Fantasy: Draft Master

Unless you have been living under a rock in the fantasy community, you have at least caught wind of the series of Draftmaster mock fantasy football drafts that have been taking place since the Super Bowl. These are “draft-and-forget”, best-ball style drafts – the team owners do not have to worry about trades or the waiver wire, but they are stuck with the team they draft. The goal is to provide early average draft position (ADP) data, and to have a little fun. Personally, when it comes to fantasy football, I like drafting the most. Draftmaster mock drafts are run by Jim Day over at FantasyFootballWhiz.com, who has worked hard to create and populate them.

I may be an auction guru, but I know a thing or two about snake drafting. Hence, I thought I would share my experience in these drafts. I have either completed or am still participating in ten drafts so far, but I will start with the first four that have been completed.

Draftmaster 4

My first foray into Draftmaster mock drafts saw me make a rookie mistake: overdrafting a quarterback. With Michael Vick off the board, I thought picking Rodgers at 2.03 was the smart thing to do, figuring the elite QBs would be gone by the time my third-round pick rolled around. When my 3.10 slot came around with the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, and Tony Romo still on the board, I could have kicked myself. Despite that, I think I ended up with a good WR corps, though my running back situation leaves something to be desired.

Unfortunately for me, Pierre Thomas did not sign a long deal with New Orleans until we were well into the Draftmasters (around number 25 if I recall correctly), so the Ivory pick here, and in other early drafts, was a reach. As you will see, I am a big fan of Jimmy Graham going into 2011. Aaron Hernandez is a good TE2 because he is liable to have a few fantasy explosions in that Patriots offense.

Draftmaster 8

In hindsight, I wish I would have picked Chris Johnson or even Ray Rice at 1.02 over Peterson. Idiotic lockout statements aside, his situation in Minnesota scares me – no quarterback, an aging team around him, and an inevitable physical decline – and articles like this have me wondering if he will be a top-10 back this season. Still, I rarely get a top pick and Peterson will do.

I like the Fitzgerald/Austin turnaround I had in the second and third rounds. Fantasy owners are rightfully scared to draft Fitzgerald, but the Cardinals are known to be looking for a quarterback solution which should help Fitz have a rebound season. Along those lines, Austin should get a boost with the return of Tony Romo.

I am normally not a fan of drafting rookies, but Julio Jones has jumped out at me as being a rookie that could make a bigger impact next season, especially if he goes to St. Louis, as many draft experts are predicting. Drafting him as a WR3 does not seem like a reach, and you will note that I may have developed a bit of a man crush over the next few drafts. I was, again, unfortunately burned by the Ivory pick, and Tim Tebow as my second quarterback does not inspire confidence at all.

An interesting note: I accidentally drafted two defenses in Miami and Pittsburgh, but after some thought, it might be best to have two defenses in the best-ball format – one of the two is bound to have a decent score each week, and this way I am relatively safe from the dreaded negative-points week. I decided to go with two defenses more often than not, but only because of the format of these leagues.

Draftmaster 12

The commissioner punished my accidental tardiness in the third round by selecting Ahmad Bradshaw for me, a player I likely would not have picked so early. Still, getting him in the third and Stewart in the fourth to go along with McCoy meant having a strong stable of running backs. Bernard Scott is a guy I like because he is in line to take over the feature back duties in Cincinnati, and he is being drafted quite late.

Aside from my quarterbacks – Matt Ryan/Cassel do not inspire a lot of fantasy confidence – I like this draft a lot. Nabbing Collie in the fifth round was a coup, and I think Boldin could be in line for a rebound season. I was trying to steer clear of Jimmy Graham because I had drafted him in my first two drafts, but I could not help myself when he was sitting there in the middle of the 8th round.

Draftmaster 15

This is easily my best draft of the first four. Although Gore and Mathews are injury concerns, nabbing them in the second and fourth rounds respectively was fortuitous. There is a danger of fantasy cannibalism in drafting Bryant and Witten, but both could be huge for Dallas next season. Having Chris Cooley at TE2, having nabbed him at the end of the 9th round, is pretty sweet.

Having a quarterback tandem of Freeman and Cutler gives my team some flexibility for when Cutler inevitably lays an egg or four. In best-ball format, Cutler is the type of guy who can get you a few crazy huge games while Freeman can be the steady one – this is starting to sound like a dating scene.

That is it for now. I will post more Draftmaster results when I have completed more drafts.

Questions and comments are always welcome via Twitter – @PFF_Zerodev.