Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

With the 2010 NFL Draft a month and a half away, mock drafts are plentiful. In fact, there are already 139 mock drafts published for the big day. If you took a minute to scan through a few of those drafts, you probably noticed that there are as many as six or seven players mentioned that might go to your favorite team come April. Obviously, only one (or maybe none) will end up being on the team you root for, but part of what makes the 2010 NFL Draft so interesting is the different possibilities that can change your favorite team’s future.

In this article, we’ll break down the possibilities that lay ahead for the Buffalo Bills. With that said, let’s get to it.

Buffalo Bills

::NFL commissioner Roger Goodell walks up to the podium at the 2010 NFL Draft and begins to speak::

With the ninth pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills select…

We know that all these mock draft picks are just guesses at this point; however, the Buffalo Bills are in such a dilemma as to who will be available at their pick in the first round, that it’s hard to even speculate.

If we took the time to identify the Bills problems last year it would take all day, so we’ll give you a quick view at the stone cold fact and get them out of the way. 

On offense, the Bills finished 32nd in the NFL in 3rd down percentage at a whopping 26% (yes, worse than the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders). 30th in the NFL in yards per game. 29th in the NFL in time of possession. 30th in the NFL in passing yards per game. 28th in the NFL in sacks allowed. Their defense was slightly better, but you get the picture.

With the calculated failures of Trent Edwards and Ryan Fitzpatrick, it seems evident that the Bills should consider targeting a quarterback to rebuild the team (a la Mark Sanchez in ’09, and Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan in ’08). While Buffalo can’t expect that a QB can change their team’s fortunes as quickly as those three quarterbacks previously did, they can hope that the effort of rebuilding and starting with a franchise QB will put them on the right track.

Terrell Owens is as good as gone, Marshawn Lynch has enough problems with the law that he can’t be trusted, and thus their best offensive threat (perhaps remains to be seen, but from a fantasy football perspective) is undrafted running back Fred Jackson. As you can see, the Bills don’t exactly have the keys to success in a fiercely competitive AFC East division.

The top two quarterbacks, Sam Bradford and Jimmy Clausen, could undoubtedly be gone by the 9th pick in this draft. With that in mind, the Bills could be left to stretch for a skill player, or build up their trenches with a young offensive tackle to anchor their line. Six of the top nine teams could use a franchise QB (St. Louis, Washington, Seattle, Cleveland, Oakland and Buffalo), and even though most of them won’t draft one, it doesn’t leave much room for error on the Bills part. They need to take this draft seriously as they move forward from a failed regime of the past half-decade.

Let’s follow through and start looking at their potential options in the upcoming 2010 NFL Draft:

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Each NFL season can only have one champion, and in 2009, the New Orleans Saints claimed that title. The good news, though, is that right now for the 2010 season, every team is sitting even. With that in mind, the Bruno Boys got to thinking about what each NFL team needs to do in order to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next year. Thus, was born the Bruno Boys latest series which will examine the key needs that need to be addressed by all 32 NFL teams. Bruno Boys Cory takes a look at the NFC East in Part 4 of this 8-part series.

NFC EAST

Once the laughing stock of the NFC, the NFC South has developed into a formidable division. Sure, just one team from the division played post-season football, but three (New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Carolina Panthers) out of the four teams in the division finished with a .500 record or better, and that one team that entered post-season play, the Saints, well they didn’t do too bad for themselves. Heck, even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished 2009 strong, winning two of their last three contests, though the 1-12 record prior wasn’t too pretty. Despite the division’s recent success, football is a game in which you can’t rest on your laurels. If the NFC South wants to continue their upward trend, then they’re going to have address the needs laid out below.

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Consisting of 10 members of the Bruno Boys Fantasy Football Staff, along with guest columnist’s from Fighting Chance Fantasy and The IDP Guru, our first of many Fantasy Football 2010 Mock Draft was a 16-round affair based on a standard scoring league (Pass TDs - 4 points, All Other TDs - 6 points, 25 Yards Passing - 1 point, 10 Yards Rushing/Receiving - 1 point). Outside of having to field a starting line-up occupied by 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 D, owners were free to compile their rosters any way in which they pleased.

