DRAFT!!!

The hour grows near. As I understand it, the draft is still scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. in my basement. I will provide some refreshments to get us started, and after we finish drafting, I figure we may want to cook out. As far as I’m concerned, the world is our oyster this Saturday. My doors are open for whatever we feel like doing. Bring some swimming gear if we decide to go poolside. Sod field football isn’t out of the question, and there are a couple of basketball hoops pretty close to my place. There will be a host of college football games to watch, which should be good preparation for next year’s draft.

I know not everyone will be able to stay in town, but for anyone who would like to make a whole evening out of the ordeal, you guys and your significant others are absolutely welcome to spend the night at my place. Furthermore, I know that that will be quite a hike for some of you traveling from western Kentucky, so if anyone wants to come up Friday evening, that’s fine with me too. Just give me a little notice, and Mandy and I will make sure we have all the proper accommodations. If you guys are like me, then your girlfriends/fiancés/wives have probably all given you quite a bit of hell about your excitement over a stupid fantasy football draft. They’ve probably even rolled their eyes at the idea of having to travel to my house and sit through that sort of hell. Well, as a courtesy, I created a baby, who is now eight weeks old. She’s pretty much adorable, and she should be able to distract a roomful of girls for about as long as a fantasy football draft takes. After that, you’re on your own.

P.S. I'm game for pretty much anything this weekend, and I won’t name names, but my daughter is not to be involved in any mud clod fights.

Expansion Draft Results

The 2009 Expansion Draft took place last night and this morning. Jim drafted first and fourth. Everett drafted second and third.

1. Jim - Tomlinson, RB, Chargers
2. Everett - Chris Johnson, RB, Titans
3. Everett - Frank Gore, RB, 49ers
4. Jim - Andre Johnson, WR, Texans

Jim will draft in the ninth slot and will lose a second and third round pick. Everett will draft in the ten spot and lose a second and third round pick.

Pirates, my chub has officially drawn full wood. It's really awkward being around my mother this morning.

It's Official

My Esteemed Fantasy Players,

The keepers are in. I list them and the corresponding picks forfeited below.

Jason- Brees and Forte (2nd and 3rd round picks forfeited)
Taylor- Turner and Slaton (2nd and 3rd round picks forfeited)
Scott- Peterson and Calvin Johnson (2nd and 3rd round picks forfeited)
Brandon- S. Jackson and Westbrook (2nd and 3rd round picks forfeited)
Ben- Manning and Fitzgerald (2nd and 4th round picks forfeited)
Tyler- Brady and D. Williams (2nd and 4th round picks forfeited)
John- Portis and Jacobs (3rd and 4th round picks forfeited)
Steve- Jones-Drew and Moss (2nd and 3rd round picks forfeited)

Game on.

Men Dressed Up as Ladies

So did we ever decide which projections we are using to determine which picks we will be giving up?

Keeper Announcement

Hear Ye, Hear Ye! I would like to announce to the surprise of everyone in this league that I am keeping the league's best running back (Adrian 'All Day' Peterson), and (as I am sure this year will prove) the league's best wide receiver (Calvin 'Megatron' Johnson).

I fully expect Mr. Peterson to live up to his own expectations of rushing for 2,000 yards this season, and obliterating anyone and everyone who stands in his way (and, thus, everyone who stands in my way).

I also fully expect Megatron to improve on last year's performance with a more solid running game in place, a not very much improved defense, and Scott Linehan calling the plays. He too will squash all opposition.

I am very much looking forward to this season.

By the way, I just read an article about Larry Fitzgerald's passion for fantasy football. He passed on taking himself last year, by the way.

I guess not everyone weighed in on what to do about the keepers, but I heard no opposition. If you send me your keepers via email, I will post them on the blog as soon as I receive everyone's.

Keeper Time

Sorry, I just got home from work. I think we need to have our keepers established a sent by Thursday at midnight. At that point Jimmy can decide whether he wants fist dips on keeper and 10th pick or 9th pick and second dibs. Everett and Jimmy's draft will snake like a normal draft. They can work that out by Saturday at Midnight. We would then have a week to prepare for the draft. I will defer to Scott as to where and how to send our keepers. Sorry to keep it short. I am in favor of the trade between Brandon and Jason.

Trade

The good doctor and myself have reached an agreement regarding a trade in which I will give him Steven Jackson in exchange for his sixth round pick. Please vote on the viability of this trade, and commentary is welcome.

