Well the 2010 UAL draft has come and gone. In this installment of the Fantasy Football Free Press, The Commish and Grant Rice break down each manager’s draft by taking a peak at each squads strengths and weakness and assign each manager an overall draft letter grade.
*Note: This article only analyzes the teams that were drafted and does not reflect any waiver wire moves or roster adjustments made since the draft on 8/26/10.
Pick #1: Shul
One Word Description: Value
Strengths:
Well of course Slimy Shul squeezes out the #1 pick. Shul finds great value with Fitz at 3.01 as well as picking up both TO (7.01) and Jacoby (9.01) as surely one of the two will emerge as a great fantasy WR3 who will be putting up WR2 like numbers.
Weaknesses:
Due to most owners already owning a QB, Shul could have waited a couple more rounds on Matt Ryan, which would have allowed him to upgrade Cadillac. However, Shul has been man crushing on Cadillac for years, which was evident in a couple outlandish board bets last season.
Fortune Cookie:
Finley finishes as the #1 TE in fantasy football. Sims-Walker is bumped out of the starting lineup by week 5.
Pick #2: Slowskies
Letter Grade: C+
One Word Description: Boo-Boo
Strengths:
The Slowskies are asking AD to carry this team and, fortunately for The Slowskies, AD is a half-man, half-bear, half-terminator who will single handedly win games for them. In addition, it was a great call to handcuff Peterson with Gerhart (13.02) who will produce if for some reason AD goes down (knock on wood). Last, S. Moss (7.02) was great value and is poised to have a nice season.
Weaknesses:
Fortune Cookie:
Peterson goes down, but Gerhart fueled by the power of the turtle logo keeps The Slowskies in the playoff hunt.
Pick #3: Weiner
Letter Grade: B+
One Word Description: Contender
Strengths:
Opponents this year will find Weiner much harder and overall much deeper. MJD is accompanied by a solid QB1, legit WRs, and plenty of talented RB2s. Weiner should have no problems finding a very viable RB2 and WR3 out of his rostered players, as many of them have major potential to make quite a fantasy impact.
Weaknesses:
Its tough to find any glaring squad sores on Weiner, however there were better options available over Heyward-Bey (14.10) and Romo (3.03) was taking a little too high. In addition, Weiner’s 10th round pick of Carlson could have been much more productive.
Fortune Cookie:
Weiner jumps from last place in 2009 to championship contender in 2010.
Pick #4: Clever Team Name
Letter Grade: B-
One Word Description: Adequate
Strengths:
Clever Team Name has a solid core group of starters that will be able to put up points with the best of them. CTN can sleep easy knowing that they will always have the entire Baltimore backfield in their pocket as well.
Weaknesses:
In general, Clever Team Name’s bench is weak and appears to have modest upside. Winslow should have been waited on and this misstep weakened CTN’s backup WRs. Drafting Stafford is marginal given that Clever Team Name owns Peyton Manning, however, CTN is a notorious QB hustler when it comes to future trade talks.
Fortune Cookie:
Clever Team Name rolls the dice the day before the trade deadline and elects to make a deal that leaves him very thin in RB depth to try to make a playoff push.
Pick #5: Big Ry
Letter Grade: B-
One Word Description: Almost
Strengths:
Big Ry’s starting lineup is strong and if he can keep his players healthy, he can easily be making a playoff run. He found a steal in Welker at 5.05 whose average draft position in most PPR leagues was 3.03.
Weaknesses:
Big Ry’s squad could have been a B+ and been positioned to be in the top tier of UAL fantasy teams. However, Big Ry’s picks from the 10th round on are questionable and could potentially hurt his squad. Having both Sydney Rice and Roethlisberger (especially as a Rivers owner), definitely weaken his team depth for the first half of the season.
Fortune Cookie:
Rivers snaps at club Pecs in San Diego when Javier his waiter doesn’t get him his sex on the beach shots in a timely manner. Things get real ugly and he is forced to join Roethlisberger both on the bench and in anger management classes forcing Big Ry to scramble to try and find a QB who can keep his cool.
Pick #6: Breaston Plants
Letter Grade: B
One Word Description: Sufficient
Strengths:
Breaston Plants have a competent starting line up with big point potential. Both Wells at 6.06 and Portis at 8.06 were nice value.
Weaknesses:
The Breaston Plants could have been amongst the elite if their management had drafted better in the later rounds. Aside from Cutler, their bench appears to be lacking upside and is filled with mediocrity.
Fortune Cookie:
The Breaston Plants have a stressful season due to the fact that in the beginning weeks they always start the wrong guy at RB2. They then look to deal Wells and Cutler because their man crush on Clinton Portis is too strong, but they then throw a major tantrum as the league conspires to veto all of their proposed trades without blinking an eye.
Pick #7: Cleveland Steamers
Letter Grade: B+
One Word Description: Strong
Strengths: A very strong draft for the Steamers, who got two elite WRs, an elite QB, and still salvaged a strong group of running backs. In particular, the Steamers got great value out of Jonathan Stewart in the sixth round. How did this guy go four rounds after DeAngelo Williams with all of the reports of a 50/50 time-share in Carolina? This is a scary team with perhaps the best WR corps in the league.
Weaknesses: Tough to see any weaknesses here, but the Steamers recorded one of the bigger reaches in the draft, snapping up popular sleeper Zach Miller in the 8th round. I won’t be surprised if he ends up in the top-10 among fantasy TEs, but there were arguably better TE options available and the Steamers certainly could have gotten similar value much later.
