To make my blog and my arguments valid, I believe I should tell the history of my fantasy life. I started to play fantasy football in August of 2011. My first draft was a horrible and embarrassing display of being an amateur. I picked the Jets defense 6th round and Ladanian Tomlinson the round before. I was unprepared for this live draft and had ZERO idea of what was a good pick and what type of player should be drafted each round. To make something clear, picking a defense before the 13th round is borderline psychotic and Ladanian Tomlinson was a washed up rag doll who played for the Jets. I mentioned he played for the Jets because 98 percent of Jets players suck for fantasy sports.There is no other way to put it. The year after was a better year, because I got all the way to the championship in one league and won the championship in the other. Last year was a good year for me, my success was a direct result of my pre-draft research. I followed an outline I had set up before the draft. It went something like this:
1st round- RB/QB
2nd round- RB
3rd round- TE
Lets talk about these three rounds. These three guys are the most important guys in your life, you will always remember them for the rest of the season. If its a mid to late first-round pick and most of the main RB's have been taken (Foster, Rice, McCoy last year and Peterson, Foster, Martin for this year) Pick an elite QB. Elite QB's are Brady, Rodgers, and Brees. I'm not saying they are the only elite QB's in the league or the only elite fantasy quarterbacks, they are three guys that week in and week out will give a solid performance. Rodgers struggled with points at times last season, but that was due to injury, a bigger emphasis on the running game which the Packers will (hopefully) not do again, and a spotty offensive line. The second round is a must for RB, there really is no excuse not to draft a RB, unless you have a magical sleeper that no one will pick in the later rounds. Banking on sleepers is dangerous, so tread carefully when dealing with guys that are unknown to the fantasy world.
So far we have drafted an elite RB/QB, an RB who would be available in the second round and still be crucial to your team a la Marshawn Lynch or Frank Gore. The third round pick should be for an elite tight end. A Gronkowski pick in the third round would be HUGE for your team. Gronk is a must have guy. The tight end position is overlooked, especially in early rounds. So its best to get the best from an already thin position. Aaron Hernandez and Jimmy Graham are also hot picks for the third round.
Since the WR position is so deep that in the NFL, the way the rules and offenses have trended, a new stud can flourish out of a team any given week. Which can be a gift such as Danario Alexander last year or a curse like Greg Little who was a wild card from week to week. For the next three rounds (4,5,6) I would put all my eggs in the WR basket. Look for guys who are the number one target for QBs to throw too and ones that have a solid QB throwing to them. Greg Jennings on Minnesota is not going to be as effective as lets say James Jones or Jordy Nelson on Green Bay. So Jennings has Christian Ponder throwing to him and Nelson and Jones have Aaron Rodgers throwing to them. If you don't know that Christian Ponder is a Kia of NFL quarterbacks while Rodgers is a Cadillac, then you need to get your head out of your ass before you keep reading.
My championship draft order was skewed a little because of the scoring settings in the 12 team roster. The flex position was TE/QB/WR/RB so I picked my wide receivers from rounds 3 to 5. I had the 8th pick in the first round, so I went with the elite QB route:
1. (8)Tom Brady (NE - QB)
2. (17) Marshawn Lynch (Sea - RB)
3. (32) Roddy White (Atl - WR)
4. (41)Percy Harvin (Sea - WR)
5.(56)Doug Martin (TB - RB)
6.(65)Dwayne Bowe (KC - WR)
7.(80)Donald Brown (Ind - RB)
8.(89)Tony Gonzalez (Atl - TE)
9.(104)Isaac Redman (Pit - RB)
10.(113)Baltimore (Bal - DEF)
11.(128)Santana Moss (Was - WR)
12.(137)Martellus Bennett (Chi - TE)
13.(152)Dan Bailey (Dal - K)
14.(161)Eric Weddle (SD - S)
15.(176)Danny Amendola (NE - WR)
16.(185)Russell Wilson (Sea - QB)
Note the second pick as a solid and reliable RB in Lynch. Hes solid and reliable because of his roll in the Seahawks offense and because hes a beast. Doug Martin was a great fifth round pick, no one was entirely sure what he could do as the number one option in Tampa Bay but he killed it. I was lucky to have picked Tony Gonzalez in the 8th round that wont happen again but he had a great year and Atlanta is a hot bed of WR talent, which makes Matt Ryan has great pick as well. The two picks that are not in stand out rounds and come semi-under the radar are Dwayne Bowe and Danny Amendola. Both number one in terms of targets on their respective teams last year. Because their QBs were decent and not especially talented, they would look for WRs they trusted the most. In upcoming blogs, new value will be discussed after the many transactions that have occurred throughout this past off-season.
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