What’s up everyone? Welcome back to the blog! Well, late last night, I participated in something on an in between draft. On the website, www.AntSports.com, they have a contest called the Draft Challenge. The way it works is you draft a team like you normally would but instead of competing in a league and setting a starting lineup each week, the computer will automatically set your top lineup at the end of each week. There are prizes awarded at the end of the year including chances to win free entry into some of Steve’s (the owner of Ant Sports) money leagues. You can sign up for one team per user name. Sign up here and the full details of the contest can be seen there as well.
The reason I like to participate in the Draft Challenge is because it is as close to a real draft as a mock draft can be. In this draft challenge, I got the 12th pick. You can follow my picks here. My franchise name is FantasyFootballMMA.Blogspot.com (obviously). I will also do a regular report of my current selections. But before I get into my picks, I wanted to let you guys know that my first REAL draft started today. It’s a live draft, but each owner has 12 hours to pick. This draft will take about a week to complete but that should be enough to wet my appetite and hold me over until my 2nd real draft on the 22nd. This draft is also on AntSports. I will give more details in tomorrow’s blog. Nick is also in this league so I’m going to see if I can get him to contribute with a breakdown of his team as well. Nick will be picking 10th and I will be picking 12th. It will be interesting to see how are teams stack up with us picking so closer together and feeling so similarly about a lot of players.
AntSports.com Draft Challenge League #184
Again this league there is 12 hours per pick so I will comment on here about the picks after a full round has been completed and keep you guys updated about my picks and who I got! Also, this is a Points Per Reception (PPR) draft so some guys may go higher than you’re used to seeing if you participate in a standard league. On that note, get into a PPR league, they are way better than Standard leagues and they make WRs and TEs more valuable. I will play in PPR leagues ONLY. If someone wants me to play in a Standard league where you don’t get points per reception, no thank you, you can have fun playing in that league with Fred Flintstone and Barnie Rubble… because that league is ancient! Again you can follow this draft challenge live, by clicking here…
ROUND 1
- My Turn (this is team name, not my team) – Adrian Peterson
- Burly Virgin – Matt Forte
- Phenom – Maurice Jones-Drew
- Outlaws – Michael Turner
- Mud Grubbers 1 – Steven Jackson
- Gold Team – LaDainian Tomlinson
- Space2 – Steve Slaton
- Mountain Gorillas – Frank Gore
- Boomer’s Big Bad Beer Bandits – Chris Johnson
- Glory Hog – Larry Fitzgerald
- FantasyFootballMMA.Blogspot.com – Randy Moss
My thoughts on Round 1
One thing that really stood out to me about Round 1 is that DeAngelo Williams was not selected. I am not high on that guy at all and I am going to take the “let someone else worry him” approach this year. Yes, the guy was fantastic, but I also had him the first 3 years in the league when the guy was a dog and couldn’t stay healthy or command more touches than DeShaun Foster. Plus, he has Jonathan Stewart breathing down his neck. The Panthers didn’t spend a #13 overall pick two years ago on Stewart for nothing. While I knew that I felt this way, it’s interesting to see that all 11 owners felt that way as well and passed on him in the 1st. This is why you have to mock because they prepare you for the curveballs of a real draft. I thought about picking Williams simply because I had not seen him fall out of the first round in any of the 50+ mock drafts I’ve participated in. However, I stuck to my guns and passed on him. In a real draft you will be faced with taking a guy you don’t like in a round that you do. When this happens, proceed with caution, keep your wits about you, and do not get caught up in the moment. You’ll kick yourself later.
Two years ago I was in the 3rd round with Joseph Addai and Chad Johnson (now OchoCinco) as my first 2 picks and in the 3rd round I selected Brandon Jacobs. He was a guy I told myself all offseason that I would avoid, but I got caught up in the heat of the draft and took him in the 3rd because he was supposed to be a 2nd round pick so I thought I was getting a decent guy. I thought wrong. While Jacobs had a decent year, he got injured in the 1st quarter of the 1st game and missed the first few weeks and was a headache all season long. Plus, I was not able to get Derrick Ward on the waiver wire because one of league mates outbid me and I was left scrambling. Like I said yesterday, practice so you can save yourself from making the same mistake that I did in 2007. You want to trust your gut and gameplan especially in the early rounds of your draft.
Avoiding the temptation of Williams, I went with Randy Moss. He could finish as the #1 WR this year and I love him with Brady back. I could look like a moron for passing on Williams, only time will tell, but there are a lot of headaches during the fantasy season and I just don’t want a guy who could share carries or even worse lose his starting job as my #1 pick.
ROUND 1 PICK – RANDY MOSS
My 2nd Round Pick
With my 2nd pick, I passed on Williams going with Brian Westbrook (BWB). I love BWB. He’s probably my favorite player. I know the guy is an injury risk, but the guy is one of the best in fantasy when he’s healthy. I’ll also target his backup, LeSean McCoy. I’ve read that McCoy is very similar to BWB and should be able to step in when (not if) BWB goes down. I want guys on my team that can average at least 15 points a game with a ceiling of 30+ points when they go off. BWB is def one of those guys. One thing I like about this Draft Challenge is that I’m picking in the exact same spot as my real draft that just started. Plus the Draft Challenge will be about a round or 2 ahead of my real draft so I can get a great feel of how my real draft will go down and correct any mistakes I may have made in the Draft Challenge.
That’s all for now! Check back tomorrow to see how the rest of the 2nd round went in the Draft Challenge and who I get in my real draft! Special thanks to AntSports.com.
“You play to win the game!”
-jg-
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