My first ever IDP league!
24 exhausting rounds. Well actually I was on autodraft, but I’m sure it was exhausting for others. Individual defensive players + the usual 9 starters and a huge bench. Here are the results....
I took Chris Johnson with the first overall pick, and then 23 picks later the autodrafting idiots gave me Cedric Benson and Shonn Greene. Three straight running backs? Really, can’t they fix the program so it doesn’t do that, especially when Roddy White and Calvin Johnson and Greg Jennings and Anquan Boldin were all available? Bah!
By the time I came back around all the quality WRs were gone, so I landed Mike Sims-Walker as my top wideout, and then Dallas Clark. Not good.
Next time up the autodraft was kind enough to give me 2 WRs, but I could have done better than Garcon and Houshmandzadeh.
Round 8 the first defensive player goes (Brian Dawkins from Denver, strangely enough) and I finally get my quarterback – Kevin Kolb. Yikes, this is not a league I’m going to enjoy very much. I could have taken Matt Ryan, are you kidding me!?
In the ninth round I autodrafted the Bills' Fred Jackson. Wow. Talk about an exciting pick, I just got a benchwarmer on the league’s worst team. Then in round ten I got a solid sleeper with Johnny Knox.
Packers DST followed by Derrick Mason and then two running backs with picks 13 and 14 – Marshawn Lynch and Ahmad Bradshaw. Typically, the guys who get taken by autodrafters are guys that nobody really wants. Benson, Houshmandzadeh, Garcon, Kolb, Jackson, Lynch, Mason … all perfect examples.
But that’s why autodrafters typically do much better than people expect. They land players who are expected to be busts, and when those busts aren’t busts, they turn into great value picks. Let’s hope I have at least one or two of those.
In round 15 I brilliantly autopick a kicker when I still need WR and RB depth. Super. Then I take Nate Burleson, and then next David Garrard. Most of the elite IDPs are gone by this point, and Garrard is a complete and total waste of space.
I take Falcons linebacker Curtis Lofton in the 18th and then another tight end in John Carlson – what a waste considering I already have Dallas Clark. I then take another linebacker in the 20th – D’Qwell Jackson from Cleveland. These IDP leagues aren't nearly as exciting as I hoped.
Filling out my roster with the last 4 picks are 4 IDPs – Oakland’s safety Tyvon Branch, Jags’ DE Aaron Kampman, Carolina CB Richard Marshall, and with the last overall pick of the day, Philly’s DT Mike Patterson.
Once I logged into the league and see the results, I was sad, and promptly made some moves.
First I dropped David Garrard for Alex Smith, who just so happens to have a week 1 date with Seattle’s inferior secondary which should be a big performance. Then I dropped Nate Burleson for a sleeper in James Jones from Green Bay.
Next, I fixed my defensive positions. Patterson was dropped for Cleveland’s Shaun Rogers, and I dropped Branch to pick up … Ed Reed. How did Reed not get drafted? I guess he’s hurt. But still, I’ll stash him on my bench until he retuns. So I grab the Jets’ safety Jim Leonard to play until Reed’s return, and drop D’Qwell Jackson to make room.
Then I dump a couple unnecessary offensive players in Carlson and Mason and add potential IDP studs in Asante Samuel and Lawrence Timmons. Last move of the day, I drop Richard Marshall and add Detroit’s Kyle VandenBosch, hoping for some sacks.
To recap, my quarterbacks stink, my running backs stink, and my WRs really stink. But I have Chris Johnson and Dallas Clark, so I should be able to compete if I get lucky with one or two sleepers. Between Kolb, Benson and Greene, I should hit a strike with at least one of them. I hope.
Football season can't come soon enough.