1998 Post Draft Newsletter 9/3/98
Letter from the Commish:
Year Six has officially begun. After some concerns over whether we’d hit 12 teams or not due to the sudden implosion of several previous league members, we managed to scrape up four newbies like so much gum off the bottom of a shoe and move forward. Welcome the Retreads (Joe Detwiler), King of Dogs (Jim "Jr." Rady), Montezuma’s Revenge (Jason Unger) and the Stanley Steamers (Brian Stamer).
There were just three proposals on the ballet this season. All three passed by large margins. Proposal #1 increased the annual fee from $65 to $75. The second proposal makes it necessary to vote on future league increases one year in advance (so we’re looking at towing the line next season at $75 before any further increases). Proposal #3 revised the Wednesday priority pickup period to limit each team to one pickup during this timeframe. It still allows for two pickups per week, however.
As you can tell from above, the divisions were selected and the Larry division now consists of the long time league members the Bone Club, PMS and Greenback Iguanas along with newbie King of Dogs. The Curly division has a pair of six year teams, the Strange Highways and Natural Mystics along with new entries Montezuma’s Revenge and the Stanley Steamers. From the perspective of the Strange Highways, this should be enjoyable as Coach E-Z E Widtfeldt gets two shots at his brother in law, two shots at his work buddy and two shots at his old nemesis Coach Wassem. The Moe division, last year’s excuse for professional football, now lists Grande To The Party (again) along with Coach Will’s own personal designated rival the Palace of Swords, NFC Norris and the fourth new team, the Retreads. Unfortunately, someone must win this division again in ’98. Here’s hoping Coach Detwiler has the stuff of champions.
Coach Widtfeldt pulled the lucky #1 and selected, surprise, surprise, Brett Favre with it. QBs Kordell Stewart and Marc Brunell also went in the first 5 picks. The first round saw a slew of running backs get selected, eight in all, led by Terrell Davis, Barry Sanders, and Dorsey Levens, who shot back up the RB list with a bullet upon news that he’d signed with Green Bay at last. The only WR selected in round one was Antonio Freeman by the Palace of Swords with the #8 pick.
Brad Johnson jumped to the 2nd round this year as did Rob Moore and Antoine Smith. Jerry Rice fell out of the first round for the first time in 6 years. The 1st TE went in Round three, Shannon Sharpe with Ben Coates taken 4 picks later. Warren Moon shot back up the draft list in ’98, landing in the 3rd round as well. Carl Pickens stumbled to the 4th round, partly due to last season’s dropoff and partly due to questions regarding this year’s starting QB in Cincy. Emmitt Smith fell all the way from the 1st round to the 4th, becoming the #3 RB for the Natural Mystics. Mike Alstott and Jake Plummer soared to the 4th round this season as did Fred Lane. Round 5 saw Rickey Dudley taken as the 3rd TE overall. However, he could be #1 in reality-a nice selection for the Strange Highways. Errict Rhett went in Round 5 despite losing the battle for the starting RB job to Jay Graham (selected in the 8th round by the Mystics). The first rookie chosen was RB John Avery in Round 6, selected ahead of other RB Curtis Enis (7th round), Robert Edwards (7th round) and Robert Holcombe (8th round), QB Ryan Leaf (8th round), Peyton Manning (10th round) and WR Randy Moss (7th round). The 1st K taken was Mike Hollis by PMS in Round 6. Former 1st and 2nd round picks, Chris Warren and Scott Mitchell, both went in the 8th round. Nebraska grad Ahman Green went in the 10th round while the Chiefs were the 1st D taken, in round 11. The last starting QB selected was Bobby Hoying by NFC Norris in the 8th round while Leaf’s selection later in the same round marked the first of the backup signal callers taken of fantasy leaguers. Finally, the last selection in the draft was Leon Johnson to the Strange Highways.
The Commish wishes to thank everyone for keeping the process moving along this season. We finished as early as we ever have before. Thanks, too, to Coaches Widtfeldt and Meyer for helping prepare the draft board and to Coach E for hosting the event for the 2nd straight year.
The Commish has also had the chance to complete the 1998 league schedule. As usual, there’s enough interesting matchups to keep up content through Week 15. As dictated by league tradition, Week 1 is a matchup of division rivals right out of the shoot, capped by PMS and the Greenback Iguanas renewing their divisional rivalry from last year. Also on the Week 1 slate is the Strange Highways vs. Montezum’s Revenge in a battle of brother-in-laws as well as Grande To The Party versus one of their premier self-appointed rivals, the Palace of Swords. Week 2 pits PMS vs. Strange Highways, Bone Club vs. Natural Mystics and new league members and friends Stanley Steamers vs. the Retreads. Note that these non-divisional matchups will be replayed again in Week 13 as the bonus out-of-division game for everyone this year. God, two weeks of Coaches Koll and Widtfeldt trashing back and forth. Other division weeks are Week 4, Week 6, Week 10 and Weeks 14 and 15. Week 15 specifically matches the Bone Club vs. Greenback Iguanas, and Strange Highways vs. Stanley Steamers. You’ll note that the schedule also lists each week that games begin sooner than Sunday and also both the trading deadline and waiver deadline. Refer to the schedule when necessary.
