Going against 11 "Experts" isn't the same as drafting against your 11 "Basement Buddies". I want to first say that I feel honored as the user who represented the community, but don't get me wrong, I felt the pressure. The owners in this league are established enough in the fantasy world to make anyone nervous. On top of that, I had the entire PROTRADE community critiquing my every pick. But after all is said and done, I like my team and I like my chances.
I landed the third overall pick which means the first decision of the draft (Tomlinson/Peterson no-brainers at 1,2) -- I picked Joseph Addai. With all things considered, taking Addai wasn't too tough of a decision.
You can call me out for drafting Laurence Maroney with my second round pick, but after seeing Clinton Portis go 7th, Marshawn Lynch go 10th and Jamal Lewis taken 14th, I thought I wouldn't even have a choice at 24th overall. Maroney was there, so were running backs Ryan Grant, Brandon Jacobs, Earnest Graham, Willis McGahee and Michael Turner. I took Maroney because he graduated from the U of M (in the same year as me) and because he's a Patriot and not a Packer, Giant, Buc, Raven or Falcon. I also figure that if Maroney can stay healthy, 1000 yards and 10 TDs is a cakewalk. Plus, if Bill Belichick decides to fake it to Maroney on the goalline and roll Brady out for a short dump pass to Ben Watson -- that's all good with me since I picked Ben Watson later in the draft anyway (123rd overall).
Coming back around for my 27th overall pick I couldn't pass up Torry Holt. Holt consistently produces and has been undeservingly picked after players like Steve Smith, Marques Colston, Braylon Edwards and Andre Johnson.
After watching Brandon Marshall (30th), T.J. Houshmandzadeh (32nd), Chad Johnson (34th), Santonio Holmes (36th), Marvin Harrison (38th), Anquan Boldin (39th), Wes Welker (40th), Plaxico Burress (41st), Jerricho Cotchery (42nd) and Calvin Johnson (44th) get drafted, I knew I got lucky when I swooped-up Roy Williams with the 46th overall pick. Detroit might target Calvin Johnson more than Williams, but I know that RoyBoy's 6-2, 220 lb frame will catch more than the five total touchdowns he had last year.
Before the draft started I plugged Carson Palmer in a tier with Drew Brees just below the Peyton Manning and Tom Brady tier. As I saw the opportunity to draft a top quarterback slipping away, I took Palmer 51st overall (Roethlisberger was taken four picks later). Palmer has the potential to toss 30 touchdown passes with Ocho Cinco, Who's your Mama, and Randy Moss Jr (Chris Henry).
I guess I should defend my Minnesota Defense pick, even though I've never been the owner to draft a defense before anyone else. I've heard about it all summer, Jared Allen this and the Williams Wall that. I also knew I didn't want any other defense. But really I took the Vikings because I can watch them every week (local team for me).
As for the rest of my team, I'm really high on Reggie Brown (especially with an injured Kevin Curtis ), so I'm glad he fell to me in the 10th round. I'll be pleased if Jerious Norwood can continue the 6.0 ypc average he's had in his first two season in the NFL. I'm sorry if you think I overvalued Kenny Watson, we'll see, but I happen to like him more than Chris Perry. Overall, I logged out of facebook really happy about my draft. I took players that I like to watch and I enjoy being a fan of. It's never a happy fantasy season when you leave the draft with players you either don't cheer for or don't ever watch. Why win it all with a line-up full of players you don't like?
The 11 other teams in this league made my job extremely hard, so go gentle on your critiques of my roster. There were 10 owners who can say that their full time job is fantasy sports. I can't speak for the facebook user who was with us drafting, but I know I don't get paid by Yahoo or ESPN -- I'm sure you'll be sure to remind me of that in comments.
With that being said, you'd expect all of them to have a flawless draft, right? Well, they were pretty close to being flawless. But it turns out these experts reach, they draft who they want and they all had a few picks that they might regret making by week 10.
Here is my review of the "Experts" picks:
Let me start with Aaron Schatz from Pro Football Prospectus. This guy starts out with Randy Moss, Reggie Wayne and Santonio Holmes -- solid set of receivers, no question about it. Unfortunately, Aaron suffers the brunt of taking WRs early by filling his backfield with Fred Taylor, Ronnie Brown, Steve Slaton, Ahman Green and Maurice Morris.
Jeff Ma, commissioner, set up the league using Citizen Sports new facebook application. The application worked great for drafting, it's pretty much like drafting on Yahoo. Ma went with the Brady to Wes Welker combo and drafted both Lee Evans and Santana Moss, two players I was hoping would fall. But I honestly can't say I'm too confident about some of his late round picks: DeSean Jackson, Tim Hightower and Josh Morgan.
David Sabino from SI.com picked before me every other round and stole a couple picks, including Jason Witten in the fifth round. Sabino drafted Devin Hester, that could be nice.
Eric Karabell, who has covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, had a draft I admire. I really wanted to land either Thomas Jones or Edgerrin James (he got both) and I had my heart set on drafting Bernard Berrian (stolen from me at the last second).
RotoWire.com's Chris Liss "lucked" into the No. 1 spot, which brought him LaDainian Tomlinson and also brought up conversation about the benefits of the auction style drafting over the snake-style draft. Liss grabbed Eli Manning in the 11th round, that could be pretty good.
Mathew Berry drafted the players who are over exaggerated by many to have a weak season compared to past seasons: Willis McGahee, Donald Driver, Julius Jones, Chester Taylor and the Bears Defense.
John Hansen, owner and publisher of FantasyGuru.com, reached a little for partially suspended Brandon Marshall 30th overall, reached again for Jonathan Stewart 54th overall and again with Chris Johnson 78th.
The provider of the Big Board on Yahoo Fantasy Sports, Brandon Funston, drafted Frank Gore (8th, he had him 8th) and Larry Johnson (17th, he had him 10th) with his first two picks. In addition to the already stacked backfield, Funston drafted both flashy rookies Darren McFadden and Ray Rice.
Will Carroll had a pretty classy team name: Funny Shaped Balls. Carroll, obviously ignoring the pre-season injury of Peyton Manning, used his 11th overall pick to take the Colts quarterback. The Funny Shaped Balls followed up to draft Manning's tragets Marvin Harrison and Dallas Clark.
All in all, I'd say that the facebook user ended up with the sexiest starting lineup. Starting for the facebook user are Donovan McNabb, Marshawn Lynch, Reggie Bush, Andre Johnson, Chad Johnson, Anquan Boldin and Jeremy Shockey.
Regardless of the results, I'm honored to draft against the best of the fantasy sports world. And regardless of what you want to say about my picks, I like my team and I like my chances. Good luck everyone.
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