How'd my draft go?

**dandrews** · 09-05-2011, 12:28 AM

I'll kind of do this in the same format SFiB did his last fantasy post. I think I did pretty well, but I'd like a second opinion. 10 team standard scoring. No PPR.

1.6 - Ray Rice
Couldn't believe he was there at 6. The bad thing is, Chris Johnson and Arian Foster were also there. I'm glad I took Rice over Foster, because Foster's injury scares me (plus I saw a regression from him anyway), but I still don't know if I made the right move skipping on CJ. I had no clue he was going to be there at 6, so I didnt really prepare myself to look into him. I like Rice this year with Leach blocking and an improved offensive line though.

2.4 - Roddy White
My fantasy herpes. Follows me every year. This was an easy pick for me, considering the next best WR was Hakeem Nicks. Nicks is good, but he's not Roddy White. I also considered Brees here, but I took the gamble that Rivers would be available in round 3.

3.6 - Phillip Rivers
Yes he was there. Him being here made this an easy pick. He was the 2nd to last of the elite qbs taken (P. Manning the other, wouldnt touch him with a ten foot pole). Rivers is consistent every year, and he gives me stability at the QB position for the first time in the past 2/3 years for my fantasy teams. If he wasn't there, I was prepared to take Vincent Jackson.

4.4- Miles Austin
I have a feeling if Romo stays healty, Austin will tear it up this year. He's Romo's goto guy, and he's a perfect WR2 behind Roddy. I had to decide between Miles and Blount, but I took Miles. Looking back at the draft, I probably would have taken Blount. There's a serious drop off at RB a little later down the road.

5.6- Jahvid Best
He's a huge injury risk, and if he gets hurt im f**ked. It's tough to have him as a RB2, but he looks very good in the preseason and I think Detroit's offensive will be explosive this year. His upside is Jamaal Charles like, and if that happens I win the league. If the opposite happens, I'll be looking for a trade quickly. I didn't consider anyone else at this position, because I couldnt wait any longer for another RB, and the drop off after Best is HUGE.

6.4 - Vernon Davis
He's been extremely consistent the past 2 years, so I just about know what I'm getting with him. With that said, I still don't feel comfortable with Davis repeating last year's performance. I still think it's a good pick, especially since the talent taken in the 6th round was kind of suspect. I also considered Percy Harvin and Dez Bryant, but I figured I needed a dependable TE. I normally always wait on TE's.....not this draft though.

7.6 - Dez Bryant
I was shocked to see him fall to the 7th round. I don't like idea of pairing up Dez and Austin together, but Dez has the potential to be a top 10 WR. I considered nobody else here, and scooped up Dez right away.

8.4 - Tim Hightower
I know the warnings of avoiding Mike Shanahan running backs, but I chose to ignore them. He looked incredible in preseason, but more importantly why I took him was because there was NOBODY else I would even consider taking in the 8th. I thought about Collie but I was determined I needed another RB. The other RBs available were R Matthews, Spiller, Addai, Benson, Grant, Lawfirm, Beanie Wells, and Ingram. They all suck.

9.6 - Joe Flacco
Now was the time to get a backup for Rivers. I really wanted Bradford, but he was drafted a few picks before me, so I had to go with Flacco. The fan in me says I hope he's better than Rivers by week 3 (lol), but to be real Flacco's never going to start, but in case he does I feel 100% comfortable with him getting a spot start during Rivers bye week.

10.4 - Jimmy Graham
He's going to have a monster year. If my feeling that Vernon will regress this year is true, Graham will come in seamlessly. If he doesnt, I have trade bait for that much needed RB2.

**dandrews** · 09-05-2011, 12:47 AM

11.6 - Plaxico Burress
Complete 100% gamble. There's a good chance he's going to be awful, but in the slight chance he reverts back to his old self, I all of a sudden have an abundance of riches at WR. Looking back now, I should have taken Mike Tolbert, but my draft strategy is basically to collect lottery tickets after 10, which is exactly what Plax is. Also considered Santana Moss and Johnny Knox.

