As i promised before, I was going to put up my fantasy football team to get judged and reviewed by everyone who reads here at GuysNation. No problems there, I have my list and in order of who I took them. Now for some notes on my league…
1) It is a PPR league, running backs get 1 point for each 20 yards of rushing. WR and TE get points after 25 and every 25 after that. QB start getting points after 125 yards in the air, and every 25 after that.
2) It has an offensive line concept. You get points for the rushing yards of that whole team you take. Also takes away points for allowed sacks. Say you have zero sacks allowed you get 5 points, and it falls from there for each sack, after you get over 5 it starts to be negative points.
3) The PPR kicks in after 2 catches for a point for every catch. With TE its every catch it’s a point.
With those little notes out of the way, here is the draft, please feel free to express your opinions on my team, as I feel I had a decent draft. I was picking 4th overall in a 14 team draft, snake style. Those that don’t know snake style, it goes up and down the draft order. You get 1st round the 4th pick…2nd round the 24th pick….up and down the list it goes.
Round 1: Adrian Peterson – RB MIN
Reasoning: Aaron Rodgers had gone 1st overall, then Chris Johnson and Andre Johnson. Really couldn’t pass on AP at 4 overall, especially since my league doesn’t penalize for fumbles.
Round 2: Arian Foster – RB HOU
Reasoning: I called him a sleeper earlier, and i wanted him on my squad. With the buzz surrounding him, I had to make a stab at someone I wanted early. I was hoping I could take Arian in the 3rd, but listing to rumors got me thinking that Arian was going to go later in the round to a friend of mine, turns out he was messing with me, but still it got a reaction from the whole room in the bar calling it a reach pick.
Round 3: Antonio Gates TE SD
Reasoning: Since all the good QBs started to fly off the boards before my 2nd and 3rd picks, i decided to bulk up at TE since they get points per catch. Gates is one of the best, arguably the number one TE in the draft. He was the 2nd TE taken in our league, since Clark went before him in round 2. Also for humor, and a reminder do you your homework, Vincent Jackson got selected in the 3rd round as well. That got a lot of shock from the room, and then laughter.
Round 4: Chris Cooley TE WAS
Reasoning: We have no real set positions in our league to set a lineup. We have to have a QB, TE, K, OL, DE. After that its all flex, so you can fill it with TEs if you wish. Hearing the camp reports how Cooley is mixing well with McNabb just made him a no brainier for me in this spot.
Round 5: Kevin Kolb QB PHI
Reasoning: I was really high on Kolb before training camps and preseason opened, then I lost some faith in the young eagle given the fact he didn’t toss a TD in preseason. But what had sold me to take him here was his stats when he got the nod in the regular season last year.
Week 2 against New Orleans 391 2tds 3 ints (15 points in the league)
Week 3 against Kansas City 328 yards 3Tds (25 points in the league)
A Qb that is averaging 20 points per game is almost like a Aaron Rogers type and at a 5th round value this could be the steal of the draft or the downfall of my team.
Round 6: Heath Miller TE PIT
Reasoning: Going with the idea that I am going to fill my starting lineup in the first 9 picks minus my kicker, i decide to go with the idea of starting three tight ends. I heard great things out of Pittsburgh about Miller, how they want to make him like the number 2 receiver, even separate him off the line and spread him out wide to use his ability better. Coming off a 76 catch season last year, and losing 79 catches to Santiono Holmes and the Jets, Miller could be in line to get 90 catch season. Nice value in the later rounds there. He could still be falling down the boards if you have a draft before opening day.
Round 7: Jeremy Maclin WR PHI
Reasoning: Knowing I couldn’t get all TEs, and the fact the other ones i had targeted had been drafted, i decided to go WR. Hearing that Maclin is supposed to be the better fit for his offense then DeShawn Jackson is good news. But the main reason for this pick was to have double dipped points. If Maclin scores, Kolb scores, so even a small touchdown is worth 6 points. Could be a game changer. Im shaky on this pick, we will see as time goes on if Maclin stays in the starting lineup.
Round 8: San Diego Offensive Line
Reasoning: I had targeted the 49ers D to draft right here and they were taken ONE pick before mine, so instead of thinking it out, i jumped away from Ds and took my o-line. Now to the people that say why didn’t you take Tennessee or Minnesota, they were taken in the 5th round, and the Titans O was taken in the 4th. I was trying to get more value, and hoping that rookie Ryan Mathews turned out a good year out in SD.