All commentary after each pick is provided by the Bruno Boys staff member who made that pick. The draft started on February 15, 2010 and we will report round-by-round updates as they are available. Make sure to check back for more commentary on our Fantasy Football 2010 Mock Draft.

FEBRUARY MOCK DRAFT ROUND 8 RESULTS

10.01: Bruno Boys Cavigs - Cadillac Williams (TB) — This is a start three wide receiver league and with only three on my current roster I debated taking a fourth here; however, none of them interested me enough to pull the trigger. Instead, I will address my back-up wide receivers with 2010 sleeper picks and take back-to-back running backs at the turn. By drafting Cadillac Williams, I feel I have solidified my depth at the position. Cadillac compiled 1,040 total yards last season and his 93 touches over the last five games are a sign that his knees are healthy and better things are to come.

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Each NFL season can only have one champion, and in 2009, the New Orleans Saints claimed that title. The good news, though, is that right now for the 2010 season, every team is sitting even. With that in mind, the Bruno Boys got to thinking about what each NFL team needs to do in order to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next year. Thus, was born the Bruno Boys latest series which will examine the key needs that need to be addressed by all 32 NFL teams. Bruno Boys Kyle takes a look at the NFC South in Part 3 of this 8-part series.

NFC SOUTH

Once the laughing stock of the NFC, the NFC South has developed into a formidable division. Sure, just one team from the division played post-season football, but three (New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Carolina Panthers) out of the four teams in the division finished with a .500 record or better, and that one team that entered post-season play, the Saints, well they didn’t do too bad for themselves. Heck, even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers finished 2009 strong, winning two of their last three contests, though the 1-12 record prior wasn’t too pretty. Despite the division’s recent success, football is a game in which you can’t rest on your laurels. If the NFC South wants to continue their upward trend, then they’re going to have address the needs laid out below.

Full story

With the 2010 NFL Draft a month and a half away, mock drafts are plentiful. In fact, there are already 139 mock drafts published for the big day. If you took a minute to scan through a few of those drafts, you probably noticed that there are as many as six or seven players mentioned that might go to your favorite team come April. Obviously, only one (or maybe none) will end up being on the team you root for, but part of what makes the 2010 NFL Draft so interesting is the different possibilities that can change your favorite team’s future.

In this article, we’ll break down the possibilities that lay ahead for the Washington Redskins. With that said, let’s get to it.

Washington Redskins

Similar to the rest of the teams we have looked at in the NFL Draft articles we have posted in the previous month, the Washington Redskins are in desperate need of some big changes. The team has already brought in Mike Shanahan as their Head Coach, and they are now looking to make some serious additions in this off-season, as they look to keep up with the rest of the NFC East.

With the fourth pick overall in the 2010 NFL Draft, the ‘Skins can definitely make a splash by drafting a quarterback in the first round. No offense to Jason Campbell, but he just doesn’t seem the QB to turn this franchise around. Whether it’s Sam Bradford or Jimmy Clausen, going with a QB on Day 1 would give the Redskins a potential franchise QB for years to come.  If they’re not enamored by either of the top two quarterback options or have extreme faith in Campbell, another route the Redskins could go is the offensive tackle position.

Truth be told, the Redskins could go either way on this one. Fortunately, a franchise player should be available to them at either position come their pick (especially with initial mock drafts showing two defensive tackles assuredly going off the board within the first three picks). Whether the ‘skins go with Clausen/Bradford or Okung/Davis (Russell Okung, OT, Oklahoma State/Anthony Davis, OT, Rutgers), they are setting themselves up nicely for the coming years.

But, the question is who marks the biggest improvement to the Washington Redskins for 2010?

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Each NFL season can only have one champion, and in 2009, the New Orleans Saints claimed that title. The good news, though, is that right now for the 2010 season, every team is sitting even. With that in mind, the Bruno Boys got to thinking about what each NFL team needs to do in order to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next year. Thus, was born the Bruno Boys latest series which will examine the key needs that need to be addressed by all 32 NFL teams. Bruno Boys Larry takes a look at the NFC North in Part 2 of this 8-part series.

