4. Meg "mini" Gangum

                The Meg was visibly flustered having to type all the picks into the no-shows on top of keeping up with who had been picked on his cheat sheet and trying to set up skype all at the same time.  Teague took over the skype duty only to get blasted with Sac’s cheeks upon installation.  To make matters even more frustrating, the skype only lasted for a few rounds because some airhead forgot his power cord.  Nevertheless, it was a fun draft, highlighted by Pem striking out on trying to pick a player who was already off the board, followed by everyone whooping and hollering and dancing around the room on strike 3.   

Draft Recap

Stew EEEEE 1. (8) Frank Gore 2. (13) Tom Brady 3. (28) Kurt Warner 4. (33) Kevin Smith 5. (48) Larry Johnson 6. (53) Devin Hester 7. (68) Dallas Clark 8. (73) Jerricho Cotchery 9. (88) Donnie Avery 10. (93) Matt Hasselbeck 11. (108) Derrick Mason 12. (113) Deion Branch 13. (128) Julius Jones 14. (133) Seattle 15. (148) Isaac Bruce 16. (153) Earl Bennett 17. (168) Bryant Johnson

Roster

QB’s:  Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Matt Hasselbeck

RB’s:  Frank Gore, Kevin Smith, Larry Johnson, Julius Jones

WR’s:  Devin Hester, Jerricho Cotchery, Donnie Avery, Derrick Mason, Deion Branch, Isaac Bruce, Earl Bennett, Bryant Johnson

TE’s:  Dallas Clark

DEF:  Seattle

Quarterbacks:

                No doubt the best quarterbacks in the league.  It definitely was not my strategy coming into the draft but when Brady, arguably the best QB in the league and overall leading fantasy scorer this year, was still there in the 2^nd round I couldn’t pass him up.  That lead me to drafting Warner in the next round considering he was my 3^rd ranked QB and 5 quarterbacks had already been taken off the board.  Those 2 could easily throw for over 80 combined TD’s and 8,000 yds if they stay healthy.  I also managed to land Matt Hasselbeck in the 10^th round.  Hasselbeck was plagued by injuries last year and the Seahawks went though a wave of injuries at WR.  I think Hasselbeck will be in store for a great year now that he is back healthy with the addition of Houshmanzadeh.  The 3 WR core (Housh, Burleson, Branch)  is better than the good one they had back in 2007 (Engram, Burleson, Branch) when Hasselbeck threw for 3,966 yds and 28 TD’s.  Also, John Carlson has come along as an excellent pass catching TE, a viable option for Hasselbeck in the middle of the field.  Contrary to most cheat sheets, I have Matt Hasselbeck as the 9^th best quarterback in this year’s draft.

Running backs:

                Frank Gore is one of those workhorse backs who the entire offense is centered around.  All you have to do is listen to offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye to see how Gore fits into the game plan.  "This deal is 21," he said recently, when asked whether he would modify the offense to suit quarterback Shaun Hill. "This ball park is going to be run by No. 21. ... The bell cow in this operation will be No. 21." - The San Francisco Chronicle.  Gore has a chance to be the best overall back in the league, but it remains to be seen how many times per game he will be spelled by sensational rookie running back Glenn Coffey out of Alabama.  Kevin Smith grew on me more and more everyday.  I had Ronnie Brown and Brandon Jacobs ranked ahead of him on my cheat sheet, but pulled the trigger on Smith because of his higher upside.  Jacobs will definitely get his share of TD’s and Ronnie Brown should have a solid year in Miami but I feel Kevin Smith will be on the field more than both of those guys, giving him the opportunity to put up bigger numbers.  Larry Johnson was also pretty high on my board and another guy that could go either way this year.  Depending on how new coach Todd Haley utilizes him, he could definitely be a top 10 back again.  However, if Charles is always the 3^rd down back and Johnson only gets 60/40 of the carries, Johnson is practically worthless.  I’m a big high risk/high reward guy so we’ll see how this one plays out.  Julius Jones is one of the last players I thought I would have on my roster, as I hate players with little upside, but in round 13 I couldn’t pass on a starting RB.

Wide Receivers:

                Most people look at my WR’s and immediately are turned off by them.  I’ll be the first to admit, this isn’t exactly how I thought my receivers would look after the draft, but it isn’t too far off.  I felt that the WR’s were extremely deep this year and feel like I could have a few diamonds in the rough on my roster.  I’ve got 5 #1 WR on their team and according to my ranks I’ve got 3 top 25 receivers this year and furthermore I have tons of depth at the position where I can match-up against poor passing defenses.  The key is going to be starting the right players every week and it will probably have me highly frustrated leaving good numbers on the bench a lot. 

The Rest:

            Dallas Clark could be in for a HUGE year in Indy.  With the departure of Harrison, the opportunity for targets really open up for Clark.  He should see a ton of time in the slot in Indy’s patented 3 WR set now that Gonzalez will move to wide-out opposite Reggie Wayne.  Clark has electric speed for a tight end and could have a chance for a lot of huge plays to put up WR like numbers.  I will also be playing the match-up game defensively and have Seattle going up against the Rams at Qwest Field.  The Rams get sacked a ton and the Seahawks are extremely tough at home thanks in part to the mic'd up crowd noise they have been rumored to play over the p.a. system.  (Kinda looks like Pem in the video).

Ratings

Quarterbacks:      A+           98

Running backs:    B             89

Wide receivers:     C             80

Tight end:              A             95

Defense:                C             N/A

Overall:                  B             89

Season Outlook:

                There’s no secret that the wide receivers will be the key to my team.  Quarterbacks, running backs and tight end are right up there with most teams so if I can have 2 out of 3 receivers have good weeks for me on a consistent basis (I know this is a big if for most of you), I will definitely be in contention for the championship.  My way of looking at it is this…obviously the GREAT players are good regardless of the match-up, but I will take a solid player in a good match-up over a good player in a bad match-up any day.  But like I said, I’m a high risk/high reward guy, I’m going to draft off my gut feeling and not what some magazine tells me to do.  But good luck to you guys who don’t want to finish behind someone who has Devin Hester as their #1 receiver  J.