September 7, 2006

Results of a Good Draft

Quarterbacks:
Peyton Manning (he wears #18, thus the reference to the 26th Amendment)
Ben Roethlisberger (appendicitis man)
Marc Bulger (fragile but good)
Charlie Frye
Gus Frerotte (for when Bulger becomes disabled)

Position Players:
Rudi Johnson (the #4 RB in the league; less press than LD, LT, and SA)
Cory Dillon
Clinton Portis (moderately injured at the moment)
Julius Jones
Warrick Dunn
Jeremey Shockey (a holdover from last year's team)
Tatum Bell
Chris Cooley
Joe Horn
Matt Jones
Keyshawn "Just Give Me The Damn Football" Johnson
Todd Heap

Kickers:
Shayne Graham (another holdover)
Jay Feeley

Defense:
Denver Broncos

As I see it, only two teams had drafts as good as us. We're well-positioned to make a run for the money, at least the way things look now, at the start of the season. Roethlisberger and Portis are temporarily injured but will come back by week 2 (Portis may play this week; officially he's "day-to-day" but we're not starting him) and we've got more elite and "A" list players than our share. We're also very heavy on running backs and in most weeks we can play all RB's and no WR's or TE's.

With Shayne Graham as our primary kicker and Rudi Johnson as our featured RB, we take a piece of the action from one of our primary competitors, who drafted Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson to try and double-dip on Cincinnati's explosive offense.

My big misgiving is Julius Jones -- I've had very bad luck with Dallas Cowboys in the past and all I can do now is cross my fingers and hope that he performs well. There's also a question about whether Mike Bell or Tatum Bell will get goal-line carries in Denver, but we had to take a player of that caliber at that time and Tatum has as good a chance as anyone of getting work that will result in points.

So, the FSM's are optimistic. We'll see on Sunday!

No comments: