Fantasy Football 2011: Second Draft Review

The NFL Mocks staff had its fantasy draft on Tuesday night, a 12 team battle in which I selected 5th overall. I’m not too pleased about picking 5th, mainly because it’s a little too close to the middle for my liking, but when life gives you lemons…

My strategy for this draft is to again hold off on taking a QB, and get the best RB I can right away. Adrian Peterson, Chris Johnson, Jamaal Charles, and Ray Rice were taken ahead of me, so I was ecstatic to see Arian Foster still sitting there. I picked him up in the 5th round of my league last year, and he helped me finish in the championship round before a few of my other players laid eggs…

Still, I feel like this year I will once again roll with Foster, my super sleeper from a year ago and now the top player on my team. Foster is a huge part of the Houston offense, and I don’t think he’s just a one year wonder. I think he will be very good for this team for a while, and I am ecstatic to have added him.

With that being said, after I picked foster, the backs just started flying off the board. So much so, that by the time I was able to choose again, I was hoping that either Michael Turner or Steven Jackson would fall to my pick. As luck would have it, those two went one after the other the two picks right in front of mine.

The best back left was Peyton Hillis, and I didn’t see a lot of the top WR’s still out there, so I made Greg Jennings my second round pick, which was somewhat of a reach, but I think it will wind up being a smart pick.

I figured since I had gone with Jennings that I would load up at the WR position on the wraparound pick, so I was looking at guys like Hakeem Nicks, Larry Fitzgerald, Reggie Wayne, and Vincent Jackson.

Among those, Wayne was the last one available, so I made the Colts’ receiver my third round pick. Reggie Wayne is always a consistently productive fantasy player, and though this is not a PPR league (Wayne had 111 receptions last year) he will once again be Peyton Manning’s favorite target, and that is always a good thing if you are a fantasy owner.

As you can imagine, the running backs are getting quite slim by this point. I am looking at guys like Knowshon Moreno, DeAngelo Williams, and Ryan Grant as my top options. Moreno went off the board before I could pick, so I took DeAngelo Williams hoping he could rebound from an injury plagued 2010 season. Even though NFL.com projects Williams to finish with over a thousand yards and 13 touchdowns, I know my running back situation is not looking good outside of Foster.

In the fifth round, I picked up Matt Ryan, and figured I had the core of my team in place with him, Foster, Williams, Jennings, and Reggie Wayne. Those guys would be my “big five” for as long as their health will allow them, and I’m feeling confident I can add some more pieces around them.

Here’s how the rest of the draft played out for me:

Quarterback

Matt Ryan, Josh Freeman

Running Back

Arian Foster, DeAngelo Williams, DeMarco Murray, LaDainian Tomlinson (yikes)

Wide Receiver

Greg Jennings, Reggie Wayne, Sidney Rice, Lee Evans, Hines Ward, Arrelious Benn, Eddie Royal

Tight End

Kellen Winslow Jr.

Kicker

Robbie Gould

D/ST

Dallas Cowboys