To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1. Chris Johnson, 2. Steve Smith, 3. Ronnie Brown, 4. Marshawn Lynch, 5. Santana Moss, 6. Tony Romo, 7. Greg Olsen, 8. Jerricho Cotchery, 9. Fred Jackson, 10. Percy Harvin

With the bulk of my starters covered, I entered the last half of my draft planning to load up on backups at the skill positions before grabbing a couple of defenses for a DTBC and a kicker to round out my roster. Here’s a quick rundown of the remainder of my draft.

Round 11, Pick 8: Ben Roethlisberger, QB
I was pleased to find Big Ben still available in the 11th round. Fantasy-wise, he struggled last year (QB16) but finished strong and led the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory. In 2007, he finished as QB6, and with a much easier schedule this season, I think he has a great chance to finish in the top 10. Besides, I like it that he looks like Will Ferrell after a weekend bender in Las Vegas.

Round 12, Pick 5: Steve Smith (NYG), WR
I felt pretty good (but not great) about my WR corps of Steve Smith (CAR), Santana Moss, Jerricho Cotchery and Percy Harvin, so I was looking for a dependable PPR guy here. I expect that Smith will lead the Giants in receptions this season by catching all of the underneath stuff. This is a dangerous pick, however, because I’m sure I’ll plug the wrong Steve Smith in at least once this season.

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To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1. Chris Johnson, 2. Steve Smith, 3. Ronnie Brown, 4. Marshawn Lynch, 5. Santana Moss, 6. Tony Romo, 7. Greg Olsen, 8. Jerricho Cotchery, 9. Fred Jackson

Having secured Marshawn Lynch’s backup, I felt pretty good about my stable of running backs. So as the draft moved into Round 10, I was looking to bolster my WR corps by finding a diamond in the rough. Looking through my list of late-round WR gems, a couple of names stood out: Domenik Hixon and Josh Morgan. (If you’re wondering about the other guys in my top 5, Chaz Schilens and Nate Washington are injured, Ted Ginn was already drafted and Davone Bess has been usurped by Brian Hartline.) I also added Percy Harvin to my list, mainly due to this Rotoworld article which issues glowing reports about Harvin’s fantasy prospects this season.

My mind is telling me that Hixon will have the best numbers of the three, so I drafted him, right? Wrong. I ended up going with Harvin, figuring that I would end up with Hixon in several other leagues (that matter more financially), so why not go with the sexy pick instead? If Harvin blows up, I’ll look like a genius. If he flops, oh well.

Seriously, if the Vikings use him the way that the Rotoworld piece says they will, then he should have a very solid season in PPR leagues.

Round 10, Pick 5: Percy Harvin, WR

Here’s how the entire round went: 109) Laurent Robinson, 110) James Davis, 111) Carson Palmer, 112) Matt Ryan, 113) Percy Harvin, 114) Julius Jones, 115) Brett Favre, 116) Josh Morgan, 117) Sidney Rice, 118) Trent Edwards, 119) Domenik Hixon, 120) Tim Hightower

It may be a while (as this draft is ongoing), but I’ll be back after it’s complete with a quick rundown of the rest of my picks.

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.

To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1. Chris Johnson, 2. Steve Smith, 3. Ronnie Brown, 4. Marshawn Lynch, 5. Santana Moss, 6. Tony Romo, 7. Greg Olsen, 8. Jerricho Cotchery

When I took Lynch back in the 4th, I knew I was going to have to back him up with Fred Jackson, probably in the 9th. This is the downside to drafting Lynch this year. Unless you have another RB (or WR, if you’re league utilizes a flex) to start in his place for the first three weeks, you may find yourself in a tough spot. No one wants to start out the season 0-3.

That said, Jackson is one of the league’s better backups and if Lynch were to miss significant time, he could step in and be a quality fantasy starter.

Round 9, Pick 8: Fred Jackson, RB

Here’s how the entire round went: 97) Devin Hester, 98) Laveranues Coles, 99) Ahmad Bradshaw, 100) Dustin Keller, 101) Chester Taylor, 102) Michael Crabtree, 103) Willis McGahee, 104) Fred Jackson, 105) Justin Gage, 106) Ted Ginn, 107) Darren Sproles, 108) Laurence Maroney

I would have liked to nab Ginn here, but I couldn’t risk letting Jackson fall to another owner. Besides, there are still a few up-and-coming WRs that I like in the upcoming rounds.

