I enjoyed my first Fantasy Football draft this weekend with a bunch of my friends from college.  Well, enjoyed is a relative term.  I had a rough go of it:

• It is a 16 team league, which is too big for a football league, but I'll grin and bear it.
• I had the 13th pick, which is just awful.  As I learned throughout the draft, reaches were too much of a reach, and every player I wanted got snatched up just before I picked him.
• It was a draft with Individual Defensive players, and an FYI for anyone using Yahoo (you shouldn't, as FanHouse looks much better), their defensive player rankings are awful.  I did get Bob "S'ova" Sanders and Freeney, counting on the fact they are both healthy.
• I left before the draft was over, and they did not draft me a kicker.  Oh well.

Then comes to my adventure with the QB position.  I'm really high on Eli this season, and he was still sitting around in Round 7.  However, this was at the beginning of the round, and he didn't last to #13.  I basically had my team set, minus the QB, but nobody was worthy of a QB pick at this point.

In round 8, however, I couldn't wait any longer.  12 of the other teams already had a QB, so I had to take one before my next pick (which was 24 players later).  I was looking at who was left, and my gut told me I had to take one guy.  I was already frustrated, and needed to take a flyer on a feast or famine guy.  I made this comment to my buddies right before I picked:

"I hate this pick with every bone in my body, but I need to take a chance"

I took Vince Young.

This is, of course, merely hours after he looked absolutely horrible against the Raiders.  However, I did not have internet access until the draft, so I had no idea about it.  I only read BBS gushing over Young, which was enough for me to take a chance on the guy.

I'm counting on Young improving at least to 1:1 on his TD:INT ratio, plus the fact that they are going to let him run near the red zone, getting me TDs.  I did take Jeff Garcia and Matt Leinart, also hoping to catch lightning in a bottle. 

I feel dirty, and need a shower now.  Luckily Young will be "throwing" to Reggie Wayne.

I gave some stats a couple days ago, and got some really good responses.  It seems like the idea of picking a franchise quarterback, based on his college performance, is not as cut and dry as some may think.  For the most part, everyone was in agreement that Quarterback D was the best choice.  Here is the table again, with the quarterback's name included this time:

So everyone wants Matt Leinart, eh?  He, no doubt, had a great college career, going 37-2 as a starter at USC.  I painfully sat through two of those wins, one as a senior, and the "Bush Push" game.  However, the jury is still out on Leinart as a pro.  If I had to make a decision right now, I'd say he was not a franchise quarterback in the NFL.  He has made some really dumb decisions outside of football, which means he'll probably make some really dumb decisions on the football field.  He doesn't seem to have the work ethic needed to succeed in the NFL, but only time will tell.

As PB noted in the comments in the original article, Vince Young also had his rushing numbers from college, that really helped his stats.  I'd have to say he was drafted in the Top 3 because of his ability to run the ball, as his passing stats are below the others.  He also made a great point about Matt Ryan:

Anyway, Matt Ryan’s got a LOT of pressure on him.

I think Ryan is the worst of the bunch, yet he'll have the most money of any of them up front.  Personally, his high number of interceptions will be very problematic.  He made a lot of plays at the end of games, which made the highlights, but also made a lot of dumb decisions, like all the interceptions.  It seems fishy when the best thing about him is "his intangibles are off the charts."  It is screaming "his measurable stats aren't good, but he is the best quarterback, so we need something to be good about him.  Immeasurable 'Intangibles'". 

Peyton also did quite well for himself in his 4 years at Tennessee.  He seems like a pretty good franchise quarterback.

Earlier this week, Matt Ryan signed a 6 year, $72 Million deal, with $34.7 Million guaranteed.  This, in my opinion, is utterly absurd.  I could go on and on about how ridiculous this is, but I'll point you in the direction of The Daily Norseman, SBNation's Vikings blog.  Gonzo has a great article expressing my exact feelings about the entire situation much better than I ever could have.  Here's the main idea:

There is NO reason for NFL teams to pay the amounts they're paying now to guys that haven't even attended an NFL Training Camp yet, never mind played in an NFL game.  The NBA does it, and it's one of the few things that they actually do better than the NFL.  The NBA doesn't have contract holdouts, they don't have to give potentially franchise-killing contracts to rookies. . .heck, even LeBron James had to earn his big payday. . .and teams know what they're getting into before they make their selections.

Make sure to check out the rest of his article. He makes some other great points.

Here's an exercise for you:  I've put together the college stats for 6 quarterbacks drafted in the first round the past 3 seasons, minus Joe Flacco, as his stats are skewed by playing in Div 1-AA.  The QBs are:

• Jay Cutler
• Matt Leinart
• Vince Young
• Brady Quinn
• JaMarcus Russell
• Matt Ryan

I've also included a 7th mystery quarterback, who was drafted some years ago.  I've used the NFL's version of QB Rating, rather than the college Rating system.

Tomorrow or Saturday, I'll post who each quarterback is, along with Stampede Blue's consensus choice of franchise quarterback.

Also, Tony Dungy will be joining Mike and Mike live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 7:45 tomorrow (Friday) morning.  You can hear it on ESPN Radio, and watch it on ESPN2.