Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

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.

10.02: Bruno Boys Greg - Nate Burleson (Sea) — Burleson may not have had a great season in 2009, where he had 63 catches for 812 yards, and 3 touchdowns. However, you did see his quarterback Matt Hasselbeck look his way a good bit, as he was targeted 103 times. The Seahawks offense should be much improved in 2010 and as long as Hasselbeck gets time to throw, he should be able to find Burleson deep quite a bit. Look for Burleson to at least double his touchdown production this season.  **pick was made before Burleson signed with the Detroit Lions**

10.03: Bruno Boys IDP Guru - Ryan Matthews (FA) — Mathews probably had the best combine of any running back and is arguably the second best running back in the draft behind C.J. Spiller. Mathews brings both speed and power to the table which could make him a great fantasy football running back. If he ends up with the right team, look for Matthews to make an immediate impact.

10.04: Bruno Boys Kyle - Lee Evans (Buf) — Evans is coming off the least productive season of his career, and with no Terrell Owens being force-fed passes, and a new coaching staff in place that actually believes in throwing the ball further than five yards downfield, I’m completely confident that Evans will rebound.

10.05: Bruno Boys Cory -  Visanthe Shiancoe (Min) — I waited on a tight end and still was able to get a good one in Visanthe Shiancoe of the Minnesota Vikings. He had just 59 receptions for 566 yards last season, but 11 of those catches went for touchdowns. That’s not an aberration either. The year before he caught seven touchdowns with guys like Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson as his quarterback. So yeah, I love the value of Shiancoe with this pick.

10.06: Bruno Boys Allie - Leon Washington (NYJ) — What I like about Washington is that he’s a guy who always finds ways to compile the yards any which way he can. He’s also a solid pass-catching back and I expect this will be his role regardless of whether it’s Greene or Jones (rumored to be cut by the Jets at the time of this pick) getting the majority of touches. Using my 10th round pick on Washington adds depth to my bench - not only is he a quality reserve fantasy football running back (especially if Jones is out of the picture) - I think he also has nice sleeper potential.  **pick was made before Jones was cut by New York**

10.07: Bruno Boys Jimbo - Laurence Maroney (NE) — Laurence Maroney went through a nice hot streak at one point last season where he became the true feature back for the New England Patriots temporarily. I’m not asking for much with this pick given how this team seems to like to play running back merry-go-round. However, stashing him on my bench could be beneficial if he hits another hot streak at some point in 2010, which very well may happen.

10.08: Bruno Boys Jacob - Brett Favre (Min) — I’m typically the fantasy football owner that drafts a stud quarterback and doesn’t even draft a backup; however, with Matt Ryan as my incumbent starter, I need to solidify the QB depth. I honestly have no idea if Favre comes back in 2010 (I wonder if Brett even knows?), but I figure he’s worthy of a 10th round pick. He has great receiving options in Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin and Visanthe Shiancoe, so if he comes back he could definitely be a top-10 fantasy QB in 2010.

10.09: Bruno Boys Hallam - Arian Foster (Hou) — OK, this probably seems early to a lot of you, but I am drafting with some very smart people here and I want to get a running back with some upside. I’m not convinced that the Texans are sold on Steve Slaton and Foster finished the season very strong with over 200 yards and three touchdowns in the season’s final two games. He does have a tendency to fumble, which could limit his touches based on coach Gary Kubiak’s history, but I like Foster and think he could possibly even grab the starting job with a strong preseason.

10.10: Bruno Boys Whooley - Vince Young (Ten) — What a difference a year makes? 2008 saw Vince Young dealing with a bevy of mental issues that resulted in the Titans quarterback backing up veteran Kerry Collins to begin the 2009 season. Collins, though, struggled to get the Titans going, giving Young another opportunity to prove himself. And, he did just that. Young brought the Titans back from an 0-6 start to a respectable 8-8 record at season’s end. In the process, Young amassed double digit fantasy football points in 8 of 10 games. I feel comfortable with him as my back-up QB behind Tom Brady.