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.

To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1) Chris Johnson, 2) Steve Smith, 3) Ronnie Brown, 4) Marshawn Lynch, 5) Santana Moss, 6) Tony Romo, 7) Greg Olsen

My starting lineup is almost complete. Knowing that I have to start three WR, I was definitely looking to shore up that position as my 8th round pick approached.

Here’s how the first part of Round 8 went: 85) Owen Daniels, 86) Cedric Benson, 87) Chris Wells, 88) Torry Holt

I strongly considered drafting Jerricho Cotchery in the previous round, but I was worried about one of the TEs that I liked not falling to me in the 8th. Luckily, Cotchery fell to me here. The only other player I really considered was Donnie Avery, but he’s coming off an injury and I think Cotchery is the better receiver at this point in time. I’m not thrilled about Mark Sanchez being named the starter, because Cotchery and Kellen Clemens have proven to have a pretty nice rapport at times.

Cotchery was WR23 in 2007 and WR25 in 2008, so he’s not going to set the world on fire, but with Laveranues Coles in Cincinnati, he should see a big increase in targets. He may not convert those opportunities with as much efficiency as in years past, but the extra targets should help his numbers. And with the up-and-coming Dustin Keller roaming the middle and Leon Washington in the flat, defenses will have a tough time focusing on Cotchery.

I wouldn’t feel great about Cotch as my WR2, but as my WR3 on a team that is RB-heavy and already has a solid QB and TE, I feel great about nabbing him here. He is the #35 WR off the board, so if he plays a full season, he is almost guaranteed to outplay his draft position.

Just like in baseball, it’s not always about swinging for the fences. Sometimes you just need a single. And this pick is a single.

Round 8, Pick 5: Jerricho Cotchery, WR

The rest of Round 8 went like this: 90) Visanthe Shiancoe, 91) Matt Cassel, 92) Steve Breaston, 93) Earnest Graham, 94) Donnie Avery, 95) Jamal Lewis, 96) LeSean McCoy

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.

To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1) Chris Johnson, 2) Steve Smith, 3) Ronnie Brown, 4) Marshawn Lynch, 5) Santana Moss, 6) Tony Romo

After taking a QB in the previous round, I was looking for a WR or TE in Round 7. There were four TEs that I liked at this point in the draft: Chris Cooley, Greg Olsen, Owen Daniels and Kellen Winslow. Had all four made it to me at 7.08, I would have probably drafted the best WR available there — in my mind, Jerricho Cotchery — since only three of the teams drafting between my 7th and 8th round picks had an opening at TE. It is unlikely that anyone is going to draft two TEs by the 8th round, so I knew one of those guys would make it back to me.

Here’s how the first part of Round 7 went: 73) John Carlson, 74) Antonio Bryant, 75) Kevin Walter, 76) Donald Brown, 77) Hines Ward, 78) Kellen Winslow, 79) Lance Moore.

Unfortunately, since Winslow went 7.06, I felt compelled to go TE here. Since Carlson already went, if I missed out on Cooley, Olsen or Daniels, it might leave me with Zach Miller or Dustin Keller, and I didn’t really want that to happen.

It was kind of a tough call to pick a TE out of this group. Cooley has been as steady as they come, finishing TE7, TE5 and TE5 over the last three years. Daniels is more of an up-and-comer, and he plays for a pretty impressive offense in Houston. He has improved his numbers in each of his three years in the league and finished as fantasy’s TE6 last season. However, he didn’t finish the season particularly strong.

Then there’s Olsen, whom I believe has the most upside of this group. His numbers took a big jump in his second season and with the addition of Jay Cutler, who loves to throw to his TE, along with the dearth of receiving talent in Chicago, he looks poised to break into the top 5. He averaged 13.9 points over the last four games; those are TE2-type numbers.

It was really tough to pass on Cooley here, but I think Olsen is the better talent and has the higher ceiling. And I’m glad I went with a TE here, because both Cooley and Daniels went before my 8th round pick.

Round 7, Pick 8: Greg Olsen, TE

Here’s how the rest of Round 7 went: 81) Derrick Mason, 82) Chris Cooley, 83) Lee Evans, 84) Leon Washington

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.

To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1) Chris Johnson, 2) Steve Smith, 3) Ronnie Brown, 4) Marshawn Lynch, 5) Santana Moss

At 5.08, I passed on Philip Rivers hoping that he’d be there at 6.05. Unfortunately, this is how the round went: 61) Bernard Berrian, 62) Chris Henry, 63) Santonio Holmes, 64) Philip Rivers

I hate it when the guy I want goes just before I’m about to pick him!

