NFL Fantasy Football 2007 Discussion Thread

Scott Merryfield · 08-30-2007, 03:03 PM

Most fantasy football drafts are being held around now, so it's time to start our annual thread and keep the FF discussion out of the real NFL football discussion thread.

Scott Merryfield · 08-30-2007, 03:20 PM

We had our draft last night, and here's what I ended up with (1st pick in a 12 team league):

QB:Rivers, McNair, Culpepper
RB: LT, Portis, McAlister, Tatum Bell, Turner
WR: Fitzgerald, Cotchery, I. Bruce, Curry, Brandon Marshall, Crayton
TE: Heap
K: Gostkowski

I took a chance on Portis at 3.01, and felt very lucky to get Fitzgerald at 2.12 -- he was the last of the "stud" receivers on my list that was available. Harrison, Johnson, TO, Wayne, Smith and Holt were all gone, and the team in front of me took Roy Williams, to my delight. If Portis stays healthy, though, I should have two great RB's. My other choices were Edge (already had Fitz from the Cardinals) and Benson. Portis has more upside, IMO.

I didn't want to take Tatum Bell, but he was still there at 8.12, and the next best available RB was Leon Washington, so I had to take him (I hate drafting Lions).

I missed out on Ladell Betts to backup Portis, since he went way too early at 5.03, IMO. I was happy to see Michael Turner last until my 11.01 pick, though. His recent minor ankle injury scared off the vultures who usually take other team's handcuffs.

I'm not thrilled with my QB situation, but the QB run started early, and I got Rivers at the end of it, after Palmer, Brees, Brady, Bulger, McNabb were all gone. I decided to take Rivers at 5.01 (a little high), since only he, Romo and Roethlisberger were left on my list of QB's I wanted as a starter. None of them would have made it back to me at the 6.12/7.1 turn.

Comments?

Chuck Mayer · 08-30-2007, 03:31 PM

My wife has a 10 person league, and I helped her draft, so I'll take credit. She had the third pick, and the league reversed BOTH the second and third rounds (she picked 2.08, 3.08, and 4.03). I was hoping the #2 pick would take LJ, but no such luck (I really, really, really, really, really, really wanted Stephen Jackson...I love that guy).

QBs (2): Losman (6th round), Cutler
RBs (4): LJ, Thomas Jones, Deangelo Williams, Rock Cartwright (my wife is a Skins fan

)
WRs (4): Marvin Harrison, Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker, Lav Coles
TEs (2): Todd Heap, Jason Witten
K: Neil Rackers
DEF: Chargers

LJ allowed us to take a break on later RBs, so my wife stocked up on WRs. I saw that Losman ended the year strong last year, and has a rookie RB (awesome he may be). So she focused on top notch WRs to help out. We got Losman in the 6th. The gambles are on Thomas Jones and JP Losman. If they have good years, then we should do pretty well. I can't believe Witten was available as late as he was, and I have high hopes for Cutler. I pushed hard for Welker, and maybe we stretched to get him in the 9th. But I stand by the belief that Belicheck and Brady are going to LOVE the guy, so he might see high single digit TDs this year, plus a good chunk of yards. Both Moss and Donte Streetclothes will miss games.

If Losman can keep his **** together, and Jones can be a solid #2, I think it's a great draft.

Alex-C · 08-30-2007, 07:09 PM

Solid looking team Scott. You may lament Tatum Bell and your QB situation, but I am sure that L.T. salve will make you feel just fine !

Shane Martin · 08-30-2007, 07:55 PM

Scott,
I guess you don't draft defense? Our leagues always made us do that. Your WR's are rather bland but the other parts are solid(if not stellar).

**HTF Ads**

Scott Merryfield · 08-30-2007, 08:16 PM

Rock Cartwright?

Hopefully, you took him with your last pick, Chuck. You really should have used the roster spot for Michael Bennett to backup LJ. If the pick made your wife happy, though, I guess it's worth it.

Alex, I'm hoping that Tatum Bell will have a couple of good games early (since Kevin Jones is on the PUP and will miss at least the first 6 weeks). If he does, I figure I can trade him to one of the Lions slappies in our league for more value than the 8.12 pick used on him. The guy who took Ladell Betts is a prime candidate. He's my 4th RB, so he'll be on my bench until the bye weeks start.

