Ray Rice, RB, Baltimore Ravens
Stevan Ridley, RB, New England Patriots
Jeremy Maclin, WR, Philadelphia Eagles
Redshirt: Torrey Smith, WR, Baltimore Ravens
I chose to do the keeper analysis for the Dale Jr. ShrimpCruiser Clitoral Frenzy C.L.I.T. Frenzy Yul Brynner's Bald-Ass Head Kevlar Cougars Hot Buttery Balogna Barclay Street Bruisers for a few main reasons:
1) I love Paulie. I just love the guy. Cannot wait to see him in a week and a half, as his absence from the 2011 CKL Draft hurt my heart. Any of Nathan, Rookie, Joe, or Paul himself could have done this piece justice, but for the teams I truly love, I only trust myself.
2) This quartet of keepers is very interesting to me. Lots of projections, not a whole lot of demonstrated performance. It's an interesting group. But more on that in a second...
3) I think Torrey Smith is the best redshirt player of the season, and second only to Marshawn Lynch last year, all-time. But even with Lynch, Chad didn't really know what he had until much later.
4) Paul and I have been doing a lot of pre-draft talking and mocking this year. So I've come to know and respect his plan of action this season, so I felt like I could somewhat accurately reflect Paul's line of thinking in this post.
Anyway, that's why I chose Paul's team. So with that being said, let's get to it...
Ray Rice
Not going to spend too much time on this one. The guy is a young elite-level back on a very good team with a run-first mentality and with no other notable backs to vulture carries. Rice is ESPN's #2-rated running back and #2-rated player overall. Best of all, Paul is a Baltimore resident and a Ravens fan, so it all fits and it's all good. The worst thing I can say is based from pure make-believe: Rice is being overused a bit and is probably due an injury? That's about all I got. As the Arian Foster owner, I can say that I view Rice as the "safer" keeper of the two. I'm a Bengals fan, and I get to watch Rice nut-punch me repeatedly twice every season. He's really, really good.
Stevan Ridley
ESPN's #25-rated running back and #58-rated player overall is a young, gritty, bellcow type of running back with no remarkable traits or assets beyond the ability to grind out tough yards. Ridley will be building from last year's 87 carries for 441 yards (4.3 ypc) and 1 TD by trying to eat the production BenJarvus Green-Ellis left behind in New England when he signed in Cincinnati -- 181 carries for 667 yards and 11 TDs. If Ridley can combine those two lines into one this season, he'd be putting up 286-1108-12, or probably good enough for a top-10 fantasy running back performance in 2012. Ridley was wildly productive at LSU, and he's a guy I like a whole lot for fantasy coming into the 2012 season, even if he is a little bit underrated. This is not a flashy keeper in the CKL, but I think it's definitely one of the better lower-rated ones. Bill Belichick and Shane Vereen might screw around with Ridley's overall value from time to time, but he's the best pure ballcarrier on that team, and he'll get the goal line carries for an elite offense.
Jeremy Maclin
Maclin is being drafted as a WR2 in most fantasy leagues, and I tend to agree with that valuation. It's weird. He's very deep threatish, but stacks up as mostly a possession-style receiver in that Philly offense. Maclin is easily a 1000 yard, 8 TD guy if he stays healthy all season, but he won't give you much in the way of explosive lines unless he happens to score multiple touchdowns in any given game. Mike Vick, Shady McCoy, and DeSean Jackson just provide too much static interference for Maclin to be able to achieve consistent elite-level production. With that being said, the guy is young (24) and still has tangible upside, especially if Vick stays healthy and DJax fades more into a field-stretching role player. When I watch Maclin play, I often see a stud wide receiver. His situation is good Philly, but it's good in the same way the situation was good in Indianapolis when Reggie Wayne starting playing alongside Marvin Harrison, with Edgerrin James gobbling up a bunch of receptions and touchdowns. There's just too many mouths to feed in the offense... and let's be crystal clear, Michael Vick is no Peyton Manning. Maclin will be good this season, but he won't be great.
