Fantasy Football Launch 2012

Football season is gearing up.  I guess it’s been going on for a little while now what with the preseason and all, but they’re about to launch into the actual regular season.  This year’s got a bit to be excited about: RG3 is in town and the Redskins have a good receiving core.  Dez Bryant is proving the Cowboys a classy organization.  And Tom Brady’s got some solid weapons around him to make another run for the title.

 

This year I’m in three different fantasy football teams:

There’s the long-standing league I am in with my friends around home.  This is going into the fifth season.  I ended in second place last season (the league is rapidly becoming one in which nine players fight for second place and one player takes first), so I’ve got nowhere to go but down.  I’ve made the playoffs every season so far, so I just need to stay in the top four to keep that streak alive.

I’m heading in to the second season of my family league too.  This one is getting a late start, drafting next week.  Last year this league had 14 players, though a few stopped paying much attention as the league went on.  We’ll probably drop a few players before the draft and might have a more manageable number.  Despite starting at a pretty pathetic 0-5 or something last year, I managed to make the playoffs though I was bounced by the top team from the regular season.

And the third league this year is with my coworkers.  A lot of them have never done fantasy football before, so their draft was kind of hilarious.  I spent a while trying to teach them better ways to draft, and talked to them during the draft about better decisions they could make, but it still resulted in some funny picks.

So for the two teams I have already drafted, here’s how my early teams look:

Home League (Drafted 9 out of 10)

Michael Vick (QB, Phi),Nick Foles (QB, Phi), Marques Colston (WR, NO), Vincent Jackson (WR, TB), Eric Decker (WR, Den), Stevie Johnson (WR, Buf), Chris Johnson (RB, Ten), Adrian Peterson (RB, Min), Kevin Smith (RB, Det), Willis McGahee (RB, Den), Toby Gerhard (RB, Min), David Wilson (RB, NYG), Rob Gronkowski (TE, NE), Matt Prater (K, Den), Chicago (DST)

This league allows for two keepers with the following stipulations: they take up the draft position of the previous situation, they cannot have been kept the previous season (by anyone), and they cannot have been picked in rounds 1 or 2.  If you picked up the player off waivers, they count as a 10th round draft pick.  This season I kept Eric Decker in the 9th round and Rob Gronkowski in the 10th.

I’m nervous about my QB situation.  I did not get any of the big names early and so I held out until I was the 9th QB off the board in the 8th round.  I wanted to swing back around and grab Andrew Luck to back him up, but he was gone before I got another draft.   Nick Foles has been doing pretty well in the preseason and there’s the advantage that if Michael Vick isn’t playing, Nick Foles will be.  We’ll see how the season plays out, though.  I may well be dropping Foles for someone else down the road, but I should have a few weeks before I have to worry about that.

Work League (Drafted 6 out of 10)

Cam Newton (QB, Car), Hakeem Nicks (WR, NYG), Brandon Lloyd (WR, NE), Pierre Garcon (WR, Was), Jeremy Maclin (WR, Phi), Reggie Wayne (WR, Ind), LeSean McCoy (RB, Phi), Jamaal Charles (RB, KC), Adrian Peterson (RB, Min), Jonathan Stewart (RB, Car), Toby Gerhart (RB, Min), Kevin Smith (RB, Det), Aaron Hernandez (TE, NE), Matt Prater (K, Den), Detroit (DST)

Ended up with a very solid team in this league, again because I think a lot of people did not know how to draft better for Fantasy Football.  Two players were huge fans of their own team (Green Bay and New Orleans) and drafted heavily from their own teams to the detriment of their Fantasy teams.

Once again, I’m a little nervous about my QB situation, though not as much as my other league.  Add to that the fact I’m pretty sure I’ll have an easier time finding a good backup in this league than in the home league and I’m pretty happy.

Drafting in both leagues was an unusual experience.  I found a few solid RBs early in the draft, but pretty quickly the quality dropped off or the RBs had huge question marks next to them.  There were a lot of solid WRs and in my second league, not picking up a WR until round 4, I still ended up with Hakeem Nicks and Brandon Lloyd to lead things off, with Jeremy Maclin, Reggie Wayne, and Pierre Garcon to back them up.

Looking forward to seeing how the season goes, both in the regular season and in the fantasy season.  September’s just around the corner!