Draft Time: Fantasy Site Battle

So I’m doing this awesome thing this year in the hopes of proving just how awesome I really am. I’m getting together with some fellow fantasy football gurus and playing in a 12 man league. These are all guys who work on radio shows, or write other blogs and somehow contribute to the fantasy football community. And I’m going to do everything in my power to prove the GHL is the greatest fantasy site on the internet.

The rules are a little funky, but for sanity’s sake, let’s just say that it is basically a PPR league.

We just finished the first round of the draft, so let’s take a look at the picks and break them down a bit. Feel free to analyze the picks yourself in the comments below and let me know what you think was a good move and what could be considered tragic.

Pick 1) Fantasy Football Trader: Ray Rice
Interesting selection here. It is PPR, so it can be validated. Not sure why it’s not Peterson, but there is the excuse that Arian Foster could be missing some time with a hamstring injury. His rushing totals combined with his receiving totals could mean that Fantasy Football Trader is onto something here.

Pick 2) Late Hit 990: Arian Foster
With Adrian Peterson falling to his lap, I personally would have snatched him up. Foster’s got the injury, but does have tons of value after his insane 2011 campaign.

Pick 3) Fantasy Football Gamers: Adrian Peterson
My number one guy fell all the way to three. Peterson can easily dominate this year since he has a good quarterback behind him and little competition at the running back position. The fact the McNabb likes passing to his receivers is another boost, making this one a great, fortunate pick.

Pick 4) GOAheadScore: Chris Johnson
GOAheadScore has some faith that CJ will be back on the field sooner than later. If Twitter has anything to say about it, I am beginning to disagree. Johnson loves his stat line though and I doubt that he will miss too much time. He’s a risky pick at number 4, but if he does make it back into the lineup early, he could cause some damage.

Pick 5) Pigskin Addiction: Jamaal Charles
Solid player. Huge yardage. Good PPR man. Less competition at the position. And more receivers to make defenses move out of the box. Nothing wrong with Charles at pick 5.

Pick 6) Fans Fantasy Football: LeSean McCoy
He’s the PPR owner’s dream. Lots of receptions and receiving yardage. He’s not too shabby of a running back either. Vick may take some scores away from him. And Ronnie Brown is not ready to give up on his career, at pick 6 though, you can’t complain about solid, consistent numbers from one of the most dynamic offenses in the NFL this season.

Pick 7) Pro Football Focus: Roddy White
A stretch in my opinion, I have receivers ahead of him. But he is the first of them all to be taken in the draft. Last year his PPR numbers were outstanding, but he will be lining up opposite an incredibly gifted rookie in Julio Jones who is looking to take some of those receptions away. He’ll still have a big year, no doubt. But I don’t expect him to live up to his 7th overall billing.

Pick 8) My Fantasy League: Andre Johnson
Johnson is definitely my top receiver and My Fantasy League is fortunate to have grabbed him as the second receiver taken. He was a beast last season despite an injury. He has the potential to absolutely blow up this season when he is healthy. The Texans have an explosive offense with talent all over the field.

Pick 9) Roto Experts: Darren McFadden
The man has a broken face! Did you know that? His face… is broken. And he is still paying football and being taken at pick number 9. He had his big breakout last year and is looking to continue that for an undervalued Raiders offense. He’s got the rushing ability and the PPR value to make him a top 10 pick, for sure.

Pick 10) The Tony Cincotta: Maurice Jones-Drew
Since I knew I would be drafting at pick 12, MJD is the running back that I had my eye on, but he was snatched away a couple picks too soon. He has publically announced that he will prove fantasy footballers wrong by dominating this season. The main worry is that his knee will hold up. If not, his doubters were correct. If it does though, don’t be surprised to see Jones come out firing. The lack of Jags offense is a small concern, but MJD has been dealing with that his entire career.

Pick 11) Big F’n Dynasty Show: Larry Fitzgerald
I definitely had a sigh of relief to see that Fitz was taken over Calvin Johnson here. While his talent is not to be underestimated, there is a good chance that all of this talk of Kolb moving to Arizona could be overhyped. Larry could put up strong numbers, but the support system around him is minimal. The quarterback improved from last year, but most everything else is the same. He doesn’t even have supporting receiver Steve Breaston to take a little heat off him anymore.

Pick 12) God Hates Losers: Calvin Johnson
And we’ve reached my selection. Calvin Johnson. The Lions’ offense is looking completely transformed. Stafford is highly regarded as a huge sleeper and great value pick. Not to mention that Johnson has been one of the highest performing receivers since entering the league. With a nickname like Megatron, you shouldn’t expect anything less. I’m very happy that he fell to 12.

There you have it. I know, last pick, right? They must have heard about me. Let me know what you think of the selections so far. Surprisingly, no quarterbacks were taken in the first round. Perhaps that should be a lesson as this is an “expert” league. I’ll be sure to post the results once the draft ends.