Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft

Love him or hate him, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (or is it Steelerstahl?) is representing our city and in a lot of ways.  One of those ways is now fantasy football.  Mayor Ravenstahl along with 10 other mayors around the country took part in the Yahoo! Sports "Fantasy Football Mayoral Face-off".  The winning mayor gets $15,000 to donate to a local program.  I didn't get any emails or phone calls, so the mayor decided to go into this WITHOUT the help of Pittsburgh's best fantasy sports blogger.  Let's see how he did:

1st Round:
Pittsburgh Proud (his team name) was picking 10th overall.  The usual suspects fell off the board with the first 9 picks.  Brian Westbrook went 5th overall, which is interesting considering he's coming into the season injured.  LaDainian Tomlinson was picked right before it was our mayor's turn.  With my 1st and 2nd round picks, Frank Gore and Steven Jackson still on the board, the mayor select Chris Johnson as his first overall pick.  I'm not really a fan of the pick.  I like Chris Johnson and I think he'll do well, but I don't think he's a first rounder.  The other two backs, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Randy Moss, Tom Brady, were all still on the board. 

2nd Round:
It was a short trip back for his second pick.  Gore, Jackson, Manning and Brees were now gone.  However, he makes a pretty nice second pick in drafting WVU product Steve Slaton.  He's a do everything, carry the bulk of the workload kind of back.

3rd Round:
With his RB's set Mayor Ravenstahl is now after his WR core.  His first WR is a pretty good one; Marques Colston of the Arena ball Saints.  Good pick in my opinion

4th Round:
As good as the 3rd round pick was, I don't like his 4th round selection.  Instead of either going for an elite TE or T.J. Houshmandzadeh, he select Dwayne Bowe.  The mayor, I'm sure, has watched plenty of Steelers games and should know just how deadly Housh can be.

5th Round:
Mayor Ravenstahl completed his WR category with the selection of Hines Ward.  I would sound the alarm for "HOMER PICK", but Ward really was the best player available in this round.  Two picks after Ward someone took Tedd Ginn Jr.  Yikes

6th Round:
Time to pick a QB and I can't really argue with this pick.  With the third pick in the 6th round, Mayor Ravenstahl picks Donovan McNabb.  Now for you non-fantasy football types, that are getting your pitchforks and lighting your torches because he picked Philly's QB over Ben Roethlisberger, McNabb is a much better fantasy QB than Big Ben.  So before you go calling him a traitor to our city, he did make the right move.

7th Round:
The Mayor picked up a nice backup RB by selecting Marshawn Lynch with the 10th pick in the 7th round.  He, of course, has no immediate value, but he's a good gamble as a backup.

8th Round:
With a lot of good TEs gone, he decided to go with Greg Olsen as his starting TE.  Can't argue with that either, since that's who I picked as well. 

9th Round:
This round was a big team defense round.  Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Tennessee, Minnesota and Philadelphia all went in this round.  The Mayor probably should have picked the Steeler defense, but who would've guessed that many defenses would have been picked like that.  Instead of jumping on the team defense bandwagon, he builds up his depth at WR with the pick of Kevin Walter.  Good depth player, but with the defenses running thin, I think its more important to have your starting defense than your 4th WR.

10th Round:
More WR depth in this round with the selection of Rams deep threat Donnie Avery.  Very good WR5, but still no defense or backup QB and you know McNabb will get injured.  Maybe he's holding out for Michael Vick?

11th Round: 
Speaking of backup QB's, he picks Kyle Orton.  This is an awful pick.  Matt Hasselbeck was only selected 4 picks earlier, Ahmad Bradshaw, Ray Rice, Jake Delhomme, Chad Pennington, Dallas defense were all still available.

12th Round:
The Mayor makes sure that he has the a monopoly on the Bills running game and picks Fred Jackson.  He's really banking on that Buffalo running game this season.

13th Round:
Finally a defense!  And its... the Jets.  Great.  Yes, they have Rex Ryan, but that doesn't instantly make them the Baltimore Ravens. Miami, New England and San Diego were still available at that time.

14th Round:
Its pick a kicker round and he picked a good one with David Akers.  But its worth noting that Jeff Reed was still on the board when this pick was made.  Maybe those two misses at the end of the half against the Skins scared him off.

15th Round:
Mayor Ravenstahl finishes his draft by picking the Carolina Panthers defense.

