Empty the Bench

By: Andrew Thell

On Tuesday, August 31, the dons of Empty the Bench joined friends and peers for the annual football nerd-out fest that is the ETB Fantasy Football League Draft. This year’s draft was one of the most challenging, stressful test of wills to date with 12 teams, 15 rounds of picks, and no kickers to thin the field out. Over the next few days we’ll reveal the results team by team, and take a quick look at how each one fared; compare and contrast with your league, and let us know your take in the comments section.

Disclaimer: many of our team names are lewd, childish, and downright stupid. We make no apologies for this.

Team:

Rippin’ & Tearin’, aka ETB’s Brian Spencer (Picked second overall)

The Picks

1. (2) Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings
2. (23) Tom Brady, QB, New England Patriots
3. (26) Greg Jennings, WR, Green Bay Packers
4. (47) Dwayne Bowe, WR, KC Chiefs
5. (50) Jason Witten, TE, Dallas Cowboys
6. (71) Ricky Williams, RB, Miami Dolphins
7. (74) Pierre Garcon, WR, Indianapolis Colts
8. (95) Thomas Jones, RB, KC Chiefs
9. (98) Matthew Stafford, QB, Detroit Lions
10. (119) Laurence Maroney, RB, New England Patriots
11. (122) Mike Williams, WR, Tampa Bay Bucs
12. (143) Eddie Royal, WR, Denver Broncos
13. (146) Tim Hightower, RB, Arizona Cardinals
14. (167) Dallas, Team Defense
15. (170) Tony Scheffler, TE, Detroit Lions

Best Value:

Ricky Williams, RB, Miami Dolphins: Sandwiched between picks like Fred Jackson, Mike Wallace, and Jacoby Jones the Ricky Williams selection stands out as exceptional value. He’s in a timeshare with Ronnie Brown, but Williams is talented enough and strong enough at the goal-line to get his and then some. And we saw last season just how dominant Williams can still be when Brown went down (not an uncommon occurrence, mind you): in weeks 10 through 15 Miami fed Ricky and he exploded for 599 rushing yards and 6 TDs. A guy with that kind of upside, who can also contribute decent yardage with a weekly chance to score regardless of Brown’s health, is a stellar flex option.

Biggest Reach:

Laurence Maroney, RB, New England Patriots: It’s hard to find fault with how the first seven rounds went here. Potential reaches include Thomas Jones in the 8th, Laurence Maroney in the 10th and Mike Williams in the 11th. If Rippin’ & Tearin’ has strong convictions about Jones or Williams he probably couldn’t afford to wait on them though, so that leaves the annually impossible-to-predict, generally underwhelming Maroney. The Patriots prefer to keep a full stable of backs active every game, going with the hot hand or situational need, and that’s always going to fuck with Maroney’s value. You just never know what you’re going to get – except for knowing he’ll be dealing with something “nagging” or “chronic” that will irritate you all season. Add in the fact that he had missed all three preseason games to date and has been dealing with an abdominal strain, groin, and ankle issues and I say, “No thanks.”

ETB’s Take:

As I mentioned, I’m very fond of the early-round strategy here. Rippin’ went with the obvious AP pick second, who should be a beast yet again. Then he followed that up with Tom Brady in the second, which is earlier than he goes in mocks, but where this team needed to take Brady if he wanted him. It’s a swing for the fences that could pay huge dividends.

After addressing RB and QB early, Rippin’ snatched two of the highest-upside wideouts available with Greg Jennings in the third round and Dwayne Bowe in the fourth. I see big seasons from both. Jennings, an elite deep threat, had an underwhelming season last year that can be directly attributed to poor offensive line play, a situation the Packers addressed in the offseason. Bowe has all the talent in the world, had a great offseason, and should emerge as Matt Cassel’s go-to guy with serious reception and red-zone potential.

Witten has only scored 6 TDs the last two seasons, and only 2 a year ago, but he also nabbed a massive 94 receptions for 1,030 yards last year and it’s hard to imagine him not topping 5 TDs in that offense. He’s as solid as they come.

Those selections were backed up with Ricky Williams, discussed above, and Pierre Garcon. I love Garcon this year. He’s not going to be among the league leaders in receptions, but he’s a home-run threat with huge upside.

The rest of the draft is a bit more murky, but guys like Matthew Stafford, Mike Williams, Eddie Royal, Tim Hightower, and Tony Scheffler are all major bounce-back or breakout candidates.

Comments from Rippin’ & Tearin’ after the break…

From Rippin’ & Tearin’:

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