I was recently invited to join an “Insiders League” that was sponsored by the Fantasy Sports Writers of America. Maybe it was (ahem) my superior fantasy knowledge, maybe it was my award-winning article, or maybe they just needed a warm body to fill out the league. (I’m betting on the latter, though I’ll make the most of any opportunity to mention my award-winning article. By the way, did I mention I won an award?)
Anyway, there were representatives from Fanball, Footballguys, The Roto Expert, the Fantasy Football Times, among others. I debated whether or not to actually write about this draft, as one of the owners was on auto-draft and it kind of messed up the flow of things. But I figured that happens in regular drafts too, so what the heck.
I had the #10 pick and I was none too happy about it. It’s a tough year to have a late first round pick, though it’s generally not a good position in any draft. If you’re sharp, you can put a good team together, but the chips are stacked against you from the start. Whatever owner is lucky enough to draft #1 overall is going to get three of the top 25 picks, and since most of the second round guys are so similar, it’s really his league to lose if he makes good decisions at the 2/3 turn.
But I was determined to make the best of it, and here’s how the draft went.
1.10: Clinton Portis, RB
The way I see the first round, there are eight can’t-miss RBs: LT, Westy, AP, Addai, Jackson, Barber, Portis and Gore. I’m not as high on Gore as the rest of the fantasy community, but I would have been okay with him at #10. Moss and Lynch went ahead of me, so I had to decide between Portis and Brady, and decided to go RB.
2.03: Larry Fitzgerald, WR
I was hoping that Wayne would slip, but he went 2.01. At that point, I was looking at either Fitzy or Reggie Bush. I’m in a number of drafts this year and have gone RB/RB in the first two rounds most of the time, so I thought I’d switch it up and go with a WR in this draft. (By the way, this is a PPR league requiring two starting RBs, three starting WRs, a TE and a flex spot, so WRs are pretty important.)
3.10: Steve Smith, WR
Smith was a late second round guy before the two-game suspension, so with Jamal Lewis and Ryan Grant off the board, I decided to go WR again. I thought about Earnest Graham and Jason Witten, but thought that one or both would be on the board at 4.03.
(The LT owner went with a Maroney/AJ combo at 2.12/3.01, which is strong if the Pats elect to use Maroney at the goal line. I don’t think they will, but you never know.)
4.03: Ben Roethlisberger, QB
Oops, Graham and Witten (along with Jacobs and Burress) went at the turn, so my only attractive option was Big Ben. I think there’s a drop-off after the top six QBs – Brady, Manning, Romo, Brees, Roethlisberger and Palmer – so I think it’s important to get one of those this season. Besides, the RBs that were available – McFadden, TJ, Fast Willie, Ronnie Brown – weren’t that attractive, not when I could get Edge or Selvin Young at 5.10.
5.10: Dwayne Bowe, WR
Oops. (Noticing a trend here?) Selvin went 5.02 and Edge went 5.08, so I took the best player available. Bowe had a tremendous rookie season and I think he’s in for big things in 2008. At this point, I realize that I am really hurting at RB but am stacked at WR. I thought about taking LenDale here, but I was (justifiably, it turns out) worried about Chris Johnson eating into his carries. Besides, White will be there at 6.03, right?
6.03: Jerricho Cotchery, WR
Wrong. White went on the turn, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Regular readers know that Cotch is a perennial JP favorite; he is quickly becoming the next Donald Driver – underrated and productive. Now that he has Favre throwing to him, I’m expecting a career (100-catch?) year. I thought about Fred Taylor, but figured he would have a shot at slipping to 7.10.
7.10: Rashard Mendenhall, RB
Of course, Taylor was long gone. Mendenhall was a desperation pick. I needed a RB badly and I thought he was the best on the board. In hindsight, Ricky Williams would have been better, but it’s tough to count on him and his situation wasn’t quite as attractive at the time of the draft.
8.03: Chris Cooley, TE
I love getting Cooley in the 8th. He’s the most dependable tight end after the top four – Witten, Winslow, Gates and Gonzo – and I think he’ll thrive in Jim Zorn’s West Coast Offense. I probably should have gone RB here, but at this point I was thinking that I’d be able to trade one of my WRs to the auto-pick team. (After seven rounds, his team had two QBs and five RBs! Ha!)
I went on to grab Chris Perry in the 9th, Jerious Norwood in the 10th, Jason Campbell in the 11th, Ronald Curry in the 12th, Ladell Betts (to back up Portis) in the 13th, Eddie Royal in the 14th, Green Bay and Buffalo DTs in the 15th and 16th, Derrick Ward in the 17th, DeSean Jackson in the 18th, Jeff Reed in the 19th and Mark Clayton in the 20th.
After the draft, I proposed a Steve Smith-for-Jamal Lewis swap with the auto-pick team, and he quickly accepted. (Whew!) So I ended up with a squad that looks like this:
Starters:
QB: Roethlisberger
RB1: Portis
RB2: J. Lewis
WR1: Fitzgerald
WR2: Bowe
WR3: Cotchery
TE: Cooley
Flex: Perry
K: Reed
DT: Packers
Bench:
QB: Campbell
RB: Mendenhall, Norwood, D. Ward
WR: Curry, De. Jackson, M. Clayton
Overall, given my competition, I am quite happy with my team. I have a top-six QB, two solid RBs (#5 and #7 last year), a great WR corps (#6, #20 and #23 last season, with upside) and a good TE (#5 last year). I would have drafted better in the middle and late rounds had I known that I’d be able to move Smith for Jamal, but those are the breaks. My bench is not what I’d like it to be, but there is some upside there with Perry currently the RB1 in Cincy and Mendenhall, Norwood and Ward the top backups elsewhere. I like the upside of Curry, Royal and DeSean Jackson (though I’m a little apprehensive about having two rookie wideouts on my team).
So what do you think? Did I represent The Scores Report well?
QB7 (5.09) Derek Anderson, 9.5
