CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS NFC Los Angeles Breakers vs Columbus KnickerbockerFin'n'M's LA Breakers Expansion Draft Assessment: 1. LB Daryl Washington, Arizona $490,000 - Best player available by a longshot, will be a stud MLB for years 2. OL David Diehl, New York G $3,825,000 - Washed up turnstyle at LT but versatile and can play other positions along the OL 3. OL Bryant McKinnie, Baltimore $3,500,000 - Best LT option available among veterans 4. CB Asante Samuel, Philadelphia $8,400,000 - 2nd best player available and still a very good CB 5. LB Antwan Barnes, San Diego $1,600,000 - 3rd best player available. Absolutely killed it with this pick. 6. WR Ben Obomanu, Seattle $2,000,000 - Vertical threat with inconsistent hands...not terrible or great. Obvious reasons hes available 7. LB Clint Sintim, New York G $565,000 - Why? 8. OL Jamaal Jackson, Philadelphia $1,775,000 - versatility along OL is nice. Jackson can play G or C 9. OL Wayne Hunter, New York Jets $2,450,000 - Costly for a RT who isnt very good 10. DB Asher Allen, Minnesota $565,000 - Worth a gamble, upside is there though still hasnt put it all tgether but at the very least he can be a 3rd/4th CB when the team gets good. Still young. 11. OL Donald Thomas, New England $615,000 - Again, why bother? 12. DB Daniel Manning, Houston $4,000,000 - Very good pick. One of the top 10 FS in the NFL. Shouldnt have been available here 13. RB Knowshown Moreno, Denver $855,000 - Not as useless as Sintim as a pro but injured frequently. Theme of young players with potential continues. 14. WR Nate Burelson, Detroit $4,000,000 - Solid pick. Got a good wr with good hands and good routes Rookie Draft 33.Brandon Weeden, QB, Oklahoma St - Not a Weeden fan so to me its a reach pick but I can appreciate the fact you tried to address the need for a franchise QB early on. 42.Orson Charles, TE, Georgia - 3rd best TE in the draft but UGA has a history of good TE's 43.Vinny Curry, DE, Marshall - Good pick if youre running a 4-3 102.Harrison Smith, SS, Notre Dame - Steal of this entire process for any team in the draft. Guy killed the combine and is now being talked about as a late 1st round guy. 103.Tyrone Crawford, DE, Boise State - Boise has some underrated athletes. This is one of them. 144.Josh Chapman, DT, Alabama - Could do worse then picking starters on championship teams. 171.Tydreke Powell, DT, North Carolina - talented player who was a reserve for part of his career on deep UNC DL 212.Michael Smith, RB Utah St - Upside is there with this pick. Overall: Great job, theme of young players with potential is a great way to start an expansion team. Looking at rosters, probably the best job overall imo. Vs Columbus LB Antwan Barnes, San Diego $1,600,000 - 3rd best player available and a solid pick. DL Ryan Pickett, Green Bay $4,500,000 - Best NT option, wasnt in love with the idea of picking him myself but could do worse. RB Rashad Jennings, Jacksonville $565,000 - Good player, not a fan of backs that go down easy unless theyre in the Lingerie Football League WR Ben Obomanu, Seattle $2,000,000 - Can play vertically but shaky hands and routes. Probably early but given options available if you wanted a WR this isnt bad. DB Nate Clements, Cincinnati $2,500,000 - Not much left but did ok last year. DB Quintin Mikell, St Louis $1,000,000 - Hasnt been the same since leaving Philly but maybe leaving STL resurrects career. Proven safety who can still contribute DB Akwasi Owusu-Ansah, Jacksonville $540,000 - Why? OL David Diehl, New York G $3,825,000 - Washed up turnstyle at LT but versatile and can play other positions along the OL LB Clint Sintim, New York G $565,000 - Again, Why? TE Tony Scheffler, Detroit $1,550,000 - Good pick. Your best receiving target among proven players. QB Curtis Painter, Indianapolis $565,000 - You took him because? OL Joe Berger, Minnesota $1,000,000 - Good value and versatility. LB Takeo Spikes, San Diego $2,346,000 - Good locker room guy who players can learn from. DL Lawrence Jackson, Detroit $915,000 - Good depth player 2012 EXPANSION DRAFT #34 DE Nick Perry - Explosive pass rusher who should be a lesser version of a Dwight Freeney # 39 WR Stephen Hill GT - Your best pick. Love his playmaking ability and athletic freak. Ga Tech now producing great WR options every other year...Megatron, Demaryius Thomas, and now Hill #46 Ladarius Green, TE La.-Lafayette - Small schol background worries me but can threaten the seam and good hands. #99 Nick Foles, QB Arizona - Underachiever in college who will have to refine his game as a pro. No mobility to speak of, behind weak OL...dont know that I like this. #106 Tony Bergstrom, - Between he and Potter you have your tackles #141 Nate Potter, OT Boise State - See Bergstrom. 