As much delight as I take being a 140 pound man eating nachos while watching NBC's The Biggest Loser, I thought my Wednesday evening might be better spent writing a piece for our beloved VUFSA blog. Two weeks in it's hard to pick out a ton of trends, and I don't have the fancy spreadsheet of Ed's that predicts how many points we are all going to have at the end of week 3. As such, I thought I'd delve back in history and take a peek at the inaugural 2004 football draft. Those were before the days of keepers, Nate Burleson, and Reggie Bush, and you could still get a superstar without having to offer your first born. As such, I present to you the VUFSA's first ever draft - the 2004, 8 team affair!
1. P. Holmes Gun
2. L. Tomlinson Ed
3. S. Alexander Stem
4. E. James Wolf
5. D. McAllister Viano
6. C. Portis Champ
7. A. Green Souzek
8. M. Harrison JR
Knowing what we know today, these picks, overall, are pretty solid. Priest Holmes has gone the way of Trent Green and lost his head in the Arrowhead turf somewhere, but he still put up really good numbers in '04. Picks 2, 3, and 4 are still with their original owners and are the cornerstone of three of last year's four playoff teams. Deuce got hurt and subsequently traded before having some of his touches cut by the best college back in decades, but still puts up solid points for Baron. Portis has bounced around a bit but when healthy is an elite back. Ahman Green was really good, then really hurt, then on a really awful Packer team, and I think the jury is still out on what he's going to do with the rest of his career. And pick 8 shows that JR had an aversion to running backs even in 2004.
Round 2:
1. R. Moss JR
2. J. Lewis Souzek
3. M. Faulk Champ
4. P. Manning Viano
5. C. Dillon Wolf
6. T. Holt Stem
7. R. Johnson Ed
8. D. Culpepper Gun
Continuing his avoidance of running backs, JR grabbed Randy Moss who also has bounced around the league. Jamal Lewis was a lot better before he went to jail. Marshall Faulk was part of the greatest show on turf and was later traded for Moss, but is the second player in the draft who is now inconsequential (really in '04 if we said in two years Faulk and Holmes were going to be out of the league in just two years, who would have guessed it?). Peyton Manning went 12th overall. Hard to believe that even in our running back crazy league, there are still 11 players who warranted drafting before Peyton. Corey Dillon had a solid '04 with the Super Bowl champs. Torry Holt is still a top tier receiver, just not with Stem. Rudi Johnson compliments LT in Ed's greatest running backs in '06 roster. Eli drafted Culpepper back when Daunte was a Moss throwin', Partyboat ridin', wheelin', dealin' son of a bitch!
Round 3
1. D. Davis Eli
2. M. Hasselbeck Ed
3. C. Pennington Stem
4. M. Vick Wolf
5. T. Owens Viano
6. F. Taylor Champ
7. D. McNabb Souzek
8. H. Ward JR
Domanick Davis went earlier than I remember with the 17th overall selection. Ed has a thing for Hasselbeck, so that's not all that surprising. Look at the names who went 19 and 20. QBs Chad Pennington and Michael Vick certainly didn't pan out for Stem and I, especially considering Donovan McNabb went three picks later. JR, again, still hates running backs bring his roster at this point to 3 WR, 0 RBs, and 0 QBs. By the way, he finished second overall.
Round 4
1. T. Gonzalez JR
2. C. Johnson Souzek
3. K. Barlow Champ
4. T. Henry Viano
5. S. Davis Wolf
6. E. Moulds Stem
7. S. Moss Madd Skillz
8. B. Westbrook Gun
It's now at 3 WR, 1 TE, 0 RBs, and 0 QBs for Radcliffe. Chad Johnson went fairly low in the draft and in the same round as Eric Moulds. Souzek beats Stem on that one. Everyone loves Kevan Barlow, but it was Champ who showed him the first TLC. It's fun to look back and see a time when Travis Henry and Stephen Davis were relevant starters and not waiver wire back ups. Santana Moss would pay dividends for Edwin the next season when I drafted him and cut him in favor of Drew Bennett. Then there's Brian Westbrook who fell far down on the running back list going to Eli.
Round 5
1. D. Mason Gun
2. S. Smith Ed
3. T. Heap Stem
4. J. Horn Wolf
5. C. Brown Viano
6. D. Jackson Champ
7. C. Rogers Souzek
8. S. McNair JR
Three of the first four picks in round 5 were wideouts with Steve Smith being right in the middle and the best of the Mason-Smith-Horn pack. Chris Brown and Darrel Jackson were serviceable enough. Holy crap Charles Rogers went in the top 5 rounds. That's amazing to me. And for those scoring, JR now has a quarterback to go with those 3 wide receivers and no running backs. Did I mention he finished second?
Round 6
1. An. Johnson JR
2. J. McCareins Souzek
3. K. Robinson Champ
4. J. Walker Viano
5. C. Martin Wolf
6. Q. Griffin Stem .
7. W. Dunn Ed
8. K. Winslow Gun
JR's tally: 4 WRs, 1 QB, 1 TE, 0 RBs.
