Fantasy Football Weekend

So my first fantasy football draft went OK, considering I didn’t begin preparing for the draft until yesterday morning. I picked eighth in a 12-person league. Standard scoring, start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3WRs, 1 TE, 1 K and 1 D/ST.

Here are my selections:

Round 1—Clinton Portis
Round 2—Larry Johnson
Round 3—T.J. Houshmandzadeh
Round 4—Jamal Lewis
Round 5—Calvin Johnson
Round 6—Thomas Jones
Round 7—Jericho Cotchery
Round 8—Eli Manning
Round 9—Vernon Davis
Round 10—Derrick Mason
Round 11—Reggie Brown
Round 12—David Garrard
Round 13—Green Bay Packers defense
Round 14—Neil Rackers

I planned to pick my second receiver in round four, but the top-tier wideouts were gone and there were still some good starting backs available. So I went with the best available player instead of choosing by position, and I did the same thing when I chose Thomas Jones in round six. My strategy changed to choosing running backs that hopefully will become trade bait, so I can upgrade at wide receiver and/or quarterback.

I’m of the RB-RB school of thought for my first two picks, and then I usually try to load up on receivers and backup RBs for the first six to seven rounds. I’ll never end up with a stud quarterback, because I always wait on that position until midway through the draft. It usually turns out OK for me, but if Eli and Garrard both bomb, there are still a couple of sleeper QBs who went undrafted. Some young quarterback surprises every year, so I might be grabbing one of those guys off the waiver wire.

One thing I’m not overly happy about is that I missed out on all the young backs. It just didn’t play out right for me to grab Darren McFadden, Matt Forte or Jonathan Stewart. I’m gambling on some older (but proven) guys. I like Thomas Jones’ chances for a bounce-back this year with Brett Favre under center.

Favre’s move to the Jets also improves Cotchery’s stock, and overall I’m happy with my wide receivers. Reggie Brown is a bit of a question mark, but since he’s my fifth WR I took a chance on his finally having that breakout year.

Draft No. 2 is tomorrow, and now that I’m a bit more prepared, I’m really looking forward to it. After that, it will be a long two weeks until the season begins.

Yes, I’m ready for some FOOTBALL!