I competed in the NFFC (National Fantasy Football Championship) Prime Time draft Saturday afternoon at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, drafting from the 11th spot in a 12-team league. Most of you are familiar with the NFFC by now, but for those that aren't, here are the key aspects to the league:

• It's a full-point PPR league, with three starting WR spots and a Flex spot.
• There are no trades allowed in any of the NFFC leagues.
• We have 10-man benches.
• Most importantly, there's an overall contest in addition to the individual leagues.

The theme of this draft season has been the rise of the wide receiver. In virtually every league I've seen, wide receivers have been coveted, with seven to 10 receivers going in the first round. The scoring and roster spot conditions of the NFFC maximize that quality. Knowing that I'd draft in the 11th slot, I knew that I had to join the herd (willingly - I love to draft WRs early no matter the spot) and get two wide receivers in the first two rounds, as there would be a significant drop-off by the time the third around arrived. Fortunately the NFFC has third-round reversal, so my options in the third round were a lot stronger than in standard leagues.

Here's the draft grid:

One other aspect of the NFFC is that we have a KDS selection of our draft slots. The 11th slot was not my first choice - or my 2nd, either. It was seventh on my list of choices, though later NFFC proprietor Greg Ambrosius told me that I was actually the last priority, so I suppose it could have been worse.

Round 1: I was hoping to get Allen Robinson (being that it was a league that Chris Liss wasn't playing in) or Mike Evans in this spot, and if I were able to get one of those two, I would have been willing to take Le'Veon Bell in the second round if available. As it turns out, none of that was possible. KJ Duke (who thwarted me multiple times) snagged Evans 10th, while Robinson went sixth, even ahead of A.J. Green. I settled on Brandin Cooks instead - I'm with Liss that Cooks has another level in him, and want to buy in on a team that should have a lot of passing attempts.

Round 2: Adrian Peterson (who I did not want) and Bell went at the wheel, so it was back to the wide receivers. I went with Keenan Allen over Dez Bryant and Brandon Marshall, buying more into Philip Rivers over Dak Prescott (who won't throw nearly as often as is less experienced) and Ryan Fitzpatrick. The latter is a little riskier.

Round 3: I'm buying back in on Lacy - perhaps I haven't been burned enough? I went with him barely over Mark Ingram, Randall Cobb and Demaryius Thomas. I shied away from Thomas in part because I already have enough exposure to him.

Round 4/5: Speaking of lots of exposure - I have multiple teams with the combination of Tyler Lockett and Larry Fitzgerald. I wanted one high ceiling guy and one "stable" guy at wideout with these two spots, as I think that there's a tangible drop-off among wide receivers close to this point, though the draft gave me one more in the sixth, but I was happy to gamble on the remaining RB pool after taking Lacy earlier.

Round 6: I didn't plan to take John Brown when I took Lockett and Fitzgerald, because I didn't think he'd still be available. But the concerns about Brown's concussion lowered his draft price, and he was absolutely the last guy remaining in his tier, so I jumped on him. This despite roster construction issues (that's five WRs for four slots) and taking a second WR on the Cardinals. But the Cards are a good passing team, and I believe in taking the best available talent at this point in the draft instead of diversifying teams. Moreover, team 12 (remember, this is 3RR, so the sixth round is going up) already had three RBs at this point, so I had to take him first before my second RB.

Round 7: If you've listened to the show at all, you know my love for Gio Bernard is pure as mountain snow (and yes, I'm fully aware that I'm repeating my own similes from previous articles, but it fits). This is a PPR league, and he'll give me a solid floor with superb upside if Jeremy Hill continues to struggle with fumbling issues as he did last year.

Round 8/9/10: Time to tackle the RB position more, and I landed my likely Week 1 starter with Spencer Ware at 8.11, plus took two more bites at the upside apple with Derrick Henry at 9.2 and Christine Michael at 10.11. I remain a little skeptical about Michael, being part of the 75 percent of the fantasy football universe that's been burned by him before. But in the past one of my leaks has been that I'd ignored when facts on the ground had changed, and I've missed out on adding quality players because of it. Not this time - if it doesn't work out, it wouldn't be a negligible cost, but plenty of 10th round picks flop. I didn't see too many obvious high ceiling guys at the position remaining.

Round 11: The NFFC live drafts always take a 15-minute break after 10 rounds - you can get a drink, stretch your legs, etc... during this time, and prep for the second half of the draft. So at the break I noticed that I was the only team that didn't have a quarterback, and that two teams already had selected two. One might think it's imperative for me to take my preference among the remaining ones there, but my thinking was a little different - nobody had a glaring need at the position. Meanwhile I was one of three teams that didn't have a tight end. So I opted to go with Jared Cook, my top remaining TE, at 11.2. Sure enough, four other tight ends came off the board before my next pick. No other QBs were selected in the 11th round.

Round 12/13: Unfortunately ... three more teams took their second quarterbacks, including Team 9, who took my preferred "wait on QBs" guy in Jameis Winston, two spots ahead of me. I'm not that disappointed, as I like Andy Dalton and Marcus Mariota, my fallbacks, almost as much. One disappointment, however, is that their respective Week 1 matchups against the Jets and Vikings aren't that appetizing, compared to Winston facing the Falcons.

Round 14: Justin Forsett was released by the Ravens about an hour before the draft, unbeknownst to Team 9, who took him at 14.9. Unbeknownst to me, however, was that the Ravens intended to re-sign Forsett at a friendlier contract. Still, I think he looked as if he had a flat tire this preseason, so I'm bigger on Terrance West, who I took at 14.11.

Round 15: I won't always take two tight ends, but having waiting so long to take my first, I found it worth my while to grab the "Outlaw" Jesse James and gamble on his upside.

Round 16/17: Josh Doctson and Breshad Perriman were two stabs at upside. Given that I drafted five receivers in the first six rounds, I didn't mess around in the middle rounds with receivers that wouldn't be starting in the near future, absent a slew of injuries. But I'm hoping that come the second half of the season, I'll have two potential playmakers on my hands. Either that, or easy cuts when players emerge on the waiver wire.

Round 18: Paul Perkins was one more troll for upside. Decided on him rather than adding a third quarterback from the lowest tier, or having two defenses.

Round 19: Mason Crosby is a good kicker on what should be a good team with a high-scoring offense.

Round 20: Given that I waited on defenses, I'll almost certainly be playing matchups all season while bidding away on teams showing some upside. The Titans host Minnesota and Shaun Hill and/or Sam Bradford in Week 1. That's good enough for me.