On Draft Day, you’ll often hear fantasy
football players remark:
"I’m a running back guy; I like to get my running backs filled out
first."
Or …
"I need to get a quarterback quick before all the good ones are gone."
You rarely hear someone proclaim that he is a receiver guy.
I might be one of the first, because I’m strongly considering going that way.
I wouldn’t normally advocate such a plan, being a longtime RB guy myself. But if
done correctly, you almost can’t beat loading up your lineup with top-caliber
wideouts and rolling the dice on a bunch of middle-of-the-pack running backs and hope you
get lucky.
I went that way in one of my leagues this season, not expecting much, more of a
scientific experiment than anything else. I didn’t expect it to be all that
productive, but who would have thought that wide receivers like Terrell Owens and David
Boston would become scoring horses in a year where many of the top running backs have
been huge disappointments?
Loading up early, and even making the horrible blunder of spending much of my fantasy
auction dollars on the disappointing Randy Moss, I was still able to amass a stable
of wide receivers that included Boston, Torry Holt, Kevin Johnson, Chris
Chambers and Laveranues Coles.
I have a suspect backfield of Curtis Martin and whatever stiff I run out there
as my No. 2 running back. Even having a bad quarterback for much of the season hasn’t
hurt.
This team is a machine. But I wouldn’t advise it for all.
First of all, you have to make sure you get the right guys. Drafting Moss and Isaac
Bruce would have left you with little to get excited about. Throw fellow preseason
top-10 guy Derrick Alexander on the pile, and you have a pretty bad nightmare
instead of a dream.
The key is to draft one anchor for the unit. I thought mine was Moss; it turned out to
be Boston.
Then fill out the unit with options. They don’t all have to pan out, just enough
to make you look pretty deep at the position.
Always concentrate on acquiring receivers who are the first option of their
quarterback. A No. 2 guy in a great offense is still a No. 2 guy.
Then, when those guys are gone, any nugget of information that you can pick up about a
guy might have some value down the line. Knowing that many experts said that
Cleveland’s Tim Couch was much-improved — although I didn’t
personally believe in the Browns — I filed that away and snared Couch’s favorite
target, Johnson, with my No. 5 WR pick. He’s turned out to be a regular contributor.
All I heard about Chambers was that the Miami coaching staff was impressed with the
second-round pick’s ability and felt they got a steal. Looking at the WR situation in
Miami, I didn’t see any thing that knocked me over. He was likely going to get a
chance at some point, and as it turned out, he’s been even better than I expected.
So next year, when you seem to be stuck on which way to go with your draft, think wide
receiver.
You might surprise everyone. |
