1999 Pre-Season Predictions

Ron Yeany

DRAFT ANALYSIS
by Mayberry Sports Bureau
(forwarded to FFF from one of our esteemed owners)

Worst Move NDV trading out of the #2 position in the first round, thus, losing Edgerrin James and ending up with Terry Kirby and some crummy draft pick. Terry Kirby was drafted in the first round years ago and he has sucked since. Oh!, I know! Now that he is on an expansion team he will be better.

Best Move MVO (see worst move above). James will be FFL Rookie of the Year.

Worst Draft Pick RMD – James Stewart – 2d round – enough said.

Best draft picks each round

  1. Besides the obvious Williams and James- Stephen Davis, MER. Surprising to see that Mercer realized that he has won the starting job on an improving Skins team.
  2. JJ Stokes, NDV. Assuming Young stays healthy and Rice continues to see less action, he could blossom. (In addition, CAR was really peeved that he was taken from them)
  3. Derrick Alexander, CAR. Really came on strong in second half o last year and Rison is on the decline.
  4. Kimble Anders, MER. Another instance of MER being on the ball since Anders is starting over Bam Morris.
  5. Donovan McNabb, NYG. Future superstar is Eagles ever get him any help. (Again, CAR was so peeved that they lost their concentration and the draft went to hell)
  6. Corey Bradford, SYR. Received maybe too much hype as an up-and-comer, but if Schroeder falters this guy has a bright future.
  7. Tony Gonzalez, NPB. Excellent value, provided his knee is OK.
  8. Albert Connell, DAL. Could put up some points if Johnson stays healthy and Westbrook draws most of the attention.
  9. Jacquez Green, MVO. Great big play potential for a 9th round pick.

 

Team Grades:

  • Keystone – A. Anytime you add a RB like Williams your draft is good. Good WR picks (other than Troy Edwards) and good picks with Aikman and Charles Way.
  • MVO – B. See James above. However, other than Jacquez Green in the 9th the rest of the draft pretty much sucked. Would be a F without James.
  • NDV – C. Selection of Stokes and Kitna/Couch combo partially redeemed lousy 1st round move. Maybe JJ Johnson is the future in Miami?
  • Miami – B. Like Torry Holt a lot and additional handful of good potential WRs. Same problem as last year – no depth at RB unless Wheatley surprises.
  • Mercer – B. A surprisingly decent draft from a notoriously bad team. IN addition to Stephen Davis and Kimble Anders, got Jermaine Lewis (great potential IF healthy), Ike Hilliard (breakout yr?), Tavian Banks (3rd down and backup RB for great offense) and Richard Huntley (good pick if Bettis can’t play).
  • NPB – C. Other than Ahman Green, Kevin Johnson and Tony Gonzalez, there are some serious questions. Obviously hoping that Atlanta repeats last year’s success, but I suspect that it was a fluke because Chandler will get hurt and there is no Tony Martin to take attention away from Mathis.
  • Dallas – D. Simply the worst draft. First 2 picks were Carolina Panthers who have the worst OL in the NFL. Muhammed might be OK because Carolina will always be behind. Shawn Jefferson will be supplanted by Tony Simmons and Chris Warren is over-the-hill. Would have been a F without Muhammed and Connell.
  • Syracuse – A-. Despite twice attempting to draft protected players, nice job of filling 2 spots behind Jamaal Anderson. Kevin Faulk, Leroy Hoard, Greg Hill and 2 TE’s might do the trick. Going to have to wait for good prospect WRs (Bradford and Peerless Price) to fill #3 WR slot.
  • CAR – B-. Clearly looking to the future with risky first two picks on rookies – Cecil Collins and David Boston. Solid WRs (Alexander, Curtis Conway and Dedric Ward) in the middle, but everything went sucked after that considering Rashaan Salaam was cut and Dildo is the backup QB.
  • FFL – B-. Pretty strong WRs with Frank Sanders, Rae Carruth (although 2nd round was too high), Bobby Engram and Leslie Shepherd, but went way too high with Grammatica and Kerry Collins.
  • NYG – B. An A if first round risks (Lawrence Phillips and Isaac Bruce) pan out. Darnay Scott and Sean Dawkins were solid picks and McNabb is an excellent prospect. Bad pick with Andre Rison is second round – he is in a serious downhill slide.
  • BOS – C. The schizo draft – lousy geriatric picks (Terry Allen, Barry Sanders, Thurman Thomas) and prospects that were drafted too high (Ron Rivers, Cade McNown, Hines Ward). Good comeback candidates picks, though, with Yancey Thigpen and Eddie Kennison.
  • GBN – B-. Good picks with Michael Westbrook (primed for a big year?) and Ricky Dudley (nicely fills a hole on a good team). After these two went too high with EG Green, Larry Centers and Fred Lane.
  • RMD – D+. Another Nibs disaster, although not as bad as Dallas. Brian Griese may turn out well and Leon Johnson and Bert Emmanuel were good picks.

Let the games begin!

Preseason predictions: The software we use to run our draft has point projections for this year, based on best available players each week with all our starting lineup rules. Here’s how the preseason predictions look for total points for 1999:

  1. NYG Griffons   1193.3
  2. GBM Graynbald Mud   996.3
  3. SYR Blizzard   968.7
  4. BOS Wildcats   936.2
  5. NPB Nightmare   912.0
  6. FFL Frog Lickers   905.2
  7. MIA Muffdivers   884.4
  8. KEY Longfellows   868.2
  9. NDV 2x4s   844.7
  10. CAR Big Bang   831.8
  11. MVO Impossibles   829.1
  12. RMD Rattlin Raptors   804.5
  13. DAL Armadillos   789.1
  14. MER Mustangs   716.4