The Art of the Deal

It's rookie draft season in my Zealots dynasty leagues. I'm fortunate enough to be in two leagues that are drafting late. The reason for this is obvious. Imagine that there were 48 NFLs with separate drafts. Wouldn't you want to see what some of the other leagues did before drafting? Information is power.

Due to a crazed homer Colts owner who just had to have Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis, I got the 1.04 and 2.04 in one of my leagues. Last year, 1.04 was Joseph Addai. At the time, I was skeptical, and ended up trading 1.04 for Tiki Barber and a first-rounder this year. That deal kind of blew up in my face due to Barber's retirement. The first-rounder is 1.08, so I'm kind of stuck in the middle.

The "big three" is obvious. Out of 15 drafts I surveyed, 14 had Adrian Peterson, Marshawn Lynch, and Calvin Johnson as the top three. In the other, the same owner had picks 1.03 and 1.04. He took JaMarcus Russell at 1.03 just to be funny. The talent level clearly drops off at 1.04. I've seen Russell, Dwayne Bowe, Brian Leonard, Brandon Jackson, and Michael Bush go there. Usually the top QB goes a bit later, but there isn't an obvious third RB in this draft.

I opened up my 1.04 to the league for trading. My nemesis, the Colt fan, wanted to trade me Tatum Bell for the pick. I have Kevin Jones and it's unclear as to when Jones will return from his injury. I'm not sold on Bell, since he couldn't win Mike Shanahan's confidence after half a dozen opportunities. You don't trade for a guy who has half a season as a starter in his future. I offered the pick straight up for LenDale White, pegging me as a homer. Luckily the owner must have not seen my offer, as he countered with the same offer, except that he gave me his second-round pick back. White was the 1.05 pick in most drafts last year. He should be the starter for the Titans. The only downside for this pick is that I "have" to take Chris Henry now, and with picks 1.09 and 1.10 I may or may not get him. It's just the beginning, as I'm going to try to make some additional trades before the drafts start. Rookie picks are never more valuable than right after the NFL draft. Artose Pinner always looks more like Frank Gore.