Fortune Cookie: Before a disappointing season last year, the Steamers were the class of the UAL. 3 seasons ago, before the injuries, the great Tom Brady threw for 50 TDs. This year, both Cameron and Brady return to their former glory and the Steamers hoist the UAL trophy.
Pick #8: Bedwetters
One Word Description: Frontrunner
Strengths: There’s a lot to like here. The Bedwetters got an Elite WR and still put together what looks like a very scary group of running backs. Also, between Knox, Harvin, Floyd, and Bryant, the Bedwetters have a lot of very solid depth at WR. Finally, Cooley was a great value.
Weaknesses: The Bedwetters probably should have taken another RB. There isn’t much depth here and a single injury to either Charles or Dash will force Nate to lean on the notoriously unreliable Laurence Maroney. Also, With no definitive No. 1 QB, the Bedwetters will have to play the frustrating matchup game.
Fortune Cookie: Lightning-quick Jamaal Charles rushes for 1,800 yards and 12 touchdowns while also catching 70 balls, earning the nickname “Flash.” Behind this production from their third-round pick, the Bedwetters make their way to the Fantasy Bowl where they fall to the Steamers.
Pick #9: Drinkin’ A Forte
Letter Grade: B-
One Word Description: Wayward
Strengths: Drinkin’ a Forte had a great beginning to this draft, getting a TIER 1 WR, the king of
Weaknesses: Unfortunately, Drinkin’ a Forte started drinking multiple forties and the wheels came off. He missed out on Matt Forte, leaving him with a lack of RB depth. Harrison’s future as Cleveland’s No. 1 is uncertain, and Weaver is unlikely to make any significant impact even if McCoy goes down. If Tyler was looking to handcuff McCoy, the man he wanted was the former Wildcat, Mike Bell.
Fortune Cookie: A fully healthy Randy Moss leads all WRs in fantasy production and keeps Drinkin’ a Forte out of the drunk tank.
Pick #10: Bear Jews
Letter Grade: C+
One Word Description: Uninspiring
Strengths:
The Bear Jews spent their off-season developing one of the most state-of-the-art fantasy football draft strategies the world has ever seen. In layman’s terms, essentially Bear Jews management would draft two players themselves consecutively and then let the Yahoo system auto-pick a draft pick. While management concedes the auto-pick to the Yahoo system, it is imperative that the wielder of this innovative technology paces around the room swearing loudly and punches furniture repeatedly. The Bear Jews cutting edge system augmented a fantasy lineup that is filled with sufficient players in every single position.
Weaknesses:
The Bear Jews have adequate players in every position but lack any true star power. The Bear Jews took Mendenhall (1.10) ahead of both SJax and Matthews, which is debatable to say the least. It also might have been more productive to take a stud WR like White, Marshall, Austin, or Fitzgerald instead of Ryan Grant at 2.03. Eli Manning at 5.10 might have also been a reach.
Fortune Cookie:
As the Bear Jews look to go on a Nazi killing crusade in 2010, they take the powerful New York Giants with them, as they have already rostered Eli Manning, Steve Smith, and Hakeem Nicks. The Bear Jews love for the Giants grows throughout 2010, which is evident when they drop Shiancoe for Kevin Boss and put up a Brandon Jacobs poster in their main office men’s room with a Giants themed box of tissue next to it. However, the fascists win as both the Giants and the Bear Jews miss the playoffs.
Pick #11: Gentle Turtles
Letter Grade: B+
One Word Description: Stout
Strengths:
As cute as that little schmooky pookie cutesty wooties tootsy logo is of the Gentle Turtles, DO NOT let that fool you in to thinking you will ever have an easy week versus them. The Gentle Turtles squad is cold hearted and ruthless. The Gentle Turtles possess not only the secret power of the ooze (how to win a fantasy super bowl), but also a dangerous WR corps and a powerful RB corps. The Gentle Turtles are poised to be playing in Week 16 once again.
Weaknesses:
It’s tough to find any glaring weaknesses on this squad however with slightly better draft management The Gentle Turtles could have snagged Vernon Davis over Celek and still maintained to draft Ronnie Brown. In addition, Favre should have been waited on as almost the entire league had already drafted their QB1.
Fortune Cookie:
Fortunately for the rest of the UAL, Favre just has wayyyyyyyyy to much fun out their this season and especially in Week 11 when he throws 5 picks versus The Packers which costs The Gentle Turtles a much needed win versus Schul. This heartbreaking loss essentially keeps The Gentle Turtles out of the 2010 UAL playoffs.
Pick #12: Ricky’s Blunt Forces
Letter Grade: B-
One Word Description: Volatile
Strengths: Ricky’s Blunt Forces got great value out of, who else, Ricky Williams. RBF owns an elite QB in Rodgers, a top-flight TE in
Weaknesses: The glaring weakness here is a lack of depth at WR. The Blunt Force has no elite No. 1 option and some shaky characters at WR2 and WR3. Maclin is a burner who stretches the field but I expect him to be infrequently targeted by the young Kevin Kolb who will rely more on the safer options in
Fortune Cookie: VJax gets off his couch, puts down the Bud Light, and returns to play in Week 5, solidifying The Blunt Force’s shaky receiving corps and keeping them in the playoff hunt.
Well thats it for this installment of the Fantasy Football Free Press. Best of luck to everyone in 2010.
Co-Authored by:
The Commish
Grant Rice