Oh well, I had to move on. I felt like I was pretty safe with the four TEs — Chris Cooley, Greg Olsen, Owen Daniels and Kellen Winslow — still out there, and thought that one would be there with my next pick. There were a few WRs — Hines Ward, Antonio Bryant, Jerricho Cotchery — that I felt might last until the 7th round as well. While there is always a lot of depth at QB, I like to use QBBC as more of a backup option than as a Plan A, and with three good QBs here — Tony Romo, Donovan McNabb and Kurt Warner — I decided to take a closer look at all three players.

Despite his faults, Romo has been a fantasy stud the last two seasons. He’s without Terrell Owens this season, but that might be a blessing in disguise as the TO headaches and distractions are gone as well. Roy Williams never really got going last season, so if he can produce at 80-90% of Owens’s rate, the other Dallas wideouts can pick up the slack. Jason Witten is one of the best fantasy tight ends in the game and Patrick Crayton, Sam Hurd and Miles Austin (and don’t forget Marion Barber and Felix Jones) round out a better-than-competent receiving corps. The bottom line is that Romo has averaged 2.1 TD over the last two seasons and I don’t think losing Owens is going to take a huge toll on that number.

So, when comparing Romo to McNabb (who missed 15 games over the last four seasons) and Warner (who is not the most durable QB, either), I felt that Romo was the safest pick of the three and had legitimate upside.

Round 6, Pick 5: Tony Romo, QB

The rest of Round 6 went this way: 66) Kurt Warner, 67) Donald Driver, 68) Thomas Jones, 69) Donovan McNabb, 70) Felix Jones, 71) Jay Cutler, 72) Matt Schaub

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.

To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1) Chris Johnson, 2) Steve Smith, 3) Ronnie Brown, 4) Marshawn Lynch

Heading into Round 5, I had already drafted three RBs, so I was definitely looking to draft a QB, TE or WR with my next pick. Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez went in the late fourth and early fifth, respectively, so TE wasn’t really an option at 5.08.

Here’s how the first part of Round 5 went: 49) Chad Ochocinco, 50) Tony Gonzalez, 51) Derrick Ward, 52) Larry Johnson, 53) Dallas Clark, 54) Joseph Addai, 55) Anthony Gonzalez

This left a group of WRs — Santana Moss, Braylon Edwards, Santonio Holmes — and a QB, Philip Rivers, to consider at 5.08. As I looked at the rosters of the teams drafting after me, I noticed that a couple already had a QB but they all still had plenty of need at WR. There were a few other WRs that I’d like in the 5th or 6th round — Hines Ward, Jerricho Cotchery and Antonio Bryant — that I was targeting in the next round, but didn’t feel great about any of those guys as my WR2.

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To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

My team so far: 1) Chris Johnson, 2) Steve Smith, 3) Ronnie Brown

Heading into Round 4, I knew that the league’s 2 RB, 1 flex starting lineup would allow me to start 3 RB every week, so I had plenty of options at 4.05.

Here’s how the round started off: 37) T.J. Houshmandzadeh, 38) Aaron Rodgers, 39) Knowshon Moreno, 40) Jason Witten

I was surprised to see how all three of the other RBs I was considering at 3.08 — Ryan Grant, Marshawn Lynch and Reggie Bush — were available at 4.05. Had I known that this was going to happen, I might have gone with Tom Brady at 3.08. But the league’s starting requirements allowed me to capitalize on the value that I feel dropped to me in the fourth round.

Of the three, Bush is the most productive on a per game basis in PPR leagues, but he has missed 10 games over the past two seasons and just isn’t as dependable as the other two guys. I ran the numbers for Grant and Lynch, and Grant has averaged 14.1 ppg since he became the starter in Green Bay while Lynch has averaged 15.1 ppg in his two seasons in the league. Lynch is more involved in the Buffalo passing game, so that helps his overall numbers.

Then there’s the whole three-game suspension thingy, which is the reason that Lynch is available in the fourth round in the first place. Otherwise, he’d likely be a late first round or early second round pick. Last year, we saw two players — Steve Smith and Brandon Marshall — see their stock fall in the preseason due to suspension and proceed to light it up once they returned. Marshall finished as WR4 after missing the first game and Smith finished as WR10 after missing the first two.

