RICH CALDERON
Mr. Calderon loves to see himself as the “best team to not win a championship.” Fact is, it’s true, at least statistically. However, I’m bored with this storyline. The big question should be, why do Calderon’s “great” teams continue to come up short? Why can’t any of these teams bring home at least one championship mug?
It’s impossible to pinpoint one single reason for Calderon’s failures, but I think I have figured out at least one important part of the puzzle. Looking back at everyone’s keeper histories, no one seems to have as many big named keeper failures in Robioland. Now Rich has a number of successful keepers too, but he also has a lot of players that have stud seasons one year, are kept by Rich the following year, then proceed to falter.
2004 KEEPERS
Rd 1 Ahman Green, RB GB – 2003 Ranking: #3, 2004 Ranking: #13 For four years, Ahman Green was slowly becoming one of the best backs in football. He produced anywhere from 1,600 total yards to 1,800 total yards from 2000-2002. In 2003, he exploded, rushing for a stunning 1,883 yards, 2,250 yards total. Also, don’t forget about the 20 touchdowns, helping him to earn second-team All-Robio. Heading into 2004 he was entering the prime of his career (he was 27) and Rich kept him in round one. However, Green couldn’t come close to matching his 2003 season. He managed just 1,163 yards rushing yards (1,438 total yards) and just eight touchdowns. He finished the season 13th among all running backs. That’s still pretty good, but he was expected to be a first-team All-Robio, not the best RB2 in the league.
Rd 2 Jamal Lewis, RB BAL – 2003 Ranking: #4, 2004 Ranking: #23 Note: The 2004 season was the first year we could declare keepers and in that season you could keep two guys from round 1-10, but it would cost you a first and a second. Now that we got that out of the way…Calderon made a surprise move in the offseason and shipped Edgerrin James to Matt for Jamal Lewis. For a moment it seemed like Calderon got the deal of the century. Lewis was coming off a 2,000-yard season, just 39 yards away from the all-time single season rushing title (held by Eric Dickerson). With a backfield of Green and Lewis, Rich could dominate this league.
However, Lewis failed to even come close to matching his 2003 numbers. He only rushed for 100 yards in a game three times during the fantasy season, missing four due to injury. Ironically Calderon went 0-3 in games Lewis ran over 100 yards. Lewis would also score just seven touchdowns, half of his 2003 totals. Calderon would end up benching Lewis, starting Rudi Johnson in his place. Lewis would finish the year as the 23rd ranked back. For the record, Edgerrin James would finish the season as third-team All-Robio.
2005 Keepers
Rd 2 Jamal Lewis, RB BAL – 2004 Rank: #23, 2005 Rank: #30 With a new keeper tier system in place (1-3, 4-7, 8-15), Rich decided to give Lewis one last go around. Sure his 2004 was a disappointment, but you can’t blame him after his offseason arrest. His head just wasn’t in the game. Now it was a new year and Lewis was going to avoid any long jail sentence. His head would be back into it, right? Wrong.
Despite missing just one game, Lewis couldn’t even crack 1,000 yards rushing. He averaged just 3.4 yards per carry, scoring just four touchdowns all season long. He finished 2005 as the 30th best back in football. Sadly for Calderon, he ended up finishing the season with Lewis as a starter, which might explain how he missed the post-season for the first time in his career.
2006 Keepers
Rd 4 – Cadillac Williams, RB T – 2005 Rank: #19, 2005 Rank: #37 One thing that did go right for Rich in 2005 was free agent pick up Cadillac Williams. Technically he just finished 19th among all backs, but that doesn’t really show how productive he was the year before. He had began his career on fire, 88 carries for 414 yards in three games, but after missing a couple of games due to injury, he split carries for a quarter of the season. By year’s end though, he was the feature back in Tampa and he didn’t disappoint. He would finished with nearly 1,200 yards despite not sniffing 300 carries. There was little reason to suspect he wasn’t a top-10 back in 2006.
Instead the Cadillac became one of the biggest busts in the NFL. He rushed for 100 yards in a game just twice all season long, failing to hit 50 yards nine times. He scored just once all season long. By season’s end, the Cadillac was deep on Rich’s bench as Calderon missed the post-season for the second straight year.
Rd 11 – Chester Taylor, RB MIN – 2005 Rank: #38, 2006 Rank: #12 Here are the simple numbers…Taylor was 38th in 2005 and 12th in the following year. He had 487 yards rushing in 2005, over 1,200 the following year. He scored one touchdown in 2005, six the following year. Clearly, Taylor was a successful keeper. However, one could also argue that Taylor was expected to produce more. In 2005, Taylor was a backup to Jamal Lewis in Baltimore. In Minnesota, they had a trio of backs (led by Michael Bennett) running the ball. But they all struggled to stay healthy, so the Vikings went and signed Chester Taylor to a four-year, $14.1 million contract. He was expected to be an All-Robio type back. If he wasn’t kept, he would have arguably been taking top-five of our draft. Using that logic, 1,200 yards isn’t that impressive. Still, he was an 11th round keeper who finished as a low-end RB1 and started all season for Rich. That is good.