Tick Tock

We need a ruling, but I’ll start the topic by saying we should have to decide on keepers by Wednesday night. Then Jimmy and Everett can have until Friday night to work through who they are keeping. Do we know if Jimmy chose to get first dibs on keepers and pick tenth or take second and third on keepers and pick ninth in the actual draft? Does he not have to decide until he knows who is being kept?

Michael Vick's Facebook Page

If Michael Vick had a Facebook account, I bet his page would look like this...

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2611/3840770224_c046b4769d_o.jpg

Kevin Smith

This just in...Kevin Smith has been quoted as saying he wants to run for 5,000 yards and 100 touchdowns this season. Not including fumbles, or reception yards, this equates to approximately 295 yards per game and 6 TD's per game on average. At that clip, he will be scoring about 73 points per game for a grand total of 1,241 points on the season. That's not a bad haul, considering AP, A-Rod, and Chris Johnson put up only 765 points for me last season combined.

Usain Bolt

I would be remiss if I didn't take a second to remark on how amazing this guy is. He didn't just break both of his old world records in the 100m and 200m races, he obliterated them along with everyone else in the race. If you have not yet seen his final races in both events, you really should.

I can't take it anymore...

I have wanted to talk about several things regarding the preseason now, but have been reluctant so as not to give anything away before the draft. Now that Taylor's gone especially, it's just too much. Here are a few things that get me excited about this season. I'd love to hear other opinions as well, keeping in mind that they are just opinions and I will try not to glean too much from them regarding your draft mindset.

First of all, as I told Steve last night, I am excited about Frank Gore's upcoming season. I would be even more excited if he was on my team. At the end of the season, assuming Steve keeps Gore and MoJo and no injuries occur, our man just might have 2 top-five RB's on his team. I think San Francisco in general will turn some heads this year, likely even competing for their division title against the former NFC Champs. I like their defense. I appreciate that Gore has his old buddy back blocking for him at fullback. And I like that they will likely lean heavily on the running game with their new OC, especially considering that their passing game is more or less shit, with or without Crabtree (who, by the way, is a moron). If you don't know the Crabtree story, he is likely sitting out this year to be redrafted in 2010 because he (and his cousin who is his agent??) thinks that he should be paid as much as Heyward-Bey since he should have been drafted before him. Insanity.

Secondly, Green Bay could have a super situation on their hands if the 3-4 defense works as well as it did against Cleveland (I know it's Cleveland, but still). The problem last year was the D, and if they can stop giving games away, I have them as the favorite to win their division with the Vikings getting a wildcard berth. Sorry Saints. Rodgers is the real deal. There's no doubt about that. I am kicking myself for trading Rodgers to Taylor, even if it was for Megatron. I think he may even have a few less points this year if the D has improved and Grant can get on track, but he will be a consistent 20+ point-per-game producer.

Brady's back, there's no doubt about that. I expect good things, but not 2007 things...not anywhere close. In fact, I think Brees and Rodgers are both better options this year. No knock against Tom, but his team's getting old, and his O-line is not as dominant as they once were. We know from the Giants/Pats superbowl that getting pressure on Tom will cause some problems, and is about the only thing that can stifle this offense. Unfortunately for him, the pressure will be a little easier to come by this year.

An interesting situation is brewing in Houston at the RB position. Assuming Brown stays healthy, could we be in for a RBBC with Slaton and Brown and a 60/40 or 70/30 split with Brown handling short-yardage and goal-line work? It might just happen. Or Brown might go down in the preseason again.

How about Chris Wells? What is up with this guy? Two months ago, I felt like he was a steal in the 5th round. Today, I wouldn't touch him for fear of hurting the guy some more.

And then there's Knowshon who comes out and performs well and then sprains his MCL.

Finally, there's the situation in Buffalo. The only thing I know for sure about that situation is that I am liking the no-huddle. On a team with a more solid QB situation, I would steer clear, but it seems to be working for these guys. Cleveland is supposedly toying with the idea, and it wouldn't be a bad one for them either (although almost anything couldn't be that much worse than what they have going now). Some other teams I would like to see use this approach are Miami and Chicago, both because of their speedsters in Ginn and Hester.