Justin McCareins? A tough follow up for Souzek after the Charles Rogers selection in round 5. Javon Walker fell a way down the draft board but ended up with Viano who apparently has a "thing" for Walker and would later draft him in '06 too. Curtis Martin was a pleasant (damn it, I misspelled "pleasant" again) surprise for me in '04 leading the league in rushing for a good part of the season. Quentin Griffin was the running back du jour in Denver. Warrick Dunn was drafted after Chris Brown and Quentin Griffin. Kellen Winslow was hot stuff coming out of Miami. His arm would later snap and an unfortunate incident involving a tricycle would detour his '04 and '05 seasons.
Round 7
1. L. Coles Gun
2. A. Crumpler Ed
3. K. Jones Stem
4. I. Bruce Wolf
5. C. Chambers Viano
6. A. Brooks Champ
7. C. Garner Souzek
8. T. Barber JR
Coles, Crumpler, and Jones are all big players still in 2006. Issac Bruce is proving to be ageless. Chris Chambers has been a Baron-favorite. Aaron Brooks, ick. Wow, remember Charlie Garner? He would play all of 3 games in 2004 before retiring. Somehow, someway JR managed to end up with Tiki Barber despite avoiding running backs until now. I bet Lincoln wished he had taken Barber instead of Garner.
Round 8
1. W. Green JR
2. Ji. Smith Souzek
3. P. Burress Champ
4. M. Bennett Viano
5. P. Price Wolf
6. A. Toomer Stem
7. R. Wayne Ed
8. Ke. Johnson Gun
A few big name receivers slipped down to round 8 with Jimmy Smith going to Viano, Plaxico Burress falling to Champ, Reggie Wayne joining Edwin, and Keyshawn Johnson picking up with Eli. William Green (JR), Peerless Price (Wolf), Amani Toomer (Stem) did not fare quite as well.
Round 9
1. L. Fitzgerald Gun
2. B. Favre Ed
3. J. Wilkins Stem
4. M. Vanderjagt Wolf
5. J. Porter Viano
6. J. Shockey Champ
7. R. McMichael Souzek
8. J. Jones JR
Some fairly solid names here in round 9 after sitting through the Charlie Garners and Peerless Prices. Larry Fitzgerald is now a superstar and the Gun gets the credit for being the first owner of the sensational wideout. Brett Farve would be a first round pick the very next season. Kickers and tight ends went back to back with Stem and I going for the high octane offense kickers and Champ and Souzek grabbing a couple of names that are still starting tight ends today. Julius Jones was a real nice grab in round 9 for JR.
From here on out it gets a lot less interesting with role players, kickers, and defenders. Taking a look at a few highlights:
Round 13 pick 5: Everyone's favorite QB Trent Green to Viano
Round 14 pick 5: Marc Bulger to Wolf
Round 14 pick 8: Rod Smith to Eli
Round 15 pick 1: Stephen Jackson to Eli
Round 15 pick 3: Tom Brady to Stem
Round 16 pick 1: Drew Bennett to JR
Round 16 pick 5: Tatum Bell to Wolf
Round 17 pick 1: Willis McGahee to Eli
Round 17 pick 3: Roy Williams to Stem
Round 18 pick 3: Antonio Gates to Champ
Round 18 pick 4: Deion Branch to Viano
Round 18 pick 5: Jason Witten to Wolf
Round 19 pick 1: Jerry Rice to Eli
9 comments:
And, let us NOT forget, Dude -- that keeping wildlife, an amphibious rodent, for uh, domestic, you know, within the city -- that ain't legal either.
And also let us NOT forget that JR soon after traded Randy Moss for Marshall Faulk, who promptly died. How the hell did he get second?
Obviously, I should have been GM of the year in 2004.
Wow. Quentin Griffin. Forgot about him.
Quentin Griffin was going to be mine if he had lasted on more pick, honestly.
Well Ed, I just checked and Quintin Griffin is still available.
Poop says "pleasenomorelebowskireferences"
Fine. The Gun abides.
Technical question. Did someone edit my apostrophe's? When I published it the first time, it had some weird characters everywhere I had an apostrophe and now those are corrected. Was it just my computer? Did someone change something? Am I gay? Straight? Lesbian? Overweight?
-Drew
For some reason, with the new layout, it does that when you, and you alone, post. Do you copy and paste in from Word or something?
So, I went in and fixed them.
And yes, you're gay. But that's okay -- because I'm all right with gays. If I was gay, I would be the most flamboyantly homosexual person ever. I'd be right at the front of the parade, wearing feathers and everything. Gay pride parade; not gay shame festival.
Weird, I thought that I fixed them.
There's only one way to find out if Drew is gay. We need Gaydar. They sell it at the Sharper Image. Unfortunately, I just looked online and they're sold out.
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