The theme for me this season has been the lack of delivery. I promised to return to my weekly posts. That didn't happen. I promised to avoid shitting on Barnard at his wedding. That didn't happen (though I blame his home friends for instigating). And most of all, I promised a Stevens Bowl victory for my team. That is almost assuredly not going to happen.
While some of these failures are on me, anyone that claimed to have a pulse on this NFL season prior to Week 1 is a fucking liar. Yes, that Patriots are good, but Dion Lewis as RB4 by points per game? Yes, the Lions are bad, but Calvin Johnson as WR38 by PPG? Devonta Freeman having more points through 5 weeks than Eddie Lacy, DeMarco Murray and Marshawn Lynch combined (not even including last night)? Anyone who says they "nailed" the draft this year is full of shit, because this has been the weirdest NFL season in recent memory.
Regardless, we are where we are. And while I feel more unqualified than usual to provide any sort of commentary on the NFL right now, my Hot Potato post will focus on the moves made from Weeks 2-6. I will try to focus on process rather than results, but it's likely that I will be somewhat blinded by what has happened since these moves went down.
Week 2
Best Pickup of the Week: Tyrod Taylor for $7 by Levine. Losing any player sucks, but especially your starting QB. Taylor looked legit in the first two games of the season, so I'm surprised that no one else bid on him. With the benefit of hindsight, this was still a great pickup, despite the MCL injury that leaves you scrambling once again.
Worst Pickup of the Week: Crockett Gilmore and Rishard Mathews for $22 each by Weissbard. Spending 22% of our annual budget on two players that no one else bid on is never a good thing. Granted, Mathews contributed to Weiss demolishing me that week, so Karma is a bitch, but I maintain that neither of these players are startable.
Trades: None.
Week 3
Best Pickup of the Week: Gary Barnidge for $3 by Weissbard. I'm not here just to hate on Weiss, and he absolutely nailed this one. While Johnny Football clearly could care less about throwing the ball to white people, Josh McCown clearly has no such aversion. In fact, he pulled an Eli and threw a TD pass to Barnidge with his eyes closed last week. Weiss has himself a legit starting TE, and for more than 7 times less than Crockett Gilmore cost.
Worst Pickup of the Week: Thomas Rawls for $88 by AGD. I have a few problems with how our defending champs handled this one. First, Marshawn was only out for a week, maybe two, at the time of this auction (it obviously turned out to be two and counting, but that was unknown at the time). Second, Fred Jackson is already present in Seattle, and was always going to be the third down back if Lynch went down. Third, who the fuck is Thomas Rawls? But most importantly, you didn't immediately do whatever it takes to trade Rawls to Donny, the one guy who actually needs him.Your team looks pretty solid as is, but parlaying Rawls and Maclin for Keenan Allen or something like that should have been a priority.
Trades: Barnard trades Brandon Marshall and Travis Kelce to Gutman for Rob Gronkowski and Kyle Rudolph. I love this trade. Barnard capitalized on his surprisingly hot start by giving up depth for a stud, while Gutman made up for his draft-day mistake by adding much needed depth. I actually give Gutman the slight win here, because I think Kelce winds up a lot closer to Gronk's point total moving forward than people expect, and Barnard may regret giving up Marshall when Watkins throws up another goose egg at the wrong time. But great trade all around.
Week 4
Best Pickup of the Week: Willie Snead for $30 by Alan. It's rare that a relatively unknown receiver becomes the top target for one of the best QBs in the league, but that appears to be what happened with Snead. Smart pickup and responsible bid by Alan, who beat Z by less than $10. Bidding does not appear to be Zacherman's strong suit, though he does get an honorable mention here for Kamar Aiken at $18. He can't take home the prize because no one else bid on him, but it was still a good pick.
Worst Pickup of the Week: Giants D for $7 by Zacherman. I've made my thoughts on backup defenses and/or kickers (AGD, looking at you!) well known, but this makes even less sense than Esco's Denver pick. At least the Broncos have an elite defense! The Giants D has been extremely mediocre, and despite playing the Niners, you didn't even start them. When reached for comment, Z said that he picked them up because he was playing against Donny. So yeah.
Trades: Ajay trades Richard Rodgers to Bennett for Rueben Randle. Depth for depth, but nothing really exciting here. I'm convinced that this trade went down solely because both guys' initials are R.R.. Not as exciting as a potential Charles Clay for Chandler Catanzaro swap, but still more exciting than...
Kumpf trades Christine Michael to Levine for James Starks. I get that Levine wanted Randle/DMC insurance, but I'd still prefer the 2nd string RB in Aaron Rodgers' offense to the 3rd string RB in Brandon Weeden's offense. But that's just me.
Week 5
Best Pickup of the Week: Charcandrick West for $113 by Kumpf. Obviously lots to say here, which I'll get to in a minute, but this was by far the highest grossing auction that was ever won by $1. Even the biggest Kumpf-haters have to respect that, especially because it beat out Z, and 12 teams bid on him.
Worst Pickup of the Week: Charcandrick West for $112 by Zacherman. No real bad moves that I saw this week, so I'll add insult to injury by giving this one to Z. If you weren't so cheap and spent $2 more, you would still have Calvin.
Trades: Bennett trades Amari Cooper and Jordan Reed to Esco for Philip Rivers and LeGarrette Blount. I'm a little bit confused by this trade. Bennett needed QB help when Ben went down, but he waited until he's nearly back to make the move? Esco needed to trade his depth for a stud, but did so when Cooper was on a bye? I guess that makes it kind of even, though this trade would have made more sense two weeks ago. I give Esco the edge because Cooper is a legit WR1, and Bennett may not be starting either of these players as soon as two weeks from now.
Kumpf trades Charcandrick West, James Starks, Travis Benjamin and Desean Jackson to Zacherman for Calvin Johnson, Marques Colston, Owen Daniels and Giants D/ST. My team is an absolute mess, and if I'm strong anywhere, it's RB. Charcandrick West is not going to save my season. Calvin Johnson could save my season if he's not finished. At 1-4, I'm willing to take that risk. Zacherman is extremely lucky that he beat Donny by less than a point to get to 4-1, because losing Charles is just terrible. He likely would have faced a tailspin if he didn't get another starting RB. Losing Calvin hurts, but he very well could be finished, and the Desean/Benjamin combo is intriguing to say the least. This isn't as much of a win-win as the Barnard/Gutman trade, but it gives both teams what they needed. I give the edge to Z, simply because his season was probably over without it, and my season is probably over regardless.
Alan trades Antonio Brown to Weissbard for Randall Cobb and Karlos Williams. This is a weird one. Both teams are 2-3, but Weiss has a much rosier outlook than Alan does. With Ben hurt, I like Cobb more straight up than Brown, but that obviously won't last forever. So this helps Alan more in the short term, so that he can see if one of his array of 2nd or 3rd string RBs can emerge due to injury, while seeing equal or even increased production at WR. Weiss is playing a dangerous game, sacrificing a bit in the short term to have a better chance at the Stevens Bowl. I give the slight edge to Weiss here, because we're all playing for the Chef's Coat, and I admire his moxie.
