I represented Rotowire in the FF Maniax Expert League draft last Sunday with 11 other industry guys. I'll give you my team and my comments as the draft went on. The league is standard scoring except a TD pass counts as six points instead of three or four (I didn't realize this until after the draft). I had the second overall pick, snake draft.
Here are my picks:
2. Adrian Peterson-I would have taken him at number one if I had that pick. I need to see Chris Johnson repeat what he did last year before I anoint him the best fantasy back out there.
23. Ryan Mathews-Please, please let Mathews fall to me was all I could think when the second round started. The fantasy Gods smiled upon me. I was afraid I was going to have a tough choice here as Calvin Johnson also fell but went four spots ahead of me at 19.
26. Miles Austin-After taking two RBs with my first two picks, there would have had to be a "can't miss" RB for me to pass over a WR. I'm still thrilled with Miles here; there are enough weapons in the Dallas offense to prevent double coverage on him. Interesting note: Carson Palmer went two picks later.
47. Antonio Gates-I was looking to grab Michael Crabtree here but he went at pick 43. With Vincent Jackson headed out of town, I have a feeling Gates will get plenty of targets. He was the second TE taken; Dallas Clark went first and Jermichael Finley went 66th (ugh).
50. Dwayne Bowe-I'm hoping Charlie Weiss and a better offseason program gets Bowe into the top-10 WR discussion. I was tempted to take Hakeem Nicks here but I like Bowe a tad better.
71. Arian Foster-I was hoping Jay Cutler would fall to me, but he went at pick 67. When the draft took place, it was general knowledge that Ben Tate was done for the year. Brandon Jacobs, Marion Barber, Jerome Harrison, Ricky Williams and Justin Forsett all went the two rounds ahead of him.
74. Kevin Kolb-I'm not worried about Kolb, he played well last season, has a solid supporting cast at WR and a sketchy run game. A great formula for a fantasy QB.
95. Robert Meachem-Has a chance to eclipse 1,000 yards this season with the Saints' high octane offense. Probably not a starter for me come Week 1.
98. Lee Evans-Kind of a homer pick but the reality is the Bills have little past him as far as WRs go. The 70-yard catch on Friday night was a good sign. Evans was wide open but still the ball hit him in perfect stride and had a defender been a half step behind him, he would have still been gone.
119. Marshawn Lynch-It's deep enough into the draft to take Lynch based upon a few different scenarios. What if Fred Jackson is out longer than expected? What if Lynch gets traded? He's still only 24 and has a lot of football left in him.
122. Correll Buckhalter-Honestly, there was a baby emergency and by the time I got back, I had eight seconds to pick. However, Knowshon Moreno's hamstring could linger as the season goes on and Buckhalter could end up with the lion's share of carries for Denver.
146. Brian Westbrook-He hadn't signed with San Fran but it seemed like it was a matter of time that he'd be on a roster. Where was he ranked a few years back?
167. Giants D-They can't be as bad as last year, can they?
170. Rob Bironas-He's accurate and his team should score a lot of points with Vince Young and Chris Johnson running the show.
191. Laurent Robinson-Word is he's completely over his ankle injury. He's more of a physical receiver than Donnie Avery which should benefit him when Sam Bradford is looking for targets in the red zone.
My final team looks like this:
QB-Kevin Kolb
RB-Ryan Mathews
WR-Miles Austin
WR-Dwayne Bowe
Flex-Arian Foster
D/ST-Giants
BN-Robert Meachem
BN-Lee Evans
BN-Matt Cassel