Torrey Smith
Despite my hatred for Terrapins and the city of Baltimore, I kinda find myself loving this kid. He's a great downfield receiving talent who should be able to build substantially upon his rookie season totals of 50-841-7. Specifically, I'm not sure if the catches and yardage will rise a whole lot (maybe up to 75 & 1000, respectively), but those seven touchdowns are sure to increase. I think the Ravens are going to make a point of taking more shots downfield, and Torrey Smith will be the beneficiary. A lot of analysts are even calling him the Ratbirds' new #1a receiver, with Anquan Boldin aging into oblivion... I buy that to some extent, but this is just not a passing offense. It is consistently just below the middle of the pack, and so a receiver who splits the #1 duties is still going to have a glass ceiling on his production. The main thing I dislike here is the presence of Ray Rice on this Bruisers keeper list. Rice and Smith could cannibalize each other's fantasy production from week to week, and I generally hate pairing RBs and QBs/WRs/TEs from the same team. Still, kudos to Rookie for drafting Torrey Smith in the 2011 redshirt round, and bravo to Paul for going out and obtaining this player during the season. He's a redshirt to really be excited about, and he gives the Bruisers a big advantage over the competition.
Overall, I think this is an interesting group of keepers. The really good keeper groups have two (or three?) elite players, while the Bruisers only have one in Ray Rice. But Ridley and Maclin are solid starters, and Torrey Smith is a sexy x-factor. Due to the advantage of Paul's 14th round pick representing whatever value Smith will give him, I feel like he has a major leg up on everyone else, which offsets the lower rankings of Ridley and Maclin... and then some. Paul hasn't made the playoffs since 2007, which is four seasons of frustration, ready to boil over. Can this quartet of keepers lay the foundation for the Bruisers to roll their way into the 2012 CKL playoffs? If Paul drafts well, finds a legit QB, and if things break well for at least two of Ridley, Maclin, and Smith, then I think YES. The key is finding some explosive players in the draft to couple with the steady-eddie types he has in Ridley and Maclin.
Ray Rice
Not going to spend too much time on this one. The guy is a young elite-level back on a very good team with a run-first mentality and with no other notable backs to vulture carries. Rice is ESPN's #2-rated running back and #2-rated player overall. Best of all, Paul is a Baltimore resident and a Ravens fan, so it all fits and it's all good. The worst thing I can say is based from pure make-believe: Rice is being overused a bit and is probably due an injury? That's about all I got. As the Arian Foster owner, I can say that I view Rice as the "safer" keeper of the two. I'm a Bengals fan, and I get to watch Rice nut-punch me repeatedly twice every season. He's really, really good.
Stevan Ridley
ESPN's #25-rated running back and #58-rated player overall is a young, gritty, bellcow type of running back with no remarkable traits or assets beyond the ability to grind out tough yards. Ridley will be building from last year's 87 carries for 441 yards (4.3 ypc) and 1 TD by trying to eat the production BenJarvus Green-Ellis left behind in New England when he signed in Cincinnati -- 181 carries for 667 yards and 11 TDs. If Ridley can combine those two lines into one this season, he'd be putting up 286-1108-12, or probably good enough for a top-10 fantasy running back performance in 2012. Ridley was wildly productive at LSU, and he's a guy I like a whole lot for fantasy coming into the 2012 season, even if he is a little bit underrated. This is not a flashy keeper in the CKL, but I think it's definitely one of the better lower-rated ones. Bill Belichick and Shane Vereen might screw around with Ridley's overall value from time to time, but he's the best pure ballcarrier on that team, and he'll get the goal line carries for an elite offense.
Jeremy Maclin
Maclin is being drafted as a WR2 in most fantasy leagues, and I tend to agree with that valuation. It's weird. He's very deep threatish, but stacks up as mostly a possession-style receiver in that Philly offense. Maclin is easily a 1000 yard, 8 TD guy if he stays healthy all season, but he won't give you much in the way of explosive lines unless he happens to score multiple touchdowns in any given game. Mike Vick, Shady McCoy, and DeSean Jackson just provide too much static interference for Maclin to be able to achieve consistent elite-level production. With that being said, the guy is young (24) and still has tangible upside, especially if Vick stays healthy and DJax fades more into a field-stretching role player. When I watch Maclin play, I often see a stud wide receiver. His situation is good Philly, but it's good in the same way the situation was good in Indianapolis when Reggie Wayne starting playing alongside Marvin Harrison, with Edgerrin James gobbling up a bunch of receptions and touchdowns. There's just too many mouths to feed in the offense... and let's be crystal clear, Michael Vick is no Peyton Manning. Maclin will be good this season, but he won't be great.
