A Football Life, Jack Gasses Evaluation

Anthony Battle, No. 9 pick overall

Biggest Catches

Terrance West, RB, CLE (+53)

Chris Johnson, RB, NYJ (+38)

Philip Rivers, QB, SD (+35)

Biggest Reaches

New England Patriots, DEF (-47)

Jared Cook, TE, STL (-30)

Andre Roberts, WR, WSH (-29)

Projected Starting Lineup

QB Russell Wilson, SEA (No. 8 QB)

RB Zac Stacy, STL (No. 11 RB)

WR1 Calvin Johnson, DET (No. 1 WR)

WR2 Antonio Brown, PIT (No. 7 WR)

TE Vernon Davis, SF (No. 5 TE)

FLEX Chris Johnson, RB, NYJ (No. 34 FLEX)

DEF Seattle Seahawks (No. 1 DEF)

K Phil Dawson, SF (No. 5 K)

Anthony really likes the NFC West apparently, which is funny since he plays in the NFC West division in our league. Terrance West is a great catch at the 165th pick in the draft since I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some level of a timeshare in Cleveland. I really do think that between Jordan Cameron and their two running backs, most of Hoyer’s passes early in the season will not be directed to receivers. Ben Tate won’t get all the reps out of the backfield, so West will have some value.

That huge reach for the Patriots defense was really unnecessary. From a positional standpoint, this was the perfect pick, but considering he already has the top defense in the league, one that should start every week, there was no need to reach almost four rounds for the No. 7 defense.

Jared Cook went two and a half rounds early, and nobody should be reaching on him after the trouble he’s had producing in the Rams offense. The good news is that Anthony already has a very good tight end and this could end up being a sleeper pick if Shaun Hill ends up targeting his tight end more than previous Rams quarterbacks have.

I didn’t even have Andre Roberts in my “Next 25” list, and he was the last wide receiver I ranked out of 81. In a league that counts return yards for receivers, this could be a good pick. But only the team defenses get points for return yards, so I just don’t see Andre Roberts ever being a viable starting option at receiver. The good news is that this was a 16th round pick, and if there’s every a good time to go with an outside flyer, it’s in the last round of the draft.

The Jack Gasses have an even value for the bench, so the value-based grade for the starting unit and for the overall team is a +21. This ranks the team 3rd in the AFL both for starter value and overall team value.

After losing in his semifinal matchup in last year’s playoffs, this was an excellent draft for a guy looking to earn his first league title in the AFL. He was the first league champ in our previous league.

Bonus

In order to include something without my biased rankings at its core, I’ve included the average bottom line of the evaluations by the four official evaluators at FootballGuys.com.

• With great in-season management, we think you have about a 70 percent chance of making the playoffs.
• With good in-season management, we think you have about a 56 percent chance of making the playoffs.
• With average in-season management, we think you have about a 38 percent chance of making the playoffs.

You can read the entire evaluation of this team at FootballGuys.com.