I took a closer look at the schedules of Grant and Lynch and found that Lynch had a distinct advantage over the last 13 games. Buffalo has two tough rushing matchups in the first three weeks, so that leaves a decisively easier schedule over the remainder of the season. In fact, Lynch projects to face the second easiest schedule of any running back over that span. This, combined with Grant’s struggles last season and Lynch’s overall superior productivity, convinced me to draft the Buffalo RB at 4.05. Sure, I’ll have to burn a middle round pick on Lynch’s backup (Fred Jackson), but I think it’s worth it to lock up Lynch after his suspension is over. (Let’s not forget that he’s one of the scariest-looking guys in the league.)

Round 4, Pick 5: Marshawn Lynch, RB

The rest of the round went like this: 42) Vincent Jackson, 43) Reggie Bush, 44) Ray Rice, 45) Eddie Royal, 46) Antonio Gates, 47) Ryan Grant, 48) DeSean Jackson

I think Grant is a great value at 4.10, and had I known that he’d be available there, I might have pulled the trigger on the aforementioned trade in the third round. I’m not entirely sure who I would have taken at 3.03, as Wes Welker and Clinton Portis were both gone by then. My top three players probably would have been Pierre Thomas, Dwayne Bowe and Ronnie Brown, and I ended up with Brown at 3.08 anyway.

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.

To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

Heading into Round 3, I had Chris Johnson and Steve Smith on board, and felt that I got off to a pretty good start. The first decision I had to make was to turn down a trade offer from the team with the 3.03 pick. He wanted to move back in the third, up in the fourth and up in the sixth. I considered moving up to grab Wes Welker, Clinton Portis or Ronnie Brown at 3.03, but both Welker and Portis went, and I didn’t feel strongly enough about Brown to give up my position in the fourth round.

In other words, there were enough players that I would feel comfortable selecting at 4.05, but I wasn’t so sure that would be the case for pick 4.10. In retrospect, trading up probably would have worked out, though I likely would have ended up with the same player in the end.

Here’s how the first part of Round 3 went: 25) Kevin Smith, 26) Wes Welker, 27) Darren McFadden, 28) Terrell Owens, 29) Drew Brees, 30) Pierre Thomas, 32) Dwayne Bowe

At 3.08, I had to choose amongst Tom Brady, Ronnie Brown, Ryan Grant, Marshawn Lynch and Reggie Bush. Housh was also available, but I felt that if I went WR/RB/WR through the first three rounds, it would put me in a tough spot if the teams drafting after me went on a RB run.

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To start with Round 1 (and see the scoring system and roster requirements), click here.

With Chris Johnson on board, I felt I was off to a pretty good start. I had the fifth pick in the second round and I knew that Reggie Wayne, Michael Turner, Steve Smith, Brian Westbrook or Frank Gore would fall to me. Given the starting requirements (2 RB, 3 WR, 1 Flex), I preferred going with a WR in round two so that I had more flexibility in the upcoming rounds.

Round 2: 13) Reggie Wayne, 14) Michael Turner, 15) Frank Gore, 16) Brian Westbrook

So that left Steve Smith for me. His bruised shoulder is a minor concern, but he’s already back on the field and when he plays, there are only a few wideouts that are more productive than Steve Smith. Last season, he was suspended for the first two games and still finished as WR10. He had the fourth-best average (18.6 fp) in the league behind Anquan Boldin (22.1), Andre Johnson (20.2) and Larry Fitzgerald (19.6). Over the last four years, he has averaged 18.0 fppg. He’s barely on the wrong side of 30, so I wouldn’t expect that he would show any signs of slowing down for another 3-4 years.

I briefly considered Boldin, Roddy White and Clinton Portis, but didn’t feel as good about any of them as I did about Steve Smith. (If you’re wondering, with a total of six starting RBs and WRs, QBs are slightly devalued in this league.) Taking a WR in the second round should allow me to pounce on value at any position in the next few rounds. If I had gone with another RB, I wouldn’t be able to go RB/RB in Round 3 and Round 4 if the value was there.

Round 2, Pick 5: Steve Smith, WR

The rest of Round 2 went like this: 18) Marion Barber, 19) Anquan Boldin, 20) Greg Jennings, 21) Roddy White, 22) Clinton Portis, 23) Brandon Jacobs, 24) Marques Colston

Click here to see all of my round-by-round picks.