2nd best pick. #174 Russell Wilson, QB Wisconsin - Your best QB. Thats not a good thing considering I have him 7th overall in this years draft out of QB's #209 Emanuel Davis, CB East Carolina - Could be a find but questionable technique and ball skills Overall Assessment: You did ok but I hate your Qb's and skill players aside from Hill and Scheffler. Defensively, you passed on Routt who is younger and better than Clements. Good effort. Verdict: Breakers win this bigtime, not cause Fin-O did bad but because I love what BK did. I can appreciate the way Fin-O tried to build his team but the end result is just not on the same level. AFC Los Angeles Express vs Las Vegas Nightlife LA Express LA Express WR Ben Obomanu / Chris Rainey - Rainey is a highly overrated smurf. I've detailed my thoughts on Obamanu LT Charlie Johnson - Turnstyle LT who is better suited at Guard LG Richie Incognito - Good powerful blocker and a solid pick C RG RT Brandon Mosley - Not bad, young player with upside TE Tony Scheffler / Chase Ford - Two good receiving options, Ford is very underrated imo. WR Rueben Randle - Good idea but shaky player with inconsistent hands QB Seneca Wallace / Case Keenum - Just ew. I cant even think of anything else nice to say. Yes, I said this is being nice. RB Rashad Jennings - Not a fan of RB's that go down easy FB Brian Leonard - Throwback thought process having a FB who can run the ball DE Ray McDonald - Good pick, got him 1 pick before I was going to get him NT DE Tim Jamison / Brandon Thompson - Two young players with potential OLB Nick Perry - Solid pick again ILB Larry Foote - 31 year old back up to a 37 year old James Farrior. Dont understand why you invest 3M in a player who cant start for his current team and who wasnt very good starting for Detroit ILB OLB Antwan Barnes Good first pick, 2nd overall. CB Drayton Florence - Flawed but serviceable as a starting CB SS FS Quintin Mikell - Like I said, still has something left and could benefit from a change of scenery. CB Chris Carr / Casey Hayward - Carr is a young player who has shown he can improve, good measureables Overall Assessment: Ill be honest here...I have a hard time with this because I faced Paul and almost all the players he has were guys I didnt want except for McDonald and Barnes. Therefore my ability to be objective here is compromised a bit. Overall I would say Paul did a good job trying to go young and with BPA but I really didnt like the finished product regardless. Vs Vegas Nightlife EXPANSION DRAFT #1 - Daryl Washington, LB - Seems many teams started off this way and obviously since I did as well I am a fan #2 - Antwan Barnes, LB - Like I said, 3rd best player overall. Good pick. #3 - Quintin Mikell, FS - Too early but serviceable so I wont knock the pick too hard #4 - Steve Breaston, WR - Good slot guy who shouldnt start #5 - Ryan Pickett, NT - Best NT option, wasnt in love with the idea of picking him myself but could do worse. #6 - Ray McDonald, DE - Very good selection who has talent #7 - Karl Klug, LB - Personally like him better as a 3-4 Open End, not in love with the idea of converting him but as a pick here, I like it #8 - David Diehl, OT - Washed up like I said. Was the worst starting LT in the league and 2nd best LT on his own team. Versatility saves the pick #9 - Bryant McKinnie, OT - Best Lt option among proven players #10 - Takeo Spikes, LB - Good lockeroom guy and still has something left #11 - Ben Obomanu, WR - Finally someone who didnt draft him about 5 rounds too early #12 - DeAngelo Hall, CB - Solid pick this late. #13 - Rashad Jennings, RB - Im not a fan but if youre going to pick him this is a low risk/high reward spot #14 - Sean Lissemore, DE - Good young player with upside DRAFT PICKS #33 - Brandon Weeden, QB - Not a Weeden fan so to me its a reach pick but I can appreciate the fact you tried to address the need for a franchise QB early on. #38 - Coby Fleener, TE - 2nd best TE option available I after Dwayne Allen. Like his vertical game and hands #47 - Brandon Boykin, CB - Could have been a higher pick if not coming off a broken leg. Solid pick #98 - Brandon Brooks, OG - Needed to address interior OL at some point #107 - Joe Adams, WR - Another good slot guy. #140 - Lucas Nix, OG - See Brooks #175 - Brandon Taylor, SS - Your best draft pick value wise. Think he could be a player. #208 - David Snow, C - Best C left here in a weak C class Overall assessment: I like what you did overall and felt you did a great job accumulating talent even when it duplicated positions. No real problems with what you did here. Verdict: Vegas Nightlife
Someone please point me to the Todd crybaby thread so I can joust with Boik on his "why" questions. You want my own assessment? Ok. My expansion draft struggled, but my rookie draft kicks ***. That's it that's all.... you Jaded hating Knick fan.
