Draft Day

Draft Day

I know it's a little late to talk about fantasy football drafts since we're already 2 weeks into the start of the NFL season.  With that being said, I feel that the draft is such an important part of the fantasy season that no fantasy football blog would be complete without at least posting one article about it.  

Over the course of my fantasy career I've experienced both the live drafts and online drafts.  I'm here to tell you that the online draft cannot even hold a candle to its live counterpart.  Live drafts are completely unpredictable (especially after a couple hours of free beer).  There's something about picking your spot in the draft order based on your name getting pulled out of a hat, that makes the game more personal.  Just a group of friends (or co-workers, or family members, or strangers, or maybe a combination of all of them) coming together to kick off the start of the season.  The heckling is one of the best aspects of the live draft that you just don't get in the online version.  One of the biggest signs of a good pick is having one of your best friends call you every derogatory name under the sun because you drafted their favorite QB before they got the chance.  

Now let's get to the actual picks.

Every fantasy football manager has their own strategy for drafting players. Of course, the top RB's go first (Peterson, Foster, Spiller, etc.), followed by the top QB's (Peyton, Brady, Brees), but after that it's strategy.  Personally, I like to draft solid veteran players.  Guys who over the years have proven their fantasy worth time and time again.  For instance, this year I scooped up Reggie Wayne earlier than most people would have (4th round).  Everybody threw their two cents my way, saying he was old, washed up, and not going to produce good stats... good thing I didn't listen to any of it.  Two weeks in and Mr. Wayne is the #1 receiver in Indianapolis, a team that threw the ball more than anybody else last season.

This year's live draft was utterly surprising.  A ton of players who are sure fire fantasy studs didn't even get drafted.  I can see that leading to owners making drastic changes to their original roster selections.  I personally already snatched up Julian Edelman, the #1 receiver on the Patriots' depleted roster (you can't go wrong with Tom Brady throwing to your guys).  In order to pick up this undrafted gem of a receiver, all you need to do is drop some excess from your roster ( I let go of an extra defense... why I drafted 2 defenses in the first place is a mystery to me).  

I couldn't miss an opportunity to post about this years draft.  Check out some of my future posts to see some of the upcoming fantasy stars that can help your roster.