2007 Keepers
Rd 6 – Deuce McAllister, RB NO – 2006 Rank: #16, 2007 Rank: #110 In 2006, to recover from the wheels coming off Cadillac Williams, Rich was able to snag McAllister. The Saints running back had become off-limits after a season ending injury in 2005. He rallied in 2006 with nearly 1,300 total yards and 10 touchdowns. Rich had so much confidence in him, he only drafted one other running back (Rudi Johnson) in the first five rounds. Of course the problem was, it had been four years since McAllister had gone a whole season without missing a game. Early in 2006, the Deuce was healthy, but he looked terrible. He failed to break 50 yards rushing in either of his first two games, but then it happened. McAllister tore his ACL and three games into the season, he was done.
2008 Keepers
Rd 3 Drew Brees, QB NO – 2007 Rank: #3, 2008 Rank: #1 Prior to 2008, Rich had produced just two successful keepers, Ahman Green in 2004 and Chester Taylor in 2006. However, in both those cases, both backs were expected to produce better than they actually did. They were good, but not really great. This was not a problem for Brees. The Saints quarterback was already great in 2007, third-team All-Robio, but in 2008 he finished as the top arm in football. Even to this day, Brees is the best player Calderon’s ever had.
Rd 8 Dwayne Bowe, WR KC – 2007 Rank: #22, 2008 Rank: #19 Like other past keepers, this one comes down to expectations. As a rookie (one of two that Rich would keep in 2008), Bowe had a solid first year. He caught 70 balls, barely missing 1,000 receiving yards. In his second season, there was either hope or expectation (depending on who you asked) that Bowe would take the logical step forward to become, not quite an elite WR, but at least a low-end WR1. His numbers did improve, +16 in receptions, +27 in yards, +2 in touchdowns, but that was good enough to keep him as a mid-level WR2. While it’s hard to complain about a starting WR in the 8th round, Bowe just didn’t really improve at the level he was expected to improve to.
Rd 12 Anthony Gonzalez, WR IND – 2007 Rank: #60, 2008 Rank: #44 I can’t remember what the experts thought of Gonzalez in 2008, but I didn’t really expect too much. Yeah, he had a decent rookie campaign, 576 yards in just 13 games played (nine as a starter). In the best case scenerio maybe Gonzalez could reach 1,000 yards and half-a-dozen TDs, but in reality, I suspected about 800 yards, which would have made him a decent player off a fantasy bench. Problem was, he couldn’t even reach those goals. Gonzalez did improve, +20 receptions, +88 yards, one more touchdown, but those aren’t the kind of numbers you want anywhere near your starting lineup.
2009 Keepers
Rd 3 Drew Brees, QB NO – #1 (1) 2008 Rank: #1, 2009 Rank: #1 The good news in 2009 was the return of Drew Brees. Again occupying a third-round pick, Brees would finish first among all quarterbacks. During a two and a half year run with Calderon they would lock down a 22-19 record, including three straight playoff trips…not bad for a 2007 week-five trade with Burrier (he gave up Philip Rivers in the deal). Brees would be Rich’s only first-team All-Robio player until 2009 when Antonio Gates became the second Rich player to do it.
Rd 10 Steve Slaton, RB HOU – 2008 Rank: #6, 2009 Rank: #35 Prior to the draft, Rich was considered an early favorite because, not only did he have Drew Brees, but he had one of the most surprising players in all of football as a keeper…Steve Slaton. The Texans running back wasn’t even the opening day starter in 2008, but by season’s end he had 1,659 total yards and 10 touchdowns. He earned third-team All-Robio. There was zero reason to not believe he wouldn’t do it all again in 2009. Rich was so confident in Slaton’s abilities, he didn’t draft his first running back until round five. Maybe he shouldn’t have waited.
Slaton was a huge bust. Not only did he never once crash 100 yards rushing, he only cracked 70 yards rushing once. He scored just three touchdowns, rushing for a total of 437 yards (854 total yards rushing/receiving). By the midway point of the season, Slaton was sitting on Rich’s bench and by week 12, he was sent to the IR.
