Don’t Believe The Draft Hype
March 29, 2008 at 11:47 pm | Article by Paul Hickey |
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You may have heard some rumors over the past few months regarding the Chiefs being interested in drafting Arkansas RB Darren McFadden with the fifth overall pick in April’s draft. You may have also recently heard rumors about Illinois RB Rashard Mendenhall getting personal one-on-one workouts with teams like the Carolina Panthers, or Indiana’s James Hardy talking about the six or seven NFL teams who have expressed interested in him.
Folks, all of this is nothing but hype. There’s nothing you can really do about it, thus, nine times out of 10 there is no fantasy move that you should make in anticipation of the incredibly unpredictable NFL Draft. Essentially, all teams are doing all of their necessary due diligence right now, even if it means looking at positions that they’re already strong at - like Carolina looking at Mendenhall when they already have one perfectly capable runner in DeAngelo Williams, and could likely stand to wait until the third round to draft a back-up for him. Carolina GM Marty Hurney wouldn’t be doing his job well if he didn’t bring in Mendenhall for a private workout. That doesn’t mean the Panthers are going to draft him, so don’t panic and trade Williams now based on a report. The same goes for Larry Johnson in Kansas City. Is there a chance that Carl Peterson will snag McFadden if he falls to KC at five? Sure. But is it more likely that Peterson made his comment at the combine hoping to inflate the value of his pick, or to create a situation where Michigan OT Jake Long falls to him at five? You bet. You can see how sporadic all of this talk is on a daily basis, and Cincy head coach Marvin Lewis is said it best when he recently told one media outlet - “Show me all of the film on all of the players, and then tell me who the top eight picks are, and THEN I’ll tell you who we’re taking at number nine.” In other words, nobody really knows what will happen on draft day - so wait until after draft day to position your dynasty or keeper team for 2008. Some folks might be thinking of trading Justin Fargas or Michael Bush based on the fact that it looks very likely that the Raiders draft McFadden with the fourth overall pick. The re-emergence of LSU’s Glenn Dorsey as a top four selection could seriously change that though, as now there are six or seven players mentioned as being top five selections. This tells me there will not only be several surprising selections on April 26, but there could also be some serious trade action taking place. Check back later this week for an in-depth look at the NFL Draft from a fantasy perspective in our next addition of Finger On The Pulse.
This article is also featured on Athlon/Grogan’s Fantasy Football, your spot for Cheat Sheets updated daily and Fantasy tools to manage your team all year long.
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