Frameshmania 2014 Draft Review!

Hey, look up there!  It's a bird!  It's a plane!  No, it's Josh Gordon getting high.

Too soon?

Anyway, for the nth year in a row, I have to do a review of the draft results for my family fantasy football league, Frameshmania.  This year is the first year we've had the whole cast of characters repeat, and that should give us some opportunities to forge rivalries and develop meaningful matchup statistics for me to feed you at the end of the season.  

OK, for the format: you'll see everyone's team, I'll rate each team's positions (NOT ranked, just a number to compare teams -- there could be repeats, and no one is rated below a 4 on anything).  Then I'll take an overall rank based on a composite of those ratings.

Let's go to work. (Apologies in advance for weird formatting, copying from Excel is a bummer).

ALEX
QB	Colin Kaepernick
RB	Eddie Lacy
RB	Montee Ball
RB/WR	Roddy White
WR	Demaryius Thomas
WR	Randall Cobb
TE	Rob Gronkowski
D/ST	Bengals D/ST
K	Steven Hauschka
Bench	Victor Cruz
Bench	Robert Griffin III
Bench	Trent Richardson
Bench	Lamar Miller
Bench	Fred Jackson
Bench	Carlos Hyde
Bench	Jordan Reed
QB	4
RB	4
WR	8
TE	9
OVERALL	7TH

Those who were in the room at the time know that all I could say after about the 8th round was “I hate my team”.  I took Kaep and RGIII in the middle rounds when guys like Brady and Wilson fell until much later, I don’t have any good players behind Lacy and Ball, and even my stud-receiver collection doesn’t stand up that well against other groups when you really look at it.  The team relies on a lot of guys who have injury or consistency concerns, and that just doesn’t inspire much confidence.

LAURIE
QB	Matt Ryan
RB	Zac Stacy
RB	Giovani Bernard
RB/WR	C.J. Spiller
WR	Calvin Johnson
WR	Pierre Garcon
TE	Jimmy Graham
D/ST	49ers D/ST
K	Mason Crosby
Bench	Percy Harvin
Bench	Shane Vereen
Bench	Marques Colston
Bench	Pierre Thomas
Bench	Danny Woodhead
Bench	Riley Cooper
Bench	LeGarrette Blount
QB	3
RB	5
WR	9
TE	10
OVERALL	6TH

With the 7th pick, as most of the league zigged with RBs, Laurie was forced to zag with Megatron and Graham as her top picks, which obviously loaded up those positions, but her need to fill up on running backs caused her to wait a little too long at QB.  She ended up as one of only two teams with a single quarterback, and Matt Ryan just doesn’t have the stability or upside to be left on an island like that in an 8-team league.  She has some depth at RB, but I don’t feel confident enough in the Stacy/Bernard/Spiller trio to rank the group highly.

PHIL
QB	Peyton Manning
RB	Matt Forte
RB	Andre Ellington
RB/WR	Rashad Jennings
WR	Andre Johnson
WR	Cordarrelle Patterson
TE	Julius Thomas
D/ST	Broncos D/ST
K	Adam Vinatieri
Bench	T.Y. Hilton
Bench	Eric Decker
Bench	Knowshon Moreno
Bench	Cecil Shorts
Bench	Devonta Freeman
Bench	Justin Hunter
Bench	Jay Cutler
QB	9
RB	7
WR	6
TE	9
OVERALL	2ND

Phil noted during the draft that his mostly-nonexistent plan was uprooted when Peyton fell to him in the middle of the second round, and his slight reach for Julius Thomas soon after prevented him from having top-level RB / WR starters.  I like the Ellington / Jennings picks behind Forte, though, considering draft position, so the roster as a whole doesn’t look as bare as one might think from a team that took QB and TE early.  Teams that take those positions early are likely to look worse than they perform, though, so I have this squad pretty “up there” and poised for a repeat championship.

JON-MICHAEL
QB	Cam Newton
RB	Arian Foster
RB	Doug Martin
RB/WR	Alfred Morris
WR	Jordy Nelson
WR	DeSean Jackson
TE	Kyle Rudolph
D/ST	Panthers D/ST
K	Justin Tucker
Bench	Jeremy Maclin
Bench	Chris Johnson
Bench	Michael Floyd
Bench	Bishop Sankey
Bench	Shonn Greene
Bench	Sammy Watkins
Bench	Khiry Robinson
QB	4
RB	8
WR	5
TE	5
OVERALL	8TH

Jon-Michael didn’t draft his own team and finished in last place last year, and he was rewarded with the last pick this year.  He loaded up on running backs early to compensate for his missing the top guys, netting three top-15 guys at the position.  Leaving Cam as his only quarterback is a risk considering the injury and receiving corps concerns, so we’ll see how that goes, but there’s a big chance Jon-Michael looks really smart or really dumb as a result.  I thought he was a steal this year until he had the rib injury, and now I’m not so sure.  I think there’s some upside at receiver but not much in terms of proven performers , so I could be wrong on my rank there.

