So, as you may or may not have seen on one of the other SBNation websites, the writers of SBNation have gotten together and created a couple of fantasy football leagues this year. Two different leagues, actually. . .one for the AFC bloggers, and one for us NFC bloggers. The NFC league held its draft on Wednesday night. I would have attempted to live blog the whole thing, but it would have been tough to do.
The blogs that are participating in the NFC league are as follows. This is also the order that we drafted in. . .snake format, natch.
Blogging the Boys
Pride of Detroit
Canal Street Chronicles
The Falcoholic
Acme Packing Company
Buc 'Em
Field Gulls
Cat Scratch Reader
Niners Nation
Windy City Gridiron
Turf Show Times
and yours truly here at The Daily Norseman.
Now, let me just throw this out there. . .when it comes to these sort of drafts, I absolutely, positively hate picking #1 or #12. Ideally I'd like to be somewhere in the 5-8 range. I just hate watching 24 players go in between one pick and my next pick. . .and no, getting two picks in a row when your time comes doesn't make up for this.
Our starting lineups consist of 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 "flex" spot (WR/RB), 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 defense/special teams. There are also 6 bench slots, so it was a 16 round affair. Here's how things went for my team, drafting from the #12 spot.
Round 1: Willis McGahee, RB, Baltimore - I was really hoping for Reggie Bush to fall to this spot, but Turf Show Times grabbed him with the pick just before mine. McGahee should put up some fairly sizeable numbers in Baltimore this year, and he doesn't have any touchdown vultures to take away red zone carries. I could have done much worse.
Round 2: Laurence Maroney, RB, New England - Another guy who should benefit from not having to share the load with anyone else, as Corey Dillon is no longer anywhere to be seen in Foxboro. People are going to be loading up to stop the Pats' revamped passing attack, and that should mean good things for Maroney. Plus, he's a former Gopher. How could I pass him up here?
Round 3: Marshawn Lynch, RB, Buffalo - With the ability to start up to 3 RBs in this league, I thought I'd get another starter before the pickings got too thin. I was really hoping that 2007 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson would make it back to the 36th pick, but that was wishful thinking as Canal Street Chronicles actually grabbed him at the bottom of Round 2. But Lynch, who replaces McGahee in Buffalo, should be able to put up some pretty decent numbers.
Round 4: Roy Williams, WR, Detroit - I usually don't draft NFC North players in my leagues. . .certainly won't draft any Bears or Packers. . .but Williams was too good to pass up here. I'm not drafting him for his math skills or anything. With Detroit's defense still being atrocious and their running game a big question mark at this point, someone's going to benefit, and I think Williams is going to be the guy.
Round 5: Tony Gonzalez, TE, Kansas City - At the top of the 5th round, Dave from Blogging the Boys took Tony Romo, setting off the requisite "Homo for Romo" accusations and their offshoots. In the midst of all of those, I thought I'd shore up the TE position. In an effort to ensure that Larry Johnson's legs don't fall off at any point during the season, the Chiefs are going to have to attempt to amount something that resembles a passing game, and Gonzalez has been one of the steadiest TEs in the game for years. He hasn't shown any signs of slowing down, either.
Round 6: Philip Rivers, QB, San Diego - I noticed that the QB pickings were starting to get a little slim at this point, too. Some of the more prominent names on the board were guys like Kitna, Leinart, Cutler, Hasselbeck. . .but I went with the youngster from San Diego. He's got that Gates fellow to throw to, and that Tomlinson fellow to keep defenses honest. Throw in what I think will be a big year from Vincent Jackson, and he's a steal this late.
Round 7: Chris Chambers, WR, Miami - Okay, I told myself I wasn't going to do this, and then I went and did it anyway. I had a league last year where my starting WRs for Week 1 were Chris Chambers and Randy Moss. Suffice to say, I didn't win that league. The most logical argument I can make for this pick is the old "Hey, he can't POSSIBLY be as bad as he was last year" excuse. So. . .here's hoping he's not as bad as he was last year.
Round 8: Santonio Holmes, WR, Pittsburgh - With Ben Roethlisberger NOT slamming his face into the windshields of oncoming cars this off-season and Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator saying he might open things up a bit more, Holmes is going to put up some decent numbers across from Hines Ward.
Round 9: Minnesota defense - Hey, why not take what's going to be one of the Top 5 defenses in the NFL this year if nobody else wants them?
Round 10: Lendale White, RB, Tennessee - Since I don't have to pay his room service bills or anything, I'll take a shot at him. I believe that he IS the starter in Tennessee, and the Titans are going to have to do something to try to keep defenses off of Vince Young, so why not take a chance on the great White whale? Call him Ishmael, bitches!
Round 11: Wes Welker, WR, New England - The Patriots signed 206 new wide receivers this off-season, but most of them fall under the heading of a deep threat. Welker, on the other hand, is a possession, move the chains type of receiver, and should be open a lot with guys like Randy Moss and Donte Stallworth taking a lot of the opponents' attention.
Round 12: Chad Pennington, QB, New York Jets - I only need him for one week. . .hopefully it will be one of the weeks that he decides he wants to be healthy for.
Round 13: Seattle defense - They get to the passer, and they're a pretty decent defense overall. I can play the matchup game with them and the Vikings' defense.
Round 14: Najeh Davenport, RB, Pittsburgh - I made this pick less for his production on the field (though if anything happens to Fast Willie Parker, he should be serviceable), and more for the comedic potential. . .particularly jokes about him being a scatback catching dump passes and not being hampered by injuries. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I'll be here all week.
Round 15: Matt Stover, K, Baltimore - Because, hey, I needed a kicker.
Round 16: Tony Scheffler, TE, Denver - Because there really wasn't another RB or WR worth taking at that point.
So there you go. . .that's my SBN NFC Fantasy Football team. Considering the position I was drafting in, I think I did relatively well overall. If you're interested in looking at the draft in its entirety, you can check it out here. And yes, I've noticed that as an NFC guy, 13 out of my 16 picks play for AFC teams. Guess I'll have to follow the "other" conference that much more closely this year.
Have a good one, folks. . .yours truly has a 4-day weekend here (and I'm sure many of you do as well), but I'll effort to have daily updates up here during that time.