There isn’t much rhyme or reason to why I chose who I did, but these guys stood out to me. I might do another post like this. It’s always interesting to see what players we missed on. Most of the time it’s for solid reasons. It’s impossible to go back and say, I’d have drafted Michael Vick over Aaron Rodgers. So, let’s see where we F’d up.
Darren McFadden was the 42nd running back picked, but finished as the 6th best fantasy back in the league. It seemed likely that Michael Bush would be the workhorse while Run DMC would be the third down back, but Bush got hurt and that was all she wrote. McFadden finally was able to run between the tackles and really was the best back in the league for much of the season. I am not sure what a new coach will do with him, but I don’t see much changing. His injury history is worrisome, but if healthy, he can easily be a top 3 back.
Ryan Mathews was the 8th running back picked on average, but finished 32nd overall and that was with a 3 TD game to round out the season. We’ve seen that he has the ability, but can we trust him to stay healthy? Well, this season the answer was no way, but what about next season? A lot will depend on his ADP, but it will be hard not to at least want to take a risk on him. He finished the season relatively healthy and IF he could stay healthy would actually live up to his ADP of last year, but hopefully at a discounted rate.
Jamaal Charles as you know, is my guy. Others may lie and say they knew him when, but I scouted him from the womb! Well, maybe not that early, but I have liked him for a long while and was happy that his ADP was in the third round of most drafts and he was the 12th running back taken. Even though he wasn’t even the starting running back for much of the season, he ended up as the 3rd ranked RB. JC Superstar healed my foot fungus.
Brandon Marshall’s ADP was 19th overall and the 7th wide receiver, but he finished as the 30th overall receiver. This is not acceptable. When he moved to the Dolphins there was risk involved, but it was hard not to see him playing well as the no doubt #1 receiver and what seemed like an up and coming Chad Henne at the helm. Well, Henne was horrid and Marshall was injured. If we learn anything from this, it’s to be a little more wary of players moving and players on teams without established quarterbacks.
Tampa Mike Williams had one of the best rookie wide receiver campaigns ever. I’m not sure what he was campaigning for, but I’ll vote for him. He finished as the 12 best fantasy receiver and his ADP was 110th as the 47th overall receiver off the board. This is always a tricky call. When to draft a rookie? We already saw Ryan Mathews crap out on us and it seems like a good lesson to learn, don’t reach for rookies and that’s why Williams’ ADP was right at the time. You just can’t risk a high pick on a rookie, especially a receiver.
Randy Moss was the second wide receiver in ADP, but finished as the, well, I can’t count that high. I was a poetry major. Moss’ season was one for the fantasy record books. If he had been injured in the first week of the season at least you would have been able to drop his sorry caboose, but instead you had to keep wishing and hoping that he would turn his shizz around, but instead you were constantly stepping around his shizz.
Kevin Kolb was the 9th quarterback drafted on average, which puts him in the 6th round. Of course he finished way out of the money since he was Wally Vicked, and those of you who invested in his long term goodness now are starting to wonder if you have bought a sack of used corn cobs (and now you are really wondering how they were “used”). A lot depends on what happens to Kolb in the offseason, so it is very hard to forecast how he’ll do next season, but I doubt it will be Vick-like. Cross your fingers he gets Fitzgerald or Rice to throw to.
I haven’t been adding players that went undrafted because I talked about them in my All Waiver Wire Team, but I somehow missed Marcedes Lewis who went undrafted in most leagues, but ended up as the fourth best fantasy tight end. When you look at the top ADP tight ends it looks like a war zone with the likes of Dallas Clark, Antonio Gates and Jermichael Finley leading the way. Lewis’ value benefited from other tight ends getting injured, but he also came up big this season. It’s hard to really love a guy whose points disproportionately come from touchdowns, but Lewis was consistent and Garrard consistently threw it to him in the end zone. With all these tight ends and end zones you’d think I’d make more ass jokes.
The Minnesota Vikings D/ST was the second defense drafted in most leagues which put them in the 9th round. That’s before Darren McFadden, Mike Williams (the good one), Kenny Britt, Austin Collie, etc… Now you might not have grabbed any of those guys and that would be understandable, but why on this polluted earth would you draft the Vikings instead of a flier on a player that could actually bust out or at least help you a little? The Vikings ended the season as the 25th overall defense. The Steelers were the best overall defense and they went in the 11th round and I still wouldn’t have drafted them there. The Patriots finished second overall, but had 7 games where they scored 5 or less points! And two of those were negative. There are no defenses that are consistent enough to be worth a pick before the last couple rounds. Play matchups! If you started defenses against the Panthers for every game you scored 189 points. The Steelers scored 179 points.