The Tenth is in Place

Gentlemen, I am pleased to announce that Everett has accepted the invitation to join our league and complete the dectet of teams vying for fantasy supremacy. Everett is a newly-wed and will be bringing his boyish good looks, piercing blue eyes, luscious mat of leg hair, and his will to dominate to Gentlemen’s Game II. Please welcome our newest league-mate, and breathe a sigh of relief knowing that a viable tenth team has entered the fray.

For those who need to know more about Everett, he’s an Aries, an electrical engineer/attorney, and he witnessed the drunkest night of my life. He enjoys red wine but hates being sucker punched. He is married to the lovely Ashley, which means five members of the league have a significant other whose first name starts with “A.” But far be it for me to ruin the wonderful surprises that will enchant us in our journey to acquaint ourselves with Everett the fantasy football manager.

School Post #1

I found out that I can blog from school just now...which is bad news for my students, and my professional career. However, I have still cannot look at Rotowire or Yahoo fantasy rankings, so I am in the dark as far as who is hurt or benefits from a change.

I will be perfectly honest and say the suggestion is warranted, because the rankings haven't changed. But it bothers me at the same time. I don't like that as a league, myself included, we have developed a track record of suggesting changes to our format at very poor times. I know you all may not believe this from my history as an owner, but I have put time and effort into research and mock drafts under the assumption that we were going by Yahoo player rankings. I don't know how drastic a change would be made in going to another system, but I am assuming based on the arguments made, that it might put a few people in a tougher spot. I agree that we should go by a ranking system that is accurate....but who is to say which rankings are the most accurate. Just because changes to the rankings have occured on other sites, the season has not started. It is still all projection at this point. I understand that the stock of some players is rising and for others it is falling based on a couple of injuries. However, if you have a player that is not where you think they should be...too high or too low, you still have the choice of whether or not to keep that player. If Slaton is too low...TP should keep him. If Manning is too high...Ben shouldn't. We all value players differently, and different publications do the same. Thus, I'm not sure how we find the "most accurate" ranking system.

My suggestions:
1) End the keeper league now. I don't know that its worth the trouble.
2) Take yahoo, espn, rotwire, nfl.com, and some other joe bloe fantasy rankings and find the avg ranking of each player, then use that as our system. (Its a lot of work, but we all have plenty of time right?)

I have heard a number of comments about Brady's stock. However, only Ben has shown any interest in making a trade for him. If anyone is concerned with where he is listed on Yahoo and believes its not accurate with how well he is going to do...make an offer for him. Thats why I tried to establish weeks ago, which rankings would be used. These are just some thoughts.

Player rankings

I propose that we go by the Yahoo Average Draft Position as the ranking of merit. This is obviously the most fair ranking. http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/372433/draftanalysis

The reason is: this is actually based on reality. It's obvious that the Yahoo player ranker hasn't changed since July, and that is not what we were led to believe when we decided to use it as our guide. I, for one, was expecting Tom Brady's ranking to rise if he looked good in the offseason and preseason. He has, and his ADP has risen accordingly, but his ranking is the same as it was when we first joined the league.

Since it is a 10-team league, we should just go in the order of the player's draft position amongst all of the mock drafts. The 1st round talent would look like this:

1. Adrian Peterson
2. Michael Turner
3. Maurice Jone-Drew
4. Matt Forte
5. Brian Westbrook
6. Deangelo Williams
7. Larry Fitzgerald
8. LaDanian Tomlinson
9. Steven Jackson
10. Drew Brees

2nd Round
11. Frank Gore
12. Brandon Jacobs
13. Chris Johnson
14. Randy Moss
15. Tom Brady
16. Andre Johnson
17. Peyton Manning
18. Clinton Portis
19. Steve Slaton
20. Steve Smith

This at least closely mirrors the Yahoo rankings, but has actually changed to reflect a player's promise.

Another thing...

Yahoo is NOT changing their rankings, yet their fantasy projections are changing. In fact, AP's projection increased almost 20 fantasy points with the signing of Favre earlier today. Something is seriously flawed here. Let me just point out a few non-sequitors:

1) Westbrook is ranked as the #5 player, but is projected to accumulate only 209 fantasy points, which is less than Clinton Portis at #13.
2) Tom Brady is projected at 334 fantasy points, well higher than Manning and even Brees, yet he is ranked worse than both of them.

There are quite a few more, but I don't feel the need to list them all here to make my point. I don't know what to do about this necessarily, but I don't think this list is the appropriate one to be using as our metric, especially since we were all under the impression that it would change during the offseason/preseason as things developed.