2010 Keepers
Rd 4 Antonio Gates, TE SD – 2009 Rank: #1, 2010 Rank: #1 2010 is arguable the most successful year of keepers that Calderon managed, which might explain why he has his best year ever in 2010 (earning his first scoring title). For the third year in a row, he nailed down a first-team All-Robio player in category one. Instead of Drew Brees, it was TE Antonio Gates. It was Gates’ fourth first-team All-Robio award (sixth overall).
Rd 9 LeSean McCoy, RB PHI – 2009 Rank: #34, 2010 Rank: #4 In 2009 McCoy wasn’t expected to help Calderon too much. He sat behind Brian Westbrook, producing points only when Westbrook went out with an injury. Luckily for Rich, that happened six times. In those games, McCoy didn’t blow the doors off anything (never rushing for more than 100 yards in a game). In total, he produced 405 total yards on just 195 touches. With Westbrook gone in Philly in 2010, McCoy was a no-brainer. Because he was a ninth-round keeper, McCoy ended up as Rich’s best keeper. Despite missing one game, starting just 13 games in total, he produced over 1,600 total yards, scoring nine touchdowns. He finished fourth overall, earning second-team All-Robio. Rd 14 Matt Stafford, QB DET – 2009 Rank: #40, 2010 Rank: #25 Stafford would become the sixth player kept by Calderon that was coming off his rookie season. However, unlike most of those other players (Cadillac, Bowe, Slaton and McCoy), Stafford didn’t show too much promise in season one. Stafford only played 10 games before going out for the season, completing just 53-percent of his passes, throwing seven more interceptions (20) than touchdowns (13). Still, Rich had him late (round 14) and redshirted him, so he had him for three more years if he wanted. Too bad for Rich, he only lasted three more games. Despite a solid start to the season, 500+ yards, 60-percent passing, six touchdowns to one interception, Stafford was knocked out of the season in week three.
2011 Keepers
Rd 2 Calvin Johnson, WR DET – 2010 Rank: #6, 2011 Rank: #2 For the fourth straight year, Rich had no problem nailing down an elite player as a keeper in category one. Johnson followed in the footsteps of Brees and Gates and finished 2011 as a first-team All-Robio, trailing just Wes Welker in stats. Heading into 2012, he should be listed as the number one wide receiver in all mock drafts.
Rd 6 LeGarrette Blount, RB TB – 2010 Rank: #25, 2011 Rank: #28 For the second time in his Robioland career, Rich pulled a rookie running back from Tamp Bay off the waiver wires and ended up with a solid starting running back. Despite starting just seven games in 2007, Blount finished with over 1,000 yards and six touchdowns. Like Cadillac Williams before him, great things were expected from Blount in his sophomore campaign. Rich was confident in Blount, not drafting another running back until round four. However, just like Cadillac in 2004, Blount couldn’t duplicate his freshmen stats. He struggled with injuries (although missing just two games) and couldn’t even rush for 800 yards. By season’s end, he was sitting on Rich’s bench.
Rd 12 Mike Williams, WR TB – 2010 Rank: #15, 2011 Rank: #35 Rich kept his second rookie Buccaneers player, when he held on to Williams in the 12th round. I’m actually going to brag because I warned of a sophomore slump , but I just didn’t know which one (Blount or Williams) would have the slump. In the end, it was both Blount and Williams. After catching 65 balls for 964 yards and a stunning 11 touchdowns as a rookie, Williams failed to reach 100 yards receiving in any game in 2011. His TD total went from 11 to 3. Rich ended up cutting him. He would finish the season as a starter for me. His numbers improved towards the end of the season, but not enough to end my five-game losing streak.
FINAL THOUGHT
After nine years of Robioland football and eight years of keeper ball, Rich of late has proven he can find an elite keeper in category one. Thanks to Brees (twice), Gates, McCoy and Calvin Johnson, he has brought home four first-team All-Robio players and one second-team All-Robio. However, beyond those four, there isn’t much to brag about. It’s not so much that Rich has failed at finding keepers later in the draft (it’s not easy to do), but no person has had so many “high-expectation” players take a dump on him.
Early on, players like Ahman Green, Chester Taylor, Dwayne Bowe were slight disappointments, but in their cases, they all ended up starters, so maybe the expectations were just too high. However, in the case of players like Jamal Lewis (twice), McAllister, Slaton, Blount and Mike Williams, all these players were expected to be RB1/WR1 players with a good chance to land on the All-Robio lists. If any of them fullfil expectations, any one could have been the difference in a Rich title run. However, all failed. In the case of Lewis, McAllister and Slaton, their careers were done as soon as Rich kept them. It’s too early to make a call on both Blount and Williams, but it appears they are headed that way after Tampa drafted a new running back (Martin) and signed a new elite WR (Jackson).
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