Not exactly all-new, but significantly improved: now with a full column of notes for (almost) every draft-worthy player.
Review: If your team is terrible in the first year of your career, this is the draft where you can turn it around instantly - and if you have a good team, it's a draft where you become virtually unstoppable. There's talent everywhere, in multiple rounds and at nearly every position. For players with Balanced POT at or above 90, the breakdown is:
QB: Four, including sleeper Jake Scott
HB: One, sleeper Leron James
FB: One, Casey Barone
WR: Six, with three sleepers including Jamarion Bellows
TE: One, sleeper Drew Goldman
OT: Two, LT Javon Jackson and RT [Bowling Green]
OG: Three, LG [Ole Miss] and RG Patrick Boma and [Auburn]
C: One, [Northwestern]
DE: Two, Raevon Hines and [UNLV] with a near-miss in [M. Valley State]
DT: Two, Alain Dixon and sleeper Patrick Lopez
OLB: Four, Devin Mayo, Torian Watts, sleeper Dexter Knox and [Buffalo]
MLB: Two, Mack Jackson and Alonzi Simms
CB: One, Juran Riley
FS: One, sleeper [Oregon State]
SS: One, Will Barkley
K: One, [Fresno State]
That's 33 players with elite ceilings: a huge haul, and at least thirteen sleepers among them. The biggest short-coming is in defensive backs, especially corners: only Riley is elite material. My workaround for that is to sign SS [Florida State] as a UDFA and convert him to CB for a year: in my latest career he's playing nickel for me, behind Riley and Asomugha.
At QB, the only thing I don't think you'll find here is a purpose-built scrambler. Otherwise, they've got you covered, even in the late rounds with Scott: four
very good pocket passers, all with enough size and arm to make the throws you want made. I've seen drafts where one of the Big Three even slips into the early portion of the second round, so you don't necessarily need a top-10 pick to get Morrow or James.
At HB, James is the obvious star of the show, but he does tend to have fast-halfback syndrome - so I avoided him in my current career. My picks to add behind my existing backs of Ryan Grant and Ray Rice were [Temple] and [Harvard], both of whom have the personalities to be good backups as well as the skills to be spot-starters or in a Running-Back-By-Committee arrangement. [Temple] needs some physical development, but can become a capable role-player; [Harvard] has only average learning, so you'll need to have excellent coaches or limits on his packages for a monster playbook. Both are easy to re-sign.
Barone is a great and versatile player at FB: runner, blocker, catcher, he can be anything from a HB to a (short) TE. It's difficult to find something at which he's not at least good, and he has the learning ability to be on the field at all times.
The WRs offer significantly different skills among the six. Crosby is a huge possession WR (CIT 98) who can't get off the jam - if he plays outside against a lot of Tampa-2 he'll be in trouble, but he'd be awesome as a big #3 WR. He's Earl Bennett plus 3" and 20lbs, and Earl can ball pretty well. The other tall WR is [Kansas], who is much more of a vertical threat, as in speed-merchant: his jumping ability will cause safeties to miscalculate deep pass trajectories too often in zone coverage and lead to some long gains. Bellows is a shorter version of [Kansas], while also offering studly
PR/KR skills. [UNLV] is a medium-sized fellow with a relatively high CIT, also very capable in the slot and smart enough to learn larger playbooks. Last (and IMO least) are the short receivers from [Michigan] and [Rutgers] who are all about speed but will drop too many (low CIT) unless all they get is man coverage.
Drew Goldman reminds me a little of Mark Chmura: good blocker, adequate but not amazing speed, good hands, and a tough SOB. There are better TEs coming in future years, but (especially) if you run a balanced offense, he's a nice addition to the skill set for a few seasons.
The top two offensive tackles have small concerns: in Jackson's case they are speed and agility, while in [Bowling Green]'s case they are speed and learning. While massive and powerful, Javon's just not that fast on his feet (SPD 65, AGL 56(?)); [Bowling Green]'s speed is even lower (61) and his learning is only good, topping out at 86. Both are master technicians and sized well, though - if your coaching staff is good enough to get Speed upgrades through special skills, both should perform well for you.
The top guards are definitely worth your while, as is the top center. Beyond being a cinch to sign, [Ole Miss] is strong, fast and technically sound; he has minor durability issues most years. The elder Boma is a run-first butt-kicker and name-taker, only slightly less than all-world in pass protection techniques. [Northwestern]'s ACL won't wow you, but that's about the only hole in his game.
On the defensive line, Raevon Hines is your (Reggie White/Bruce Smith/Simeon Rice/Jared Allen) highly-capable LE, but you'll typically need a top-five pick to land him and he'll be expensive to sign or to keep. Alain Dixon is another top-five player with significant skills for a DT. In the bargain aisle, Patrick Lopez is a smaller and lower-key Albert Haynesworth, while [M. Valley State] is a miniature end with minimal agility and maximum strength/speed who powers through both right tackles and quarterbacks with some expertise.
In linebackers, Mayo gets injured a lot but has high toughness, so if you want to develop a trainer, he's a good man to get. Knox and Watts bring different things to the LOLB spot, and I'd recommend Knox: Watts is shorter and has a higher LRN, which generally means he's not quite as athletic as Knox and will make a worse matchup against TEs. Both Jackson and Simms are awesome MLBs; as the taller player in pass coverage, my vote again goes to Simms.
ROLB [Buffalo], like RE [SE Missouri St.], is a developmental player in the maximum sense of the word. He's got the size you want in a 3-4 rush linebacker, but has only the potential for success due to his low athleticism. Unlike most players, his basic physical skills can mature radically, turning him into a ridiculously good player, on the DeMarcus Ware level. You'll need coaches with high levels in LB Physical skills, and probably the Innovator special skill, to grow him up and make him useful. High ceiling, low starting point.
The best DBs are quite good, but not awe-inspiring. Juran Riley: good speed, great hands, smart, hits hard. Lack of elite speed is the only liability. Prince Justin has: height; Ed Reed-class hands, but not the hitting power; good, not elite, AGL; and his learning is only good. Still, a great center fielder. [Oregon State] has higher learning but lower strength, better hitting power and is shorter - he'd be better in run support or with a bigger playbook. I have yet to draft Will Barkley, but I've never seen any major issues with his abilities; [Northwestern] is short at 5'10", so having him match up in man coverage on big WRs or TEs will be a problem.
The biggest distinguishing feature of this class is how many MaxLRN 99 there are. Riley, Dixon, James, Watts, Jackson, English, and Bellows all max out, which make them great for coaches with less-than-stellar play-learning skills or with large playbooks: they'll master whatever they practice. There's another four players with MaxLRN 98, including Lopez and Mayo: a wealth of players who can master pretty much whatever plays you want.
Players with Balanced POT >=90: 33
04-13-2010, 10:06 AM
