Let me know if I screwed this up; and be honest with me. I'll set the scene.
Way back when I traded out of the first round, recall, and I've very much enjoyed picking from a position of strength over the last six rounds - working with that extra pick. But that bill is due pretty soon; I must sit out the 9th round.
So on the clock with pick 7.06, I have two picks before I must stand in the corner for a round.
I need a second quarterback. That must be secured with one of these two upcoming picks, or I'll be left picking somebody like Alex Smith or Carson Palmer in the 10th round. I've checked the draft history of this league. I already drafted Matt Ryan, but he'll have a bye, and by my count he had five games last year where his numbers weren't good. If he gets hurt, I would need a competent guy to fill in - not Jake Locker or Philip Rivers, but somebody good.
I need a tight end. If I wait until the 10th round, the top-10 tight ends will be gone. But there are four really good ones available, so I think the chances are excellent that one of those guys will be available at pick 8.05.
And Tavon Austin is sitting there. He's a very interesting guy. I think he'll catch 70-80 balls, run for 100-200 yards and return a kick for a touchdown. I think he might be a top-20 wide receiver. I have four top-15 receivers (I think) but they'll all have byes and poor games. Three of them missed games with injuries last year. They're plugging Austin into that Danny Amendola role in their offense, and that's every intriguing to me. Austin isn't as experienced and might not catch the ball quite as well or have the same kind of hands and feel for sitting down in the soft spots in zones, but he's got a lot more after-the-catch ability. On the downside, if you look at the first-year numbers of other heralded receivers that everyone was excited about - Blackmon, Braylon Edwards, Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, etc. - they tend to be a little disappointing. Many of those guys need some time to get going.
Kaepernick or Austin?
And do you go Austin, then select a lesser backup quarterback at 8.05 (maybe Eli Manning or Andy Dalton is available there), then try to cobble together adequate tight end play with a committee of guys in the later rounds?
I selected Kaepernick, but I might still be able to opt out. Two upcoming owners haven't selected a quarterback, so I could potentially swing a trade and re-select a lesser backup quarterback.
FANEX ANALYSIS DRAFT
Pick Pos Player
1.01 RB Adrian Peterson (Schauf)
1.02 RB Doug Martin (Kellogg)
1.03 RB Arian Foster (Harmon)
1.04 WR Calvin Johnson (Cannon)
1.05 RB Trent Richardson (Holm)
1.06 RB LeSean McCoy (Schauf)
1.07 RB Ray Rice (Rito)
1.08 RB Jamaal Charles (Nease)
1.09 RB Marshawn Lynch (Dolfi)
1.10 RB C.J. Spiller (Dolfi)
1.11 RB Alfred Morris (Day)
1.12 RB Matt Forte (Adams)
2.01 RB Chris Johnson (Adams)
2.02 RB Steven Jackson (Day)
2.03 WR A.J. Green (Cahill)
2.04 TE Jimmy Graham (Cahill)
2.05 WR Brandon Marshall (Nease)
2.06 WR Dez Bryant (Rito)
2.07 WR Larry Fitzgerald (Allan)
2.08 WR Julio Jones (Holm)
2.09 QB Aaron Rodgers (Cannon)
2.10 WR Demaryius Thomas (Harmon)
2.11 WR Roddy White (Kellogg)
2.12 RB Maurice Jones-Drew (Cannon)
3.01 QB Drew Brees (Nease)
3.02 WR Randall Cobb (Allan)
3.03 WR Victor Cruz (Harmon)
3.04 RB Frank Gore (Kellogg)
3.05 RB Darren McFadden (Holm)
3.06 WR Danny Amendola (Allan)
3.07 WR Andre Johnson (Rito)
3.08 RB Darren Sproles (Allan)
3.09 QB Peyton Manning (Dolfi)
3.10 WR Percy Harvin (Cahill)
3.11 RB Reggie Bush (Day)
3.12 RB David Wilson (Adams)
4.01 RB Stevan Ridley (Adams)
4.02 WR Hakeem Nicks (Day)
4.03 RB DeMarco Murray (Cahill)
4.04 RB Lamar Miller (Cahill)
4.05 RB Montee Ball (Nease)
4.06 QB Cam Newton (Rito)
4.07 RB Vick Ballard (Allan)
4.08 WR Vincent Jackson (Holm)
4.09 WR Dwayne Bowe (Kellogg)
4.10 RB LeVeon Bell (Harmon)
4.11 WR Reggie Wayne (Cannon)
4.12 WR Marques Colston (Schauf)
5.01 WR Jordy Nelson (Schauf)
5.02 WR Antonio Brown (Allan)
5.03 WR Wes Welker (Harmon)
5.04 RB Chris Ivory (Kellogg)
5.05 QB Tom Brady (Holm)
5.06 TE Jason Witten (Cannon)
5.07 RB Ryan Mathews (Rito)
5.08 RB Eddie Lacy (Nease)
5.09 WR Mike Wallace (Dolfi)
5.10 TE Rob Gronkowski (Cahill)
5.11 WR Eric Decker (Day)
5.12 WR Josh Gordon (Adams)
6.01 WR DeSean Jackson (Adams)
6.02 QB Russell Wilson (Day)
6.03 WR Pierre Garcon (Cahill)
6.04 WR James Jones (Dolfi)
6.05 WR T.Y. Hilton (Nease)
6.06 TE Aaron Hernandez (Rito)
6.07 QB Matt Ryan (Allan)
6.08 WR Torrey Smith (Holm)
6.09 QB Matthew Stafford (Kellogg)
6.10 QB Andrew Luck (Harmon)
6.11 WR Greg Jennings (Cannon)
6.12 RB Rashard Mendenhall (Schauf)
7.01 QB Tony Romo (Schauf)
7.02 WR Jeremy Maclin (Cannon)
7.03 RB Andre Brown (Harmon)
7.04 TE Tony Gonzalez (Kellogg)
7.05 QB Robert Griffin III (Holm)
7.06 QB Colin Kaepernick (Allan)
7.07 WR Steve Smith (Rito)
^aEUR"Ian Allan
Fantasy News
June 06, 2013