2017 George W. Bush League Draft Recaps - 2nd Pick
PICK:
2ND OVERALL PICK
TEAM:
LeveonStuffed Kens TacoBell, owned and managed by Rob Auto-Draft Demagistris. Robby D literally named his team as I was writing this – good timing.
TOP 5:
As with every year, Robby D got to pick in the top 3 of our draft. As we all know, he’s had a top 3 pick every year for 4 straight years. No wonder he’s made it to 2 straight championships, he enters every year with a decided advantage over most teams. Anyways Bob D did what every sane person would do and grabbed Le’Veon with the 2nd overall pick. Bell held out of camp all summer, but that wouldn’t scare me away. He’s still arguably the best running back in the league and his absurd usage will keep him as a top scorer all year. Despite only playing in 12 games last year, Bell accumulated 261 carries and 75 catches…..SEVENTY FIVE. Only 7 RBs had more carries than him and only David Johnson had more catches for an RB (Bell still ranked top 30 for all players in terms of catches). Honestly if it wasn’t for the hold-out, Bell could have easily gone #1.
Bob D grabbed Michael Thomas and TY Hilton with his 2nd/3rd round turn picks to fill out his starting WR slots. Both have many positives, but both have some draw-backs. Michael Thomas had a huge rookie season (92/1,137/9 TDs), but he’s going to draw extra attention after Brandin Cooks was traded to the Pats. The Saints also have a ton of RBs to use and might morph into a run-heavy team at times. Still though, this was below Thomas’ ADP and not a bad pick. Hilton on the other hand has to worry about his QB situation. Will Scott Tolzien be throwing him passes? Will Jacoby Brissett? (still have no idea why that trade happened). When will Andrew Luck return? Hilton is a beast with Luck, but he obviously will suffer a bit until he returns……if he returns.
Robby D’s next pick was Drew Brees in the 4th round. Brees is definitely the third best QB after Brady/Rodgers and getting him at #39 was actually lower than his ADP of #34 (ESPN). Brees should easily eclipse 4,000 yards and 30 TDs this year despite losing the aforementioned Brandin Cooks. Robby D also has a lethal QB-WR stack going with Brees/Thomas which will have some huge weeks.
The 5th round pick is where I will get on my soap box. FUCK reversing picks because of “accidental auto-drafts”. As some of you may remember, this is when Robby D had us reverse out his 5th round pick so he could take a different player. He initially took Demaryius Thomas, but “it was an accident” and I was pressured into reversing it. I was in the bathroom and him/Dylan supported his request to reverse the pick. Like the idiot I am I granted clemency and the draft was forever tarnished. Robby D proceeded to snake us and take the best available TE off the board – which then started the inevitable run on TEs. Honestly this pisses me right off and I am officially declaring that we will not be reversing any draft picks in the future. Ninety seconds is an absolute eternity and the draft was irreversibly damaged by Robby D’s change in picks. If he wins this year there is an asterisk on his season.
NEXT 5:
After tarnishing our draft in the 5th round, Father Bob picked up some FLEX depth in the middle rounds. He picked Ameer Abdullah in the 6th, Brandon Marshall in the 7th, Bilal Powell in the 8th, Duke Johnson in the 9th and Chris Hogan in the 10th. I’ll break this out between the various positions:
RBs Part 1 – the Ameer Abdullah pick was huge and could end up as a steal. Ameer the Queer hasn’t had a great start to his career after being a 1st round draft pick, but he’s shown flashes and has looked really good this preseason. As long as he stays healthy I expect him to be a big-time contributor this year. Let’s not forget about his college states – 4,500 yards and 46 TDs in four years at Nebraska.
RBs Part 2 – Bilal Powell in the 8th was another good pick and he should be very valuable given our points per carry and points per reception scoring. I fully expect Powell to have at least 200 carries and 60 catches, which is 70 points based purely on volume (200 * .2) + (60 * .5) = 70. Add in approximately 1,500 yards rushing/receiving and 5 TDs and you could be looking at a 250 point fantasy season – that would have ranked as RB13 last year….all for an 8th round pick.
RBs Part 2 – Robby D went with another PPR type RB in the 9th round and took Duke Johnson from the Browns. Johnson hasn’t had any big years, but he’s caught over 110 passes combined the past two seasons. If he can provide some RB depth and be a bye-week option then Robby D should be happy.
