A lazy Sunday evening with questionable weather looming meant another fantasy football draft to partake in. I wanted to get two done early to get an early feel of how things might shake out. My draft strategy (which I'll probably go into more depth in a bit) usually revolves around addressing RB and WR early, although that can change a bit, as was demonstrated in this draft. I was crapping my pants early, after things didn't seem to be going my way, but made up for it quite a bit in the later part of this draft. This was a standard 10 team league on Yahoo in which I had the 7th pick to start.
Round 1: RB Joseph Addai (IND) - I had a tough decision here between Addai and Alexander. I like Alexander's ceiling better, but Addai is simply a much safer bet both healthwise and system wise, so I went with the surer thing.
Round 2: RB Ronnie Brown (MIA) - Would have went with Reggie Bush here in a PPR league but like Brown better here. The second round was surprisingly WR heavy. This pick gives me two good starting RBs, which is NEVER a bad thing.
Round 3: QB Carson Palmer (CIN) - None of the top tier WRs I was targetting fell to this pick and I just didn't think any of the WRs left were far enough from the pack to take one here. Instead, I went with a healthy Carson Palmer, who I think has the weapons around him to have a better season than Peyton Manning. A truly elite tier QB, which could not be said of the remaining WRs.
Round 4: TE Antonio Gates (SD) - This is a bit of a reach, yes, but I simply didn't like the WRs in round three and any fringe guys I was considering then were picked up before it got back to my pick. So I decided to pick the best possible TE (by a fairly wide margin) on the board.
Round 5: RB Edgerrin James (ARI) - I thought that I'd HAVE to go WR here but James in round 5 was too good to pass up. I also figured that with the run of WRs this early, some of the guys I'd consider at this pick would probably slip a round or two further.
Round 6: WR Reggie Brown (PHI) - A solid receiver who is effective in the red zone. Should have better numbers if Donovan McNabb can stay healthy. Not pretty or trendy, but effective. This is also the part of the draft that I HAD to pick some WRs.
Round 7: WR Chris Chambers (MIA) - Had a major down season last year but let's be honest...the guy was trying to catch balls from Daunte Culpepper (the 2006 edition, not 2004) and Joey Harrington. Might not be a superstar, but should get his yards.
Round 8: WR Calvin Johnson (DET) - Not addressing your WR position early means you have to take a chance on the one possible home run hitter still left on the board. I never like rookie WRs, but Johnson is the most talented rookie WR since Randy Moss, so I don't mind this pick in 8, which seems about right.
Round 9: RB Marshawn Lynch (BUF) - Lynch in round 9? I saw him there and thought....can I pass on him here? Far too much value to not draft him here. For whatever reason, teams were going crazy drafting defences and kickers before "all the good ones were picked" while this is where I started picking up ALOT of good value and creating significant depth.
Round 10: WR Vincent Jackson (SD) - All I do is read good stuff on this guy. I was actually thinking of taking him in 8 instead of Johnson, but decided to take the guy with the higher ceiling if taking a guy based on potential. Jackson gives me another decent option and depth at WR.
Round 11: WR Donte Stallworth (NE) - Another good deep threat. When he was healthy with Philly last year he had some monster games. Talent is not the issue here, it's health. A nice option as a 5th receiver that I can use when healthy and when the match-up is right.
Round 12: QB Jay Cutler (DEN) - I ignored a back-up QB since Palmer seems healthy and is a major stud, so I was surprised to still see Cutler sitting here. I don't buy into the Cutler hype quite as much as others but I'll gladly take him in 12 as a back-up QB.
Round 13: RB Ladell Betts (WAS) - Another player that I couldn't pass up despite not really needing a 5th RB on the roster. If (when?) Portis blows out his shoulder again, Betts should prove to be a very valuable player....possibly providing the same value as a 2nd/3rd round RB.
Round 14: DEF Jacksonville - Considering a back-up defence was drafted before players like Jay Cutler, I was VERY surprised to see a defence of Jacksonville's calibre hanging around in the second last round.
Round 15: K Aaron Barrett (KC) - Kicker was pretty combed over and I decided to take a flyer on the rookie Chiefs kicker. If he doesn't nail down the job I'll just pick another kicker off the scrap heap....we are talking about kickers here, after all.
I was crapping my pants at the start of the draft as I continued to see WRs getting picked and noticing the zero receivers I had on my roster. My RB depth and talent is ridiculous and I have the top TE and possibly top QB in the game, so I'm very comfortable there. My only weakness is at WR, but I ended up getting 5 decent options to cycle through in Brown, Chambers, Johnson, Jackson and Stallworth. This gives me the opportunity to play the hot hand, adjust for injuries and play match-ups in order to get solid production from the receiver position. The real strength of this team, though, is depth. It's going to take ALOT of injuries to take a serious dent of out of this squad's competitiveness.
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