Torrey Smith
Despite my hatred for Terrapins and the city of Baltimore, I kinda find myself loving this kid. He's a great downfield receiving talent who should be able to build substantially upon his rookie season totals of 50-841-7. Specifically, I'm not sure if the catches and yardage will rise a whole lot (maybe up to 75 & 1000, respectively), but those seven touchdowns are sure to increase. I think the Ravens are going to make a point of taking more shots downfield, and Torrey Smith will be the beneficiary. A lot of analysts are even calling him the Ratbirds' new #1a receiver, with Anquan Boldin aging into oblivion... I buy that to some extent, but this is just not a passing offense. It is consistently just below the middle of the pack, and so a receiver who splits the #1 duties is still going to have a glass ceiling on his production. The main thing I dislike here is the presence of Ray Rice on this Bruisers keeper list. Rice and Smith could cannibalize each other's fantasy production from week to week, and I generally hate pairing RBs and QBs/WRs/TEs from the same team. Still, kudos to Rookie for drafting Torrey Smith in the 2011 redshirt round, and bravo to Paul for going out and obtaining this player during the season. He's a redshirt to really be excited about, and he gives the Bruisers a big advantage over the competition.
Overall, I think this is an interesting group of keepers. The really good keeper groups have two (or three?) elite players, while the Bruisers only have one in Ray Rice. But Ridley and Maclin are solid starters, and Torrey Smith is a sexy x-factor. Due to the advantage of Paul's 14th round pick representing whatever value Smith will give him, I feel like he has a major leg up on everyone else, which offsets the lower rankings of Ridley and Maclin... and then some. Paul hasn't made the playoffs since 2007, which is four seasons of frustration, ready to boil over. Can this quartet of keepers lay the foundation for the Bruisers to roll their way into the 2012 CKL playoffs? If Paul drafts well, finds a legit QB, and if things break well for at least two of Ridley, Maclin, and Smith, then I think YES. The key is finding some explosive players in the draft to couple with the steady-eddie types he has in Ridley and Maclin.
Ahh it wouldn't have been complete without a reference to the 'ratbirds...'
ReplyDeleteVery solid evaluation here, Kendall. This definitely isn't a top group, but we've got some upside. I don't like riding the Ravens this hard - watching the games gets stressful - so don't be surprised if one of those guys finishes the season on a different team...
I love Rice (duh). Maclin and Smith should provide WR2/WR3 production. I'm not a fan of Ridley. Feels like he might get Shanahaniganed in New England.
ReplyDeleteSo Paul has a multivariate tact to take: find legit options at QB, WR1 and RB2 all in his first three picks. That won't be easy. Yet his postseason chances will hinge not on the draft, but on his FAAB and trade success.
As a fellow member of the Perennial Underachiever wing of the CKL, I'm pulling for him. But it'll be a tough road.
Nathan, I agree with you that Maclin/Smith = WR2/WR3, but there's upside for a WR1 in there. And I totally disagree with you on Ridley. He's a RB2, with a bullet. He's a solid Flex starter in the CKL, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind. Why do I say that? No other power options in New England. Woodhead and Vereen are both satellite backs, who work best in space. Ridley might leave Paul wanting on the games in which he doesn't score a touchdown, but isn't that the way of life for MOST running backs these days? The yardage totals are being split up for just about every running back now as the league moves toward more specialized backs and more committee backfields.
ReplyDeleteIf Paul lands a good starting QB, another WR2 with WR1 upside, and a good starting TE in the first three rounds of the draft, this has a chance to be a playoff team. I believe that totally and completely.
ReplyDelete