It finally feels like football season again after my fantasy league held the draft this past weekend. I promised I would call them out by name if they did anything stupid, so without further ado, here are some notable occurrences from the 2015 “Men Fantasizing Over Other Men” League Draft:
Even Iffy Running Backs Flew Early: I took Adrian Peterson with the first overall pick to start the night, one of seven RBs taken in the first round. That’s not overly unusual. Players like Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, Eddie Lacy, and Le’Veon Bell often prove to be the workhorses for your team, bringing in points through the air as well as punching in TDs on the ground.
The only surprise in the first round was Latavius Murray. I think Cross intended to draft DeMarco Murray and just screw up really badly. He deserves it for taking Peyton Manning before I could.
Latavius wasn’t the only questionable running back to go early however. By the 6th round, Frank Gore, Ameer Abdullah, Melvin Gordon, and T.J. Yeldon had all found their homes for the season. I’m sure half of these guys will end up just fine for mid-round selections, but the other half (more than likely being Abdullah and Yeldon) will most likely have a hard time generating enough to warrant a relatively early pickup.
Abdullah for one is technically not even the starter right now, at least until Joique Bell (10th round) inevitably gets hurt. Even at that, he could very likely see shared carries and growing pains in his rookie season.
But, Chase seems to love the hype around him. Let’s just hope he doesn’t turn out like 2014 Toby Gerhart did for me. That was the first and last time I will ever draft a Jaguar.
Tom Brady, Sam Bradford, Victor Cruz, and Julius Thomas Dropped Significantly: Apparently the consensus in our league was that Tom Brady would be serving out that four game suspension. Or maybe no one believes he can actually play with properly inflated balls. Either way, Brady fell right into Adam’s lap in the 6th round.
Brady, however, may be riding the bench despite having his suspension overturned, as he is sharing roster space with Sam Bradford, who has been absolutely phenomenal in preseason. Maybe all the talk about his injury-proneness distracted people from the fact that this guy was a Heisman Trophy winner and 1st overall pick. He’ll be just fine…hopefully…maybe…
Injury fear also held back New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz, who didn’t find a team to call his own until the 13th round. Odell Beckham Jr. on the other hand went in the 2nd. Let’s just remember that there is basically no way one defense can guard both guys. I guess potentially missing one or two weeks is worth it to most people.
Julius Thomas was picked up immediately after Cruz, but at that point we were just desperate for tight ends. Thomas, who will actually be missing at least a month now, just has no hope for the future without Manning under center.
You Better Draft a Defense Early: Or maybe you shouldn’t. I can’t imagine that this problem is universal across most fantasy leagues—the top four defenses were gone by the 7th round, with the Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, and Houston Texans going in the first three rounds, respectively.
What the hell, Lucas. We knew you weren’t sure what you were doing, but c’mon. You ended up with five defenses, Dustin Hopkins, and Tim Tebow. TIM TEBOW.
He promptly changed his team name to “Defense Wins Championships.”
If he could play all five, maybe I’d be worried.