Round 9: New York Giants Defensive Unit
Reasoning: The Giants made themselves quicker and faster at LB adding more depth in that position. Its a questionable pick and maybe something i may be looking to add on another D unit as the season goes on, but right now im happy with them to help fill out my starting lineup.
Took a break during the draft, got a few more adult beverages and had some smokes, digested what we had done so far and came back in for rounds 10-18.
Round 10: Nate Keading SD Kicker
Reasoning: Kicker was a sore spot for my last year, as I had rotated between Kris Brown, Nick Folk and Neil Rackers and never could get a solid kicker. Hoping that the good weather in San Diego would produce some offensive movment, Kaeding seemed like the good choice. Becides, he only misses big kicks in the NFL playoffs, not the Fantasy Football ones.
Round 11: Mike Williams SEA WR
Reasoning: I have to thank one of my league members for this pick, they took Golden Tate the pick before, and reminded me about him. With the realease of T.J. Houshmandzadeh, the Seahawks must have felt confident in the camp Williams had. If they are confident, I can take him as a reserve player and see what he brings me.
Round 12: T.J. Houshmandzadeh WR UFA
Reasoning: At the time of the draft, i had known that T.J. Houshmandzadeh was a UFA and figured someone that good, having 70 plus catches the year before would land on some team. Wake up Monday morning to find out he landed on Baltimore. Just that is a wow, great luck with that pick. Give him a few weeks on the bench to see what he brings, he could be the number one WR off my bench to replace Maclin or be an injury or bye week sub.
Round 13: Nate Burleson WR DET
Reasoning: Detriot has been looking for that solid number 2 to compliment Calvin Johnson Jr, and I believe they found him in Burleson. Nate had a nice year last year, I should know, I drafted him late as well and he saved me in a few games when i tossed him into my lineup. He right now is slated as nothing more than a bye week guy, but amazing how things will change as the season progesses.
Round 14: Anthony Gonzalez WR IND
Reasoning: To end up my depth at WR was a player who was a 4-6th round pick last year, back and healthy and has Peyton Manning tossing him the ball. I like all of these things and when packaged into a 14th round pick, makes him even better.
Round 15: Indy’s D
Reasoning: I needed a backup defensve unit, Bob Sanders is back and healthy, and the Colts could help me in the bye week.
Round 16: Jason Hanson K DET
Reasoning: Indoor kickers are great for fantasy football. You know they wont have to worry about wind, rain, or snow messing up there games for 8 out of 16 games. He is just a solid backup and with DET on the rise possibily he could be the starter if Kaeding has struggles.
Round 17: David Garrard QB JAX
Reasoning: Best QB available at the time, needed a backup to Kevin Kolb. If Kolb cant live up to his before preseason billing, im going to be in desperate need of a better QB, and its something I’m already monitoring to see if anyone comes out the waiver wire, or the guy who took Big Ben would take a trade offer for him.
Round 18: Rashard Jennings RB JAX
Reasoning: Probally the first guy to be cut off my squad to be honest, but if Jones-Drew gets hurt, as he been resting for the remainder of the pre-season or if his knee could be bad, Jennings could turn into a major value in the last few picks of the draft. Its a total stuff on the bench till the need to cover another position arises.
Final ReCap: My overview puts me week at QB and real RB depth. However since im not required to start 2 RB or 2 WR i don’t see the lack of depth at that position to be a problem. The QB depth is a major problem but something that is a wait and see. Hopefully Andy Reid was holding back Kolb in preseason and he will explode against Green Bay on Sunday.
Now for what you can expect from me this year. I will be posting a review of the Sunday games on Monday, or maybe even a live blog. I could experment with the idea of a live blog this Sunday, we will see how the games are going and if my company will allow me to do a live blog and enjoy football with them. My advice to fantasy players is remember kickoff this year is Thursday, you got Vikes or Saints players, get them into your lineups if you want them to play. Be proactive insted of reactive. If you know your weak in a position, start combing the waivers now, get a list of who to watch and track them. If someone is starting to peak, get them before they explode, its what your bench is for, to stuff players to help you and not your opponents. Good luck to all of you this season, and I look forward to your comments on my draft, either good or negative