10.11: Bruno Boys Larry - Eli Manning (NYG) — Eli might not consistently put up the elite fantasy football numbers big brother Peyton does, but he had some very good games in 2009 passing for over 4,000 yards. He had a good touchdown to interception ratio and he will be a good compliment to my No. 1 quarterback Jay Cutler. If Cutler is my QB1, then Manning will be my QB1a.

10.12: Bruno Boys Matt - Eddie Royal (Den) — I can’t believe I landed Royal in the 10th round in a league that starts three wide receivers. Josh McDaniels has already stated he expects a bounce back year from Royal and will try to get him more involved in the offense. And if Brandon Marshall gets traded? Quite a bit of upside for a guy that will enter 2010 as my WR5 option.

Round 10 Commentary from Bruno Boys Cavigs: With this being our first fantasy football mock draft of the 2010 season you don’t know how deep the crop of talent is going to be; however, I’m amazed with the quality of players at each position still available this late in the draft. In my opinion, all 12 staff members did an excellent job of addressing a need with their Round 10 pick.

With running-back-by-committee (RBBC) approaches surfacing around the league it has increased the talent pool at the position and that is why we are seeing talented running backs with upside go this late in fantasy football drafts. At pick 10.01 I snagged Cadillac Williams as my RB5. People forget that Caddy played in 16 games last year and went for over 1,000 yards in a bad offense. He won’t be a weekly started, but he will be a nice bye week and match-up play. Shortly after that, Bruno Boys IDP Guru went the route of drafting a rookie runner in Ryan Matthews. Out of Fresno State, Matthews wasn’t tested much in college however, he is a bruising running back who can make an easy transition into the NFL. Every year a rookie running back produces immediately and if Matthews lands in the right spot he could be that guy.

In hopes he can return to his 2006 form, Bruno Boys Kyle spent pick 10.04 on Lee Evans as his WR3 and Bruno Boys Cory addressed his tight end needs at 10.05 by drafting Visanthe Shiancoe, who’s 18 touchdowns lead all tight ends over the past two NFL seasons.

With three of the next four picks, we saw owners add depth at the most coveted fantasy football position; running back. Bruno Boys Allie went the upside route and drafted one of the NFL’s most dynamic players in Leon Washington. There is no guarantee Washington will stay in New York in 2010; however, that doesn’t hurt his fantasy outlook. After fracturing his leg, Washington is on track to be ready for training camp and is a lock to touch the football 10-15 times regardless of the uniform he wears. He is the type of guy you draft as your RB4. Next, we saw Bruno Boys Jimbo go with Laurance Maroney of the New England Patriots. Maroney will once again be part of a RBBC backfield but as Jimbo mentioned, if he can catch fire he should be fantasy worthy for a period of time. Spending a Round 10 pick on Maroney is worth taking a chance; though I’m not convinced it will happen. Rounding out the run on running backs was Bruno Boys Hallam taking Arian Foster with pick 10.09. This could be a round to early for a guy who plays in an offense in which the coach can’t commit to one guy; however, Hallam is high on Foster and felt he wouldn’t be able to draft him if he waited any longer. Foster did show signs of hope towards the end of the 2009 campaign but if he fumbles early on his days could be numbered in Houston. After all, it’s not often that an undrafted free agent gets multiple chances to earn his keep. Hallam better hope Foster integrated sticky glue into his hands during the off-season.

Finally, we saw Bruno Boys Whooley and Bruno Boys Larry draft back-up quarterbacks in Vince Young and Eli Manning. If you are drafting Young it should be as a back-up to a stud quarterback and that is what Whooley did. He has Young to play behind Tom Brady, who will only be sitting when the Patriots have a bye. As for Larry, he did what every owner should do when drafting Jay Cutler hoping for a bounce back year. Get a veteran who can slide right and and produce when Cutler has a bad match-up or starts throwing interceptions. Manning won’t win you a fantasy game, but he certainly won’t lose you one and Larry is now sitting pretty playing match-ups at the quarterback position.

Overall, this round was solid from top to bottom and it should be interesting to look back on this after the 2010 season and see which Round 10 pick helped bring one of these teams to the fantasy football promise land.

Past Rounds RECAP:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12 |  13 | 14 |  15 |  16

Have an opinion on how the 10th round played out? If so, let us know!

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