On the mock again

Being relatively new to the fantasy football blogosphere, I was fortunate enough to get an invite to The Hazean’s blogger mock draft. Twelve teams, four rounds, with the following scoring guidelines: non-PPR league, 6 points for all TDs, -2 points for all turnovers, 1 point per 25 yards passing, 1 point per 10 yards rushing/receiving.

Be sure to check out TheHazean.com, as well as the other participating blogs — a lot of good articles, columns, rankings, etc. to quench that ongoing thirst for anything and everything related to fantasy football (links to all the sites are below).

Full draft results and comments on each round are posted after the jump, and below are a couple of thoughts I took away from the mock.

1. Willie Parker’s two-touchdown 2007 campaign has put fear in the hearts of many a mock drafters. I took Parker with my last pick (44th overall) sandwiched between Darren McFadden and Jonathan Stewart. So just to be clear, that’s a 1,300-yard back going between two guys who have yet to play a down in the NFL. Of course, Fast Willie scored just two more NFL touchdowns than McFadden and Stewart (who were both in…ahem…college) last year…

2. No one wants to draft Larry Johnson (this blog included).

3. It’s pretty hilarious when someone accidentally says they’re using their third-round pick on Reggie Brown (Philadelphia WR) when they actually mean Reggie Bush (New Orleans RB). What a difference a last name makes (don’t worry, the drafter quickly caught the mistake).

Here are the draft participants, in drafting order:

1. Curveballs For Jesus

2. Football Outsiders (developers of KUBIAK draft application)

3. Football Burrito

4. Pancake Blocks (RotoWorld.com columnist Gregg Roesenthal)

5. West Coast Nonsense (that’s me!)

6. Bruno Boys

7. The Hazean (gracious host)

8. Football Jabber

9. Fantasy Football Fools

10. Fantasy Football Geek Blog (also a participant in the WestCoastNonsense-hosted mock)

11. Fantasy Football Goat

12. Fantasy Football Librarian (also a participant in the WestCoastNonsense-hosted mock, and a favorite read of this blog).

See the full draft results after the jump.

Pick or pass: Brandon Jacobs

Will Jacobs stay healthy?

Which Brandon Jacobs will show up for the New York Giants and fantasy owners in 2008?

Will it be the yards-collecting but non-scoring Brandon Jacobs of the 2007 regular season that averaged five yards a carry, broke 130 yards rushing in three different games, but ran for just four touchdowns?

Or will it be the touchdown-scoring, yards-challenged Brandon Jacobs of the 2007-08 playoffs that scored three touchdowns in four playoff games, but managed a measly 3.2 yards per carry with no run longer than 12 yards?

Or will it be the injured Brandon Jacobs that missed five games in 2007?

Or will it be all three versions of the Giants running back?

Ocho-cinco vs. ocho-cuatro

Is 84 > 85?

Probably the most interesting aspect of the “Who has more fantasy value: Chad Johnson or T.J. Houshmandzadeh?” debate is…well…that there is no debate.

The vast majority of mock drafts and pre-draft rankings peg Houshmandzadeh as the more valuable receiver heading into 2008, and the reasons are pretty simple: receptions and touchdowns.

For the second straight season, Houshmandzadeh topped Johnson in both categories last year. No. 84 led the league with 112 catches (tied with Wes Welker) compared to Johnson’s 93 receptions, and he scored 12 touchdowns while Johnson hit paydirt eight times.

TE rankings are up

Think he can score 11 tds again?

The tight end rankings are up.

You know the drill — click on the tab up top, the link to the right, or click right here.

The downside of “upside”

As sports fans, we hear about the “upside” of college football players all March and April leading up to the NFL draft. Then, we hear about the upside of college basketball players all May and June leading up to the NBA draft.

And here we are, in the midst of a July-August stretch likely to be filled with columnists, bloggers, and talking heads championing the upside of various NFL players leading up to fantasy football drafts.

Please. Make it. Stop.

“Upside” has become one of the more abused words in sports, with announcers, writers, and so-called analysts falling back on the term as a trendy way to say a player has potential. Too bad the potential to do what, exactly, is usually left unclear.

And without context, the term “upside” is at best ambiguous, but more likely meaningless.

Imagine reading a dinner menu that says the steak has “a lot of upside,” or hearing a political ad selling Barack Obama as the candidate with “the most upside.” You’d be asking yourself, “Upside? What the hell does that mean?”

RB rankings updated

Like The QBs and WRs, the RBs have been broken into tiers, of sorts. Check out the updated rankings here.

QB rankings updated

The QB rankings are new and improved. Click here, or click on the tab at the top of the page, or the link to the right.

WR rankings are up

The first set of WR rankings are up, so click on the tab at the top of the site, or the sidebar to the right to check them out.

The receivers are broken into tiers, of sorts. Heading into a draft, I tend to make lists that break up players into different groups so I pay attention to what type of players I’m drafting. It’s not as clear-cut as a first, second, third, etc. tier system, but it’s what works for me.

I’ll be converting the QB and RB rankings to a similar style soon.

Mock it. Mock it good.

With the help of some other fantasy football bloggers, the first West Coast Nonsense-hosted mock draft is in the books.

This was an eight-team mock, with each team drafting 12 players: QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, RB/WR flex, TE, DEF, and 4 bench spots. The draft was for a non-PPR (points per reception) league. Passing touchdowns are good for four points, rushing/receiving scores count for six, with a standard scoring system.

Participants were (in drafting order):

The Fantasy Football Librarian (FFLibrarian.com)

Dunn from FantasyFootballBlog.net

Steve from TheFantasyFootballReport.com

Chris from FantasyFootballBlog.net

Brandon from The Fantasy Football Geek Blog

Yours truly, from WestCoastNonsense.com

The Portland Sportsman (not solely a fantasy football blogger, but a friend of this blog)

Tim from FantasyFootballBlog.net

Full draft results after the jump.