BTFFL Draft 2006: The Worst

And now the worst. A much more abundant harvest this year than the best.

Honorable mentions:

Everyone picked after the 13^th Round except: the kickers, Anthony Gonzalez, CJ Bacher, Adrain Arrington, Alex Daniels and Matt Trannon. That’s 15 picks, just a Dead Sea of BTFFL talent. Even the picks with value are, with one exception, marginal at best.

Dion Butler/Derrick Williams – Golden Goblins, Fighting Farmers, 6^th Round – Picked after Ted Ginn, Jr., these guys were expected to be top 5, top 10 at worst, BTFFL Wide Recievers. They haven’t been completely useless but they have not performed anywhere near expectations. Butler is currently the 12^th ranked WR, Williams 17^th.

Shaun Herbert, Halifax Spitfires, 10^th Round – There are so many bad WR early in the draft, Herbert is just one of them.

Jeremy Scott, Halifax Spitfies, 9^th Round – See Shaun Herbert.

Steve Breaston, Bucky’s Goodgers, 11^th Round. A relatively late round pick but the presence of Anthony Gonzalez and Adrian Arrington haunts the Breaston pick just as it does every other WR selected prior to the 14 the round.

And now the list:

10. The Entire 13^th Round, Carlos Brown, Evan Royster, Shonn Greene and Tim Brasic. -- This round is so bad it makes it as part of the Honorable Mentions and the Top 10. What a waste of a round. Brown no longer on a roster, Brasic lost his job to Juice!, Shonn Greene is the cream of the crop, kicking around the BTFFL and scoring a 25 points over the course of the season and one of our favorite things in the Worst list: Royster. A player still on a roster who has scored zero points in the entire season.

9. Ernie Wheelwright, Fighting Farmers, 8^th Round. -- The 8^th Round rivals the 13^th as the worst in the 2006 BTFFL draft. Wheelwright appeared to be the next in a line of very good Gopher fantasy WR. Instead, to use a sports cliché, his picture should be on a milk carton. Wheels has 15 points in the entire season. Selected over Sims, Mendenhall, Taylor, Caulcrick, Juice!, Payne, Gonzo, Arrington, Daniels.

8. Demetrius McCray, Bucky’s goodgers, 8^th Round – Part of the 8^th Round train wreck. Picked as insurance for Marcus Thigpen. Insurance for Marcus Thigpen! If you want a good laugh say that out loud 5 times in a row. I guarantee you won’t get through 3.

7. Lance Smith, Kevin Grady, EJ Jones, Halifax Spitfires, 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th Rounds – part of a sound strategy that could have paid huge dividends, none of these highly regarded, backup Running Backs has done anything this season. Admittedly, Jones started week 1 and was injured, and Hill injured last week could finally give way to Smith but as of now, these three high round picks have done nothing. Pinnix, picked after Smith and Grady (but not Jones) would have served this team much better and allowed at least one more pick.

6. Chad Henne, Fighting Farmers, 5^th Round – Unfortunately for the Farmers (and as we will see later, the Spitfires), the highly regarded QBs on the board significantly underperformed the less heralded who remained on the board and were value picks later on. Henne chosen before Stocco (12^th Round), Kellen Lewis (undrafted) and Juice! (10^th Round). Henne hasn’t been awful but, in hindsight, both the Farmers and Spitfires invested in several QBs that just were not worth the draft position.

5. Herb Grigsby, Bucky’s Goodgers, 6^th Round – The Goodgers had the best group of keepers in the BTFFL. They watched as every player with real value were picked by the unfortunate Farmers and Spitfires. The Goodgers primary goal entering the draft was to upgrade their WR corps, having held on to two QBs and two RBs. “With the 24^th Pick in the 2006 Big Ten Fantasy Football Draft, the 3 time consecutive Blue Ox Bowl Champion Bucky’s Goodgers select Mario Manningham, WR, Michigan.” That would have been a real pick. Herb Grigsby has produced 0, 5, 3, 0, 4, and 2 points for the reigning BOB champs. Herbie did add a 15 point game after finally being dropped but he remains a terrible, terrible pick a player (Herbie Hint: To play Wide Receiver in American Football you have to be able to catch the ball when it is thrown to you).

4. Anthony Morelli, Halifax Spitfires, 5^th Round – Morelli should read the same as Henne only, oh, I don’t know, 100 times worse. Morelli inherited an offense that produced 4^th highest overall BTFFL scorer Michael Robinson last year and Morelli has been shite! (If you need to you can repeat that last part of the sentence in your best Groundstender Groundskeeper Willie voice). Morelli is only ranked above the Northwestern QB in terms of fantasy points scored. That’s right, Juice! and Kellen Lewis, both players who have not started every game for their respective BT teams, have more fantasy points than Skreech, ah, Morelli.

3. Austin Scott, Golden Goblins, 8^th Round – A terrible pick this year in its own right, Scott has zero points in the BTFFL this year. He is, with the exception of EJ Jones, the highest drafted player to score nothing on the season. He completes the disastrous 8^th Round (joining shitty FFL players and compatriots Jones, Wheelwright, and McCray). Scott gets extra credit for being, as Shawn suggested earlier this year, the biggest bust in BTFFL history for 4 years.

2. Blake Powers, Halifax Spitfires, 3^rd Round – Not much needs to be said here, max Powers lost his job early in the season and has never looked back. He somehow remains on the Spitfires roster. He sucks. But, the $41 pick up dollars spent by the Spitfires on the his replacement, Kellen Lewis, mitigates the investment of the 3^rd pick in Max. But, it must be said, what a team the Spitfires would have if they had had faith in Teddy Ginn, Jr., who stood out like a sore thumb when the Spitfires picked Powers (and, much less of a disappointment Pierre Thomas).

1. Chris “Beanie” Wells, Fighting Farmers, 1^st Round – This is a tough ranking given the situation at the time of the draft but one can’t ignore the fact that the Farmers have been burned, at least for this year and it ain’t looking much better for next (better hope that Tony Pittman and his family need money so he goes pro early even though he certainly should not), by the hype machine that is college football recruiting in 2006. Wells will undoubtedly be a great Running Back at Ohio State, he has already shown enough to understand that. But Pittman has a hold of the starters job with both hands and he is not letting go (unlike Beanie does to often when he’s carrying the football). The pick was understandable given Wells potential, Pittman’s uncertainty and OSUs offense. But he’s a complete bust this year and one has to wonder whether he will even be a keeper next.