Rosters have already been sent out. For those of you new this season, you’ll notice that behind each player’s name is a number in parentheses. The number stands for that player’s bye week. As the bye weeks pass, the parentheses will be deleted from the rosters. This allows each of you to know at a moment’s notice when your players are off and when your opposition’s players are off. Updated rosters will be sent out each week with the newsletter. Already there have been two transactions made this week. There’s no time like the present.
I’m still looking for the perfect league name if anyone has suggestions. The league web page is in the development stage. Among other things that the web site will include is individual team pages that list current rosters and possibly individual team records. As part of the individual team pages, each team can have its own logo appear on its page. But first, you need to have a logo. So, cruise the net or draw a picture or something if you want a logo for your page. If you don’t, the Commish will find logos for you. Think about that before you let the Commish do that. You may end up with the Michelin man if your team is the Retreads.
Enjoy the pre-season critique of each team. Keep in mind that this is just the Commish’s opinions which, as we all know, amount to little or nothing. But with that said, sit back and enjoy.
Remember to call in your starting lineups Sunday no later than 12:00pm kickoff time. Insructions on how to do that are listed below. In the meantime, enjoy the lull before Sunday’s storm. The Commish will be back next week to soak it all in. For now…
Go deep, I'll throw it!
-The Commish
Transactions:
09/01 Greenback Iguanas waive RB Skip Hicks; add RB Jerald Moore.
09/01 Natural Mystics waive RB Raymont Harris; add RB Rodney Hampton.
1998 Divisonal Team By Team Previews
Larry Division:
The Greenback Iguanas return off the heels of their crushing late ’97 lapse, having been knocked from the playoff chase by the Crawling King Snakes in Week 15 by a 45-18 score. On paper, the Iguanas appear to have the top ground game in the division in 1998 with Barry Sanders, Antoine Smith and Marshall Faulk to carry the load. Jimmy Smith is a top level WR. The #2 WR will come from either O.J. McDuffie, Darney Scott, Rae Carruth (a possible sleeper), Chris Calloway or the underachieving Michael Westbrook. Steve McNair will be a big key to Iguana success this year. McNair must step up and prove he’s ready to take the next step in his development as a pro QB. Wesley Walls is among the top 5 TE in the league.Prognosis: First
PMS comes out of every draft looking like a .500 club then proceeds to be among those in the playoff hunt. This year is about the same. Jeff George blew up in ’97 with 29 TD passes and has James Jett to throw to in ’98 although we have our doubts that Jett can duplicate his performance of last season. Chris Conway is the #2 WR for PMS and must hope that Erik Kramer can stay on his feet long enough to get him the ball. On the ground, Jerome Bettis is a given while Natrone Means is hoping to recapture old glory upon his return to San Diego. Look for a healthy Means to have a good year. PMS had three sleeper picks that we liked: Wayne Chrebet, Pat Johnson and Mark Bruener.Prognosis: Second
The Bone Club won’t like being picked 3rd and, honestly, it’s hard to pick against Coach Young given his track record. However, if the Club is to be playoff calibre, it’ll be using the Air Coryell attack mixed in with a huge year from Rickey Watters. At WR, Cris Carter, Carl Pickens, and Michael Jackson look to be solid starters each week. Both Ed McCaffrey and Eddie Kennison may provide added value at the WR slot. After Watters, the backfield drops off sharply. Coach Young is counting on Errict Rhett to complement Watters but Rhett appears to be playing 2nd fiddle behind Jay Graham in the Raven backfield for the moment. At QB, Warren Moon continues to defy the hands of time. Alonzo Mayes could be a sleeper at TE.Prognosis: Third
New league member King of Dogs fell victim to the same affliction that struck the Crawling King Snakes in ’96 and the Beer Spillers in ’97 when they selected two top QBs early on. Since only one can play, the 2nd pick could perhaps have been better used. Neither the Snakes nor the Spillers were successful in trading one of their QBs. Time will tell if the Dogs have better luck. Why are the Dogs last? Take a look in the backfield for an answer. The #1 RB is rookie John Avery, the first rookie selected in the league draft. Behind him, Charlie Garner has been given the task of replacing Rickey Watters in Philly and will have to do so for Coach Rady to field a successful team in his rookie year. Kordell Stewart will continue to slash his way to the endzone on both the ground and through the air. At WR, Rob Moore, Terrell Owens, Frank Sanders, Courtney Hawkins, and Bobby Engram comprise a solid, if not great, receiving crew. TE is a strong position with both Shannon Sharpe and Frank Wycheck manning the position. Another possible trade could come from the depth here.Prognosis: Fourth
Curly Division:
The Curly division could be this year’s version of the Moe. Each team has some definite strengths from the Highways’ QB and WRs, Montezuma’s Revenge’s QB and RBs, the Stanley Steamers’ WRs to the Mystics’ RBs.
