She Said - Lori
Okay, I know it usually goes he said, she said, but humor me. I asked Brian to join up with me this season to co-manage an NFFC team. Neither one of us have ever co-managed in fantasy football because as Brian said of himself, “I’m a type A personality.” But we figured that since some of our CREATiVESPORTS readers work in pairs, we would give it a try and see how it’s different. With the new Round 3 twist to the serpentine draft, we agreed that if we couldn’t get one of the first two picks, we’d rather be at the end. So we wound up with pick number 14.
What follows are both our impressions from draft day. We prepared separately and then met before the draft at a diner in New York City to discuss strategy. In case you’re curious, Brian had an omelet with home fries and I had a grilled cheese with bacon.
When I showed up, Brian had prepared some questions that we agreed made our lunch feel like speed dating, fantasy football edition.
Brian: What do you want to do with the first two picks?
Lori: Take best available running backs.
Brian: Good. Would you take Peyton Manning if he fell to us?
Lori: Sure (at that point we both laughed thinking that it was not likely that Peyton would fall to the 14th pick).
Brian: Best wide receiver after that?
Lori: Yup.
Brian: Where do you stand on QB’s?
Lori: Big drop off after the first group. I’m afraid we’ll get hit with a big QB run and get shut out since we’re picking 14th. I’d like to get a top QB by the time we make our picks at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 5th. I’d love either Brees, Bulger or McNabb there (Brian was nervous about McNabb’s history of injuries. I argued that when McNabb plays, he gives you Peyton Manning production).
Brian: If we don’t get one of the top six, what round would you wait until for a QB?
Lori: I’d hope we could wait until the 8th or 9th round and get Romo, Leinart or Eli.
Brian; Eli? You’re such a homer (he knows I’m a Giants fan).
Lori: I’m not saying the Giants will win, but Eli will put up good fantasy numbers (note that Brian really likes Matt Leinart this season. I agree. He likes Rivers more than I do).
Brian: At what point do you take a defense?
Lori: I generally don’t take a defense early. I never take the first defense. If we like our team by the 10th round and feel like we have most of our starters, I could see taking a top defense like San Diego if it’s still available.
Brian: I can live with that. I never take a defense early. What about kicker?
Lori: I never take kickers until the end. But with our draft position, we should take a kicker with the 17th pick so we end up with the best of the lot.
At that point, we digressed into a long conversation about the Nebraska Cornhuskers and their chances for the upcoming season. Brian is an alum and fan. And with that, we headed off to register at the NY Hilton.
OUR DRAFT
1.. Willis McGahee
2.. Peyton Manning
3.. Torry Holt
4.. Lamont Jordan
5.. Jamal Lewis
6.. Devery Henderson
7.. Kellen Winslow, Jr.
8.. Mike Furrey
9.. Jerry Porter
10.. Matt Jones
11.. Mike Anderson (McGahee handcuff)
12.. Anthony Thomas
13.. Michael Robinson
14.. Trent Green
15.. Steelers Defense
16.. Ashley Lelie
17.. Shayne Graham
18.. Jason Elam (second kicker because Graham maybe out week 1)
He Said – Brian
What more can I say? Lori used all my (limited) shtick in her part above so I guess I will have to play it straight. I will say that in addition to never co-managing, I have never co-written a column. All kinds of firsts are being established here…
In terms of draft prep, we merged two processes. Lori had a preferred sheet, which she adjusted manually, and along the way, would refer to a magazine with depth chart information. That was helpful late in the draft. I used a sole source as I always do, in this case, our CREATiVESPORTS NFL Draft Kit. With color coding for depth, bye week info and NFFC scoring ranking, I had all I needed in one place.
Drafting 14th, we were sitting very close to the main board. Again, Lori’s and my approach were different in terms of tracking picks. She wrote down every player taken by every team. I preferred not to use my time to duplicate what was on the board, only writing down our roster. We both crossed players off our individual sheets as they were selected.
In the early rounds, one thing that I tracked very closely that Lori was not quite as concerned about was bye weeks. Lori makes a strategic choice not to let bye weeks dictate her early picks, taking the best player available. I take the best available, too, but when it is close, I will ensure I don’t double up on byes. It didn’t matter, as we ended up not taking any more than two running backs or wide receivers with byes on the same week and our quarterbacks are also off different times.
Only because Shayne Graham might miss week one, did we take two kickers. Since they were in the final two rounds, it wasn’t a big deal. We both agreed that we should have grabbed a second solid tight end instead of Michael Robinson in the 13th, but by the time the turn got back to us, there was no one left worth taking.
By week seven, when we will need another tight end, we will be past both our kicker week bye (five) and defense bye (week six). So, I am also happy with our bye week management strategy among the kicker/defense/tight end positions.
That maneuver allowed us to take six running backs and six wideouts. I am hoping we won’t need them, but you never know. At tight end, I was happy with Winslow, but Lori had injury concerns and also wondered about the impact of a weak quarterback situation in Cleveland. My hope is that the QB will have to drop short passes to Winslow frequently.
Speaking of quarterback, I wouldn’t have gambled on Trent Green as a starter (how the mighty have fallen!), but as a back up in round 14, I thought we did great. I had tossed out J.P. Losman as an alternative before Lori pointed out he has the same bye week as Peyton.
Like many, Lori was high on San Diego’s defense, but when it went off the board earlier than when we wanted to go, she deferred to my preferred choice of Pittsburgh. In the 15th round, I was very pleased with that selection. To be honest, I had that defense ranked second with San Diego much lower, anyway. Another reminder not to jump on any defense too soon in your draft.
As noted above, having Manning fall to us at the end of the first/start of the second round was something we did discuss before drafting. Picking 14th really made our decisions clearer. Between getting Peyton and the 3RR (Third Round Reversal), where we got to lead off both the second and third rounds, our strategy had to change. With a solid quarterback and top running back already in the fold, we had to take a top wide receiver in the third. With almost 30 picks until our fourth-rounder, we had to get someone good.
With concerns over his knee, Torry Holt was still out there at pick number 29. We discussed this choice more than any other all day long. While we took a major chance in selecting Holt, we agreed that is the kind of move needed to win a league like this. If he remains healthy, we have a second-round talent for sure.
On the other hand, if Holt is not producing, our receiver corps will be our weak link. That risk was accentuated once LaMont Jordan and Jamal Lewis, two non-timeshare running backs, fell to us at the fourth-fifth round turn. The downside is we didn’t take a second receiver until the last pick in round six.
We agreed that position, receiver, will be our FAAB focus early on. With $1000 of free agent money to spend, we will be looking diligently for the 2007 version of Marques Colston. Let’s hope he emerges and we get him!
The final area we discussed at the crowded and bustling Cosmic Diner before the draft was our plans for in-season roster management. We agreed that I would provide Lori input on free agent picks and starters, but she would be responsible for entering the changes – unless she asked me to cover. Like so many other areas, when two people are involved, it is important to clearly establish responsibilities right up front.
That is about it for now. We’ll be writing our column here every third week, rotating with our cohorts J.P. Kastner, who drafted in Chicago and Mark Meltzer from Tampa. So, see you in three!
Lori Rubinson is a host on WFAN, New York’s leading sports talk radio station. You can listen live on the Internet at www.wfan.com. Brian Walton’s work can also be seen daily at stlcardinals.scout.com.