The overall value of Mayor Ravenstahl's team is alright, but it could have been better.  A lot better.  He drafted questionable players over established proven ones and waited way too long to pick a defense and ended up with the Jets.  I know some people that were very high on Chris Johnson this year and waited till at least the second round.  His WR are really deep, but his RBs are questionable after his two starters and his backup QB situation is a total mess. 

As for a grade, I'm torn between a C+ and a B-.  What do you guys think?  What grade would you give our Mayor on his fantasy football drafting skills?

Posted Aug 26 2009, 01:22 PM by Nick Fruscello

Comments

MrsFantasyFactor wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Wed, Aug 26 2009 2:35 PM

I am less than thrilled with his picking abilities. Maybe he should read your blog for hints! I'd give him a C or C-...I mean, Chris Johnson as a first round pick with a bunch of better (and PROVEN better) players on the board wasn't smart. I do like his team name though. Yay for being proud of your city!

KevinZuk wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Wed, Aug 26 2009 6:41 PM

Really everyone? I believe in the mayor's abilities a bit more... Sure, his first and second rounders weren't as good as they could have been (I'd have gone with Jackson, personally, before Johnson), but he did very well in the middle rounds. Colston is a stud when healthy, Bowe is a third-year receiver that I fully expect to have a "breakout" year (although he's been consistently "good") and Ward is a pretty excellent 3rd WR, not to mention that he got both sides of the Buffalo running game so he's got a third starter (no matter who plays) and Donnie Avery and Kevin Walter who are both solid depth players. Plus, he waited and managed to get a QB who doesn't completely suck. I don't like his defenses, backup QB or kicker, but the players he got that will actually CONTRIBUTE to his team seem like solid players in my book. In a PPR league he would look like a clear winner to me. In a standard league, though I'd give him a solid B.

KevinZuk wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Thu, Aug 27 2009 3:43 PM

Hey Nick,

Great news! I offered a trade to another league-member that wasn't able to make it to the draft. I am trading LenDale White and Matt Cassel to him for Matt Schaub and Brandon Jacobs. Jacobs isn't really a good PPR running back, but he's still a number one back on a running team, so it seems like an upgrade to me. Jacobs scored less than 40 more points than White last year, but without Derrick Ward, I think that changes. Plus, losing White means that if Tennessee has a difficult matchup, I may still have another RB that could score big points for me. And I love the fact that I'll have the Schaub-to-Andre Johnson connection going on. I realize this makes my team a little more injury prone, but it also upgrades one spot and gives me a legit starting QB and RB. What do you think?

Keep in mind, this trade is still pending, and unless the league veto's it, will be made official by Sunday, I think. Good call on the trading front, by the way.

Nick Fruscello wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Thu, Aug 27 2009 3:48 PM

Wow!  That is a great deal for you.  Jacobs is much better than White and Schaub is a better QB than Cassel, so its a big win.  Yeah, Jacobs and Schaub always seem to get injured, but they're still good players and I never make any of my player decisions based on injury history.  Very good deal for you and like you said you have the Schaub to Johnson connection going, which is great.

Buc Fever wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Thu, Aug 27 2009 4:16 PM

I think you need a new fantasy baseball column Nick! It's playoff time next week for those in H2Hs.

Quick question for you. I've made a comeback for the ages in my roto league, from 11th/12 back in early June to 3rd and I'm closing in on the leaders. My pitching staff finally came around, and there were some very attractive starters in FA that I was able to stream for about a month which gave me a HUGE boost across the board in the pitching categories. For a month, I was picking up and dropping each of these guys once/twice a week: Randy Wolf, Andy Pettitte, Jorge De La Rosa, JA Happ, Ted Lilly, Ubaldo Jimenez, Tommy Hunter and Scott Baker.Due to their great performance lately, I've given solid spots to Wolf, Happ, Jimenez and Lilly. Now with my whole team healthy though, I am running thin on hitters.

I am 4 points back of first place. I lead the league in SB, AVG, W, and K's...so no where to improve there. Points for each category: R - 8, HR - 3, RBI - 8, SB - 12, AVG - 12, W - 12, K - 12, SV - 5, ERA - 8, WHIP - 9

I'm 12 saves behind the guy in front of me, but I do have 4 average closers, so I might be able to catch him...so I'm hesitant to drop one even though JP Howell and Aardsma are struggling. Plus, in theory, closers should be helping my ERA and WHIP, even if they have been struggling lately. I am +1 HR on the guy behind me and 6 more HR would boost me two places. I guess that's where I've gotta make my move.

