Butkus League
As many of you know, I love fantasy sports. Less of you know that my favorite fantasy sport is college football. The Butkus League was conceived in 1999 by Derek, Simon, and myself. We kicked around the idea over email. If I remember right, I was at work at my second job out of college, the infamous H&S Media. I had just started there in early ’99 and to keep in touch with our college buddies, Derek, Simon, and I founded the League during that Summer. We needed a few more guys so I asked my friends Mike and Jeff. I think I invited them in the car during our trip to Appleton, WI. (Do you guys remember that?) Simon asked Leo and Derek asked Raj. They all joined so there were just seven of us trying out a new idea. Needless to say, it has been a giant success. From the very first pick in 1999 Drew Brees, to great picks like “Rocket Queen” Michael Crabtree, Tim Tebow, “Camzilla” Cam Newton, and Derrick Henry. For every Reggie Bush there’s a Joe McKnight. For every Amari Cooper there’s a Freddie Milons. For every Maurice Clarett there’s a Lydell Ross. From the Trophy we bought in 2001 to the current Trophy (which still has only the original 3 Champions names engraved. WHAT!) From the many different rules changes, the different eligible teams, the many people involved, the League remains the highest priority in our competitive lives. Many wonder why there is no money involved. It’s not about money. It’s about pride.
So we just had our 18th Annual Butkus League Draft. Here’s how it all went down at Simon’s new place in Lincoln Park. By the way, I just gave my Phil Steele a serious workout. I might need to buy a new one after bending the pages insanely the last few days, along with the water damage sustained when I put my backpack down on a wet spot after that “Air & Water Show” drenching on Simon’s back porch. Anyway, here’s the Draft in all it’s glory with analysis and “Odds ‘N Ends” noted in red ink. All opinions are final! Just kidding. All opinions are fluid and don’t take them personally. For the record, we’re all allowed up to 14 keepers which makes this a super Dynasty league, so that’s why guys like Leonard Fournette and Seth Russell are not listed in the Draft below. And oh by the way, Phil, we need to buy you some drinks. I owe you going all the way back to Rudi Johnson in 2000.
2016 Butkus League Way-Too-Early Draft Analysis
| Round 1 | Note that we had 1 SR, 7 FR in the 1st Round!!! | |
| 1 | Simon | Dakota Prukop/QB/Oregon/SR – Best pick of the 1st round. |
| 2 | Mike | Jalen Hurts/QB/Alabama/FR – Mike’s “Jump the Shark AKA I hit the wall from too much drinking Moment”. Worst pick of the 1st round, but then again…..look at all these FR. They might all be busts. |
| 3 | Reid | Jacob Eason/QB/Georgia/FR  |
| 4 | Derek | Shane Buechele/QB/Texas/FR |
| 5 | Jeff | Jett Duffey/QB/Texas Tech/FR |
| 6 | Jeff (from Dave) | Zach Smith/QB/Baylor/FR |
| 7 | Brian | Shea Patterson/QB/Mississippi/FR |
| 8 | Mike (from Jon) | DeMario McCall/RB/Ohio St./FR |
| Round 2 | 3 JR, 2 FR, 2 RSFR, 1 SO | |
| 9 | Simon | Mark Thompson/RB/Florida/JR |
| 10 | Mike | Austin Mack/WR/Ohio St./FR |
| 11 | Reid | Isaiah Ford/WR/Virginia Tech/JR – Best pick of the 2nd round. I almost took him at #3 overall. |
| 12 | Derek | Sam Darnold/QB/USC/RSFR – Worst pick of the 2nd round. Named backup hours later. |
| 13 | Jeff | Tyler Hilinski/QB/Washington St./RSFR |
| 14 | Jeff (from Dave) | Kerryon Johnson/RB/Auburn/SO |
| 15 | Brian | Damore’ea Stringfellow/WR/Mississippi/JR |
| 16 | Mike (from Jon) | Devwah Whaley/RB/Arkansas/FR |
| Round 3 | 1 SR, 1 JR, 1 SO, 4 FR, 1 RSFR | |
| 17 | Jeff (from Simon) | Brady White/QB/Arizona St./RSFR |
| 18 | Mike | Kareem Walker/RB/Michigan/FR |
