Born Weird

So yesterday we held the draft in the fantasy football league I’ve been running for several years now. While I’m quite certain almost no one on earth has interest in reading a writeup of my picks, I’m going to go over all 18 of them anyway.

In case you do care, you should know that this is a league where each week we start 10 players: QB, RB, WR, TE, WR/RB, WR/RB, K, LB, DB, D. Rosters have room for 8 bench players. I had the fourth pick in the first round of a snaking draft with 10 teams.

Here’s who I wound up with:

DeAngelo Williams (RB – CAR) – Rd 1, Pick 4
I seriously considered taking Matt Forte, who is more clearly The Man in his backfield, but ultimately I decided his résumé was a little too short for the fourth pick. Jonathan Stewart is nursing an Achilles injury so Williams seems poised to get the bulk of the load again. He was the highest-scoring fantasy RB last year; if he comes anywhere close to duplicating that, I’ll be happy.

Drew Brees (QB – NO) – Rd 2, Pick 7
How he fell this far I’ll never know, but I’m delighted that he did. This was a no-brainer. I’m curious to see if he’ll outscore Brady, taken three picks earlier.

Roddy White (WR – ATL) – Rd 3, Pick 4
None of the RBs available here were in my top tier, but I had White down as top tier WR so I grabbed him as the sixth receiver off the board. He’s the only receiver in the NFL to have had five or more 100 yard games each of the last two seasons, after all. I did think about taking Ryan Grant here but it seemed just a tad too early.

Tony Gonzalez (TE – ATL) – Rd  4, Pick 7
Ryan Grant didn’t even last until the beginning of round 4. With no other attractive WR or Rb options at this point in the draft, I opened the seal of drafting TEs with Tony, my clear #1. It felt a wee bit early but no one else made sense, and I felt vindicated when the next two guys off the board were also TEs.

Ray Rice (RB – BAL) – Rd 5, Pick 4
Probably a reach here. With only one RB on my roster I needed depth. Pierre Thomas was tops on my board but since I already had Brees I felt taking Thomas would be unwise. I considered Kevin Smith and Joseph Addai but decided to take a chance on Rice, who might wind up being a total bust but whatever.

Joseph Addai (RB – IND) – Rd 6, Pick 7
I’d been hoping to nab consensus #1 linebacker Patrick Willis here, but he got taken with the second pick this round, so I decided to bolster my backfield a bit more (I prefer RBs to WRs in the flex spots) and was happy to get Addai since a) I’d considered taking him last round, and b) his ADP is a bit earlier than this.

Jon Beason (LB – CAR) – Rd 7, Pick 4
Still smarting over not getting Willis, I went with my #2 ranked linebacker, as it seemed too early to start taking backup offensive players. I’m notorious in my league for taking defensive players early, but round 7 is pretty reasonable for a sure-bet LB.

Eric Weddle (DB – SD) – Rd 8, Pick 7
I was planning on taking a second WR here, but Holmes, Royal, Bryant and Ochocinco all went between my previous pick and this one. I nearly took Bernard Berrian but a bye week collision made me reluctant, so I decided to go with my top-ranked DB. Maybe I should have taken that WR last round, but whatever.

Donald Driver (WR – GB) – Rd 9, Pick 4
Then again, maybe I shouldn’t have taken a WR in round 7. Driver is a proven player on an offense that’s looking fantastic, and his ADP is the beginning of round 8… I think this is actually a great pick considering my roster needs and the stage of the draft.

Matt Hasselbeck (QB – SEA) – Rd 10, Pick 7
I’d been hoping to pick up my third defensive starter here, but I couldn’t justify taking any of the guys still available here this early (Briggs, Mayo and Atogwe were gone). I wouldn’t normally take a backup QB this early, especially given my starter, but Hasselbeck seemed like a great value here considering he’s healthy and has Houshmandzadeh this year. Might be good trade bait.

Felix Jones (RB – DAL) – Rd 11, Pick 4
Still reluctant to reach for another defensive player, and thinking that most of the WRs left at this point were pretty interchangeable, I decided to draft a high-upside runner. Now all I have to do is hope Barber gets hurt or something.

D’Qwell Jackson (LB – CLE) – Rd 12, Pick 7
Needed to get that third defender, and I prefer LBs. Jackson wasn’t actually my top-rated LB available at this point (I had Lewis, Morrison and Fletcher ahead of him), but I’m a total sucker for players with great names… hence the pick. Interestingly, both Morrison and Fletcher went undrafted. Hmmm.

Donnie Avery (WR – STL) – Rd 13, Pick 4
I know next to nothing about this year’s Rams, and next to nothing about Avery. But he’s a #1 WR with an ADP in round 9, so I figured why not? Also considered Hester, Coles, Jerricho Cotchery (the name thing again) and Holt… at this point in the draft, it’s a crapshoot.

Yeremiah Bell (DB – MIA) – Rd 14, Pick 7
I’m a Patriots fan and was hoping to get Meriweather as my second DB, but he went 3 picks beforehand (to the other Pats fan in the league). Bell was my top-rated DB still on the board, and he also appealed to my great name fetish, so I nabbed him.

Stephen Gostkowski (K – NE) – Rd 15, Pick 4
Every year I promise myself I won’t take a kicker until one of the last two rounds, and every year I take one earlier than that anyway. This was just too early, but I wanted to make sure I got at least one Patriot, and everyone else on my board seemed interchangeable.

Ted Ginn Jr. (WR – MIA ) – Rd 16, Pick 7
Had my eye on adding receiver depth here, such as Hester, Ginn, Mason, Hixon or Harvin. Hester was taken shortly before and I had trouble feeling good about Mason since he lacked the kind of upside I’d like to see here. So I randomly took Ginn.

Visanthe Shiancoe (TE – MIN) – Rd 17, Pick 4
Yeah, it’s the name thing again (I almost never draft a backup TE, especially with a starter like Gonzo) , but also I was amazed he was still on the board — TEs generally do well with Favre under center. File Visanthe under “likely trade bait.”

Leon Washington (RB – NYJ) – Rd 18, Pick 7
Seems like a steal with the fourth-to-last pick in the draft. I know some folks out there are high on Shonn Greene as Thomas Jones’ backup, but right now Washington is still number two on the Jets’ depth chart. With Jones being 31 years old and the QB situation in New York suspect, this made sense to me.

Final Thoughts
I’m unusually positive about my team going into this season. While I’m a bit nervous about the Williams pick (I may regret not taking Forte), if either he or Ray Rice bust out a big season (or Felix Jones takes over in Dallas) I’ll be in great shape. My receiving corps is a little thin but as long as White and Driver stay healthy I feel solid there. And I’m thrilled with what I have at QB, TE and on defense. Let the games begin!