NFC NORTH

Being born in raised in the Midwest has allowed me to watch NFC North football my entire life. It’s a division that has bolstered some great defensive teams and some of the greatest nicknames in football history. Teams like the “Monsters of the Midway” and the “Purple People Eaters” played in a division referred to as the “Black and Blue” division, but those days are long gone. It has been more then a decade since a team from the NFC North has won a Super Bowl. It’s also a division that has possibly the worst team of the decade in the Detroit Lions. Despite the Lions continued struggles, the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers both made the playoffs in 2009 and look to be putting the division back on the map. The two bottom teams in the NFC North, the Chicago Bears and the Detroit Lions, have both been extremely active early in this off-season. So let’s take a look at what else we might expect from these four teams during the 2010 NFL off-season.

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Consisting of 10 members of the Bruno Boys Fantasy Football Staff, along with guest columnist’s from Fighting Chance Fantasy and The IDP Guru, our first of many Fantasy Football 2010 Mock Draft was a 16-round affair based on a standard scoring league (Pass TDs - 4 points, All Other TDs - 6 points, 25 Yards Passing - 1 point, 10 Yards Rushing/Receiving - 1 point). Outside of having to field a starting line-up occupied by 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 D, owners were free to compile their rosters any way in which they pleased.

All commentary after each pick is provided by the Bruno Boys staff member who made that pick. The draft started on February 15, 2010 and we will report round-by-round updates as they are available. Make sure to check back for more commentary on our Fantasy Football 2010 Mock Draft.

FEBRUARY MOCK DRAFT ROUND 9 RESULTS

9.01: Bruno Boys Matt - Devin Hester (Chi) — This is purely a high upside play with Mike Martz arriving as OC in Chicago and Jay Cutler having one season under his belt as Bears QB. Lovie Smith thinks Hester has the skills to be a #1 WR and I think the upside is there to make this a value pick.

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If there was ever a year to have a pick in the top 10 of the NFL Draft, it would be this year for the Green Bay Packers. While we are sure they wouldn’t trade in their near playoff victory experience, the draft is full of exactly what the Packers need in 2010: a stud offensive linemen ready to make an impact in the NFL.

Let’s be realistic with the Packers in 2010, their offense is loaded with talent. Starting with Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay scored the third most points in the NFL in 2009 (28.8 per game); although even more impressive is their +24 in turnovers. Leading the league by a ridiculous +9 (the Philadelphia Eagles were 2nd at +15). 

Despite those impressive statistics from 2009, a few others stand out just as much, if not more. The Packers were second in the NFL in penalty yards allowing over 1,000 yards for the season. Even less impressive was the Packers offensive line allowing the most sacks against in the NFL at 51 for the season (over 3 a game).

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Each NFL season can only have one champion, and in 2009, the New Orleans Saints claimed that title. The good news, though, is that right now for the 2010 season, every team is sitting even. With that in mind, the Bruno Boys got to thinking about what each NFL team needs to do in order to hoist the Lombardi Trophy next year. Thus, was born the Bruno Boys latest series which will examine the key needs that need to be addressed by all 32 NFL teams. Bruno Boys Whooley gets things started in this 8-part series with a look at the NFC West.

NFC WEST

Many people, myself included, claim that “the west coast is the best coast.” And, for as true as that sentiment may be in most aspects of life, with regards to football prowess of late, it just doesn’t hold. Sure, the Arizona Cardinals represented the NFC in the Super Bowl just two seasons ago, but to find the last time that two teams from the NFC West journeyed to the playoffs in the same year, you have to go all the way back to 2004 when both the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams secured playoff births. Will the division break the five-year streak and finally send two teams to post-season play in 2010? Well, to do so, some work definitely needs to be done.

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As you read before in our article about the NFL Scouting Combine, those who perform well in the gluttony of tests they’re put through, do not always put up big numbers on the field. But, since many of us still want to see if anything can be learned from the event, it is time to break down the positions that matter most on the fantasy football field. In Tuesday’s article, we broke down the quarterbacks and tight ends and today we look at both running backs and wide receivers to see if there is anyone who looked strong enough to draft in your 2010 fantasy draft.

RUNNING BACKS

The running back position always seems to produce at least one rookie 1,000-yard rusher year after year. 2010 should be no different, especially if some of the top prospects play as well on the field as they performed at the combine. C.J. Spiller out of Clemson, who seems to be the consensus number one back to be drafted in April, ran a great 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds. He also had 18 reps on the bench press and showed, as was expected, that he can both carry the ball and catch it out of the backfield.

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