Hello readers, my name is Jonathan Coltogirone and I am going to start off my writing career here at 412sportstalk.net with a mock fantasy football draft thanks to fantasy.nfl.com. With leagues starting to get underway, I thought that I would give some of you readers a look in to what you may be experiencing, along with some of my strategies. I will be giving you a pick-by-pick analysis of my draft.
Sadly, I was given the 9th pick in a 10-team draft. On the upside I will be receiving the second pick in the 2nd round of the draft because of its serpentine set-up.
As most would expect, A.P. Arian Foster, Chris Johnson were selected in the first four picks. The surprising pick was Michael Vick with the third selection overall. Sure he racked up some fantasy stats last season, but not going for a “top six running back” when they are available is clearly a mistake. With the final “top six running back” on the board, Lesean McCoy, I had to take him. Aaron Rodgers was ranked higher than him, but a dual threat running back that just exploded on to the fantasy scene last year is hard to pass up. With only one quarterback, taken at this point, plenty will be left later in the draft if Rodgers is selected before my next pick, two picks away.
Well what do you know; Rodgers fell to me with 12th pick. I am looking good right now with a stat-stuffing Rodgers in the captain’s chair, and a point producing Lesean McCoy as my current #1 running back. With my next pick I am going to hope for a big name receiver remaining, if not another running back will have to do.
Ah, with the 29th pick in the draft I selected Mike Wallace. He will be scorching defenses all season, and depending on the contribution that Rashard Mendenhall makes in the running game, will be on the receiving end of a lot of over the top play action calls. I had really wanted Fitz, who was taken the pick before me. With Kevin Kolb being handed the reigns in Arizona, I can see Fitz’s stats really taking off. Lackadaisical quarterback play has really hindered his stats the last two seasons. Now with a solid receiver I can look towards solidifying my running back situation.
With the 32nd pick I chose Ahmad Bradshaw. He is a machine and just pounds away at defenses and always posts solid numbers. Even if he isn’t a standout or a stud like the “top six running backs”, he still puts up numbers that keep him in the starting rotation at all times. Antonio Gates was lingering a few spots behind him on the projected rankings, and he was very tempting. He is like picking up another receiver, but there are about 5 solid tight ends available in the draft and I will be looking for one in the next two rounds. Most importantly, I am going to need another receiver in one of the following two rounds also.
With the 49th pick I chose Jeremy Maclin over Dallas Clark. Maclin was a huge producer last year, virtually rivaling (and often surpassing) Desean Jackson’s fantasy numbers. I am happy to have him rounding out my receiving core and am hoping to have Dallas Clark fall to me with the 52nd pick. He is virtually another receiver when he is healthy and is a huge target for Peyton Manning.
Thank goodness, Dallas Clark held on for a few more picks. I know he had injury problems last season, but he will be healthy this year and Peyton will be looking to throw the ball around plenty with his healthy colts this season.
Definitely going to be picking up a running back with my w/r option in this league. I failed to notice that both of my running backs will be on their bye week during week 7. That was a rookie mistake on my part and probably had to do with the fact that I am writing this while picking me team haha. Either way I am still very happy with my team as of right now and will hopefully be picking up a running back with the 69th pick and a backup quarterback with my 72nd. If there isn’t any quality point producing possibilities at quarterback available, I will address another need.
Well 69th pick was successful. I picked up Ryan Matthews who I think will be an eventual stud in this league. He will fill in nicely when I need him to replace on of my running backs in week 7. To my surprise an even better player became available to me with the 72nd pick in the draft. Ben Roethlisberger has still not been chosen. Whether this has been caused by the small size of the league (10 teams with 1 QB slot) or the other users have left the league expecting the later rounds to be boring, he is a huge steal at this point and depending on the opponent could even be taking Aaron Rodgers place at the helm of my offense. Even better, with injuries always issues, I both have acquired a great back up on my team and a huge trade value with my 8th round selection.
With my first bench spot filled, five more still remain. I need another running back to fill the spot left by the bye week, and also two back-up receivers and a tight end to worry about. A kicker and a defense will take up the other two spots after I have chosen my starters at those positions. A kicker is often overlooked, but a solid kicker in fantasy on a team that puts up a lot of points can be huge.
With the 9th round pick, I chose Kellen Winslow as my backup tight end. I didn’t really like any of the receivers available to pass up on one of the last remaining pass-catching tight ends. The following pick in the 10th round was given to A.J. Green. This is honestly a shot in the dark. They have no quarterback in Cincinnati and will not have a great season, but A.J. Green is a thoroughbred and will catch some balls, hopefully he pans out and can be a nice pick-up.
Coming up on the 11th round I am starting to see some kickers come off of the board, that usually mean jump in and grab a top-tier point producer while they are still available. I definitely missed out on all of the big ones. Crosby, Kaeding, and Gostkowski are the real money players at this position and have all been selected already. I was left with Vinatieri who will hopefully be punching in a bunch of extra points and field goals with a new healthy Colts offense.
12th round selecting had to go to a defense. With the big ones already off of the board I had to “settle” for New England. They usually have a solid defense that ends up playing much better than projected regardless of who is on their team and hopefully Haynesworth will do more help than hurt.
My final three picks went to the Atlanta Falcons, Neil Rackers, and Jacoby Ford in that order. The first two will be solid backups for my bye weeks and Jacoby Ford was another shot in the dark. Put up some numbers last season, but who knows with the raiders.
Overall, I couldn’t be happier with my starting rotation.
QB- Aaron Rodgers
RB- Lesean McCoy
RB- Ahmad Bradshaw
WR- Mike Wallace
WR- Jeremy Maclin
TE- Dallas Clark
W/R- Ryan Matthews
K- Adam Vinatieri
DEF- New England
In my opinion, I ended up with studs from top to bottom (well at least almost studs). All of which are top targets for their teams or are going to produce points and have been for years and years. Definite strengths of this draft is the potential for some players. McCoy, Wallace, Maclin, and Matthews are young and ready to take over the league at any moment. All four of these players will be (if not already) considered monsters at their positions. My weakest starting spot could be Dallas Clark if he doesn’t return this season to be Peyton’s frequent weapon that he used to be.
My best bench player hands down is Ben Roethlisberger. Any time you can plug in a two-time Superbowl winning QB as your back-up or game-by-game possible starter, you have done something right (or the other teams in the draft did something wrong by leaving him on the board).
This year’s draft is surprisingly wealthy at QB. With more teams becoming pass-oriented, the running backs are really limited to the top 6 and a few here and there. Receivers are also becoming more plentiful because of the aforementioned pass-oriented offenses that are spreading throughout the league like wild fire.
My biggest piece of advice would definitely have to be “solidify your running back situation”. Quarterbacks will fall later like Roethlisberger did in the 8th round of this draft, but the running backs go fast, very fast.
Well that about wraps it up for my first article here on 412sportstalk.net. Hopefully by reading this, fantasy owners can be a little more prepared going in to their draft pools and can be more wary of what will still be available and what risks can be taken at certain points in the draft.
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