| 19 | Jeff (from Reid) | Noah Brown/WR/Ohio St./SO |
| 20 | Derek | Justin Herbert/QB/Oregon/FR – Eyeing the backup role already |
| 21 | Jeff | Melquise Stovall/WR/California/FR |
| 22 | Dave | Tavien Feaster/RB/Clemson/FR |
| 23 | Brian | Torii Hunter/WR/Notre Dame/JR – Best pick of the 3rd round |
| 24 | Jon | Travin Dural/WR/LSU/SR – Worst pick of the 3rd round: 533-3 as a JR. Breakout as a SR? |
| Round 4 | 5 JR, 3 FR | |
| 25 | Simon | John Ross/WR/Washington/JR – Tied for best pick of the 4th Round |
| 26 | Mike | Donnie Corley/WR/Michigan St./FR |
| 27 | Reid | Derrick Willies/WR/Texas Tech/JR |
| 28 | Derek | Steve Ishmael/WR/Syracuse/JR |
| 29 | Jeff | N’Keal Harry/WR/Arizona St./FR |
| 30 | Dave | Dwayne Haskins/QB/Ohio St./FR – Worst pick of the round. Did you really need an OSU QB? He’s your Redshirt or you’re hoping Barrett gets hurt. Maybe too early for this at 30th overall. |
| 31 | Reid (from Brian) | Tarean Folston/RB/Notre Dame/JR – Tied for Round 4’s best pick but ACL last year. Sounds like Kelly named him starter already. |
| 32 | Jon | Brad Kaaya/QB/Miami/JR – Tied for best pick of Round 4, but his Soph stats were so-so: just 16 TD |
| Round 5 | Run on Defenses starts with Bama: 4 D’s, 3 FR, 1 SO | |
| 33 | Simon | Collin Johnson/WR/Texas/FR |
| 34 | Mike | Ryan Izzo/TE/Florida St./SO |
| 35 | Reid | Alabama D – Bama rarely disappoints, rarely gets one nervous about negatives |
| 36 | Derek | Demetris Robertson/WR/California/FR |
| 37 | Jeff | Devin Duvernay/WR/Texas/FR |
| 38 | Dave | Michigan D |
| 39 | Brian | Florida D |
| 40 | Jon | LSU D |
| Round 6 | 3 more D’s, 3 FR, 1 JR, 1 SO | |
| 41 | Simon | Washington D |
| 42 | Mike | Tennessee D |
| 43 | Jeff (from Reid) | T.J. Vasher/WR/Texas Tech/FR |
| 44 | Derek | Ohio St. D |
| 45 | Jeff | Isaiah Johnson/WR/Washington St./FR |
| 46 | Dave | Nate Craig-Myers/WR/Auburn/FR |
| 47 | Brian | Taj Williams/WR/TCU/JR – Best pick of Round 6 |
| 48 | Jeff (from Jon) | David Njoku/TE/Miami/SO |
| Round 7 | 3 SR!, 2 JR, 2 SO, 1 FR | |
| 49 | Simon | Davis Webb/QB/California/SR – Could be best pick of Round 7. |
| 50 | Mike | Equanimeous St. Brown/WR/Notre Dame/SO – Why did they blow his RS last year? He played in just 7 games and had 1 catch. Dude, 1 lousy touch. Your FR year is burned up Quan! |
| 51 | Reid | Keith Ford/RB/Texas A&M/JR – Could be best pick of Round 7. |
| 52 | Derek | Stacy Coley/WR/Miami/SR – We’ll call this Worst Pick of Round 7 since he got in trouble literally one hour after our Draft concluded. He’s being investigated in car rental case per Miami Herald at 3:36 pm Saturday. |
| 53 | Jeff | John Franklin III/QB/Auburn/JR – Could be HUGE. At one time I considered him at #3 overall. Could be Best Pick of Round 7. |
| 54 | Dave | Rawleigh Williams/RB/Arkansas/SO – Could be best pick of Round 7. |
| 55 | Brian | O.J. Howard/TE/Alabama/SR |
| 56 | Jon | Tyler Vaughns/WR/USC/FR |
| Round 8 | A really good round of picks! 4 SR!, 1 JR, 1 SO, 1 FR, 1 D | |
| 57 | Simon | Barry Sanders/RB/Oklahoma St./SR |
| 58 | Mike | Tyler O’Connor/QB/Michigan St./SR |
| 59 | Reid | Ishmael Zamora/WR/Baylor/SO – My “Jump the Shark AKA I hit the wall from too much drinking Moment”. This dude beat his dog and faces discipline. Why did he rise up my Draft board? I guess I liked his aggressive “mean streak”. |
| 60 | Derek | Trevor Knight/QB/Texas A&M/SR |
| 61 | Jeff | Florida St. D |
| 62 | Dave | Jerod Evans/QB/Virginia Tech/JR |
| 63 | Brian | River Cracraft/WR/Washington St./SR |
| 64 | Jon | B.J. Emmons/RB/Alabama/FR |
| Round 9 | Another good round. 4 SR, 3 JR, 1 FR | |
| 65 | Simon | Matt Dayes/RB/N.C. State/SR |
| 66 | Mike | Michael Geiger/K/Michigan St./SR |
