I’m sure we can all agree that the most important times in one’s life are those in which a fantasy football roster is selected. If you can’t agree with this, then you are a lemming and should recuse yourself from further participation on this blog. Because it is obvious that spending many hours sitting around a table with a bunch of other guys and selecting a bunch of unknown players, tournament style, based on a bunch of ranking articles from arcane magazines, is far more important than mailing out invitations to my wedding, especially considering that there are sixteen weekends in the fantasy football season and only one weekend for my wedding.
I picked third out of ten teams. The 13th pick came in a bonus round.
1. Peyton Manning (QB) 2. Stephen Jackson (RB) 3. Tiki Barber (RB) 4. Darrell Jackson (WR) 5. Drew Bennett (WR) 6. Alge Crumpler (TE) 7. Michael Bennett (RB) 8. Lee Evans (WR) 9. Jake Delhomme (QB) 10. Marshall Faulk (RB) 11. Keenan McCardell (WR) 12. Washington Redskins defense (DST) 13. Nate Kaeding (K)
My surprise move is my second pick. I predict Steven Jackson is going to have a monster year. I bucked the advice of all the fantasy draft moguls and went for this guy based on my own observations.
Good draft
My observations:
Tiki will surprise you as well. He recently bulked up in the weight room and I bet he has a monster this year (even if he saves you points not fumbling)
Drew Bennett won’t surprise anyone this year. I bet he has a drop-off.
Michael Bennett will either suck or have a monster year. He’s got the talent, but he’s been hurt. With Ontario whizzed out this year, I think he’ll get his shot.
Jake Delhomme is a great pick at 9. Great pick.
How does your league work? 1 QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1DEF, and 1K?
Weed
Bennett Last Year
Drew Bennett last year was fantastic. He was scoring 20 points a game in our leage. I made him my first WR pick based on last year’s performance, but recognizing that the Titans’ other wideout left for B’more. This makes Bennett a vulnerable to a drop-off, so I agree that the risk is there.
JD at #9 was a great pick because other teams still needed a QB. I’m going to wave him out as trade bait for a WR is Bennett slacks.
Our league is 1 QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1DEF, and 1K, but QBs only get 4pts for passing TDs. Hence, the league is slanted for RBs.
Weed, did you get your draft lineup yet?
2006 Fantasy Draft
I picked sixth out of ten teams. The 13th pick came in a bonus round.
1. Stephen Jackson (RB) 2. Willis McGahee (RB) 3. Hines Ward (WR) 4. DeShaun Foster (RB) 5. Darrell Jackson (WR) 6. Chris Cooley (TE) 7. T.J. Housh (WR) 8. Pittsburgh Steelers (DST) 9. Jake Delhomme (QB) 10. Kellen Winslow (TE) 11. Chris Brown (RB) 12. Trent Green (QB) 13. Nate Kaeding (PK)
Last year I made a huge mistake by picking a QB first, with the third pick in the overall draft. It forced me out of the chance to acquire depth in quality RBs and WRs. That, and Darrell Jackson got injured while Drew Bennett performed horribly. This year I think I did a better job (at least on paper) of stacking RBs and WRs to account for injuries and bye weeks.
Ugly
Your boys looked nasty against the Patriots last night. What’s up? Where’s this high-powered offense?
My $.02 Weed
Lowest-scoring
My team tallied the lowest total score of all teams in the league for this first week of the 2006 campaign. My starting 5 (QB/2 RBs/2 WRs) combined for only 1 TD. This is terrible.
What I’m beginning to see here is a trend. During my first year of fantasy football I placed third overall in the league. I now attribute this to beginner’s luck. The team won in spite of me not knowing what I was doing. Since that inaugural year, I’ve felt confident in my teams but the results have been the same — I’m consistently the lowest-scoring team in the league. At some point you have to look at the trend and say, “I’m not good at this.”
If by the end of this season my team finishes at the league basement I will retire from fantasy football. What’s the point of spending entire weekends managing a fantasy team when I continue to serve as an easy win for all the other owner-players?
Say it ain’t so!
No! Say it ain’t so! I have you ranked #2 in my betting league for major fantasy-football franchises! You can’t just LEAVE!
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Lurching Towards The Playoffs
Midway through the 2006 campaign and it’s amazing how much my work and family life has interfered with my fantasy football season.
I’m currently in third place in my division, with a two game lead on the fourth-place team for the wild-card spot. The top two teams in my division are the #1 and #2 scoring teams in the ten-team. Our division is far more competitive than the other division, and it’s unfortunate that I’m pitted against such lethal competition, stacked with top-performing players. Currently, I’m 4th in team scoring in the league, even with my starting RBs tallying a combined 3 TDs through the first seven weeks.
