2017 George W. Bush League Draft Recaps - 6th Pick
PICK:
6TH OVERALL
TEAM:
JacksON Jacks-OFF owned and operated by Kevin O’Connell. (I believe this is a Barstool JJO reference.)
TOP 5:
Kev drew the 6th pick this year and although he said he drafts there every year, he actually has drafted in a worst spot the preceding three years. He drafted 8 last year, 7 in 2015 and 7 in 2014 – giving him an average draft position of 7. This is tied with Lamone for second worst, but no one comes close to the misery I’ve suffered the last 4 years of this draft (avg pick of 8.5).
Anyways JacksonJacksoff went with the following players in rounds 1 through 5: Lesean McCoy, Aaron Rodgers, Alshon Jeffery, Michael Crabtree and Jarvis Landry. Getting Lesean McCoy at 6 is a pretty good deal in our league, especially given our points-per-carry rules. McCoy finished as RB4 last year and had 13 games with 12+ points, 9 games with 20+ points and 5 games with 30+ points. On the season he finished with 1,500 total yards, 50 catches and 14 touchdowns. All of that came despite the fact he missed one game and was limited in two others. And therein lies the problem with McCoy – he’s injury prone. As a 29 year old running back with an extensive career workload, you have to wonder if he’ll breakdown. Those fears aside he’s in line for a Ken Peabody sized workload this season. Who else are the Bills going to give the ball to? (they do have a solid o-line which is favorable)
Three of Kev’s first five picks were wide receivers, so I’ll lump them in together here. Kev must love soft-tissue injuries because after taking Lesean in the 1st round, he opted to go with Alshon Jeffery in the 3rd round. AL-shon, like LE-sean is extremely talented but extremely injury prone. He didn’t even finish as a top 50 WR last year and has a new QB to develop with. Kev passed on guys like Keenan Allen, Doug Baldwin (?!?!) and Terrelle Pryor here, which was surprising. I do however like the Michael Crabtree pick. He’s had a career revival with Derek Carr and has caught 17 touchdowns the last two years. People tend to forget this, but he was one of the best collegiate WRs EVER. In two years at Texas Tech he caught 230 balls for 3100 yards and 41 TDs. Holy fuck. Good pick, no complaints. Although I like his fifth round pick Jarvis Landry, this one is going to suffer from some revisionist history. Mainly because Landry is under investigation for domestic assault – a crime Zeke Elliot may miss 6 games for. As for fantasy – while Landry is extremely talented and a physical freak, he’s only caught 8 TDs in the last two years combined. He’s clearly more suited for PPR leagues and overall I think Larry Fitz, Demaryius Thomas and Jimmy Graham woulda been better picks – all went right after Landry.
And now for the elephant in the room – Aaron Rodgers. While Rodgers is clearly the best *fantasy* QB, a second round pick is just wayyyyy too early. Every single draft pundit I’ve listened to this offseason says to wait on a QB….. but Kev took one in the second round. Rodgers will be good, but Kev definitely coulda got him 1-2 rounds later. By comparison - Lamone got Tom Brady in the 4th round which was 16 picks later. Ironic that Aaron Rodgers fell really far on his NFL draft day, but was selected earlier than anticipated in our draft day.
NEXT 5:
Kev went with a mixed strategy in the middle rounds, grabbing Adrian Peterson, Tevin Coleman, the Patriots D, Desean Jackson and Kyle Rudolph with his 6-10 picks. While we’re on the subject of reaching, comeon Kev. Was it really necessary to take the Pats D in the 8th round? They don’t have any good return specialists, so that’s out the window. They also lost Kony Ealy, Chris Long, Jabaal Pap SHMEARD and Ninkovich, so they likely won’t get many sacks. This one was really puzzling to me and the rest of the league as the next D went in the 11th round – 27 picks later. REACHHHHHHH
As for the running backs, Kev decided to take two backups in Adrian Peterson and Tevin Coleman. Yes AP is a Hall of Famer and yes Tevin Coleman scored 11 TDs last year, but neither of them are starters. AP is in a muddled backfield with Mark Ingram/Alvin Kamara and Coleman is squarely behind Devonta Freeman as the Falcons starting RB. In both cases there were starting RBs available - Ameer Abdullah, Gillislee, Rob Kelley, CJ Anderson, Frank Gore and Bilal Powell to name a few. Overall I’m not huge on these two guys.
Kev redeemed himself a bit in the last two rounds taking Desean Jackson and Kyle Rudolph. Rudolph isn’t flashy but he finished as the #3 TE last year and has developed good chemistry with Sam Bradford. To get the #3 TE in the 10th round sounds like a steal to me. Desean Jackson on the other hand – he was a good flier in the 9th round. He won’t be starting for Kev anytime soon, but he’ll be a good bye week/injury fill in. A lot of coverage will be focused on Mike Evans so he should have some good games.
LAST 5:
Kev ended his draft with the following players: Gostkowski, James White, Rishard Matthews, Ben Roethlisberger and Jason Witten. Time for some bullet points.
- Gostkowski – one of the best kickers, should have a good year. Good pick.
- James White – Super Bowl MVP candidate who will have at least 4-5 weeks where he produces like an RB1. If anything happens to Burkhead he’s the clear-cut passing down guy.
- Rishard Matthews – nice pick by Kev here. The #21 WR last year has some good chemistry with Mariota and is a good sleeper pick (9 TDs from weeks 5-17 last year).
- Big Ben – good QB depth. No issue here especially because Rodgers has a tough opening schedule (Seahawks, Falcons, Bengals).
- Jason Witten – TE depth in case Rudolph stinks, no problem there.
STRENGTH:
Kev’s strength is clearly his QB room which is occupied by two of the greats of our time. Rodgers and Roethlisberger have combined to earn 3 Super Bowls, 2 MVPs and 11 Pro-Bowls. Rodgers and Roethlisberger …….. I feel like there’s a team name in there somewhere.
WEAKNESS:
Kev’s bench is his weakness. Honestly, there’s not one guy on his bench I’d want on my team. Maybe Tevin Coleman, but only if I had got him in the 9th or 10th round – not the 7th round. Desean Jackson is too streaky for my tastes and Rishard Matthews has a lot of competition for touches. I refuse to draft Patriot running backs, so James White is out. Jason Witten is good but old and Roethlisberger SUCKS when he has to play on the road (plus injuries). Kev’s gonna need to do some work on the waiver wire this year.
DRAFT GRADE, PREDICTION AND FINAL NOTES:
I hate to be a dick, but I think this is the worst draft of anyone in our league. I love you Kev and you’re my boy and everything, but this was not your best work. And for that reason, I am out.
Since I have to grade it, I’ll give it a C. Lesean McCoy should be a good RB1 all year and Rodgers is money in the bank, but there isn’t much outside of that. If Alshon stays healthy and Crabtree produces like he has the last two years he could get some wins….but they’ll be hard to come by. I used up all my negativity, so I’ll end with the prediction – 4-9 and missed the playoffs. Kev will probably smoke me in our week 1 matchup because KARMA, but I can’t see this team winning more than 4-5 games with the roster as it currently stands.
Note: Kev was coming back from a wedding and I think he drafted from his phone. Hungover and not using a computer definitely put him at a disadvantage. Most of us were hungover in some way, but not wedding hungover.
