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The Omaha DynastyA Tale of Two Franchises

He is offering me his 1strounder in 2009, 2010 and 2011 for Brady.What do you think?

Luke and I were sitting in his apartment in Flagstaff and the 2009 dynasty draft was underway.

He was on the phone with Leise discussing a possible trade to change the direction of two

franchises. Lukes team had just completed a last place finish in 2008 and their seemed to be

little hope on the roster for 2009. Lukes team had been so bad that despite having Tom Brady

during his record setting year (2007), Luke still finished in last placeby a good amount. 2008

was another bad year for Carlberg, but it did have some silver lining. Aaron Rodgers 1st

year as

the GB quarterback was a success as he threw for over 4000 yards and 28 touchdowns. Good

numbers for a seasoned QB and excellent numbers for a 1st year starter. This created a QB

controversy, Brady vs Rodgers, on team Carlberg and an expendable asset..

I dont know what Leise said on the other line, but I imagine he was thinking, If I only had a

solid QB, I would be a serious contender for a total points title.

The year before he finished 4th

with this QB production.

Derek Anderson 1615 Yards 9tds 8ints

Matt Schaub 3043 Yards 15tds 10ints

that is laughable production. He had a solid team behind him with two elite RBs (Clinton

Portis 1500yards and 9tds and DeAngelo Williams (side note: Leise picked him up off the scrap

heap after TP dropped him for poor production) 1515 Yards 18tds) and three good to great WRs

(Larry Fitzgerald 1431 Yards and 12 Tds, Steve Smith 1421 Yards and 6tds and Santana Moss

1044 and 6tds). He also had a productive Brian Westbrook and Chad Johnson. This was a team

that should be contending to win, but was totally hamstrung by crappy QBs. Leise also knew

time was of the essence as many of his key contributors were gearing down towards the end of

their productive careers. He needed to fill the void and go for it.

The made the deal that day and it was the right move for both owners even though one isdragging in the cellar of the league and the other is probably our third (Hargis to start the league

and Svehla in the middle) and strongest dynasty.

Lets start with Leise in 2009. He finished second by 60 total points to Svehlas mini dynasty.

Brady put up decent numbers, 4398 yards and 28tds, but Leises other players fell off just

enough that he came in second place. If we were trying to pinpoint one thing that caused him to

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The Omaha Dynastyfinish second, it would go by the name of Clinton Portis. Portis had been a monster for sevenstraight years and conventional wisdom would have said he had 2-3 years of solid production left

in his tank. Not true. He fell off the cliff in 2009 and only played in 8 games and recorded the

following stats (124 carries 494 yards 1td). Portiss last season was 2010 where he only played in

5 games and was a total non-factor. Leises other players all played to expected levels. Leise

probably could have a gripe that Svehlas NYJ d saved him that year as they, the Jets, were the

highest scoring defense by a good margin. Leise had taken a good swing in 2009, but came up

short. In 2010, Brady had a better year (3900 yards, 36tds and ONLY 4ints), but Leises team

was in full decay. Portis was on his way out and DeAngelo Williams was proven to be a one and

half year wonder. Steve Smith and Chad Johnson were showing their age with a combined 1300

yards and 6tds. That was an average year for one of those players in their primes. Leise also didnot have any new blood to take over for his aging team with the lost draft picks and unsuccessful

transactions (Laurence Maroney, Ryan Torrain and LeGarrett Blount(he was okay)). In 2009, his

team was a couple of decent Clinton Portis games away from a points title, but by the end of

2010 he was stuck holding the bag of shit.

I think Leise made the right decision with that trade. No doubt that the Brady trade severely

impacted his teams ability to develop and is the main reason he has had two to three terrible

seasons in a row. But is his fantasy life any different from Garland or myself. We have had better

teams, but have no hardware to show for those better teams. He took a shot and almost had the

2009 title. I do think he gave up a lot for Brady, but QB is the most important position and hisother options were awful. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Carlbergs dynasty was actually started a year before the infamous Brady trade. In the 2008

draft, Carlberg drafted Darren Mcfadden with the #1 pick, and stole Ray Rice with the #17 pick

of the draft. This highlights the need for luck in building a title team. Mcfadden was clearly the

#1 pick of that draft, but he has never played a full season and only topped 1000 and 5tds once in

his career. Ray Rice on the other hand has been good to elite in every season he has played and

always has great receiving numbers. There were 12 running backs selected in front of Ray Rice

that year including Steve Slaton, Selvin Young and Earnest Graham (Lukes pick at #9). Luke

struck gold later that same season as he picked up Aaron Rodgers on September 22nd at 10:25am.At that point Rodgers had about 800 passing yards, 4tds, 0ints and 2 rushing tds, ie nothing to

make you think he was going to be awesome. Why did Luke pick him up? Luke had the

immortal Tom Brady, but he was lost for the season because of his ACL injury. Luke also had

Mike Vick on the roster as recent as 2007, but he was lost for the dog fighting scandal. Luke had

some serious bad luck at QB and it forced him to be a little desperate and take a chance on

Rodgers. But anyways, by the end of 2008 Luke had Brady, Rodgers, Rice and McFadden; a

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The Omaha Dynastysolid foundation, but not a dynasty. The next two to three years in the draft and throughtransactions, Luke brought his team to the top.

2009: Vernon Davis (free agent), Percy Harvin (draft-Leises pick), Beannie Wells (draft)

2010: Brandon Lloyd (free agent), Mike Wallace (draft), Demaryius Thomas (draft-Leises pick)

and Mike Williams (draft)

2011- Seattle D (free agent), Julio Jones (draft- Leises pick)

Add it all up and Luke has dominated the last three years and makes sure to let us all know.

Looking back he was lucky, but also savvy. When he has in the position to make moves toimprove his franchise he made good sound decisions. Other teams are improving, but he does

seem poised to compete for a 4th

consecutive points title.

NEXT Week: 5 Trades that should happen.