Screwed-up my Keeper Draft last night

[AmishBengalFan]

We've kicked off a brand new keeper league and had our draft last night. It was an 8-owner draft, so the talent was pretty deep and everybody's roster is well-stocked with studs. There is so much depth that it's easy to take a risk or two on a rookie here and there, especially since there's a keeper aspect in play.

Going into the final two rounds of the draft, I had not taken a TE or a K yet, so it was pretty obvious what I was going to have to do. When my pick came up in the 15th round (I was picking 6th) I opted for a TE and took the Vikings' Shiancoe. With my 16th round, I took the best Kicker who would be off either the week immediately before or immediately after Shiancoe. The rationale was since both players were relatively unimportant on my team, I would only have to have one free agent tied up to back them BOTH up. The kicker ended up being the Steelers' Reed (off the week after the Vikings), so when my TE is off, I pick up a temporary one-week replacement. The next week, I drop that replacement (or Shiancoe if the replacement was better) for a replacement kicker. After that, I drop the kicker or Reed and I'm done.

Here's where I screwed up. After my selection of Reed with the 16-3 pick, the guy picking 16-4 took Jermaine Gresham.

I completely forgot about he way on the board. He was ABSOLUTELY worth a pick in the 15th or 16th round, since the "cost" to keep him would be a pick in the 14th or 15th round next year. And who knows, the way he's played in preseason he might actually be good for 3-4 TDs. Instead, I've got a TE playing next to Adrian Peterson and with an ailing 40-year-old primadonna QB.

Ugh!

BTW - Here's our recap for the first 6 rounds (48 picks = 4 rounds in a 12-team league) and the rest of my selections for rounds 7-16

Round 1:
(1) Adrian Peterson RB
(2) Chris Johnson RB
(3) Maurice Jones-Drew RB
(4) Ray Rice RB
(5) Randy Moss WR
** (6) Michael Turner RB
(7) Peyton Manning QB
(8) Andre Johnson WR

Round 2:
(9) Aaron Rodgers QB
(10) Reggie Wayne WR
** (11) Frank Gore RB
(12) Shonn Greene RB
(13) Steven Jackson RB
(14) Drew Brees QB
(15) Larry Fitzgerald WR
(16) Tom Brady QB

Round 3:
(17) Jonathan Stewart RB
(18) Rashard Mendenhall RB
(19) Calvin Johnson WR
(20) DeAngelo Williams RB
(21) Tony Romo QB
** (22) Miles Austin WR
(23) Ryan Grant RB
(24) Cedric Benson RB

Round 4:
(25) Brandon Marshall WR
(26) Roddy White WR
** (27) Ryan Matthews(Rookie) RB
(28) Dallas Clark TE
(29) Philip Rivers QB
(30) Greg Jennings WR
(31) Marques Colston WR
(32) DeSean Jackson WR

Round 5:
(33) Antonio Gates TE
(34) Knowshon Moreno RB
(35) Beanie Wells RB
(36) Eli Manning QB -???
(37) Chad Ochochico WR
** (38) Pierre Thomas RB (yup, 4 RBs in 5 rounds)
(39) Joseph Addai RB
(40) Vernon Davis TE

Round 6:
(41) Ronnie Brown RB
(42) Jermichael Finley TE - ???
** (43) Matt Schaub QB
(44) Brandon Jacobs RB
(45) Vincent Jackson WR
(46) LeSean McCoy RB
(47) Reggie Bush RB
(48) Anquan Boldin WR

7-54 Jay Cutler QB
8-59 Sidney Rice WR (I didn't see the report that me might actually go on IR)
9-70 CJ Spiller(Rookie) RB
10-75 Santana Moss WR (to address my WR mistake in Round 8)
11-86 Hakeem Nicks WR
12-91 Mike Wallace WR (okay, that's enough receivers)
13-102 Ahmad Bradshaw RB
14-107 Darren Sproles RB (Handcuffed w/Mathews in SD)
15-118 Visanthe Shiancoe TE
16-123 Jeff Reed PK

My roster:

QB: Schaub.M / Cutler.J
RB: Turner.M / Gore.F / (R)Mathews.R / P.Thomas / (R)CJ.Spiller / A.Bradshaw / D.Sproles
WR: M.Austin / S.Rice(inj) / S.Moss / H.Nicks / M.Wallace
TE: V.Shiancoe
PK: J.Reed

I might put Rice on IR and trade one of my deep RBs and the FA I would sign for Rice to get a decent WR3. But I cannot believe I missed Gresham! Idiot!

[AmishBengalFan]

The top-5 available players, per my cheatsheet, are:

QB17: B.Roethlisberger
QB18: M.Stafford
QB22: M.Cassel
QB23: M.Leinart
QB24: D.Garrard

RB34: J.Forsett
RB36: F.Jackson
RB39: M.Bush
RB45: C.Taylor
RB47: (R)M.Hardesty

WR26: A.Bryant(inj)
WR27: L.Evans
WR28: D.Hester
WR29: M.Floyd <--- a likely pickup with V.Jackson holding out, especially if I put Rice on IR
WR31: D.Bowe

TE13: O.Daniels
TE15: D.Keller
TE17: J.Shockey
TE18: K.Boss

PK07: N.Folk <--- I'm considering replacing Reed with Folk
PK08: L.Tynes
PK12: N.Rackers
PK13: S.Hauschka
PK17: A.Vinatieri

[JC]

Johnny Knox available?

[AmishBengalFan]

Yes he is:

WR26: A.Bryant(inj)
WR27: L.Evans
WR28: D.Hester
WR29: M.Floyd
WR31: D.Bowe
WR37: K.Britt
WR38: D.Mason
WR39: J.Cotchery
[b]WR40: J.Knox[/b]
WR41: J.Gaffney

With 8 teams and a 16-player roster, we only drafted 128 players - there's a lot of depth.

[AmishBengalFan]

Turns out I *can't* put Rice IR yet. The Vikings have him on PUP right now, not on IR. Our league rules require the player be "Out" for a regular season game due to injury (not suspension) or on the league IR list. So unless the Vikes move him to IR, I'll have to wait for the reqular season to get the week 1 injury list *or* just release him outright to free up his roster spot.

Sucks, because I got him in the 8th round... he would only cost me a 7th round pick to keep him. His current-year ADP is 48, which takes into account his injury, making him a borderline ADP 40-42 player normally. That would fall into our 6th round, making him a bargain to keep for at least one year. I can only keep a player who has a contract, and our contracts don't get signed until week 10, so I have to retain his rights (either as an active roster player or an IR player) until mid-November. If I drop him now, I can at least pick him up as a free agent later and he'll retain his 8th round "value", but if I wait to put him on IR, I *must* keep him there without release until November if I want to sign him. A player on IR who is later dropped may NOT appear on your roster again that year. Ugh!

[JC]

Watch out for Knox. In Martz's offense that produced Torry Holt and Issac Bruce and the crazy abundance of passing they will do, Knox could put up..huge numbers.

[|Tigers Johnson|]

Shinacoe is a good pick...

1. He had a lot of TD's for a TE last year.
2. Brett Favre loves his TE's.
3. He is about all the Vikings have left to throw to.....