On to Round 2. Actually, Round 2 is complete, as is 3 through 6 as of Friday morning, but time for some commentary on Round 2. Here is what happened:
- FantasyFootball.com #2 – QB Peyton Manning, IND
- Coachbox – RB Reggie Bush, NO
- FFXtreme – RB Willis McGahee, BUF
- Junkyard Jake – RB Chester Taylor, BAL
- FantasyFootball.com #1 – RB Joseph Addai, IND
- Footballguys – RB Kevin Jones, DET
- Football Diehards – RB Laurence Maroney, NE
- FFToolbox – RB Ahman Green, GB
- Fantasy Tailgate – WR Steve Smith, CAR
- XpertSports – RB Travis Henry, TEN
- CBS Sportsline – RB Deuce McAllister, NO
- FF Today – WR Larry Fitzgerald, ARI
Peyton Manning is definitely deserving of going in this round, but considering FantasyFootball.com #2 took Edge as his RB1 who I felt had the most question marks of the first 12 picks, this top of the 2nd pick should have been for another RB for this team.
Love the Joseph Addai pick. I’m usually a RB + stud WR guy when drafting towards the end of the 1st Round, but if I could guarantee a pair of RB from Portis, Jones-Drew, Bush, Addai in most league formats, I’d be all over that like a dirty shirt.
Kevin Jones is a risky pick given the severity of his injury from back in Week 14. The latest from the Detroit Free Press indicates it is “possible” Jones will be ready for training camp, but he is yet to even start rehabilitating his foot yet (as of the article date, Jan. 18, ’07). Footballguys may be taking the optimistic approach here on Jones, given the timing of this draft.
Laurence Maroney I got less impressed with as the season went on. He seemed to get stood up at the line of scrimmage a lot. This could be due to a poor fit between his running style and the Pats’ blocking scheme, but one would think the Pats would adjust for this to allow for him to have more success. At any rate, Maroney appears to have the character and work ethic to prep hard for a breakout 2007. I like this pick.
Ahman Green I don’t have a good handle on what his future holds. He is a free agent. Probably not a player I’ll have on any of my teams, much like the past 2-3 years, especially if he is going in the 2nd Round.
Tailgate finally pulls the first WR off the board with Steve Smith. Cool.
Travis Henry impressed last season, but that was when expectations had him #3 on the fantasy depth chart going into the season. He had no where to go but up. The team still made a fair investment in LenDale White. Chris Brown will most certainly be shown the door. Henry doesn’t give me a warm and fuzzy feeling with expectations this high, though.
I like McAllister, but one of the big unanswered questions between now and the start of the season will be how Head Coach Sean Payton continues to utilize both Bush and McAllister. Could McAllister be heading elsewhere on or before the NFL Draft? Tough to trade a RB for value in the NFL these days.
Ah, Larry Fitzgerald. I love this kid. The RB position was getting sketchy at this point, so I’m happy to add a top receiver. You know, I bet Fitzgerald has one of the best TD to games played ratios at WR since he’s been in the league. Here is the Top 40 since 2004, regular season only:
+---------------------+------+------+---------------+ | Name | Play | ReTD | ReTD_Per_Game | +---------------------+------+------+---------------+ | Terrell Owens | 37 | 33 | 0.892 | | Marvin Harrison | 47 | 39 | 0.830 | | Steve Smith | 31 | 20 | 0.645 | | Torry Holt | 46 | 29 | 0.630 | | Javon Walker | 33 | 20 | 0.606 | | Randy Moss | 42 | 24 | 0.571 | | Marques Colston | 14 | 8 | 0.571 | | Darrell Jackson | 35 | 20 | 0.571 | | Chris Henry | 27 | 15 | 0.556 | | Reggie Wayne | 48 | 26 | 0.542 | | Roy Williams | 43 | 23 | 0.535 | | Larry Fitzgerald | 45 | 24 | 0.533 | | Muhsin Muhammad | 47 | 25 | 0.532 | | Plaxico Burress | 42 | 22 | 0.524 | | Joey Galloway | 42 | 22 | 0.524 | | Chad Johnson | 48 | 25 | 0.521 | | Lee Evans | 48 | 24 | 0.500 | | Chris Chambers | 47 | 22 | 0.468 | | Hines Ward | 45 | 21 | 0.467 | | Donald Driver | 48 | 22 | 0.458 | | T.J. Houshmandzadeh | 44 | 20 | 0.455 | | Santana Moss | 45 | 20 | 0.444 | | Marcus Robinson | 41 | 17 | 0.415 | | Joe Horn | 39 | 16 | 0.410 | | Drew Bennett | 45 | 18 | 0.400 | | Terry Glenn | 38 | 15 | 0.395 | | Eddie Kennison | 46 | 18 | 0.391 | | Jerry Porter | 36 | 14 | 0.389 | | Donte' Stallworth | 44 | 17 | 0.386 | | Joe Jurevicius | 39 | 15 | 0.385 | | Reggie Brown | 32 | 12 | 0.375 | | Jimmy Smith | 32 | 12 | 0.375 | | Braylon Edwards | 26 | 9 | 0.346 | | Brandon Stokley | 35 | 12 | 0.343 | | Keyshawn Johnson | 48 | 16 | 0.333 | | Rod Smith | 48 | 16 | 0.333 | | Deion Branch | 39 | 13 | 0.333 | | Matt Jones | 30 | 9 | 0.300 | | Anquan Boldin | 40 | 12 | 0.300 | | Andre Johnson | 45 | 13 | 0.289 | +---------------------+------+------+---------------+ 40 rows in set (0.39 sec)
Hmm… Not quite as good as I thought, but considering this includes his rookie season and the historic state of the Cardinals, he’s still doing well. He does have a notably better rate than teammate Anquan Boldin, which I believe is key with regards to the surely to be resurrected “Fitzgerald vs. Boldin” debate.
I have the first pick in Round 3. The RB position hasn’t gotten any better since my last pick, obviously. Maybe I’ll have to bolster my WR position before filling in the RB2 spot, but it is a looonnnggg wait after that until my next pair of picks. Decisions, decisions…
Facebook
Twitter
Leave a Reply