It is once again that magical time of the year; the time when despite the looming end of summer and a new school year, which, as always promises to be harder than last year there is one thing to look forward to every weekend. Football. But not only am I enthused… no, more like hyped, about watching NFL and college football, I am also ready to show my friends, ex-teammates, and former coaches once again that I am better than them. It is fantasy football season.
Yes boys and girls the wait is over, as of last Sunday (draft day) I have now entered the domain of couch quarterbacks and overly involved fans. I was dealt the underwhelming 12th pick in a 14 team league, leaving me two almost consecutive picks (as it will alternate between 12th and 3rd) with long waits in-between. While it is a disadvantage to pick later than everyone else, having picks close together like that can prove to be useful.
The Plan of Attack
My strategy, as always, was to use my first two picks on running backs, followed by one wide receiver, and then look to fill in the gaps with the next best talent available. That was the plan and it has been the plan for the last 3 seasons which have rendered one third place finish; but most importantly it won me last year’s coveted first place spot, a $2,500 peso prize (about 120 USD). But most importantly, it won me bragging rights. So as you can see this plan is good. The theory behind it is that running backs contribute to the game on the ground and in the air; and a selective few play special teams also. This leads to big yardage totals and many touchdowns also but what I like most is that they do not depend on quarterback play (that much). Quarterback play is important also; but there are many good QBs out there, the one thing I am extremely careful about is finding a quarterback that does not turn the ball over.
What Actually Happened.
Inevitably it seems that in this world of fantasy; nothing goes as planned. With my first pick I was fortunate enough to watch the elusive LeSean McCoy drop all the way down to pick number 12. After that I was forced to make a choice: stick to my plan and get another running back, or secure an elite receiver such as Mike Evans. In my 4 year playing this I have never secured an elite wide receiver. It was too tempting. . . I took him. I broke my only rule, mainly because the talent pool at running back was still pretty full so I decided to risk it all and wait another 23 picks. Knowing me if this doesn’t pay off I will be dreading it for the rest of the season. Fortunately I got my favorite sleeper running back, rookie Dalvin Cook, a speedy running back with sneaky power. Below are the rest of the pics.
I am most excited about watching how Adam Thielen and Austin Hooper turn out. Last year they put up slightly higher than average numbers towards the end of the season so I hope that this year they will break out and finally have significant consistent contributions to the team. My worst two picks are Eric Ebron and Matt Forte. Ebron has been posed for break out seasons for the past two years… and he remains a low yield pick with ocasional brilliance.
The Final Word
I would like to add this small section at the end of each entry in which I take time to discuss the ridiculous occurrences of my league. This week due to hurricane Irma the Tampa Bay vs Miami game was cancelled. This of course messes up the fantasy outlook for anyone who drafted any star players from any of these teams (I’m looking at you Mike Evans). This messes up planning for bye weeks and even draft order which we could not have predicted. The commissioner of my league even proposed to cancel this week’s match up and a redraft (like we have nothing to do). In all seriousness we I hope a solution to this problem is found not only for fantasy purposes but also social purposes. In a time when many are going to be suffering from the fall out of this disaster, football is a distraction which will allow the public to keep their minds entertained.