Lost in the mix

One point that was lost in Taylor's previous article regarding Bebo is the fact that he proposed the keeper announcement be this Saturday at midnight. I am in favor of this, but no one has said anything. I will defer to the commish to make it official, but I wanted to renew this topic as it warrants immediate attention given the approaching deadline.

Rankings

I wonder what someone would have to do to actually move on the yahoo projections board. As far as I can tell, the damn thing is immutable. I don't think a single player has changed spots on that board since I started looking at it over a month ago.

And The Dove Hunter Waves Goodbye

After a long period of inactivity, bested only by John's 1.5 year stretch in college without female contact, there is news to report from minicamp. The Dove Hunter has said his tearful good-bye and is no longer a part of our fantasy football league. The Commish, after making sure he was out of Bebo's rifle range, made the call earlier this afternoon after Bebo was unable to give a solid commitment to the draft date and time. If more needs to be explained about this I defer to the Commissioner.

With that said, Jim Wood can make the draft in person. So we are still in need of a tenth player, and preferably one who does not hunt every day. Refer to earlier posts for potential expansion managers.

We can settle a few things without the commitment of a tenth player, however. For instance, we can set a date to announce our keepers for the upcoming year. This needs to be done before the expansion managers choose their two pre-draft players. I would prefer, and I know some others have agreed in private, to have at least a week to discuss further off-season trades prior to the expansion managers choosing of two players. This would also allow enough time for each person to work out draft plans as we will know all the available players. For this to happen, we would need to have our keepers selected and made public prior to August 30th. I'm assuming everyone would like a little more time to work on offseason trades and look for further news before officially deciding. So, I propose we set the keeper date publication on the 22nd of August by midnight. Then, we arrange for Jim and the mystery tenth manager to draft in snake-like fashion on the weekend of the 30th.

As for the expansion managers choosing players - are we settled on the snake like system? If so, I suggest Jim has priority of position since he is a former manager. Or we can flip a coin. For that draft, only three people need be in communication - Jim, tenth manager, and a neutral third party manager who reports the results on the blog immediately afterward.

Fill the comments with comments.

Run-Off Ballot

We are down to two options that will determine how our expansion teams enter our league.

1) Expansion teams choose two keepers from the pool of players left after last years owners choose their two keepers. Forfeit picks in round after the keeper's projection.

2) Expansion teams choose no keepers but draft in the first and second slots throughout the draft.

Please put a 1 or a 2 in the comments section. We will need five for one decision to make it stick.

Back to school...

So the Commish and the Admiral are back to school...excellent. Hal9000 told me it halves their chances of making the playoffs from 1% to 0.5%.

The "Jeff Garcia Plan"

I want Bebo in this league. I'll get that out of the way quick. But just in case he is unable to perform the required duties involved with a live draft, we need to have a backup plan in place. As much as I want Bebo in the league, gut, instinct, intuition, and my half chub tell me this backup plan could become a reality. All the more important that its in place and ready to get off the bench and lead a fourth quarter scoring drive.

Use the comments below to suggest a back up plan in case Bebo pulls a ham.

An alternative plan...

Look, the expansion guys are definitely stifling some of the trade business and such. I welcome them fully, but people are afraid to gamble with players since these guys get free dibs on our VERY GOOD leftovers. What is even more troubling is the fact that both of these guys might end up with better keepers than people from last year and I just don't think that's fair. In fact, I'd say it's highly likely that they will end up with a better setup than most players in our league. However, if we let them draft 9 and 10 and the rest of us lose the pick in the actual round where the player is projected, this would make things a lot more interesting. Of course the other option is that they draft #1 and #2 this way, which is also fine with me if Jason and Taylor don't take much exception.
Here's why...
Say Jason, Taylor and I are keeping our first round talent, and Brandon decides that Westbrook isn't worth a 1st round pick. [[Now, some may say that this is not fair to Jason and Taylor because they might have to keep players whose value is less than the pick they have (e.g. Forte is probably not a #1 overall pick talent), but here's the beauty, my friends, Jason could keep A. Johnson and Brees and pick up Forte anyway. Or if Taylor has the same idea and puts Turner on the board, Jason may pick him up and Taylor could wind up with Forte. Obviously AP will stay in my pocket, as he is a value for me drafting from the 3rd position.]] Brandon might very well put Westbrook on the board in hopes of grabbing an LT, Chris Johnson, Steven Jackson, Randy Moss, (Deangelo Williams if Tyler feels the same way), etc. It could have a trickle down effect, and would open up more trading opportunities. A person's draft position now becomes much more important as well.

