Fantasy Draft #2

Last night was the fantasy football draft for my marathoner's league. I finished 2nd last year in a 14 team league, losing the championship by 1/3 of a point. Ouch! I lost 2 RBs to injury during the championship game so I felt lucky just to have still been that competitive. Anyway, this year I expect to win.

Draft order was chosen randomly and I got stuck with the 14th pick. No strategy here, just sit and wait and hope someone falls to you. I was pretty happy to grab RB Ryan Grant (GB) and WR Andre Johnson (Hou) with the 14th and 15th picks. Grant was #10 on my draft board and Johnson was #13, so I felt like I got good value. I actually passed on McGahee, who was #12 on my list, due to injury questions. Time will tell if that was the right decision.

This league starts 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 RB/WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF, 1 D. My strategy leading up to the draft was to stock up on RBs and WRs in the early rounds, grab a top QB if one fell far enough, draft a TE late, draft a kicker very late, get the Packers defense (or better), and try to choose the right time to grab Linebacker Patrick Willis.

Here's how my picks played out:

1. (14) Ryan Grant RB GB
2. (15) Andre Johnson WR Hou
3. (42) Anquan Boldin WR Ari
4. (43) Jonathan Stewart RB Car
5. (70) Dwayne Bowe WR KC
6. (71) Rashard Mendenhall RB Pit
7. (98) Jake Delhomme QB Car
8. (99) Patrick Willis LB SF
9. (126) Tony Scheffler TE Den
10. (127) Matt Schaub QB Hou
11. (154) Vincent Jackson WR SD
12. (155) Ray Rice RB Bal
13. (182) Pierre Thomas RB NO
14. (183) Indianapolis DEF
15. (210) Chris Perry RB Cin
16. (211) Philadelphia DEF
17. (238) DeMeco Ryans LB Hou
18. (239) John Kasay K Car

I'm second guessing the Jonathon Stewart pick in round 4 because I could have gone with a safer choice like Thomas Jones, but if Stewart turns out to be half the RB he is expected to be, then it was a great pick. Delhomme in the 7th round was a bit of a reach, but again, if his arm is healed then he is a great value in this position.

Rounds 9 and 10 were stressful. I knew exactly who I wanted and this was the perfect time to grab them. Truly great value if I could get them this late in the draft. My six year old was sitting beside me in fidgety anticipation as I explained that these 2 players were by far the best available at their positions and that if I didn't get them then there would be a pretty significant drop off in talent at both positions after those two players were drafted. We both shouted for joy as my turn came and both players were still available. Scheffler and Schaub!!! Mark my words, great value picks at #126 and 127 overall. Sweet.

By this point, all of the quality RBs and WRs were long gone so it was time to start honing in on my sleeper candidates, guys who are currently flying under the radar but could turn out to be stars this year. For RBs, I had 3 sleepers and I managed to draft all three of them. Ray Rice is a rookie for the Ravens who could steal snaps from McGahee and could also be the week 1 starter if McGahee's injury is still an issue. Pierre Thomas is a sneaky pick from the Saints. If Reggie Bush's knee continues to be a problem, or if Bush just isn't as good as his hype (like last year), then Thomas has a real opportunity to step up for New Orleans. The last guy I was targeting was Chris Perry, of the Bengals. With Rudi Johnson's career on the skids and Perry finally getting healthy, this could be the steal of the draft. Some experts are predicting that Perry will be the week 1 starter for the Bengals. Time will tell for all 3 of these picks but I did my homework and hopefully it will pay off.

This took me to the final 2 rounds. There were a couple of WRs on my draft board who were still available but I figured with the top notch receivers that I had already drafted, a fifth receiver was going to be nothing more than a bench warmer. Then I noticed that no one had drafted linebacker DeMeco Ryans. This guy is easily a top 5 defensive player for fantasy purposes and I had him at #2 at the position on my draft board. So I grabbed him with the intention of trading him for a quality RB or something once the other managers in my league realize how valuable this guy is.

For my last pick I simply chose the best remaining kicker on my draft board and called it a night. Overall, I think I landed a pretty solid team with good depth at the skill positions. I think that grabbing the 2 top LBs was pretty huge. It doesn't look like the other managers did their homework when it came to drafting defensive players. A good defensive player can add 15-18 points to your total score each week. That's huge! It's like having an extra RB on your squad. You win championships by paying attention to detail.