Yup. It’s finally football time again. So I threw some beers, chips, hoagie, laptop, printouts and mag into a bag and rolled my arse to my 14-team fantasy football league draft. Here’s what happened:
1st Round, #7 overall: Stephen Jackson, RB, St. Louis
Somewhat surprisingly, DeAngelo Williams went #3 overall (well, not that surprisingly, I guess, when you factor in the Panthers homer pick) and LT went #6, leaving me a choice between Jackson, Frank Gore and Chris Johnson. I had Gore last year and I see the 49ers going to more of a running back-by-committee (RBBC) approach, and I just have a bad feeling about Johnson this year. Lendale White is still there, Tennessee seems to have a ton of backs and Johnson seems to have allowed his rookie success to go to his head (*fill in EZU joke here*). When healthy (and yes, that is key), S-Jax is one of the most dynamic backs in the league, and I see him getting a LOT of touches this year (*don’t fill in Michael Jackson joke here*).
2nd, round, #22 overall: Steve Smith, WR, Carolina
I was surprised that five receivers went off the board before Smith, so even though I had him last year (I usually don’t like to have guys on back-to-back teams), I couldn’t pass him up in this spot. In a year where the sure-thing wideouts just aren’t to be found, I knew one wouldn’t be around when I picked in the third. He’s got a dinged shoulder, but there isn’t a tougher player in the league (ask the many teammates he’s beaten up), and I have to think that Jake Delhomme has one more solid season left in him.
3rd round, #35 overall: Marques Colston, WR, New Orleans
Colston was a guy I had pegged as someone I wanted on my team this year, somehow, someway. Luckily for me, there were some reaches in this round (Donovan McNabb and Vincent Jackson), and even though I was hoping Ronnie Brown would slide to me, when he was snapped up two picks before mine, I wasted no time grabbing Colston. He’s a big red-zone target who was hurt much of last year, but I’m predicting he’ll come back with a vengeance in Drew Brees’s pass-happy offense.
4th round, #50 overall: Roy E. Williams, WR, Dallas
Admittedly, this was the first of my boom-or-bust selections. It was definitely one of those moments where you walk up to the chalkboard already shaking your head before you commit to the player’s name in Magic Marker. There were some iffy, question-mark-riddled RBs out there (Larry Johnson, Joseph Addai, Willie Parker) and I had considered Wes Welker and Anquan Boldin, but those are both #2 wideouts. And hell, I figured someone besides Jason Witten is going to have to catch Tony Romo’s passes, and word was that Williams was “getting it” before he had a minor ankle injury. This is the year for Roy; does the E. stand for “erratic” or “exceptional”? He’s either going to bust loose and prove to everyone that he’s worth what the Cowboys gave up for him, or he’s going to fade into oblivion. Sadly, my team could be dangling on that same precipice thanks to this choice.
5th round, #63 overall: Lendale White, RB, Tennessee
The guy in front of me snaked Derrick Ward of the Bucs from underneath me, which left me a little flummoxed (I’m rarely flummoxed). I mentioned how I feel about Chris Johnson and the Titans this year, and with White’s famed no-tequila diet, I think he can get some things done this year. I certainly wasn’t thrilled with this pick, but I needed a second running back pretty bad and the remaining quarterbacks were all on the same general level in my eyes. The remaining “#1s” at RB were guys like Cedric Benson, Jamal Lewis and Julius Jones. I’m not even going to get into the latter two, but you’ll forgive me if I’m going to ask Cedric Benson to do it again while avoiding any water-related DUIs before I add him to The Scooters. The down side, of course, is I’ve now got back-to-back boom-or-bust choices in Williams and White, so a lot could be riding on whether they go boom (like the dynamite) or bust (like the Christine Hendricks).
6th round, 78th overall: Hines Ward, WR, Pittsburgh
This was a selection that made my overall feelings about my draft spike upwards. I don’t think I’ve ever had Ward on any of my teams, strangely enough, but he’s the old standby. I think folks are a bit too quick on the Santonio Holmes trigger this year; when Roethlisberger is in trouble, he looks for #86 first, second and last. Ward is coming off a very strong year and I think Holmes actually opens up a lot of underneath zones for Ward, who is good enough after the catch to make him a TD option in the red zone. For my #4 receiver in a league where I can start one RB and four WRs if I want, Ward still being here was too good to pass up.
7th round, 93th overall: Jay Cutler, QB, Chicago
Let the record show that I think this dude’s a prick. Luckily, in my league you don’t get points deducted for douchebaggery (though I’ve been pushing for a rules change for years), and in my mind Cutler was far and away the best remaining signal-caller. There are valid points to be made that he doesn’t have any established receivers to throw to, but he’s one of those guys where he makes the wideout instead of the other way around. A tremendous quarterback makes an average wide receiver look like a superstar, and the hope is that Cutler spreads it around enough to Greg Olsen, Devin Hester, Earl Bennett, Desmond Clark and Matt Forte that a couple will truly emerge. Cutler’s going to put up numbers and he’s also a threat to pick up some bonus points with his legs, so I was relatively happy that I was able to wait until the seventh round to land my top QB and have it be a guy of Cutler’s abilities.
8th round, 106th overall: Ahmad Bradshaw, RB, New York Giants
With Derrick Ward gone to Tampa and Brandon Jacobs seemingly always nursing one injury or another, I think Bradshaw can get some things done in ’09. The G-Men have one of the best offensive lines in the game, and I have a strong feeling that Bradshaw is going to get important touches on the ground and in the air this season. He’s an ideal #3 back in that you can start him in a pinch if necessary and he’s also solid trade bait should an injury to Jacobs make him the top dog in the Meadowlands. With other owners grabbing tight ends and defenses left and right in this area, I liked Bradshaw a lot to help bolster a relatively shaky running back corps to date.
9th round, 121st overall: Fred Taylor, RB, New England
Yes, he still has the nickname of “Fragile” even though he’s been pretty injury-free over the past several seasons. Yes, New England rotates as many running backs as Kate Hudson does leading men. Yes, Freddy is getting up there in age. But hell … somebody’s gotta be the #1 for the Patsies, and hasn’t the “Homeless Hoody” made a living by recycling past-their-prime former stars and helping them regain past glory? It was a nice spot to grab a #4 running back with big upside, especially since the top-tier tight ends were long gone and there was no pressing need on my part to grab a #2 QB or a #5 wideout. If the Cheatriots become the point-scoring machine they were prior to Tom Brady’s injury, this could turn into quite a steal for The Scooters.
Point it here for Part II …
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