| 67 | Reid | Jamaal Williams/RB/BYU/SR – Nobody seems to like Seniors but this Mormon might put up 1000 yards in Big Sky country. |
| 68 | Derek | DeDe Westbrook/WR/Oklahoma/SR |
| 69 | Jeff | Aidan Schneider/K/Oregon/JR |
| 70 | Dave | Austin Allen/QB/Arkansas/JR |
| 71 | Brian | Devine Redding/RB/Indiana/JR |
| 72 | Jon | Austin Kendall/QB/Oklahoma/FR – Jon’s “Jump the Shark AKA I hit the wall from too much drinking Moment”. Remember that game show called “Sale of the Century”? Jon just picked the “Handcuff of the Century” with this FR QB from Oklahoma. Yeah, it’s good to have the “possible” next QB at OU but Baker Mayfield was just designated a JR if I’m not mistaken and he doesn’t fit the profile of a high NFL Draft pick at QB so this Austin Kendall kid MIGHT compete in 2018. This is reminiscent of Reid’s Blake Bell. “Hey, I don’t mind redshirting Bell a 3rd time. Next year he’s gonna be AWESOME!” |
| Round 10 | 1 SR, 2 JR, 3 SO | |
| 73 | Simon | Dalton Schultz/TE/Stanford/SO |
| 74 | Reid | Evan Engram/TE/Mississippi/SR |
| 75 | Derek | Greg Huegel/K/Clemson/SO |
| 76 | Dave | Ian Sadler/WR/Texas Tech/JR |
| 77 | Brian | Sony Michel/RB/Georgia/JR – Could be huge if Chubby is still hurt. Of course, Sony “Playstation” is hurt too. “He’s got a forearm……daaaaa” – Coach Wannstedt |
| 78 | Jon | John Burt/WR/Texas/SO |
| Round 11 | 1 SR, 2 SO, 1 FR, 1 RSFR | |
| 79 | Simon | Andy Phillips/K/Utah/SR – A run on kickers. These are all good kickers, well maybe not Pineiro. He’s never kicked in a game before. |
| 80 | Reid | Eddy Pineiro/K/Florida/RSFR – Why am I so pumped about this guy? Because he kicks 77 yard FG’s in practice on Youtube…..that’s why! The next “Honkie widda Negro Leg”? I guess he’s more a “Hispanic widda Negro Leg”. |
| 81 | Dave | Austin Seibert/K/Oklahoma/SO |
| 82 | Brian | Justin Yoon/K/Notre Dame/SO |
| 83 | Jon | Devin White/RB/LSU/FR |
| Round 12 | 2 SR, 1 SO | |
| 84 | Dave | Leshun Daniels/RB/Iowa/SR – Wanted him in a trade for a 6th rounder a week before the Draft. Got him in 12th Round. #Value #Dontworrybehappy |
| 85 | Brian | Geno Lewis/WR/Oklahoma/SR |
| 86 | Jon | Chris Warren III/RB/Texas/SO – Great pick. Excellent use of a Handcuff. Potential difference maker at #86. What’s great about our League is that Chris Warren could literally turn out to be the greatest player drafted in 2016. |
| Round 13 | 2 JR | |
| 87 | Dave | Simmie Cobbs/WR/Indiana/JR – Best pick of Round 13. |
| 88 | Jon | Robert Foster/WR/Alabama/JR – Worst pick of Round 13. Another “Jump the Shark AKA I hit the wall from too much drinking Moment” for Jon? Man, that’s a lot of drinking! |
| Round 14 | 1 JR, 1 SO | |
| 89 | Dave | Jalan McClendon/QB/N.C. State/SO – Worst pick of Round 14. |
| 90 | Jon | Charles Nelson/WR/Oregon/JR – Best pick of Round 14. Mr. Irrelevant is a really good player. |
Great Draft quotes:
Reid – “I’ve never won a Championship in 17 years but once I win……I’m really gonna start rolling!”
Mike – “WHAT? I’m not a Contender? I’m gonna win the Championship with Hurts!”
Reid – “It Hurts So Good Mike.”
Simon – “Why are all these great Seniors not getting drafted?”
All of us – “I’ll take blah blah blah” while the rest of us respond “Who?”
Mike – “I haven’t won a Championship since I had kids.”
Derek – “Let me break some of your lightbulbs to distract my competitors.” (This was not said but it did really happen.)
So here go. We’re embarking on another year, another season, another chapter in the long history of the “Butkus League”. What will happen in 2016? Who will go down as Champ? Will Jeff’s strategy pay off down the line? Will Dave and Reid get off the “schneid”? The Draft is over. Now the fun begins.
Dutch Lion Sports 