[QuikSand]

While it doesn't exactly belong here, I'll outline my trail of thought as I take my sneak peek at my own rookies from this same draft. It will, if form holds, stand in stark contrast to what I see from the MalcPow draft.

1 - 24 (24) Chesapeake * (10 min) QuikSand (online) Fred Burnett G Texas Southern

No longer looks maxed out, but still very solid. Scout says 48/75, he seems like a sure thing to be a top-shelf starter for a decade. But how much less effective is that than a guy with multiple 100 ratings? Who knows. Anyway, this looks fine, if he ends up 70/90/70/80 over time, he's our LG starter forever. For a "settle for" pick of the best guy at low impact position, he's on target.

2 - 24 (56) Chesapeake * (10 min) QuikSand (online) Eduardo Yap CB Rutgers

I thought this dude's bar profile was suspicious. But now he looks like an odd bird... big 88 in the static PH bar, but little else to suggest anything much more beyond man coverage (not my focus). Scout says 29/53, I say... mysteries abound, but this might turn out to be a wasted pick. The guy picked right after him would have been a better fit, I now think.

4 - 24 (120) Chesapeake * (10 min) QuikSand (online) Avery Shepard RB Samford

I desperately needed RB help, passed on a tier in rounds 2 and 3 because of guys like him (and our 7th rounder). So, what did we get here? Pretty much what I expected. Scout says 40/47 and bars are mostly filled out. He's VERY top-heavy with his ratings (nothing projecting over 50 below the top six, all of which look at least solid). In a football world, he seems like he'd be a useful change-of-pace back who didn't have the legs for 15+ carries. In FOF, no idea what a 30-something endurance RB can project to being worth, these guys seem to show up on the first play already winded.

5 - 24 (152) Chesapeake * (10 min) QuikSand (online) Andre Donaldson DT Pace

So, I draft differently than MP in lots of ways. But one of them is I am very willing to go for players who project to have very narrow value - as in one or two bars being worthwhile, and the rest is relative trash. If this guy turns out to be a special teams ace and a bottom-of-rotation DL, I reckon I could find him enough starts to lock him in for chemistry and hold him forever as a cheap roster filler. No aspiration here that he might be a sneaky creep-up-to-50 type whatsoever. I don't think the draft aces look for guys like this, meaning they are basically my moneyball play out there.

Anyway...this particular guy? The ST bar checks in not at 100, but at 66/79. That alone is likely enough to make him a pre-camp cut. Standard low-round chaff, that's most of most drafts of mine. There WAS a logic to taking him, I don't see how I could have foreseen he'd be the most attractive guy to me in round-something with enough clarity that I'd spend an interview on him. So, instead, I pick semi-blind, and watch that 70-100 ST range disintegrate into relative uselessness. It happens. To me, a lot.

6 - 24 (184) Chesapeake * (10 min) QuikSand (online) Darrell Van Pelt K Princeton

Specialist. Basically trying to get some value for these late round picks beyond dead cap hits after I usually cut them. (For a chemistry nut like me, the value of picks in rounds 5-7 took a massive hit in the latest FOF full update... finding "starts" for marginal defensive players is hard, so getting such guys activated for chemistry is a bitch... meaning with my late picks, I'm often left square pegging a fleet of semi-useless skill players)

How do you pick a kicker? Beats me. Scout says this guy is 14/30, and sneak peek backs it up. Worthless, easy cut. Maybe this was all so I could get my long-awaited revenge on Princeton, the only university that ever declines my application at any level. I'll show them. (Honestly, I can't imagine I drafted a guy with bars like this, it looks like semi-random Volatility Stick of Death, not necessarily a poor drafting approach). "I don't take any responsibility at all."

7 - 24 (216) Chesapeake * (10 min) QuikSand (online) Leonardo Tousha RB Duke

Okay, cue the skill position flotsam, as mentioned above. RB is a need position, so I fluff my last pick at one more lottery ticket - the guy who looked big at endurance. What do we end up with?

Scout says 33/38, that's not awful. Sneak peek shows him with an intriguing combo of bars that sorta stuck out when we looked at MalcPow's draft earlier -- this guy has almost nothing except: 64 Power, 63 Speed, 67 Endurance. Can a RB with Breakway 8 and Hole Rec 26 actually evolve into a useful player? Let's try to find out, we'll keep him aboard at least into preseason, I hope.

- - -

Chemistry-wise, among this group no real standouts. RB Tousha is 79 Ldr/70 Pers, that 70 Pers will keep him in the mix against a couple young hobos I could sign who would at least bring some chemistry bonus. G Burnett is a solid follower at 0/69. RB Shepard is okay at 69/51. DB Yap suffers another strike with a weak 20/41.

Given my style of play, the skull and crossbones shows up when a promising player has a combo like 95/5... I simply can't afford to keep that sort of guy around long enough for him to take over as chemistry leader, and emasculate all my work there. No such booby traps here, at least. DT Donaldson is a 93/40, but he pre-earned his obvious pink slip by also sucking at football, so no harm done there.

Long term assets: G
Unknown: RB, CB