Quote:

Scott,
I guess you don't draft defense? Our leagues always made us do that. Your WR's are rather bland but the other parts are solid(if not stellar).

Shane, we draft individual defensive players instead of a team defense. We start four players -- 1 DL, 1 LB, 1 DB and 1 flex (DL, LB or DB). My four players are:

DL: Terrell Suggs
LB: Tatupa, Cooper (Chargers)
DB: Tillman (Chicago)

I never draft backup defensive players, tight ends or kickers. When the bye weeks start, we can move up to 2 players on bye weeks to the IR slots and pickup backups off the waiver wire. I can always find a one week fill in at those positions on the waiver wire.

Yes, my wide receivers are not spectacular, but Fitz and Cotchery should produce well. We start one RB, one WR, one TE and three flex players (RB/WR/TE), so my starters will be:

QB: Rivers (may start Culpepper Week 1 vs. Detroit, though)
RB: LT
WR: Fitz
Flex1: Cotchery
Flex2: Portis
Flex3: McAlister, Bruce or Curry (depending on matchups)
TE: Heap

Bell, Marshall and Crayton are bye week and injury fill-ins, and Turner is just protection in case LT gets injured. So, I like my starting lineup options, and if Terry Glenn's knee keeps acting up, Crayton could be a sleeper. I used a late pick on him, so he didn't cost me much. Same with Culpepper -- he was my 19th pick in a 20 round draft.

GARY C · 08-31-2007, 11:25 AM

Ah good, I was waiting for this thread to start.

New year, big question...

Draft is tonight and I have the #3 position (LT & Jackson are 100% gone), who in the hell do I go with?!? Seriously this has been killing me for days now, I'm looking for opinions.

It's a typical league (14 team) and scoring is pretty normal which puts the emphasis on RB's in the first round (Manning is the usual exception down in 9-12th spot).

The four guys I'm looking at are LJ, Alexander, Gore and Addai (with Addai leading the way right now).

LJ - I know he's a stud back, but there are just too many issues with both the o-line and QB in KC right now. Not to mention wear and tear carrying for 400+ times.

Alexander - I didn't get to see him do much running in the pre-season and I'm just not sure he's back to normal yet. He's probably the most likely #2 out of my choices.

Gore - Is a great RB, but I have been killed by injuries before in this pool and he's known for them.

Addai - To me he seems to have the best upside. No one will stack the box against Indy and he will be running 80%+ of the carries. If he's anything like the young Edge they say he is that means anywhere up to 1500 yds and a good 12+ TD's.

Anyone have thoughts on this issue (anyone I'm missing).

Any help would be appreciated.

Chuck Mayer · 08-31-2007, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Merryfield

Rock Cartwright?

Hopefully, you took him with your last pick, Chuck. You really should have used the roster spot for Michael Bennett to backup LJ. If the pick made your wife happy, though, I guess it's worth it.

Oh, she did all of the drafting completely. I prepped her and helped her rank the positions and come up with the philosophy of the first few rounds. But she made the picks. I laughed at her when she told me she got Rock. I'll see who else is out there (maybe Bennett is) for that fourth spot. She's not married to the pick.

Scott Merryfield · 08-31-2007, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Draft is tonight and I have the #3 position (LT & Jackson are 100% gone), who in the hell do I go with?!? Seriously this has been killing me for days now, I'm looking for opinions.

It's a typical league (14 team) and scoring is pretty normal which puts the emphasis on RB's in the first round (Manning is the usual exception down in 9-12th spot).

The four guys I'm looking at are LJ, Alexander, Gore and Addai (with Addai leading the way right now).

Does your league give points for receptions, Gary? Ours does, and QB's get 6 points for TD's. Here is what the first round looked like:

1. LT (me)
2. SJax
3. Manning (this owner loves Manning)
4. LJ
5. Gore
6. Bush
7. Westbrook
8. Addai
9. Parker
10. Rudi
11. T Henry
12. Alexander

If I was in the third spot, I probably would have taken LJ, but I wouldn't have felt great about it. It's tough to pass up on that type of possible production, though.