Changes to my roster: 3. Hines Ward (WR) – Bernard Berrian (WR) 5. Darrell Jackson (WR) – Donald Driver (WR) 6. Chris Cooley (TE) 11. Chris Brown (RB) 12. Trent Green (QB)
Fantasy football does some strange things to a person: I now root and rah against the Redskins when it serves my fantasy interests.
2007 Fantasy Draft
After coming in 3rd last year, placing in the money for the second time in the three years I’ve been playing (my 2004 draft was never showcased on this blog), I’m back for another year of the sleepless nights, anguish, hope, exultations, prayers, and joy that is fantasy football. And those emotions are just for the missed extra points.
Now, of significant mention is my defection to a new league. This new league comprises gents from Wife Unit’s workplace. The reason this is exciting is because all the folks in my new league have actually graduated high school. Not that I’m some sort of education elitist, but the fun of the competition from past seasons was diluted since all smack from opponents was basically:
-“XXXX you, you XXXXXXX XXXX!” -“How does this email thing work?”
I’m done with the meathead factor. This was obvious during the 2007 draft. In prior years, when the draft was peppered with a lot of hooting and beer-backed verbal assaults (leading to actual wrestling matches), this year’s draft was done in almost complete silence. Seriously. Everyone had their mags, cheat sheets and computerized draft buddies spread across a large conference room table while solemnly, quietly deliberating picks. There was knowledge going on.
This didn’t stop me from taking advantage of the situation. I had prepped for the draft by mathematically analyzing the official scoring rules to make sure I calculated avg. optimum scoring outcomes for each position. This scoring matrix guided my strategy for the draft, and subsequent strategy for my active lineup. If I’m right, then everyone else is doing it wrong. Basically, the system is skewed towards receivers. You can start a maximum of 5 WR/TEs. While I loaded up on WRs and RBs with a penchant for receiving, everyone else took QBs with their high picks.
12 team league, I picked 10th. Blame Wife Unit for the low draft position.
1. Maroney, Laurence RB NE 2. McGahee, Willis RB BAL 3. Williams, Cadillac RB TB 4. Houshmandzadeh, T.J. WR CIN 5. Brown, Reggie WR PHI 6. Bears, DST DST CHI 7. Jackson, Vincent WR SD 8. Cooley, Chris TE WAS 9. Garcia, Jeff QB TB 10. Henderson, Devery WR NO 11. Stover, Matt K BAL 12. Gonzalez, Anthony WR IND 13. Booker, Marty WR MIA 14. Buckhalter, Correll RB PHI 15. Washington, Leon RB NYJ 16. Morris, Sammy RB NE
Of note is that I used my 3rd pick on a player that won’t even be starting in our active roster. I knew this when making the pick. You can’t have enough quality, starting RBs because of injuries. Furthermore, per the above rationale, I waited to take my first QB, Jeff Garcia, in the 9th round.
I love fantasy football. Good thing Wife Unit does as well.
I Might Not Win A Game
After two games into the season, it doesn’t look like I’m going to win any games. This is because 3 of my top 7 picks are, essentially, doing nothing. In addition to Cadillac Williams being inactive, Reggie Brown and Vincent Jackson have been bombs. Thus, I’m empty at the WR position and not putting up any points.
It’s my fault for drafting such a poor squad.
One day…
One day, I will have to gather enough interest to figure out what Fantasy Football is all about. It sounds kind of interesting.
—
Matthew P. Barnson
Agreed..
I think there used to be something like it for actors as well.. like a stock market wher eyou could invest in actors values.
Visit the Official Justin Timpane Website Music, Acting, and More! http://www.timpane.com
Wasn’t Easy: Back to 3-3
After going 0-3 I decided to abandon all dedication to my draft roster and unload dead weight. I got way crafty in packaging deals and shipped players such that only 6 of my original 16 now remain.
The result: I’m now 3-3.
I sent Cadillac Williams and Vincent Jackson for Ronnie Brown – huge. I sent Maroney and Morris for Wes Welker – huge.
For all fantasy owners out there, mid-season roster moves are crucial for contention.
okay – I’ll bite
Is there a recommended site that i can visit to learn how to ‘play’? I’d like to try to get into it next season, so this should give me some time to learn.
Best places to learn
I actually don’t visit any site for insight. There are decent mags, but the best thing is to download podcasts and to listen to fantasy owners discussing strategy.
The most important thing is understanding your league’s scoring system and drafting players to fit that system.