| This weekend I participated in two fantasy
drafts (and I have two more — can you say "addicted"?), and I just
don’t know what to think. My first draft was a 12-team, basic scoring (plus some
yardage bonuses) league. I showed up just as the order was being picked, sat down and
picked the 12th pick. Fabulous. I tried to convince myself that was good
because I’d get two of the top 13 players, but the prospect of having to wait a year
and a half between picks really depressed me. Plus, there’s a certain deflating
feeling that accompanies getting the last pick, no matter what we "experts" say
about getting that last pick. In this draft, I decided that with my first and second
pick, I’d take the top two running backs or wide receivers, regardless of position.
As the first round unfolded, it looked more and more as though I’d be taking two
receivers, but much to my surprise, Corey Dillon was still there, so I took him and
Terrell Owens. The next time around, I wanted to solidify my 6-point TD scorers, so I
locked down Jerome Bettis and Derrick Alexander. My main mistake was taking my usual
strategy of waiting to draft a quarterback into this draft. With my next two picks, I took
TE Freddie Jones and WR Peter Warrick, believing I could wait another round before
addressing the QB position. Well, I may have hurt myself with that strategy. While I do
think QB Kordell Stewart will have a good year, he won’t put up numbers similar to
those of Kurt Warner or Daunte Culpepper. But my thinking is this: TD passes are worth
just three points in this league, while TD runs and catches are worth six. I’d rather
take my chances with bonafide starters at running back, wide receiver and tight end than
with a stud quarterback. In this league, we’re allowed 14 players, broken down in
whichever way we want (so if we want 14 quarterbacks, we can have them). My roster in this
league is as follows (starters listed first):
QB: Stewart, Jay Fiedler
RB: Dillon, Bettis, Travis Henry, Antowain Smith
WR: Owens, Alexander, Warrick, David Patten
TE: Jones, Marcus Pollard
PK: Olindo Mare
DST: Pittsburgh
In the second draft, I thought I fared better at first, but now that I look back at it,
I’m not so sure. You see, this league is an eight-team combo league, which can skew
rosters. This roster should look better than the 12-team roster, by default. I had the
sixth pick in this draft, again, a semi-deflating feeling at the draft. My first pick was
a no-brainer: RB Eddie George fell to sixth after Marshall Faulk remarkably fell to fourth
(Randy Moss, Edgerrin James and Daunte Culpepper went before him, not in that order).
Again I drafted Owens, Warrick and Pittsburgh’s defense, and Travis Henry was
snatched two picks prior to mine, eliciting the only loud expletive from me during the
draft. My quarterbacks are stronger, with Aaron Brooks starting and Tim Couch backing him
up. If either one breaks out, I could be in good shape. This league allowed for 16 players
distributed in any way and my roster shapes up this way:
QB: Brooks, Couch
RB: George, Curtis Martin, Emmitt Smith, Ron Dayne
WR: Owens, Ed McCaffrey, Warrick, Antonio Freeman, Derrick Mason
TE: Chad Lewis
PK: Martin Gramatica, Gary Anderson
DST: Pittsburgh, St. Louis
So which team is better? Well, obviously it all depends on the other teams in each
league as well as many other factors. But weighing many of the options, I feel a lot more
excited about the first team above. I think I had a better draft, comparatively, in the
12-team league than I did in the eight-team league. My depth there is better, and though I
have some hesitations about the quarterbacks, Stewart or Fiedler are guys I’m willing
to take a chance on, so long as my other skill-position players produce.
"In Our Opinion" fantasy columns have now resumed for the 2001 season.
Columns will appear daily, Tuesday through Friday, throughout the regular season. The
Fantasy Doctor has returned with your pigskin prescriptions, so send your fantasy
questions to the Doc's attention at fantasydoctor@pfwa.com |
