2013 BTFF Draft Breakdown

     

     My first reaction to the draft is that was really fun.  Maybe it was the draft pick trading, maybe it was just all the camaraderie but that was probably the best draft I have been a part of.  We also have 10 avid and faithful owners, which is a good recipe for success.
     Before I grade the draft; ESPN made some pretty critical grades of their own.  I'm not sure what format they use to determine success or how much they actually put into this grade, but if nothing else but entertainment value only: here is their grade of the draft.

     Upon further reading, a group of ESPN's best minds put long and hard through into this grading process, I wouldn't change a thing.  I like some of the comments on here though, like the conflicting comments between the top two teams and supposed doom for Jumbo Gumbo who has 2 of the top 8 players in fantasy.  My favorite though is their comment on the Skins, who ironically enough, played with us last in 2009.
   
     Now on to an actual human's grading of Monday night's draft.  I'll preface this grade by saying at this time last year I bashed My Team - in my post draft piece.  He proceeded to win all 14 of his regular season games (yeah 14-0).   Soooo here's to hopin' cellar dwellars!

The Fumblers

(Caleb Davis)

    Lets start at the top of the draft, where the mighty Fumblers grabbed Adrian "all-day" Peterson for the 3rd year in a row.  If anyone has a criticism of AP, I'd like to hear it.  Fumblers went with the high upside of Trent Richardson at #13 then reached slightly for Jimmy Graham at #20 to lock up the TE position.  The Fumblers have star power with his new runningback duo and Graham and White.  They also have good balance over the starting roster but are just an injury or two away from serious depth issues as their best bench player right now is Josh Gordon.

Best Value- Russell Wilson (80th overall)

Worst Pick- Lamar Miler (60th)

Overall Grade-  B+

Forgetting Brandon Marshall

(Casey Wright)

    Casey understandably had some reservations about the #2 overall pick but decided to keep it and choose that lovable hamster made of muscle, Doug Martin.  Then FBM went right back to runningback choosing the equally small and stubby Maurice Jones-Drew.  **Brownie Point** in round 3 for not forgetting Brandon Marshall.  I like the strategy here of filling all of the starting RB and WR positions in the first 5 picks, then getting a quality arm in the 6th round with Stafford.  TE is the only real weakness here, but undrafted rookie Zach Sudfeld's sleeper potential could be realized if he can take advantage of the looks while Gronkowski is away.

Best Value- Montee Ball (#62)

Worst Pick- Fred Jackson (#102)

Overall Grade-  A-

Men of Troy

(Troy Anderson)

    M of T also went RB early with Rice and Ridley to solidify the runningback starters, then grabbed 3 formidable receivers and Matt Ryan to throw them the ball.  Well rounded team with not a lot of weaknesses, he just needs the few stars he has to produce.  Its not a lineup that will strike fear into your heart, but one that could make the playoffs.

Best Value- Antonio Gates (#103)

Worst Pick- Chris Ivory (#63)

Overall Grade- B-

My Team -

(Rick Stammer)

    Rick had a much more important illness in the family he had to tend to and therefore autodrafted.  Must say he did well with some real bargains though and never had that bad of value pick.  The - is really solid at the QB and RB position.  Weak at WR and TE.  I'll go out on a limb and say he does not go 14-0 this time around.

Best Value- Steve Smith (#64)

Worst Pick- Lance Moore (#97)

Overall Grade- B

Jumbo Gumbo

(Paul Hovey)

   The Gumbo did a heck of a job trading up and managing 3 of the first 16 picks of the draft.  Hard to go bad when you're picking that high, but the tasty cajun cuisine did not disappoint going with Spiller, Charles and AJ Green to start his squad.  Gumbo is a little light at certain positions due to the trade-up but has some intriguing pieces that will make him better than his grade if they pan out.

Best Value- Miles Austin (#85)

Worst Pick- Pierre Garcon (#56)

Overall Grade- B

FormerlyKnownAsFavre

(Dave McConnell)

    Dave shocked a few of us by going QB-QB with his first two picks.  He then got down to business, however, choosing a RB or WR with his next 6 picks.  To be safe, he did go QB-QB again in rounds 11 & 12 just in case you were thinking about stealing one from him.  The WRs actually aren't too bad, but the RBs are ugly.  He may need to send a QB via trade to help him out at another position, because if he stands pat, he'll eliminated early.

Best Value- Mike Wallace (#55)

Worst Pick- Drew Brees (#6)

Overall Grade-  C-

Team Ott

(Justin Ott)

    Seeing how he won the championship last year I guess we need to take this guy seriously, huh.  Ott began with two juggernauts in Lynch and Rodgers.  Vincent Jackson seemed a little early at #27 as did Anquan Boldin.  There is some talent here, but it looks like an inconsistent group to me.  Its gonna be tough to get through the bye weeks with some of the backups.

Best Value- Aaron Rodgers (#14)

Worst Pick- Anquan Boldin (#67)

Overall Grade- B-

Hunk Hoisters

(Luke Harden)

    Hunk took the opposite approach of a few others and gave away his 1st and 2nd round picks to get a larger number of middle rounders.  The talent is certainly there, although it may be the all-injury team of the century.  At one point Harden drafted with 6 picks in a row: McFadden, DeMarco Murray, Amendola, Gronkowski, RG3 & Ryan "2 broken collarbones to 1 TD in 2012" Matthews.

Best Value- Chris Johnson (#25)

Worst Pick- Darren McFadden (#28)

Overall Grade-  B+

SkinsWillWin 2014

(David Davis)

    The original commissioner of the BIG TIME welcomed himself back with a bang by taking beloved redskin Alfred Morris.  Some other solid picks ensued before round 6 when things got very, very confusing.  RG3 was waiting in the wings... but no!  The SkinsWillWin selected the Seahawks defense and then followed up the cold shoulder to Mr. Griffin by selecting his rival Tony Romo in round 8.  Also a kicker may or may not have been selected with the #92 overall pick.  The starting talent is there, but it falls through quickly.

