Hoff's Hot Takes Pre-season Spectacular

This blog is being started at 4:55 PM, shortly after the draft was completed, and was finished at 6:57 Wednesday evening...  Bucks and Miami are at 106-104 Bucks.  Good Game.  Thanks for everybody making it to the zoom draft.  It sucked it rained, ruining golf, and that a pandemic made it not smart for us to do an in person draft.  It however was real good to see my pals, drink some beer, and do something fun.  Appreciate all of you.  This lovely mornings Takes are brought to you by Lemon Haze, Hazy IPAs, and Hazy mornings to golf. Today we have some quotes from the draft, season previews/projections, an interview with Bill Malzow,  a look at possible week 1 lineups, and much more.  'Sco

"YEAR OF THE ROOKIE" - BJ

What a first round of the draft.  Tidwell got it started by taking CEH.   Guaranteed to be productive.  If he sticks around Mahomes and that 300 million deal he could be a first or second round guy for years.  Also, his name is Clyde.  Anyone named Clyde is guaranteed to be a cool dude.  Look out for Tidwell in the next few years if Clyde is a baller.  CEH and Barkley will be 15th and 16th rd keepers.  Nick followed it up with Jonathon Taylor.  And I know what you are thinking, no it is not the kid from Home Improvement.  Berrones planted his flag in JK Dobbins.  Objectively, his name sounds like a nerd from Harry Potter.  Subjectively, he could be a first or second round running back for the next handful of years.  Nick ruined everything by taking Dalvin Cook, but Beej came in hard and took Cam Akers.  Watch out for Beej as well in the next few years if Akers hits.  Him and Sanders with Murray forever, added with the picks he would get for trading AJ  Brown, and selling a bit of 2021, would lead BJ to be a contender for a few years.  Peter follows it up with bowing to the flag of House Swift, first name DeAndre.  He was a man at Georgia, lets see if he can be a consistent contributer for Peter moving forward.  The usual suspects rounded out the first round, but 5 rookies in the first round sets a record for PHB history.  Rookies were selected 1,2,3,5,6 overall. 

Rookie Report : 1st Round - CEH (Tidwell), Johnathon Taylor "Thomas" (Nick), Cam Akers (BJ), JK Dobbins (Mike), DeAndre Swift (Peter). 2nd Round - Antonio Gibson (BJ). 5th Round - Zach Moss (George). 6th Round - Jerry Jeudy (George). 7th Round - CeeDee Lamb (Mike), Henry Ruggs III (Jordan) Justin Jefferson (Nolan). 8th Round - Tee Higgins (Nick) Joe Burrow (Joe), Jalen Reager (Joe). 9th - Michael Pittman Jr. (Peter). 10th Round - Brandon Ayuk (Joe).  Joshua Kelly (Kyle), Booger McFarland (Mike), Mike Boone (Micah), Lavsikas Shavault (Kyle), and Denzel Mims (Jordan) were also taken.  

"Besides you (Jordan) taking Bryce Love in the round I was going to, my take is I'm relatively young.  My guys have a lot to prove.  I stuck with high powered offenses the most I could.  Usually, I am WR heavy, but I made more of an effort to get RBs this year.  Overall, pretty happy with the picks." - Michael Jeffery Jordan Berrones

Hoff's Hot Takes best value picks (in order of selection) : Ronald Jones, Joe Burrow, Micole Hardman, Tarik Cohen, Matt Brieda, Christian Kirk, and ALlan Lizard. 

Special shouts to Micah for picking Alec Ingold.    His wikipedia has such facts as, "He caught three passes for 22 yards in a 20-16 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 15", and he was a 220 pound Wisconsin Mr. Football and state champion wrestler.  

"I'd Say my team is going to have to work really hard for every point.  Lets hope Aaron Rodgers and the two Hunters can keep me competitive" - Micah.

Probable Week 1 starting lineups

Joe: Tompa Brady, Joe Mixon, Kenyan Drake, Josh Jacobs, Tyreek Hill, Chris Godwin, Kittle

George: Matt Ryan, James Connor, Austin Eckler, Todd Gurley, DJ Chark, Kooper Kupp, Mike Gieseki.

"I am extremely happy.  Got everyone I was targeting in the mid rounds and walked out with the two rookies I wanted, without paying the premiums others did.  That being said, some other teams look really really good, so I will need some breaks to make the playoffs" - George.

Jordan : Big Ben, Aaron Jones, Devin Singletary, Stephon Diggs, DJ Moore, Calvin Ridley, and Hayden Hearst. 

