"Tony Gonzalez"
Some murmurs went around the room, as Gonzalez was still available in Rd. 14, but such are the realities of an eight team IDP league: Good players are available in late rounds.
I had spent approximately 90 minutes preparing for the draft in the preceding 72 hours, mainly identifying who was injured, suspended, out of the league, or incarcerated. The remaining time was spent searching for a free IDP cheat sheet that wasn't six weeks old and verifying my draft strategy with my Director of Pro Player Personnel (DP3) Jon. After reviewing all the recovering injured "star" players and holdouts, we assessed there were six blue chippers in the draft with no real health or team related issues (i.e. new coaching staff, banged up O-line, injuries at other positions, being on the same roster with Mark Sanchez). The lucky couple picking seventh and eighth would still get a good player, but hopefully I was not going to be one of those people.
I was indeed one of those people. I drew the "lucky"seven on draft night and murmured curse words. We (Jon and I) figured the top six would be Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Rice, Foster, McCoy (not necessarily in that order). Should any of those fall, that's who I would be taking, but I wasn't going to hold my breath. My backup plan was Cam Newton (whom I didn't think would get through RD1), and then anybody's guess in Round 2.
Lo and behold, LeSean McCoy fell to seventh overall due to an Eli Manning call a couple picks earlier. I was able to snag Cam Newton in RD2 due to a proxy drafter's instruction to "get Alex Smith" if at all possible. I was largely satisfied with the rest of my draft, despite missing out on Jimmy Graham by one pick (which started a run on TEs), and miscounting how many offensive flex positions we could have on the active roster. Oh, well, you can never have too many RB's, can you?
There are a few ground rules for my drafts. Never draft a kicker before the last round, don't draft anyone on Minnesota, Dallas or New England (strangely, this only applies to offenses - I can overlook the rivalry/sphincter factor for a defensive player) and avoid overvaluing your favorite team's players. Being a dog owner, I can't draft Michael Vick, and I probably would have passed on Tom Brady in Rd. 1 had he been available for no other reason than he broke up with Bridget Moynihan.
Other guidelines I employ: If you need a defensive player in the later rounds, look for a good player on a bad team - their defensive is going to be on the field a lot. Since every pick after Rd. 14 is basically crapshoot anyway, make decisions between players based on who has the fun name ("Everybody, have fun tonight. Everybody, Patrick Chung tonight"), or who went to your favorite college. I try to pick a former Badger each year, but in this draft another UW backer beat me to them. I also pay no attention to bye weeks when drafting, which allows for clearer thinking on draft night at the expense of finding six players to plug into your roster in Week 9.
So, three weeks into the season, where did this get me? Nowhere very good, nowhere very bad. The Eli Manning pick I silently ridiculed kicked my fanny in Week 1 and someone else's in Week 2 before coming down to earth in Week 3. I struggled to find a Flex D over the past two weeks who could score in double digits. Is making five tackles too much to ask from a professional NFL linebacker? Apparently it is, at least from the guys I was starting.
So in Week 3, my defense if finally hitting on all cylinders while my opponent has AJ Green (whom I could not have told you who he played for prior to today) and his @#$ 40 points. Thankfully, my 14th round selection Tony Gonzalez came to play today with 26 pts. Frank Gore did not, as he tossed up a nickel, or looked at another way, one less than my starting d-lineman.
I can still pull out a victory, however, but it involves Wes Welker and a stomach virus so I'm not terribly optimistic. Petyon Manning completing passes to Demaryius Thomas would help, too.
Life is a fantasy, indeed.
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