Was Pulley even trying?

Draft Results

Rather than listing the draft results, here's the link to the Google Spreadsheet.

In my opinion, the Google Doc idea worked really well, and I see no reason we can't use the same setup next year. Kudos to both Pulley and Rob for coming up with this idea.

Draft Review

Some highlights and lowlights:

Pulley (Pullmans MondoSquad): Pulley makes, in this commissioner's opinion, the no-brainer #1 by taking Randy Moss. It all went downhill from there. Pulley grudgingly selected Dwayne Bowe with the last pick of the second round, and followed that up by shocking the Blingadraft War Room by grabbing Vernon Davis with the very next pick. Of course, there was also Rob Bironas.

Babel (Cuban Fumin' Humans): Mark grabs Cedric Benson in the second and handcuffs him with Bernard Scott in the fifteenth. He had some promising early-to-mid picks, grabbing Welker, Kolb, and Shiancoe in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds. And of course, there was Ryan Longwell.

Pat (Cincinnati Bungles): Unfortunately, Pat got called into work, so ESPN did the picking (except for some pre-made guidelines) for him. He winds up with some solid veteran WRs (Fitzgeraldn and Carolina Steve Smith), though ESPN liked Brett Favre more than anyone else, apparently. Should the wheels finally come off for Favre, Pat has good value with Cutler as his backup.

Allen (Optimus Prime): Allen, showing some nice fantasy growth over the years, made some nice first round picks before retiring to his comfy bed. He wound up with strong WRs (Wayne and Colston) and a very nice QB (Romo) in the first three rounds. Of course, there was Jerricho Cotchery, too.

Mike (Jackie Moon's Bounce): Mike went RB-heavy early, taking Steven Jackson and Knowshon Moreno in the first two rounds. He preferred young receivers with high upside, going with Crabtree and Nicks the next two rounds. He also earned the honor of being the guy to draft the first player released, by drafting Antonio Bryant in the fifteenth round. How shameful.

Dave (Our Lil' Abondingas): Dave, whose name changed moments after the draft concluded (thanks to How I Met Your Mother), took some solid picks early, with Gore and DeSean Jackson, and supplemented that with some nice flyers late, in Mike Williams (Tampa version) and Kenny Britt. He also contributed to the weirdest fantasy rise over time that I've ever seen, taking Jermichael Finley in the fourth round.

Ed (Leavitt Langoliers): Everything shook out the way the commish wanted it to, with Roddy White falling to the seventh pick, Brandon Marshall to the second round, and Antonio Gates to the third round. But Steve Breaston in the sixth? A little depressing. I'm happy with some late flyer picks, particularly Laurent Robinson and potential 2011 keeper, Sam Bradford. The consensus in the Blingadraft War Room was that the Langoliers look like the early Blingaleague favorites.

Kevin (Champaign Supernovas): Despite some trouble loading the Google Spreadsheet, Kev managed to still make his picks. Michael Turner was an excellent pick in the first, and Greg Jennings was a solid #2. Ronnie Brown is sure to produce until his inevitable injury. Of course, Kevin did wind up with the Reggie Bush Booby Prize this year.

Rob (Oxford Commas): The grammatically-themed target of Pulley's evil thoughts grabbed U of I alum Pierre Thomas in the second. He also decided to opt for the interesting strategy of using the W/T starting spot for a second tight end, as he drafted Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten in the fourth and fifth rounds. He also was the initiator of the very first draft-day trade, shipping his eighth- and eleventh-round picks to Babel for the latter's seventh and fourteenth, in order to grab Joe Flacco before the Ravens' QB could be autodrafted to be Pat's backup.

Derrek (D's AutoPicks): D takes the first QB - Brees in the first, tenth overall. He winds up with a veteran-heavy team, including Ochocinco, Driver, Ryan Grant, and Brandon Jacobs. ESPN also liked the Broncos' special teams for him, as he wound up with Prater in the fifteenth and the Denver defense in the sixteenth.

Rabbit (Prailines & Dick): My favorite team name in the four-year Blingaleague history had a nice draft. Peyton was sitting there, begging to be taken with the second pick of the second round, and Rabbit obliged. He also got some nice players in the middle rounds - Arian Foster and Mike Wallace - despite also drafting the corpses of Santana Moss and TO.

Matt (Harrison Hammers): Matt loves his rookie RBs. He took three in the first four rounds - Ryan Mathews, C.J. Spiller, and Jahvid Best. You figure at least one has to become a stud, right? Right? The rest of his team is equally young - Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Johnny Knox, Matthew Stafford. A risky strategy for the man who kept Jermichael Finley in another league.

The Jermichael Finley Saga

In Matt, Rob, and my other league, which uses the same keeper rules, we had to declare keepers by August 1. Matt kept Jermichael Finley for a fourteenth round pick, and the commissioner gave him a lot of grief for it. He even went so far to mail Matt a Jermichael Finley football card, which Matt proudly taped to his laptop for that league's draft.

Needless to say, Matt felt rather validated when Dave took Finley in the fourth round. And to be honest, it wasn't a terrible pick.

Of course, that wasn't the worst of it. Tuesday night, Babel and I participated in his older brother's league, in which you have the option to start two QBs. For that reason, the draft is a really strange process, with QBs going really early.

The person drafting last in the first round apparently thought Jermichael would be taking some snaps at QB, because he drafted Finely with the first pick of the second round. That's right - thirteenth overall. For a guy who was declared to be a bad choice for a fourteenth-round keeper not a month earlier!

Rule Change Update

I. All players will be on waivers from Sunday through midnight on Wednesdays. Waiver priority will be rolling (that is, you make a successful claim, you move to the back of the list), with the intial order being reverse draft order.

II. The official results of the Sidney Rice saga are that you are allowed to replace one of your keepers under the following conditions:

1. Player must suffer an injury (reported and confirmed by reputable sources) or suspension that will cause him to miss the first three games, minimum.

2. Said injury or suspension must occur AFTER you declared him a keeper (Vincent Jackson and his suspension are ineligible, for example).

3. All keeper-replacements must be approved by me (this sounds ominous, but it's not).

4. You may submit a keeper replacement request to me for reasons not already covered, but there's no guarantee I'll let you do it (that is, "buyer's remorse" is not a reason).

5. Once the draft has started, no keepers can be replaced.

III. Pulley has proposed that we change the W/T position to W/R/T. I see no problems with this. Someone remind me next summer if I forget, please.

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums: Leavitt Langoliers, for being installed as the post-draft Blingaleague favorites (the rest of the live drafters declared this, not me).

Slapped Heartbeat: Pullman's MondoSquad. No one really likes Pulley's team. Not even Nathan Michael Pulley, and he can't even talk yet.

Start of the Week: Pulley, for taking Rob Bironas. And all was well in the Blingaleague.

Misplay of the Week: The guy who took Jermichael Finley thirteenth overall in Babel and my other league. (No one in the Blingaleague had a particularly egregious pick.) Also, Derrick Ward was drafted in our other league because, and I quote, "he has a nice smile."

Closing Thoughts

Can we have one newsletter without a live-altering announcement? Apparently not, as Matt propsed to his now-fiancee Andrea the day after the draft. Congratulations to him!

Also, I got a promotion recently. Blah blah blah.

-Eddo

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