The Stanley Steamers could be the rare team that parlays a first year team into a division champion. The Steamers have, on paper, what appears to be a very balanced squad led by QB Marc Brunell. Garrison Hearst and Mike Alstott are the starting backfield while Herman Moore, Robert Brooks and Isaac Bruce will probably all be starters. James McKnight and Shawn Jefferson add depth at WR.Prognosis: First
The Strange Highways have the league’s top QB in Brett Favre. The ground game needs for question marks Fred Lane and Curtis Enis to be productive. Robert Holcombe and Duce Staley could be sleepers at RB and may need to be for the Highways to be a factor in 1998. At WR, Jerry Rice is returning from his two major injuries of '97 while Joey Galloway, and Derrick Alexander allow the Highways to go three deep at this position. Rickey Dudley is one of the top young TEs in the league.Prognosis: Second
Montezuma’s Revenge has a little talent at all positions. John Elway will be trying to make his final season a positive one. Robert Smith anchors the backfield along with help from Warrick Dunn and a suddenly questionable Terry Allen. Terry Glenn provides a deep threat on the flank but must stay healthy to be of any value. Irving Fryar just keeps ticking. But for how long? For Fryar to be successful, Bobby Hoying must prove he deserves to be Philly’s #1 QB and a 2nd WR needs to step up or Fryar can expect a lot of double teaming. Randy Moss could be the rookie plum of the draft. Tony McGee had a great second half in ’97 when Boomer Esiason was Cincy’s starting QB. It remains to be seen whether O’Donnell/Blake will get him the ball in the same fashion.Prognosis: Third
The Natural Mystics have the misfortune of being in a division with some competitive rosters all around. And QB Elvis Grbac puts the Mystics at an immediate disadvantage. The Mystics must hope that the ground game plays big in ’98. The RB corps is led by Dorsey Levens, Nap Kaufman and Emmitt Smith as the #3 RB. Jay Graham adds extra depth. WR Rod Smith is top notch and Andre Rison should be good for a few TD catches. After that, the WR pool drops off although Ike Hilliard and Ricky Proehl could be sleepers. Tony Gonzalez appears ready to break out in ’98.Prognosis: Fourth
Moe Division:
The Retreads walked away from the draft with a top QB in Drew Bledsoe and the #1 or 1A RB in Terrell Davis. Karim Abdul-Jabbar should complement Davis is Jabbar is able to hold off rookie John Avery for the starting RB job in Miami. At WR, Keenan McCardell, Jake Reed, and Yancy Thigpen are each solid. Eric Green continues to be an underrated TE.Prognosis: First
Grande To The Party will live and die with the play of Curtis Martin and Eddie George. Steve Young will be productive if he stays healthy. Keyshawn Johnson is one of the better WR in the league but not yet first tier material. Charles Johnson will get a chance in ’98 to fill Yancy Thigpen’s shoes in Pittsburgh while J.J. Stokes must cast off his reputation for underachieving. Derrick Mayes could be a sleeper. According to Coach Will, so is Tavian Banks. So it must be true!Prognosis: Second
NFC Norris has a huge question at QB in Bobby Hoying. Cory Dillon, Jamal Anderson, Adrian Murrell and Robert Edwards make up a solid backfield while Tim Brown and Michael Irvin are game breakers at WR although Brown is more valuable in true yardage leagues. Marvin Harrison could have a big year. Dan Marino is currently the back up at QB but work his way into the starting lineup.Prognosis: Third
The Palace of Swords need James Stewart to take the load in Jacksonville and, more importantly, must hope that Donyell Bennett is the man out of the backfield in K.C. We like Brad Johnson at QB and Antonio Freeman is a no-brainer. Tony Martin will be trying integrate himself into the Falcon offense while Jermaine Lewis now has the chance to show he can be a starting WR in the league. We like Mikhael Ricks as a sleeper pick. Ben Coates and Greg Clark comprise a nice TE tandem.Prognosis: Fourth