Water Cooler Conversations: My First Round Pick

The first pick is a mysterious and profound moment in an owner's life. Who do you pick? What if he bombs, so much weighs on that pick. The guy you pick will pop off the page with a shine that will make you smile like you are staring at a newborn in their mother's arms. OR that guy can hide in the shadows of your roster and make you angry like an old man hates the Communist Party. That is how important the first pick is to your team. My two first picks last year were Tom Brady for my first team and Calvin Johnson for my second team, but they were the 8th and 5th picks respectively.  The one with Tom Brady ended winning the championship because of a deadly Qb/flex combo of Brady and Kaepernick. I think at the 8th pick in the first round, Brady was a smart choice. He was the best Qb on the board and Arian Foster had been picked. I want to share a conversation I had with a fellow owner. It will give an outside perspective, instead of my opinion being repeated over and over.  To respect the owners' anonymity I will call him Owner A.

ME: If you had first pick, who would you go with?

Owner A: Adrian Peterson hands down.

ME: What if it was a PPR league.

Owner A: I would still go with Adrian Peterson. He is too good not to pick. If all the running backs were picked, I would probably pick Calvin Johnson. 

ME: You wouldn't pick Aaron Rodgers or Drew Brees? 

Owner A: Nope, quarterbacks are all the same when it comes to points, an elite running back is hard to come by.

Owner A really likes Adrian Peterson. I don't blame him, AP ran for 2097 yards with 12 touchdowns coming off ACL surgery in January. AP is such a good player that the offense mainly runs through him. With the Vikings lacking other threats on offense, AP will be used more and more. 

Any quarterback that starts in the NFL will get you at least 15 points, with the exception of a few. Christian Ponder and Mark Sanchez are two that are undraftable. Decent quarterbacks can get 15 points  on a weekly basis, but even that is not all that great. However, an elite quarterback will get you 20-25 points on average, but can go off for 30 plus points any given week. The difference between an elite running back and a decent running back in terms of points is far greater than the difference between an elite quarterback and decent quarterback.