By JIMMY D / Shame on Jimmy for passing on Gore, LJ | Jimmy's archive

Shame on Jimmy.

When push came to shove in his NFL draft last week, he did what he warns everyone to not do.

Picking third, he passed on 49er horse Frank Gore and Kansas City stud Larry Johnson and took Brian Westbrook. He let his true green colours show through in the first round.

Yes, Jimmy the Eagle fan took an Eagle. The chatroom taunts and jabs began. Somewhere off in the distance, a dog barked.

When that timer starts ticking down in your live NFL draft this week, stick with your list. You studied the teams, ranked your players, read about projections and compiled your master list. Don’t stray from it just because someone from your favourite team slipped a few spots. Be ruthless with yourself.

In Westbrook’s case, this was not a complete joke. Mock drafts had him going as high as No. 3 and without a real No. 1 wideout in Philly, Jimmy expects even more fantasy production for Westbrook. But Gore and LJ rated higher on his list and he strayed from it.

At least Jimmy wasn’t so smitten with his team and its handsome quarterback that he took Tom Brady sixth overall, like some alleged pool guru from Lawrencetown did in the same draft. Under no circumstances does he warrant a first-round pick, not even for those Pats fans deluded by the offseason we-will-win-the-Super-Bowl hogwash.

Even if Brady turns out to be the best fantasy QB (which he never is), this is still a bad pick because you could get him in the second or third round.

LT, SJ consensus Top 2

LaDainian Tomlinson is the obvious, albeit boring, pick if you are the lucky duck who plucks the top pick. Rams workhorse Steven Jackson is the consensus No. 2.

After that, you can debate the merits of Gore, Johnson, Westbrook and Colt Joseph Addai for the next tier of running backs, with Steeler Willie Parker, Saint Reggie Bush, Seahawk Shaun Alexanders and Patriot Laurence Maroney also first-round considerations.

In almost all projections and mock drafts, Peyton Manning gets the nod as top QB, with Mr. Handsome, Bengal Carson Palmer and Saint Drew Brees falling in the late first and early second rounds.

The first wide receivers in Jimmy’s draft were Panther Steve Smith and Bengal Chad Johnson at No. 17 and 18 respectively. And Charger Antonio Gates was the only tight end taken in the first five rounds.

Jimmy’s NFL strategy is always to grab two running backs early, then grab the most talented WR or QB next. The availability will depend on how clever or stunned your league mates are.

In Jimmy’s draft, there weren’t many dum-dum moves, except for those who let Bronco Travis Henry fall to No. 20 for Jimmy. He had dynamite season in Tennessee and goes to Denver which makes running back stars out of everyone.

Heck, even Mrs. Jimmy, with a torn ACL and freshly minted 40 years of age, could probably go for 1,000 yards and 10 scores in that system.

Third time unlucky

Jimmy had planned on snapping up a QB in Round 3 and hoped Marc Bulger or Donovan McNabb would fall there. Neither did, so he stuck with his backup plan to switch to the best WR available and grabbed Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald. There is always hype that the Cardinals can become a legit force, but Jimmy sees it happening this year.

After Matt Hasselbeck, Philip Rivers and Vince Young all went in the third round, Jimmy put his QB search on hold again and grabbed underrated Donald Driver, the Packer WR and favourite Favre target (who helped Jimmy win the fantasy regular season in 2006).

The extended run on WRs and RBs through Rounds 4 and 5 saw Jimmy grab Steeler Hines Ward, before refocusing on grabbing a sleeper QB in Round 6. But one pick before Jimmy was ready, the damn Torn Labrums took Lion Jon Kitna, who had Top-10 stats last year, despite his absence of profile and playing in Detroit.

Not wanting to pick Cowboy Tony Romo and scared of Jay Cutler in Denver, Jimmy panicked a bit and showed his green colours, taking Eagle WR Reggie Brown and hoping Matt Leinart would fall to the seventh round, which he did.
With no TEs, no kickers and no team defence and with runs on these positions, Jimmy reluctantly jumped in, selecting (ahem) Eagle L.J. Smith at TE (although he wanted 49er freak athlete Vernon Davis).

In Round 9, Lion running back Kevin Jones was still on the board, so Jimmy grabbed him and then got PK David Akers (yes, another Eagle) in the 10th.

Late-round round-up

The latter rounds of an NFL league is where you plug holes and grab insurance policies. It also never hurts to stockpile RBs and WRs as trade bait. In Jimmy’s league, this meant taking a semi-flier on Packer Vernand Morency, who has the starting job despite his lack of pedigree and NFL resume (he struggled in Houston last year, but LT would have struggled behind Houston’s offensive line.)

Round 12 saw another run on Tier 3 QBs and Jimmy grabbed Bear Rex Grossman. How did the pivot of the NFC champs and a guy who threw 24 TD passes in 2006 last until the 12th round, you ask?

Simple. Interceptions count in this pool (and he threw 20 last season).
Still, he is capable of great games, so we will need to pick our spots with old Rex.

Still no team defence for Jimmy, as all the obvious choices were off the board, so he grabbed Ram TE Randy McMichael. Lots of firepower in St. Louis and he should produce decent numbers and be a solid backup for Jimmy’s Jackals.
He grabbed Viking Troy Williamson for WR depth before finally taking the 49er defence.

Nate Burleson, No. 2 on the Seahawk depth chart with the trade of Darrell Jackson to San Francisco, was grabbed in Round 16, while Rounds 17 and 18 were spent on Jaguar QB Byron Leftwich and the Tampa Bay defence.

There are plenty of mock draft sites on the web, but if you want a copy of Jimmy’s draft to compare against your list, email him at JPoole@herald.ca.

Stay busy and stay lucky with NFL right around the corner.

Jimmy D