12.4 - Pierre Thomas
Mark Ingram is a rookie. Rookies have 6 weeks to learn the offense. Give me the vet over the rookie every day of the week, especially this year. I don't really expect much, but if Ingram goes down, Thomas will get most of the touches in an explosive offense. I like the gamble.

13.6 Steve Smith (Car)
Same thing as Plax. He's a lottery ticket. He'll probably be bad this year, but the upside of Cam Newton is high enough for Smith to emerge from the dead. If he does, more trade bait for a RB. I wanted Julio Jones (huge upside) and Lee Evans, but they were taken the 2 spots in front of me.

14.4 - Giants defense
Sacks, sacks, and more sacks. While defenses were flying off the board in round 6-10, I was worried I'd end up with the Bills defense. I was estatic to see NYG there in the 14th. Snatched them up immediately.

15.6 Davone Bess
He's more valuable in a PPR league, but more receptions is never a bad thing in any league. He also lit up teams in the last quarter of 2010, so I'm taking a late draft flyer on a breakout candidate.

16.4 Matt Bryant
Dome kicker on an explosive offense. How the f**k did he drop this far? Reason number 2376 why you should wait on kickers.

17.6 Nate Burleson
Caught a TD pass in every preseason game so far. Number 2 receiver in a potentially explosive offense. Love this pick for round 17.

------------------------------------------------------
So my final team goes as follows

QB - Rivers
RB - Rice, Best
WR - White, Austin, Bryant
TE - V. Davis
K - M. Bryant
DEF - Giants

Bench - Flacco, Hightower, P. Thomas, Burress, S. Smith (CAR), Bess, Burleson, Graham

I think I did awesome. What do you guys think?

**SteelFaninBMore** · 09-05-2011, 07:40 AM

Yeah, that's a really good job. I love Vernon Davis this year - I've had him targetted in every draft, but I always seem to wait a round too long and he gets sniped right before I pick. Backing him up with Graham is a solid move. I think by mid-season you might be struggling on deciding which one to start every week. A good problem to have.

Dez was a no-brainer, even with Austin on the roster. I'm high enough on the Cowboys offense that I think they can both put up solid numbers week in and week out. Overall I really like the WR group you've got.

Not sure how the hell Rice fell to #6. I can understand Foster and CJ dropping, but with those guys dropping I've been seeing a lot of drafts with Rice going #1 or #2 overall. I wouldn't second guess too much about passing up CJ. I think as long as you get one of the top RBs, by year's end you're not going to see a whole lot of difference. The first round RBs are like a minefield in my opinion. None of them will be head and shoulders above the rest; you just need to avoid the guys who are going to crash back to earth this year and finish well below the others (like Foster).

You just need Best to stay healthy. I think he will - I don't really shy away from 2nd year guys who were hurt as rookies (look at Mendenhall). I'll chalk those up to fluke injuries and take my chances, especially when it's something like turf toe.

Very nice draft. If that team's not in the playoffs I'll be pretty surprised (assuming everyone stays healthy, of course).

**bensmotorcyclehelmt** · 09-07-2011, 12:40 PM

I think Hightower is nice off the bench. He could be up for some huge games.
The only questionmark is Shanahan. He changes RBs more than most people do underwear...

**dandrews** · 10-20-2011, 09:08 PM

Right now, I'm 4-2. I started 4-0, but some bye weeks screwed me up.

My team is completely different that I had drafted it. Hightower is gone. I swindled an owner into trading me Ryan Matthews for Vernon Davis as soon as Vernon got hot.

I kept hearing all through the end of preseason and the beginning of the season how awesome Mark Ingram looked, and how he was going to get more involved as the season went on. I ended up trading for him.....

for Steve Smith (after his week 1 hot start, sold high)

:grbac:

dropped flacco for tebow, plax for greg little, burleson for earnest graham, thomas for eric decker, and somebody else who I cant remember for Sidney Rice.

My WR have all the potential in the world, but they're holding me back (White, austin, dez). I'm not sure if I should package one of them for somebody more consistent, or ride it out.