Fantasy Draft 2006...

Ok, I realize that everyone else and their dog posts about fantasy football right now, but seriously, I dont care... this is a good space for me to vent over my stupid picks and idiotic moves on draft night...

First off, draft night is the best... I mean, it's 10 guys sitting around a table, drinking beer, eating wings and other such artery clogging items, talking football and busting each other's chops. It's hysterical... and I wish it happened more often...

So, my league is a keeper league -- for those of you who dont know what that means, well, a keeper league is one that allows you to protect X amount of players from your previous year's roster, thusly, keeping them on your team. So going into the draft, all the best players are already gone, the only thing left are rookies, veteran guys worth drafting but not worth protecting, and sleeper picks that will hopefully have a big year coming out of nowhere.

Last year, thanks to some injuries (I had Marc Bulger, Darrell Jackson and Priest Holmes get injured on my team) and thanks to Terrell Owens' stupid antics (getting booted from the Eagles and not playing the 2nd half of the year), my team tanked... I wasnt going to get near the top three - which earn money in this league, so I decided to strip my roster and try to get draft picks and position myself for a rebuilding year. So, after it was all said and done, I finished in last place -- which earned me the 1st overall pick in this years draft.

Heading into the draft, I really needed to get a QB -- so I dangled the 1st overall pick and eventually traded it, along with Terrell Owens and Jake Delhomme to another guy for Daunte Culpepper, Javon Walker and his 6th overall pick. I am happy with that move, even though both guys I traded for are coming off knee injuries and I gave up the chance to draft Reggie Bush (remember, keeper league). That being said, I got ready for the draft, and the season, fully aware that I probably am not going to compete for the money this year...

am I ok with that? sure...

Anyway, here is how my roster looked heading into the draft:

QB Culpepper
RB Edgerrin James, Willis McGahee
WR Javon Walker, Darrell Jackson, Joe Horn, Lee Evans
K Shayne Graham

So obviously, I need some help at every position, and here is how the draft went down:

These are all the picks for the first three rounds...

Round 1
DisTillers - Reggie Bush RB NO
Kodiacers - Chester Taylor RB MIN
Fightin Tunas - Frank Gore RB SF
Darth Raiders - Joseph Addai RB IND
Men Against Speedos - Wali Lundy RB HOU
Dorothy Mantooth was a Saint - DeAngelo Williams RB CAR
Gradiators - Heath Miller TE PIT (a TE this early?)
More Cowbell - Lawrence Maroney RB NE
Southern Discomfort - Mike Bell RB DEN
Crown Royal Norsemen - Derrick Mason WR BAL
Duffsuckers - Matt Leinary QB ARI

Round 2
More Cowbell - Kevan Barlow RB NYJ (not so sure about this one yet)
Duffsuckers - LenDale White RB TEN
Fightin Tunas - Laverneous Coles WR NYJ (and his tortured childhood)
Darth Raiders - Michael Vick QB ATL (maybe one year he'll turn out to be a QB)
Men Against Speedos (MAS) - Nate Burleson WR SEA
DisTillers - Baltimore DEF
Gradiators - Dominic Rhodes RB IND
Kodiacers - Ron Dayne RB HOU (wild mockery ensued)
Southern Discomfort - Ernest Wiliford WR JAX
Crown Royal Norsemen - Keith Bulluck LB TEN
D Mantooth Saints - Byron Leftwich QB JAX

Round 3
Cowbell - Philip Rivers QB SD
Duffsuckers - Reggie Brown WR PHI
Tunas - Ray Lewis LB BAL
Raiders - Matt Jones WR JAX
MAS - Chris Simms QB TB
DisTillers - Vince Young QB TEN
Kodiacers - Mushin Muhmmamad WR CHI
Southern Discomfort - Vernon Davis TE SF (grr - my next pick!)
CR Norsemen - Ronde Barber DB TB
D Mantooth Saints - Eddie Kennison WR KC

I'll spare you the rest of the rounds, and just tell you that the rest of my picks went like this:

Alge Crumpler TE ATL
Cincinnati DEF
Eric Coleman DB NYJ
Julius Peppers DL CAR
Kevin Curtis WR STL
Julian Peterson LB SEA (yes - another guy coming off a knee injury)
Brandon Jacobs RB NYG
Jerametruis Butler DB STL
Ken Lucas DB CAR
Robert Ferguson WR GB
Aaron Rodgers QB GB (Brett Favre cant go on forever)
Arnaz Battle WR SF (everyone had to take a home team pick in the 15th rd)

So that's it... that's my fantasy team... I'm hoping that Culpepper regains form, same goes for Walker and that Edge and McGahee will find the endzone more often than last year...

Of course, none of this will happen probably, and I'll be stuck in the basement again... but who knows, stranger things have happened...

Until Next Time...