WR Part 1 – Brandon Marshall is kinda confusing to me, but he was worth the risk in the 7th round. He’s got a much better situation than he had last year and Odell Beckham/Sterling Shepard should occupy a lot of defensive attention. That said he’s older and has been hurt the last month. I could definitely see Marshall having a 10 TD year if he stays healthy and forms some chemistry with Eli. He could also be injured/underutilized, but that’s the risk.
WR Part 2 – Chris Hogan in the 10th was a good upside pick and should be one of the bigger beneficiaries of the Edelman injury. While he’s likely to have some waffle-taco outings (11 games with 8 or fewer points last year), he’s also going to give you a few AM Crunchwrap level outings (inside joke). Still, he’s really just depth and likely won’t see Robby D’s starting lineup.
LAST 5:
Bob D wrapped up his draft by taking his Kicker, a defense, a backup QB and some more FLEX depth.
Broncos D – solid pick, they should have another big year despite the loss of TJ Ward…..which still doesn’t make sense to me. I’m just glad he’s not on the Broncos anymore.
Matt Bryant – Bryant was the #1 kicker last year and should have another good year. No issues here.
Phillip Rivers – he probably won’t be needed on Robby D’s team, but he’s a solid backup and could potentially net something for Rob D in a trade. Rivers threw 21 picks last year, but he has Keenan Allen back and should be better in 2017. In the 15th round this was good value.
Thomas Rawls – while I have no faith in any Seahawks running back, this was the one guy I would have taken a chance on. Rawls is maddeningly inconsistent/injury prone, but he’s the best RB they have. He’s very capable of going for 175 yards and two TDs in any matchup so it was a good flier in the 12th round.
Kenny Britt – unless I’m mistaken, Britt is the #1 WR for Cleveland. Robby D didn’t know that and said “I guess I’ll take Britt” when he drafted him….. better lucky than good sometimes. I’m also pretty sure he didn’t know Britt was on the Browns. Anyways Britt had a good season last year and racked up 1,000 yards with Jared Goff as his QB. This is definitely good value and he’ll probably be better than Hogan this year.
STRENGTH:
I’ll go with Robby D’s pass catching backs here – Le’Veon Bell, Ameer Abdullah, Bilal Powell and Duke Johnson. In PPR leagues (or half PPR in our case), it’s really important to have some RBs who also contribute in the passing game. Robby D has a lot of those guys. Bell will catch at least 70 passes, Abdullah should have 30-40, Powell should have 70 and Duke Johnson will easily have more than 50. All in all those 4 guys could contribute somewhere in the range of 200-225 catches between them – that’s over 100 fantasy points not counting yards or TDs. Rawls can also do a little in the passing game although the Seahawks likely won’t utilize him that way.
WEAKNESS:
Robby D cannot making it through a draft without auto-drafting at least once. As I mentioned above it’s very frustrating and has altered a few drafts I’ve done with him. I’d like to think he’s not lying about it and they genuinely are technology issues, but fool me once fool me twice etc etc.
I guess I have to say his WRs are a little weak if anything. TY might not have Andrew Luck for a while and Michael Thomas is somewhat unproven. Hogan is gonna be boom or bust and Britt might have trouble producing with the Browns. Brandon Marshall is also old/banged up.
DRAFT GRADE, PREDICTION AND FINAL NOTES:
I’ll give Robby D a B+ for this draft and somewhere in the range of 87-89 out of 100. It’s pretty easy to have a good draft when you get LeVeon Bell with your first pick and that’s what happened. Kens Taco Bell has a top 5 QB, a top 3 TE, LeVeon and some good WR/RB options to play with. I really don’t see a weakness with this team, but I guess I’d say WRs if I had to.
As for the season - I say Robby D will finish 7-6 and make the playoffs. He’ll look to reach his 3rd straight title game, but he’ll be knocked out in the 2nd round and will have to fight for third place. His team is good, but it’s one LeVeon Bell injury away from being “not so good”. Also he’s had a ton of luck lately in this league and that has to run out at some point. Also...karma for messing up our draft.
NO MORE REVERSING AUTOPICKS.