I agree your rookie draft was very strong. Against Griddles you would have had a fighting chance. Against BK, none. Sorry bro.
I didn't expect to beat BK as overall he was the best IMO. But again, give me my rookie draft over any of them.
The main thing I didn't like what BK did is that his defense line personnel does not match his linebacker personnel. It's like he started to build a 3-4 with his linebackers then changed his mind.
Its you and BK in a tie on the rookie draft. You both did well late. Him getting Harrison Smith where he did is 1st degree burglary. Its a talent accumulation process imo. He accumulated talent better then anyone. scheme is secondary. You adapt scheme to fit your personnel not the other way around.
Of course... when you're given a team with a bunch of players that you never acquired. But when you are doing an expansion team, you have the ability to build your team around the specific scheme you want to put in place.
The thing is I wasn't sure while I was drafting what I should go with so I just wanted to get the best Linebackers available. There weren't very good 4-3 LB that could match up with Washington or Barnes. Also I took a few players that have been bums or haven't played to their draft status. I figured as an expansion team might as well give them a shot to make it. So if this was a keeper I could make the shift to 3-4 eventually I just felt the 4-3 was my best bet for a first year expansion team.
I disagree. When youre an expansion team the players being exposed are being exposed for a reason. He could run a hybrid 4-3/3-4 if he wants. Whats important is getting talented players as soon as possible, by any means necessary. You cant teach talent.
I wasn't going to avoid drafting a player based on scheme. I got players I felt could contribute. I also want to note most of the teams in this went the 3-4 route basically didn't want to fight over guys in the draft for 3-4. That isn't to say I chose lesser players because I think I did damn well in the draft. I really had fun with this.
Then your assessment of Mikell makes even less sense. He is a talented veteran one year removed from the pro bowl. You can go look at pff and assume he digressed, but when you take into consideration the Rams tarted 10, yes TEN different defensive backs due to injury you realize maybe it wasn't as much him as his surroundings.
More then anything else, it was the 15 missed tackles combined with the bad rating. The missed tackles is not something you can displace blame on and it was one of the higher totals in the league. You can talk about his 61 Passer rating against but then like you say why would teams actually target him (they only threw at him 35x all year) when the rest of the secondary was just running through bodies
LA Express and Columbus are my picks. I dont have time to do a write up but I will tell you one of the main factors for me not picking the other two teams was Weeden. Guy and I can say guy, not kid, has John Beck written all over him. All kinds of red flags, IMO. Also I am not nit picking and I am actually surprised no one but skeet and I said anything about this but In a league where we are crtiqueing teams, how did anyone not notice the fake coaches? How much coaching experience does Vengeful have again? And I think Keenum is going to surprise some people.
Right because Kirk Ferentz is going to leave for the NFL. I viewed the coaches as more of a "something to do as the teams fill up" than anything...
The fact that he's 27 yrs old and has a very small window to get "it". he's coming into the NFL older than some starting Qbs. IMO if you arent a starting caliber qb right off the bat you are wasting your time drafting him for an expansion team. You guys bashed me for taking Manning, and hated on Seleca Wallace but they are some of the only QBs in the thing that have proven skills to win a game in the NFL.
I didn't bash anyone. I like both actually but I'm not a judge. As for Weeden's age I don't see the big deal personally.
He doesn't even coach the sport he currently coaches in well, now he's going to coach a different one? There's a laundry list of things that's wrong with it. As a matter of fact I hope you get an expansion team and hire him. Get him away from our Knicks. I do not like him. Plus if you were going to hire him you should have called the team coach Pringles cans lol
He's actually 28 already and will be 29 one month into next season . Some , like Mike Mayock say he will take some time , if that is true then how valuable is a QB that is already in his thirties? Plus you have questions on how he will play under pressure as he hasn't shown to be elite at that in college and again he is already 28 , which should indicate he would have more success than less as opposed to a 21 year old at the position , imo.
Okay since I gave such a detailed analysis, I'm not going to do that this time around. NFC Los Angeles Breakers vs Columbus KnickerbockerFin'n'M's I actually am going to go for the Breakers here, though it's a very close contest and the teams are pretty evenly matched. AFC Los Angeles Express vs Las Vegas Nightlife Each team took somewhat opposite approaches to the drafts. I'm giving the nod to Las Vegas but it's very close.
. Charles ran a 4.9 into the wind at his pro day and a 4.75 with the wind. You're not drafting him just for his speed
I'll give it til friday for others to vote, if not then whichever two lead by then will battle for the nfl.com eGC
I didn't but changes the perception on how people view him no? I drafted him as a safety blanket for Weeden.
Perception isn't always what matters. Did you draft a good football player? Did the player do anything wrong? Yes and no on those two questions