KYLE
QB	Aaron Rodgers
RB	Marshawn Lynch
RB	Le'Veon Bell
RB/WR	Emmanuel Sanders
WR	Antonio Brown
WR	Vincent Jackson
TE	Dennis Pitta
D/ST	Seahawks D/ST
K	Dan Bailey
Bench	Nick Foles
Bench	Ryan Mathews
Bench	Ray Rice
Bench	Wes Welker
Bench	Kendall Wright
Bench	Brandin Cooks
Bench	Terrance West
QB	10
RB	8
WR	6
TE	5
OVERALL	T-3RD

Kyle didn’t follow his usual grab-dem-RBs strategy, instead grabbing A-Rod as the first QB off the board, and also taking two solid receivers.  However, having Mathews and Rice on the bench is pretty solid in this climate, so there isn’t too dramatic a drop-off when the byes hit.  I initially wasn’t a huge fan of the receivers, but having the Sanders/Welker combo with the upside of Cooks is pretty solid, so I moved him up to a tie with Jesse.

JESSE
QB	Matthew Stafford
RB	Jamaal Charles
RB	DeMarco Murray
RB/WR	Reggie Bush
WR	Brandon Marshall
WR	Larry Fitzgerald
TE	Jason Witten
D/ST	Cardinals D/ST
K	Phil Dawson
Bench	Russell Wilson
Bench	Toby Gerhart
Bench	Reggie Wayne
Bench	Julian Edelman
Bench	Darren Sproles
Bench	Terrance Williams
Bench	Anquan Boldin
QB	7
RB	10
WR	6
TE	6
OVERALL	T-3RD

Jesse got maybe the steal of the draft in Russell Wilson in the last few rounds, which is great insurance for the potentially-erratic Stafford.  I’m obviously a fan of the RB group headed by Charles and Murray but with Bush and Gerhart as solid depth.  This roster is chock full of aging possession receivers (I count 4, plus one moderately-aged one in Edelman), so I just don’t see much upside in that group.  I think this roster is pretty bust-proof, but might lack the “oomph” to get over that 7-6 hump that Jesse hasn’t summited.

MATT
QB	Drew Brees
RB	Adrian Peterson
RB	Ben Tate
RB/WR	Frank Gore
WR	Julio Jones
WR	Alshon Jeffery
TE	Greg Olsen
D/ST	Rams D/ST
K	Stephen Gostkowski
Bench	Keenan Allen
Bench	Torrey Smith
Bench	Steven Jackson
Bench	Mike Wallace
Bench	Golden Tate
Bench	Jeremy Hill
Bench	Philip Rivers
QB	9
RB	6
WR	10
TE	5
OVERALL	1ST

Matt had his SIXTH CONSECUTIVE top-2 pick in this league, and made it count.  He benefited from Alshon Jeffery falling a bit, and that gave him a ridiculous set of five receivers where the worst is the #1 receiver in what should be a vastly improved offense.  The running backs behind Peterson have some serious question marks, but, oh wait, is that Drew Brees?  Crap.  I hate liking this team.

EMILY
QB	Andrew Luck
RB	LeSean McCoy
RB	Maurice Jones-Drew
RB/WR	Michael Crabtree
WR	Dez Bryant
WR	A.J. Green
TE	Jordan Cameron
D/ST	Chiefs D/ST
K	Nick Novak
Bench	Vernon Davis
Bench	Joique Bell
Bench	Stevan Ridley
Bench	Tom Brady
Bench	DeAngelo Williams
Bench	DeAndre Hopkins
Bench	Tony Romo
QB	7
RB	5
WR	8
TE	7
OVERALL	5TH

Emily went a little out of her way to grab her team’s namesake in Andrew Luck, but picking up Brady AND Romo late was a great (if overzealous) performance.  Her top 3 receivers are awesome but a lack of depth could be a problem, and speaking of a lack of depth, that RB group behind McCoy is very suspect.  She also grabbed two top-7 tight ends, which should serve her pretty well considering both players’ inconsistency last year.