Best Value- Larry Fitzgerald (#32)

Worst Pick- Seahawks D (#52)

Overall Grade- C-

BigTime Johnson

(Ryan Johnson)

    BTJ grabbed two studs early with LeSean McCoy and megatron, but was still able to get ol' faithful Tom Brady.  The rest seem to be role players, and the wide receivers after megatron have question marks.  The bench is also thin and may have some problems in bye weeks.

Best Value- Tom Brady (#31)

Worst Pick- DeSean Jackson (#51)

Overall Grade- C+

Wyndham Wrap-up

    Congrats to the Fumblers and Jordan Spieth who take the #1 spot in the upcoming draft.  Here will be the order come Monday nights draft:

1. Fumblers
2. Forgetting BM
3. Men of Troy
4. My Team -
5. Jumbo Gumbo
6. FKA Favre
7. Team Ott
8. Hunk Hoisters
9. SkinsWillWin
10. BT Johnson

    I hope everyone can make it Monday night for the draft.  Only 4 of you voted on the draft day you wanted so those four got 100% of the say.  Make sure you continue to check this site throughout the year as most of the information will be up here, not the ESPN site.

Wyndham Update: Day 3

    One spot has been finalized after the tournament favorite Brandt Snedaker failed to make the cut on Friday.  This cements Big Time Johnson as the #10 pick this year.   After today the other 9 will also be finalized as the final round comes to a close today.  Actually as of this writing Mr. Webb Simpson is tearing it up with 5 under through 8 holes.

Wyndham Update: Day 2

    Halfway through the Wyndham Championship and Jordan Spieth is looking goooood.  Again, a lot could change over the last two days, but the Fumblers are looking more and more primed to grab the #1 pick in this years draft.

Wyndham Update

    After the first round of the Wyndham Championship, David and Caleb seem to be in good shape.  Here is the complete scoreboard for the only 10 guys we care about.

We'll see what the 2nd round holds tomorrow.  Should be interesting and odds are this order will change a few times before it solidifies.

Determining Draft Order

     Now that the league owners have been set, its time to prepare for the draft.  As I previously stated, I wanted to do something new this year to determine who has the #1 overall pick.  Choosing this ourselves will give us a little more notice before draft day on where we are picking.  Plus, its just more interesting.  So this weekend, we will all be golf fans.

Go Bulldogs!

   
    Thats right, this weekend's 2013 Wyndham Championship in North Carolina will decide what football players you're stuck with for the rest of the year.  For every non-auction season we have I'd like to make this a yearly tradition except with the US Open.  So Phil & Tiger may not be in this one, but it should be a fun little competition nonetheless.
   

    These are the top players, according to Vegas to win this weekend's tournament.  I'm going to draw each team out of a hat and assign them to the top 10 golfers.  First one drawn gets Snedeker the favorite, last gets Els the 10th highest favorite.     (its a Royals hat for the record)

1. BT Johnson: Brandt Snedeker (14/1)
2. Men of Troy: Webb Simpson (14/1)
3. Forgetting BM: Zach Johnson (16/1)
4. Hunk Hoisters: Bill Haas (18/1)
5. SkinsWillWin!: Sergio Garcia (18/1)
6. FKA Favre: Martin Kaymer (25/1)
7. My Team Minus: Hideki Matsuyama (33/1)
8. Fumblers: Jordan Spieth (33/1)
9. Jumbo Gumbo: David Toms (40/1)
10. Team Ott: Ernie Els (40/1)

   Best finish of your player determines draft order.  Tiebreaker will be the last round score that the player shot.  Coin flip after that if necessary.  If you really have a strong conviction about another player that is not in the top 10 I don't really care if you switch, just let me know prior to the start of the tournament tomorrow.  Good luck boys and GO BILLY HAAS!  (I just googled him he IS a real golfer.)

   

     

The 2013 Season; everything is bigger and badder.

     Hope springs anew as the traces of another season beckons us.  Every year I try to add a little more to what we do here at the BIG TIME, and this year will be no different.  However I want to keep it strong from week 1 to the end and not poop out on you guys like I did last year with the weekly updates.  So this year I plan on having the format be a little different and I anticipate it being better as a whole.  You'll get the gist once it starts up.
     I anticipate having 12 teams again although we should know definitively by August 13th.  As always, there are some slight changes this year and I'll fill you in on the major ones.

• No Dues

After experimenting with a $20 buy-in I think the work outweighs the reward.  Everyone who plays in our league is already motivated and we're going to kick out anyone who isn't active anyway.  Its a pain to pay for stuff.   I would like to get an actual, physical championship trophy though, so if anyone wants to help chip in... we need a trophy.

• Flex Spot!

Also in the experimental stage is an additional position added to the 9 man starting roster: (yes, 10 starters) the flex spot!  Instead of adding a stupid punter or head coach spot and increasing the element of randomness to fantasy football, the flex spot should essentially let us all just play our best bench player most weeks without increasing the pool of players we need to know.  The scoring system has been slightly cut down also so that our overall scores shouldn't change too much from prior seasons.

•  Serpentine Draft

I'd say the auction was fairly popular last year, although it took a LOT of time.  In a perfect world, we'd  probably do an auction every year too, but this season we're going back to old faithful.  Stay tuned for more on this though.  It does have one new hiccup.

Good luck again to everyone this year.  Again if you haven't officially committed for 2013 please do so on the message board.