Monday, August 25, 2014

In this year's news you could not possibly care about...

I need to find and interview this guy
here's the 2014 starting roster in my keeper fantasy league.


  Player TM 2014
QB Tom Brady NE 23
RB1 Montee Ball * DEN 37
RB2 Toby Gerhart JAX 41
WR1 Danny Amendola * NE 13
WR2 Randall Cobb * GB 20
WR3 Victor Cruz NYG 45
FX Kelvin Benjamin CAR 19
TE Julius Thomas DEN 41
DEF Kansas City DEF 2
PK Blair Walsh MIN 1
B1 Matt Ryan ATL 19
B2 Hakeem Nicks IND 2
B3 Terrance West CLE 15
B4 Jeremy Hill CIN 8
B5 Steven Jackson ATL 10
B6 Dwayne Bowe KC 3
      299


Asterisks were keepers, and yes, I know, there was no reason to protect Danny Amendola. Just being stubborn.

Last year's team was such a mess, honestly. I wind up in the middle of the pick on free agent pick ups. The couple of guys who did not work out (Ryan Mathews, Russell Wilson) were too expensive to keep for their production. My best moves were waiver guys, not draft picks. I didn't make any trades to help my club for 2014. It was just that bad, and made me think about tanking 2014 in an attempt to actually compete in 2015.

But, well, football isn't like that. Injuries are too common, game changers show up out of the ether, and the guys that will take a massive jump in value next year will do it from change of addresses. Consider, for instance, Gerhart; he went from undrafted in Minnesota to one of the best available RBs in the draft in Jacksonville.

As for thoughts about this draft, it went about as well as I could expect. Going in, I saw only a handful of elite talents -- Matt Forte, Keenan Allen, Andre Ellington, Julian Thomas and Drew Brees -- so getting Thomas was acceptable, especially for a good chunk less than I was projecting for a guy that I have as the second-best TE in the NFL in 2014. Backing him up with two other players from my top ten (Cruz, Gerhart) made me feel good about how things were going, and I normally don't have that kind of positive vibe in mid-draft.

In the middle moments, I got Brady for a very fair price, then got caught a little in price-protecting Ryan, but it's not as if Brady is an every-week auto-start any more. Plenty of potential there. Getting shares of Benjamin, West and Hill gives me some upside candidates, and Nicks, Jackson and Bowe are all good gambles for the money. Even the positions that I'll likely stream later (defense, kicker) felt good.

Looking at the club now, it's obvious to me that WRs are the likely weak spot, especially if Cobb and Amendola have the same injury issues in 2014. I'm hoping Benjamin uses the void in Carolina for WR depth to his advantage, that Bowe gets his act together or Nicks can take advantage of Andrew Luck.

I think I'll compete. But win? Um, no. More on this later.

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