In Part I, we covered a bit of a shift in drafting philosophy for the Scooters this year. With an eye on more dynamic, distance scorers, I favored more of a risky approach, resulting in a solid first half of the draft.
Of course, any good fantasy football owner will tell you that you largely make your hay at the back end of the draft, so without further ado, here’s what happened there …
10th Round, 133rd Overall: Davone Bess, WR, Miami Dolphins
Miami’s new offense will feature a lot more three- and four-wide receiver sets, which means that, even if Bess doesn’t beat out Brian Hartline for an official starting job, he’ll be on the field plenty. Bess has become a consistent safety valve for jittery Chad Henne (more on him later, unfortunately), and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Bess reel in 75 passes in 2011. The key for him is to prove that he’s more than a move-the-chains guy—that he can be a red-zone finisher as well.
11th Round, 148th Overall: Marcedes Lewis, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars
On the off chance that Graham begins boxing out instead of running solid patterns, I couldn’t pass up the chance to add one of last year’s fantasy surprises to bolster my tight end position. Lewis chalked up 10 touchdowns in 2010, and while I’m not counting on him repeating that this season, I do think he will still put up respectable numbers in a short-passing offense. At the very least, he’s a legitimate threat near the goal line for the Jags, and a great guy to have on hand to push Graham. I grabbed Lewis in hopes that the Dolphins defense would make it back around to my 12th-round position, but that strategy backfired quickly when the other Miami fan in the league scooped them up a few picks later. Oh well.
12th Round, 161st Overall: Kansas City, D/ST, Chiefs
Pretty much all the like-to-have defenses were gone at this point, so I tabbed the Chefs here because our rules are that you have to start somebody. I do think KC has put together a young, promising unit, and with Dexter McCluster around, there is the chance for a return score every now and again. I do think the
13th Round, 176th Overall: Brandon Gibson, WR, St. Louis Rams
I had Gibson, Antonio Brown and Andre Roberts pegged as late-round receivers that I was highly interested in, so I figured Gibson was a quality selection here. Sam Bradford aired it out last year as a rookie, and I think the Rams will have a fairly wide-open offense again in 2011 (though let’s not get crazy guys, I do have Steven Jackson, after all). He surprised a season ago, and as long as he’s not buried in the wideout rotation in St. Louis, he should be fine as a No. 5 wide receiver.
14th Round, 189th Overall: Antonio Brown, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Imagine my surprise and happiness when Brown was still lurking when my pick rolled around again. Snaring him gave me two of the three sleeper, late-round wideouts I had been targeting prior to the draft. Not that Brown is going to win me a lot of weeks, but I certainly felt even better about this choice after he put up two long scores in a preseason game just an hour after our draft ended. Whether he emerges in Pittsburgh’s rotation or becomes trade bait for my team, I was more than good with rounding out my corps with Brown as the No. 6.
15th Round, 204th Overall: Matt Bryant, K, Falcons
Bryant was ranked respectably among fantasy kickers for this year, and being that I didn’t have a kicker yet, I thought I’d go ahead and draft him. I was playing a bit of a game of chicken with the only other owner in the league who didn’t already have two quarterbacks, with my eye on (*gulp*) Chad Henne of the Dolphins—I was going out on a bit of a limb in thinking that he didn’t have any eyes on Henne, but I was OK with that. Anyway, Atlanta should put up plenty of points this year, making Bryant a fine starter as my placekicker.
16th Round, 217th Overall: Tampa Bay, D/ST, Buccaneers
I was in need of a second defense, and I figured any team that plays the Panthers and Scam Newton twice a year was a solid choice. Tampa seems to be an emerging team, with some good, young pass-rushing talent, and when you toss in the shocking news that had just come out that one-man-crime-wave Aqib Talib wasn’t suspended, they felt like a solid fit here.
17th Round, 232nd Overall: Shaun Suisham, K, Pittsburgh Steelers
I had sort of heard of him before, he plays for a legit offense and he doesn’t have the same bye week as my other kicker, so … welcome aboard, chief. Also, Scrabble is one of our tiebreakers, so a name like “Shaun Suisham” has to be worth a few points there. Plus, Miami’s Dan Carpenter, a “Joe Dirt” lookalike, was tabbed one choice ahead of me.
18th Round, 245th Overall: Chad Henne, QB, Miami Dolphins
In a god-forgive-me pick, yes, my own personal Mr. Irrelevant made it all the way to my final choice. Miami has a lame-duck coach and trouble filling the seats, so they seem dedicated to more of an air-it-out offense in 2011. From a real-life perspective, that approach feels destined to end horrifically; from a fantasy football perspective, I think Henne has a chance to put up some decent stats that will justify him as a backup signal-caller. The Dumpoff King now has Reggie Bush to shuffle it off to, and hopefully Brandon Marshall (must.not.make.straightjacket.crack) will fall into a long score every now and again as well. And if not doesn’t pan out, well … he was the freaking 245th overall pick in the draft. I’ll be OK.
Quick Wrapup
For a team that hinges a lot on Vick, it stung that Kyle Orton, Josh Freeman and Sam Bradford were all nabbed just before I was going to choose them. Some bad luck involved there, but I also arguably waited too long on nailing down an established backup quarterback.
In hearing about my choice of Vick, my wife shooked her head and paused for a while. Then she quietly asked, “Nobody else who has raped anybody or killed animals, OK?” Sure thing.
I think.
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