How the Wilson Rule Could Change Our League Forever

Leonard Peltier is a man of few words when it comes to this blog. Yet, he still has things to say. I was blown away by the idea that heretofore will be known as the "Wilson Rule", a tag I cannot take credit for, but one that was generated by the king of nicknames, our Admiral Sax. Last Sunday over Dr. Pepper and a 3 meat dinner, Leonard, The Admiral, and I discussed fantasy football of all things. Our discussion centered on how the current keeper system waters down the talent available in the draft. Though we are getting players a round later than projected, those players have little, if any more value considering that 20 very highly rated players will be off the board before the draft even starts. Essentially we will be drafting 3rd and 4th round talent with our first round picks. Where is the value in that? Digital, please figure out how or if there is any reward in our current system and report back to us.
Now for the "Wilson Rule". According to Peltier, if we truly want to reward smart drafting, then we should lose the pick from the round our keeper was taken the previous year. Talk about changing the game. I may be wrong about the following players, but I know I am close. Under the Wilson rule, Taylor and Scott would lose their last round pick for keeping Chris Johnson and Steve Slaton respectively as they were attained off waivers. I would give up my 15th and 16th round picks for Pierre Thomas and DeAngelo Williams. Jason would be giving up a late rounder for Forte. I am not suggesting that this rule take place before this years draft. That would be a really bad idea. However, before we draft and decide who to keep, I think we should discuss and possibly put the Wilson Rule to a vote for next year. It is my personal belief that this would have a dramatic impact on who we keep, leave a ton of top notch talent still on the board come draft day, make the off-season much more interesting(which I didn't think was possible), give hope to non-playoff owners who drafted a couple of young studs and truly reward risk-taking and smart drafting. I can't wait to hear thoughts on this. Digital....do what you do and analyze these scenarios to see if it would make much difference in how we draft.

The Next Vote

So I believe we need to take a vote on the manner in which we are welcoming our newest teams to the league as well as any possible rule changes regarding scoring. It would probably be more fair to get Jim and Bebo officially in the league so they can have voices in the scoring vote. Your move, Mr. Commissioner.

One Month Left and Official Expansion Ballot

Fantasy friends and owners, there is only one month left for you to make your trades, get your Rotowire memberships, and prepare yourselves for what looks to be our most exciting draft day yet. I wanted to take the time before school starts again to give you a rundown on where we currently stand on certain issues.
* Everyone has signed up to be a member of the Gentlemen's Game II on Yahoo. That is great news. However, I know that Bebo will not be making the trip to Louisville to draft. He has said that it is very possible for him to draft online that morning. I will get a full commitment from him this week. If he decides that he cannot draft his own team online, then we will look for another 10th member. From conversations I've had with many of you, we don't want to auto draft for anyone unless there is some last minute emergency.
* The majority ruled that draft order would be decided by regular season finish for this year and all years to come. If that rule is ever going to be changed it needs to be done prior to the draft and take effect the year following.
* Taylor and Scott made quite a blockbuster trade where Calvin Johnson was shipped to Digital in exchange for Aaron Rodgers. I have yet to get any word from them as far as which draft picks will be swapped.
* The draft will take place at 11:00 a.m. (eastern time) Saturday September, 5 at Jason's House in Louisville.
Official Ballot:Finally we need to determine how the new members of our league will join our keeper system. Below are the options. Please vote in the comments section. We will need 5 owners to approve of any decision. If we have a plurality rather than a majority, the top two options will be placed on a run-off ballot. You all know how this works. Here are our options.

1. Expansion owners choose two keepers after last years owners lock in their keepers. Expansion teams draft 9 and 10. Expansion teams lose picks in rounds immediately following the projected draft position of the keepers they chose.

2. Expansion owners choose no keepers. They will draft in the 9 and 10 slots and will make up the two players by choosing in all 17 rounds rather than sitting out rounds like the rest of us.


3. Expansion owners choose 1 keeper after last years owners lock in their 2 keepers. They lose a pick in the round immediately after their keeper was projected and they make up the other player by drafting in all other rounds.

4.All owners lose keepers in the round in which they are actually projected. Expansion owners choose no keepers and draft in the 9 and 10 holes.