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
