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I hate how much Brandon’s going to enjoy this post, but there’s a good lesson to be learned here so I’m obligated to write it.
Our esteemed League of Champions held its draft on Tuesday, and overall I’m pretty satisfied with how my team came out. However, what I’ll likely remember most about this draft was the mistake I made in round 5. I had the 10th pick overall and drafted RB-RB-WR-WR to start. QBs were flying off the board, and by the time my pick came around in the 5th round, only one guy was left on my list of third-tier QBs – Joe Flacco. I couldn’t stand the thought of counting on the likes of Carson Palmer or Brett Favre this season, so I was sweating it as the rest of the league made their 5th-round picks. To my relief, Flacco did fall to me and I scooped him up without a second thought.
Two seconds later, Brandon typed: “Stupid pick!” I was halfway through typing an impassioned defense of my high regard for Flacco this year when he elaborated, “You could have had him next round. 11 and 12 already picked QBs.”
D’oh. He was right – had I taken the time to check, I would have noticed that the teams with the 11th and 12th picks already had drafted their quarterbacks and weren’t likely to take a QB2 in the fifth round – so I could have taken a third running back or wide receiver instead and grabbed Flacco in the sixth round five picks later. Percy Harvin was available and I almost definitely would have picked him up had I thought to do so.
Instead, here’s how the picks went:
ROUND 5
10. Joe Flacco 11. Arian Foster 12. Michael Bush
ROUND 6
12. Percy Harvin 11. Justin Forsett 10. Brent Celek
Ugh. I made the best of a bad situation by taking one of the highest-ceiling tight ends in the league, but that’s not to say I wouldn’t rather have Harvin or Foster.
Moral of the story: Don’t get tunnel vision. Pay attention to the teams around you and who they’re likely to pick so that you don’t end up drafting a player earlier than you have to.
Brandon 4:39 pm on 9/02/2010 Permalink
In all honesty, I probably would have made the same mistake had I not been one of the guys who “already had a quarterback.” The guy with the last pick took Aaron Rodgers as his first overall pick and I took Tom Brady in the second round, so there were a couple of rounds for Matt to forget what was going on
Brandon 4:41 pm on 9/02/2010 Permalink
Let’s not side-step the fact that both Brent Celek AND Jason Witten went BEFORE Jermichael Finley in this draft!!! Had I known that was going to happen, I most definitely wouldn’t have taken Dallas Clark in the fourth round. Moral of the story…sometimes people do crazy things.
Squish 10:04 pm on 9/02/2010 Permalink
That is wacky. Celek is going in round 6 normally but if Finley was still on the board that is ridiculous. I personally have been treating TE as my wild card pick this year. If there is a round where I feel I’m not getting sufficient value, I usually grab a TE. The earliest that happens is the 5th for me normally but in my drafts, there is always someone sticking around that nobody else likes. I’ve been getting Vernon Davis at a great price this year. I got him in the 6th last night. He may not be the guy he was last year but he’s still the team’s best target.
Matt 8:54 am on 9/03/2010 Permalink
Jermichael who? Oh, that guy with one decent stretch of games and one 100-yard performance in his career?
blake 4:50 pm on 9/02/2010 Permalink
Why are yall taking TE so early? That is like buying wins in baseball, you can predict who is going to score more touchdowns week to week. I don’t understand why you would get a TE at the earliest by round 7.
Mal 7:07 am on 9/03/2010 Permalink
I guess pictures TE as WR#4 so a a no.1 WR is better than a no.3??? I mean look at SD, Gates is going to have some serious targets there. There is that upper tier of TE that you have to class for yourself but I guess they’re worth a WR#3 or sometimes a WR#2? It’s probably a strategy I need to take in with me to a few mocks and see what I give up to get one of the top TEs (for me it may only be Gates in that upper echelon)
Brandon 8:33 am on 9/03/2010 Permalink
I’ve done a few drafts this year and once you get past the first few tiers of wide receivers, you start realizing that you’re taking guys based on their upside, instead of some top tight ends that are sure things with nearly WR2 numbers. Looking back though, I admit I should have probably went with a better WR and then took a mid-tier tight end, because it definitely ended up costing me quality at the receiver position.