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Fantasy Warm-Up
Authored by Andrew Perna - 6th July, 2007 - 12:24 pm
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It’s coming. No, I’m not talking about the 2007 NFL season, which kicks off the first weekend in September. I’m talking about the 2007 Fantasy Football season, which kicks off well – whenever you decide to start assembling your army of teams.
I opened up my fantasy football season on Thursday when I drafted my first team in a Yahoo public league. I’ve already gotten myself signed up for roughly six teams, last year I fielded nine, so I decided a stress-free “stranger” league would be a good way to practice my drafting skills for the upcoming season.
For those of you who have completed in Yahoo public leagues, you know they’re the old fantasy stand-by. They don’t leave any stone unturned, but if you want anything special it’s going to cost you some serious coin. I opt for a simple ten-team, head-to-head, snake draft league. The starting line-ups will consist of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, and one each at tight end, kicker, and defense/special teams.
As draft time approaches I grab my laptop and my incomplete draft strategy guide and head out on the back porch. It’s nice out and I figure why not begin my fantasy season with a universal good omen – some sunshine.
I enter the draft room and scroll down the list to identify my pick. I scroll. And scroll. Bam, I’m slotted to select tenth, which means I’ll be facing back-to-back picks through each of the fifteen rounds. Usually, I enjoy picking last, but for a warm-up draft, my strategy is going to have to change entirely. Nearly twenty picks will take place in-between my selections, so I have to make sure nothing is taken for granted.
As expected running backs fly off the table faster than drinks at a Paris Hilton party. Before long I’m left with Brian Westbrook at the tenth pick. Not too bad, but I wanted better. My plan this year is to abandon the universal drafting strategy of taking running backs in each of the first two rounds. In the second I decide on Peyton Manning, because nothing is more of a lock than thirty-plus touchdowns from the Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
As the rest of the big-money players fly off the board, I decide that my next pick combination will consist of a wide receiver and running back, in that order. With Steve Smith, Chad Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and even Larry Fitzgerald taken, I select the Lions’ Roy Williams with the thirtieth pick. With the thirty-first I take Deuce McAllister, to lock in a backfield of flexible proportions.
I’m not all too thrilled about my team, but I’m starting to feel good about my chances in the league. In the fifth round people are already starting to take tight ends and defenses, and for me – that’s a no-no. With the fiftieth pick I decide on Jets’ wide receiver Laveranues Coles, who I think is obtained at great value but I’ve been wrong before. I make it an all Jets round as I take running back Thomas Jones with my next selection. If you thought my Coles’ selection was a bit premature, I surely redeemed myself by taking Jones (a steal this late).
For the third time in a row I decide to go receiver/running back with my upcoming picks (seventieth and seventy-first). I snatch up Seattle wide out Deion Branch, and take a chance with Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson as my fourth running back. I feel he’ll make an impact before long, worst case I’ll deal him to fill a hole in my roster.
I then commit the worse fantasy mistake of the early ’07 season. I cruise around the web in-between by selections of Branch/Peterson, and my ninth and tenth round picks. I log into my RealGM e-mail and sift through my new messages – almost forgetting about my all-important draft. Apparently, I drifted from the draft’s Java page too long because they changed my status to “I’m Away” and set up to make the remaining picks for me. I switched back over to the draft quick enough, but once my turn came up the picks were automatically called. Just like that I had L.J. Smith and the Seahawks defense on my roster.
(Insert expletive here!)
I hadn’t planned on taking either a tight end or a defense until the final rounds. I just wasted valuable mid-round picks on positions I was far from worried about. I was prepared to take a strangle-hold on the wide receiver and running back market. Now, I was ready to strangle myself.
The screw-up cost me guys like DeAngelo Williams, Mark Clayton, Vincent Jackson, and Chester Taylor – all players I planned on targeting with those picks (and I would have had my choice of the four had I not been “Away”).
I’m now sweating profusely and in a panic because heading into the eleventh round I have three wide outs, exactly the number I need to start, with no viable replacement under contract (don’t tell me I’m the only one who acts like they really own their player’s rights). In a rush, I make a lunge at the Seahawks’ D.J. Hackett, primed to capitalize on the freedom created by Darrell Jackson’s departure. Whew. Now I have three quality starters, and Hackett to fill in for any injuries, slumps, or bye-weeks.
Wait a tick.
My number three receiver is Deion Branch, Hackett’s teammate! The “auto-pick fiasco” as I’m now labeling it didn’t just cost me my ninth and tenth round selections, but in a panic it ruined my eleventh as well. Dejected and on the clock, I verify bye-weeks and take Matt Leinart as Peyton’s back-up. I stand up, and stretch my legs. The draft is moving fast, but I need to regroup. I have three picks left, and a vacant spot at kicker. That leaves me with two more picks to fortify my bench, now who to take?
At this point in the draft people are taking back-up tight ends and defenses for whatever reason, so I know I’ll be able to score someone of relative value with both my picks. As my turn draws near, I decide to go receiver/running back once again in hopes of solving the Hackett dilemma. With the one-hundred and thirtieth pick I take Oakland’s Ronald Curry. He was a trendy sleeper last year, but things are different in ’07. No Moss, No Brooks. Maybe this will be his year. I’m certainly hoping so.
Next I take the Titans’ LenDale White, who I think will be a nice pick-up for my team if he stops going to McDonald’s to “pick-up” food. The job of number one back is really his for the taking, and he’s the only thing that can stop him. For all intents and purposes my draft is over. With my final pick I take Baltimore’s Matt Stover as my kicker. I’m more than content to make him the final pick in the draft, especially seeing as someone took Adam Vinatieri in the fifth round.
With the draft over I surf over to my team’s homepage to access the damage. My opening day line-up will, barring injury, look something like this:
QB: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis
WR: Roy Williams, Detroit
WR: Laveranues Coles, New York
WR: Deion Branch, Seattle
RB: Brian Westbrook, Philadelphia
RB: Deuce McAllister, New Orleans
TE: L.J. Smith, Philadelphia
K: Matt Stover, Baltimore
DEF: Seattle
I’m pretty content, especially when you consider the potential I possess on my bench. My team isn’t sexy, but it’s certainly dangerous. More than likely, I’ll try to swing a deal before week three. That’s my favorite team to deal because people, sometimes including myself, begin to panic. It wasn’t my best effort, but I still have time to construct alternative strategies, and research projected draft positions.
Until then I’ll continue waiting with anticipation for the 2007 season, both NFL and fantasy to begin. I may consider myself RealGM’s fantasy expert, but that’s based more on obsession than skill (or so I believe). I thank those of you who followed the Keyboard Quarterback last year, it’ll be back in full swing come September. If you’re dying to hear the highs and lows of each week in the NFL and the trials and tribulations of a fantasy junkie – you’re in the right place.
