Let Fantasy FB Begin!
W00T!
Drafted for my money league last night. Last year, I was able to get LaDanian Tomlinson with the 3rd pick of the 1st round. Larry Johnson and Peyton Manning (I think) went 1-2. I was able to acquire Drew Brees early in the season, and rode him and LT to the championship game, where.... they didn't provide me the points I needed to win. Oh well.
This year, I somehow got the 3rd pick again. W00T! Only, instead of 10 teams like last year, we now have 12, which thins out the available talent in free agency. So I intended to stock up on RBs and WRs early on. I'm a firm believer of the "Stud RB" style of playing Fantasy. Meaning, your first pick is the best RB available, and you build your team around him.
Stud RBs are few and far between, with possibly only 4-6 total in the league. (LT, LJ, Steven Jackson, Frank Gore...).
I was hoping I would be able to grab Steven Jackson at #3, but no such luck. LT and SJ went 1-2 this year. This left me in a somewhat bind. Larry Johnson. If he plays, he could easily challenge LT for the top RB spot. But, he's holding out of training camp for a contract extension. I took him anyways. KC will get him signed, because his back-ups are nothing special, and KC's WR corps is nothing special either. They need him. Need him badly.
However, I offered him up to the 12th team for his 1st and 2nd round picks, which were back-to-back. The 12th team was very interested in this. And, I probably should have pulled the trigger, but like I said, there are only 4-6 RBs in the league who are true studs. So, I decided not to. We'll see if that was a mistake later in the season.
Coming around to my 2nd round pick, I came upon another conundrum. Stud WR now, or 2nd RB? Typically, I'd grab another RB, since the RB talent pool will be very thin with 12 teams in the league this year. IMO, WRs are a dime a dozen for the most part, with only 10-12 being studs. However, Reggie Wayne was available. Granted, he's #2 on the Colts, but he'd be #1 on any other team, and Marvin is getting old. So I grabbed Reggie knowing that I had another pick in 5 picks away.
3rd round - Thomas Jones. Should easily be NYJ's starter. May get challenged by L. Washington, but Thomas has more experience.
4th round - Anquan Boldin. Couldn't beleive he was still available. Grabbed him in a heartbeat.
So, now I have 2 RBs and 2 WRs. I'm fairly happy with who I've gotten so far.
One of the team managers grabbed 2 QBs with his first 2 picks. 2 QBs. WTF? You can only start one. I think he got Manning and Brees. I was kinda disappointed that Brees was grabbed, as he was awesome for me last year. Oh well.
5th round - time for a QB. Lookie, lookie here... who's this still available? Marc Bulger? Thank you! Top 5 QB still available in the 5th round. Am I playing in a league full of rookies?
6th round - Back to stocking up on RBs and WRs. DeShaun Foster. I know that DeAngelo Williams will be challenging him for the starting job, but Carolina's O-Line is healthy finally, and D. Foster will have a chance to show his stuff. He's my 3rd RB, so I may not start him anyways. We'll see.
7th round - TEs and Defenses are starting to get picked. No thanks. Too early. There are only 3-4 Stud Defenses, and maybe 3-4 TEs that get WR numbers. I don't lay a lot of faith in getting a lot of points from my TE, so I'm not going to fret.
I take Vincent Jackson. WR for San Diego. Has good potential with Rivers getting better each year.
8th round - 3 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 QB. I check to see what is available, and then compare WR, RB, and Defense against who can produce the most points for me this late in the rounds. WRs are fairly even across the board now. The talent in the RB pool is very thin. Time for a defense.
Patriots are available. I grab them in a heart beat. They should be a Top 5 Defense this year.
9th round - Some rookies have been taken in the 5th and 6th rounds. My philosophy is to avoid almost all rookies, with the exception of RBs. But, I've got the core of my team, it's time to find some "sleepers".
Brandon Jackson RB Green Bay. Still available. I grab him in a heartbeat. If he doesn't start the season for Green Bay, he will most likely before the middle of the season. Great potential.
10th round - Looking for any WR sleepers. Don't see any. Grab a back-up QB instead. Jake Delhomme.
11th round - Ok, time for a TE. Dallas Clark. Doesn't usually produce huge numbers, but had 2 100 yard games in the post season last year. That could open it up for him this year.
12th round - Scrub time. I'm looking at every team's roster to see if I can find any starters. Troy Williamson, WR MIN. Not a great prospect after last year, but still has potential, and is the starter in Minnesota.
13th round - talent pool is severely thin. Whoa! Joe "Delicious" Jureviscious. I grab him. He book-ends Braylon Edwards for the Browns. Edwards is going to start getting double-teams which will open Joe up.
14th round - Time for a kicker. Jeff Wilkinson for St. Louis is available. Another Top 5 prospect. Excellent.
15th round - Last pick, and I need to hand-cuff my Stud RB. Michael Bennett, back-up for Larry Johnson.
All-in-all, I think I did pretty damn good. Players were taken by other teams really early, which I thought were "reaches" but enabled me to get players who I didn't think would have been available. Rookies went early, and someone took 2 QBs with their first 2 picks (that's a huge no-no in my book).
Can't wait for the season to kick-off!
Final Roster:
QB - Marc Bulger
RB - Larry Johnson
RB - Thomas Jones
Flex - Anquan Boldin
WR - Reggie Wayne
TE - Dallas Clark
Defense - Patriots
Kicker - Jeff Wilkins
Bench - Brandon Jackson (RB), Mike Bennett (RB), Vincent Jackson (WR), Troy Williamson (WR), Joe Jurevicious (WR), Jake Delhomme (QB),