS WR
2.04 Chargers, San Diego SDC Def
2.05 Ward, Hines PIT WR
2.06 Patriots, New England NEP Def
2.07 Jackson, Vincent SDC WR
2.08 Branch, Deion SEA WR
2.09 Leinart, Matt ARI QB
2.10 Brown, Reggie PHI WR
2.11 Steelers, Pittsburgh PIT Def
2.12 Dolphins, Miami MIA Def
2.13 Edwards, Braylon CLE WR
2.14 Jackson, Brandon GBP RB
2.15 Holmes, Santonio PIT WR
2.16 Romo, Tony DAL QB

The italicized picks were by the same owner, his roster now rounded out to form with Peyton Manning, Travis Henry, Reggie Bush, Donald Driver, Vincent Jackson and Darrell Jackson.

I picked Reggie Brown because of the connection he had with Donovan McNabb last year (5 TDs in his first 6 games), and Matt Leinart for his potential keeper status of next year. I never considered taking Romo because of his horrible downfall last year (worse than Grossman). Vince Young was tempting here, but there are too many questions with his receiving corps.

Defenses starting going early here (as they usually do in this league) at essentially was "the real" round 5 (including the three "keeper rounds").

I didn't have a pick in round 3, so the last round recap I'm doing is round 4.

4.01 Taylor, Fred JAC RB
4.02 Smith, Alex SFO QB
4.03 Cowboys, Dallas DAL Def
4.04 Winslow, Kellen CLE TE
4.05 Shockey, Jeremy NYG TE
4.06 Curtis, Kevin PHI WR
4.07 Cotchery, Jerricho NYJ WR
4.08 Dunn, Warrick ATL RB
4.09 White, LenDale TEN RB
4.10 Hackett, D.J. SEA WR
4.11 Foster, De'shaun CAR RB
4.12 Morency, Vernand GBP RB
4.13 Curry, Ronald OAK WR
4.14 Jones, Brandon TEN WR
4.15 Henderson, Devery NOS WR
4.16 Glenn, Terry DAL WR

I ended up picking LenDale White here - as I desperately needed a backup RB. I think White has a good chance at 1000yds this season as long as he can stay healthy. He's running behind a good offensive line and Jeff Fisher will stick with him as a starter if he does OK in Week 1.
He had an OK preseason once he was able to get on the field.

My team final roster is as follows:

Campbell, Jason WAS QB
Leinart, Matt ARI QB
Benson, Cedric CHI RB
Maroney, Laurence NEP RB
Morris, Sammy NEP RB
Washington, Leon NYJ RB
White, LenDale TEN RB
Brown, Reggie PHI WR
Colston, Marques NOS WR
Crayton, Patrick DAL WR
Hester, Devin CHI WR
Gates, Antonio SDC TE
Heap, Todd BAL TE
Jaguars, Jacksonville JAC Def
Steelers, Pittsburgh PIT ST

Since my league fields 16 teams every week, I think my team is OK overall. Crayton has a chance to play if either 30 something WR on Dallas is hurt, Heap was better than any of the other WR available at the time, Jacksonville Defense was a great in overall defense last year.
Hester was my last pick of the draft, and given the unpredictability of special teams Pittsburgh seemed as good as any.

How did your draft go?

Trading after the draft

Shawn Peters has a good article posted on ESPN.com describing a theory when it comes to drafting your team and then finding trading partners later. Certainly players that might be valued equally to another player may gain you some trade value if the player you are willing to trade has more "buzz" than another one - gaining equal value in return...but then also maybe getting YOU another player that can account for that "buzz".

I'm not sure that I agree with taking the best player available in all cases - sometimes you have to try and beat a trend before those players are exhausted. Although all the owners in one of my leagues are active the entire season, trying to pull a trade off with them can be another matter.

ALL day....

I've heard that Adrian Peterson or All Day (AD) is undervalued in drafts.

After reading a recent article by Andy Behrens - I think he's on to something.

Have you seen this play against the Jets?

If this guy is around in the 1st round of my keeper league (even though I'm already keeping Cedric Benson, Laurence Maroney, and Antonio Gates), I'm likely drafting him.

He could be a 300+ point guy in my pay league. He's a difference maker.

Maybe in time for the fantasy playoffs or at worst next season. However, I could draft a WR that will be available such as Colston, Wayne, or Evans....which any one of these guys at best would get me 200+ points.

Other guys I'm targeting at WR:

1) Deion Branch
2) Hines Ward
3) Braylon Edwards

With the WR position being as volatile as it is, any number of these guys can be my #2.

I'm banking on Gates being my #1 WR. The news continues to improve as there is word that Norv Turner has him running WR routes.

Adrian Peterson, I just hope you've fooled the other three guys that have the picks before me.