Nolan: Watson, Alvin Kamara, Lenny Fournette, Michael Gallup, Mike Evans, Davante Adams, Evan Enghram.

Mike: Patrick Mahomes, Cunt, Chubb (who was kept 69th overall.  Bravo to all involved), CeeDee Lamb, Golden Tate, Amari Cooper, Travis Kelce

Nick : Russell Wilson, Zeke, Dalvin Cook, DK Metcalf, Allen Robinson, JuJu, Zach Ertz.

"This is a team that will be competitive, and have a potential to make a deep run, reliable on running backs... more importantly forward thinking a team that in 2021 and beyond will be a force to be reckoned with" - Nick

JB: Drew Brees, Christian McCaffrey, Melvin Gordon, Tyler Lockett, Michael Thomas, Hollywood Brown, Gronk.

Kyle: Lamar, Derrick "Choo Choo" Henry, Sony Michael, Emmanuel Sanders, Sterling Shepard, Terry McClauren, Chris Herndon.

Peter: Josh Allen, Kerryon Johnson, Carson, Woods, Hopkins, Julio, Mark Andrews

Micah: Aaron Rodgers, James White, Rex Burkhead, Cortland Sutton, Kenny Golladay, Hunter Renfroe, Darren Waller

Tidwell: Dak, CEH, Saquon Barkley, Leveon, Adam Thelien, OBJ, Tyler Higbee

BJ: Kyler Murray, Miles Sanders, Cam Akers, AJ Brown, Jarvis Landry, Will Fuller, Noah Fant.

Interview with Bill Malzow

This pre-season preview is proud to feature Bill Malzow for it's first interview of the year.  Bill was nice enough to join in the draft after a nice run.  Let's hear some thoughts from Bill about a number of topics.

Question 1 : If aliens landed on Earth, and demanded to hear the song that best exemplifies Rock and Roll Music, what song would you play them?

Bill : Hmm.. thats a good question Jordan, Im glad you asked that... Immediately, Black Dog by Led Zeppelin comes to mind, which is my favorite rock song of all time.  However, I do not know if this truely exemplifies the genre.  I would have to say  Back in Black by AC/DC or All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix.

Queston 2: Mt. Rushmore of occasions to drink beer.

Bill : Great second question.  My favorite beers are grilling beers, Man Day beers, Jamming music beers, and working in the garage beers

Question 3: Give me 50 words on a TV show from your childhood...

Bill: "Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Shit, 45 to go... gotta be the top childhood tv show for me.  I dont think there was a real bad episode.  And, what a great compilation of emotions drawn from the heavy sack of dramatic theatre carried by Will Smith.  Dealing with growing up on the street of Philli (sic) when (presumably) his dad left him, to moving into a lifestyle of education and wealth, all while maintaining his roots in basketball.  Wow, a real modern day Romeo and Juliet story"

Question 4: Who was your favorite teacher in high school?

Bill: Never had Bro Dom, but ill give him an honorable mention for letting us footballers eat buffalo wings in the priest house.  I'll say Mrs. Conarchy.  

Question 5: What is your go-to Wendy's order?

Bill: Simple - The Once ( Ohn-say).  You guys know...

Preseason Projections

Hoff's Hot Takes Official Preview

Playoffs - Joe, Nick, George, Peter, JB, Nolan

Best non playoff team : Tidwell

The rest : Kyle, Jordan, BJ, Mike, Micah

ESPN Projections

I think I should be one of the favorites to win the consolation bracket.  If a few moves get made ,or I get some breaks here and there - could be contending, but probably not - Jordan

WEEK 1 PREVIEW

I have no idea about who to pick for week one to be honest.  We have not seen a game, and the draft seems like it snuck up on most of us... Peter probably beats Jordan in a close game.  Give me George vs Tidwell as the game of the week, and give me Tidwell in barn burner... If Mike gets a good game out of one of his running backs, he should win this week, lets see if JK Dobbins has what it takes.  JK may be the make or break guy for this squad...Beej's team is already has a few Q's, so lets go with Nick...JB and Nolan in a good game, give me Nolan.  I bet this one comes to Evan Engram vs Gronk at TE.  Two playoff probable teams here, folks...Give me Kyle over Joe in the upset of the week, but expect Joe's squad to get on a run, and start 3-1 this season.  

Have a good start to the weekend tonight boys.  Let's hope that football is here to stay.

Cover song of the week : Art vs Science - "Enter Sandman"