So...who would you drop to increase power, run and rbi production?

C- McCann

1B - Miguel Cabrera

2B - Placido Polanco

3B - Aramis Ramirez

SS - Derek Jeter

OF - Torii Hunter

OF - Kendry Morales

OF - Jacoby Ellsbury

Util - David Ortiz

Util - Casey Blake

BN - Mike Napoli

SP - CC Sabathia

SP - Rich Harden

SP - Jered Weaver

RP - JP Howell

RP - Rafael Soriano

RP - David Aardsma

P - Chad Qualls

P - Randy Wolf

P - JA Happ

P - Ted Lilly

P - Ubaldo Jimenez

I'm +11 wins, so even if I drop a starter, they probably won't catch me there. K's are pretty close, 65 less would drop me 4 places, so I'm not sure if I should drop a starter. The best people available for power are Hideki Matsui (who's on FIRE), Adam LaRoche, Nick Swisher and Jack Cust. I'm thinking about dropping Napoli for Matsui and maybe someone else for LaRoche. I don't want to drop Napoli because he has great power potential, but he doesn't play every day and it's killing me. Plus Kendry Morales doesn't start against LHP, so I need an extra OF for when he sits. Would you drop Napoli for Matsui, or any of those other guys? Do you think I can stand dropping a starter?

Nick Fruscello wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Fri, Aug 28 2009 9:02

Hey BucFever,

Jacoby Ellsbury is my first thought.  He's simply a base stealer with no power.  I would drop Ellsbury for Matsui and I would drop Napoli for LaRoche.  IMO, the only reason to have Napoli would be because that's your best option at catcher, but you have McCann so there's really no reason to have Napoli.  I wouldn't touch the pitching.  Its brought you back this far, don't tinker with it too much now.  Maybe get a better closer should one become available.

GuamBoonieDogs wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Sat, Aug 29 2009 1:36 PM

I think the draft is pretty solid. Chris Johnson late first round is good. Gore and Jackson have been around longer, but when was the last time either of them played all 16 games? I don't see that as safer. Gore has never scored 10 TDs in a season. Johnson did it in his rookie year with LenDale White stealing TDs. Jackson has the most upside, but he was limited to 12 games the past two seasons. I think you also need to consider they have no real weapons at the other skill positions and Bulger is already hurt.

Housh was not very good last year and is learning a new offense, so Bowe works well for a No. 2 guy.

Orton as a backup is fine. He put up almost 3,000 yards and 18 TDs with Devin Hester as his No. 1 option. He has more weapons in Denver, a coach that loves to throw and a crummy defense that will keep him throwing all game. Granted, Brandon Marshall's antics might hurt Orton's value.

The defense looks weak, but they were quietly a top 5 fantasy defense in Yahoo standard leagues.

Kicker doesn't mean anything. Try and get a new one every week that has a good matchup.

Go Mayor! I think he has one of the better teams in the league.

Nick Fruscello wrote re: Luke Ravenstahl's Fantasy Football Draft
on Mon, Aug 31 2009 10:15

Hey GBD,

I never value players based on injury history.  I remember a couple years ago people telling me that Brian Westbrook was a bad pick because he always gets injured, then later in the same conversation they would say LT is a bad pick because he's "due to get injured".  Injuries are unpredictable and trying to draft around them isn't a good idea.  Frank Gore is a power back on a team that wants to run the ball a lot.  He's also a great pass receiver which means regardless of the situation, he'll get a lot of touches.  The same goes for Steve Jackson.  You're right the Rams don't have a lot of offensive weapons which basically means their best chance of success is to have Jackson touch the ball a lot.  Johnson is a good back, but no one that splits time with another back, especially near the goaline, is worth a 1st round pick.  

Housh didn't have his best season last year, but consider this, he still caught 92 passes while Ryan Fitzpatrick was the QB for most of the year.  Unless the Seahawks get ravaged with injuries again like they did last year, Housh will be better than Bowe.

Under no circumstances would I put in Orton as my QB.  He's one of those QB's that "manages the game".  In fantasy, you don't want someone managing the game, that's why Ben Roethlisberger isn't drafted high.

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