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The 2013 NFL draft was ripe with talent on the defensive side of the ball, and there are quite a few guys picked that should go on to be perennial Pro Bowlers. But even the best defensive players may not start lighting up the stat sheet until the end of their first season, or even later. JJ Watt and Jason Pierre-Paul didn’t take the league by storm until their second year, Ronde Barber didn’t truly break out until his fourth season in the league, and we’re still waiting on Vernon Gholston to show us what he’s got.

From a fantasy perspective, this year’s draft doesn’t have anyone who is likely to match Luke Kuechly’s LB1 output in 2012. In fact, we’ll be lucky to see something like Vontaze Burfict’s LB24 finish. The top talent is probably at Defensive Tackle, and while the big boys are vital to a team’s defensive success, they don’t tend to have much of an impact in IDP leagues that don’t require their presence.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t have any impact rookies this year, it just may take some time to figure out who they are. Here is a look at each position and how relevant the rookies will be in 2013 IDP leagues.

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As the second round of the draft started early on a Saturday I decided to head out to one of my favorite bars in San Diego and watch what I anticipated to be a very interesting draft after an exciting first round. As the draft unfolded there were a lot of surprises causing a lot of controversy with draft “experts”. I was also given the experience that we saw Geno Smith go through in the first round as I waited and waited for my player of 2013 Johnathan Franklin to be drafted. Was it the second round? No Was it the third round? No Maybe the fourth? Yes after hours of waiting Johnathan Franklin was finally drafted behind my least favorite running back Eddie Lacy to the Green Bay Packers. I can only hope that I am right about both and Franklin becomes the every down back I envisioned him to be for the Packers, but enough about me lets talk about the rest of the draft. One thing that we did see was that after a fairly offensive line and defensive player heavy first round the offensive skill players started to fly off the board and land in some very intriguing situations. As fantasy football enthusiasts these are the players we care about most. Lets take a look at a round two and three analysis of the players and how their landing spot effects their value for fantasy football in 2013 and in the future.

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With the first round of the draft completed and behind us we begin to absorb the aftermath and feel the effects from what was anything but a normal opening day that appeared to match the intensity of the anticipation leading up to it. With 9 picks being offensive lineman and 18 being defensive players that leaves us with 5 picks that could be considered fantasy football relevant for 2013 and in future NFL seasons. Many of you will be unhappy with the pick your team made but we still have 6 rounds to go and there is plenty of talent in those middle rounds, if you are still upset just think about the Cowboys who took a center in the first round. Now that should make you feel better, unless you are a Cowboys fan and if so I apologize, well not really, go complain to Jerry. Lets take a look at some of the picks that could be assets to fantasy teams in 2013.

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After weeks of studying this draft class with my elite research team, the AT&T kids, we have come to the conclusion that this Wide Receiver class is being slightly underrated, even if we can’t tape a cheetah to the back of the slow ones. It is well known that the position of Wide Receiver, unlike Running Back, has a huge learning curve when a player steps into the NFL, but can a player be successful straight away? Sure, if put in the right situation a player can and will make an impact. This is going to be an exciting year for Wide Receivers in this year’s draft mostly due to the depth at the position. While it’s unlikely there is a Megatron or AJ Green that will come in and make an immediate impact, there are several receivers in this draft, due to their athletic ability, that have extremely high ceilings in terms of Fantasy Football. Most of the players you read about here won’t be immediate household names, but you can be sure that a few will be coveted 2013 Fantasy Football assets in the coming years. Let’s take a look at some of the top receivers in the 2013 NFL Draft and where the best landing spot would be for each. Even with major moves in the off season, there are still several teams that need to improve their Wide Receiver corps as the passing game has become such a huge part of what it takes to be successful in the NFL and for your Fantasy Football teams…

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Now that we have completed the majority of our major events of the Rookie scouting period with the combine and pro days behind us we start to get a better picture of the best prospects in this draft (and if you need catch up, click on this magical 2013 NFL Draft link for coverage). Ranking the top rookie Running Backs for 2013 Fantasy Football has been extremely challenging mostly due to the fact that it is as much about what team a player lands on as it is about their football potential and ability. Could Doug Martin, Alfred Morris or Trent Richardson been impact players if they landed with the Vikings behind Adrian Peterson or in Arizona with what is considered the leagues worst offensive line? The answer is most likely no. With that in mind these rankings are strictly based on my personal assessment of each player and are certainly subject to change. Lets take a look at some of the names that could become valuable assets to your 2013 Fantasy Football teams next year and the teams I would like to see them play for…

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It seems the Super Bowl just ended and we still find more than enough to talk about when it comes to football. One of the hot topics of the past few months has been the upcoming NFL draft and the teams that potential prospects would be best on. I personally have only been doing draft analysis for a short time but have always found it interesting for as long as I have followed football to try and assess team needs and what players I thought fit where. I have always thought draft analysis is pretty biased and limited in many ways, I mean how can one person possibly predict what teams were going to do in the draft? The answer truly is they can’t, so it’s hard to take any one persons opinion seriously with so many conflicting viewpoints.

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The NFL Combine or as I call it, a reunion for a dysfunctional family we call the National Football League. The combine provides Owners, General Managers and Coaches a chance to reconnect, make generalized statements to the media and observe potential draft prospects in the first official event of the off season. Unfortunately two players that I really wanted to see – Matt Barkley and Eddie Lacy – did not participate. Some of my favorite moments include Chip Kelly’s “Erroneous” interview, GM Tom Telesco stating that Ryan Mathews will be the starting running back for the Chargers (not buying it), watching the hundreds of people gather at Manti Te’o’s interview only to get the same information we have known for months, the blazing 40 times including 6’ 5” 305 LB Terron Armstead run a 4.65 and of course everyone’s overreaction to under or over performers. I half expected for Jerry Jones to have an interview stating that he was looking forward to watch Leon Sandcastle and that he was on the Cowboy’s radar…sorry Jerry, it’s just a joke. Seriously though it might have been entertaining to watch in regards to the background noise but ultimately we watch the combine for one reason and that’s to keep an eye and get a first look as Fantasy Football owners of the talent that could possibly land on our fantasy rosters and give us the best opportunity to win the coveted championship. Lets take a look at a few combine standouts from each position and how their performance effects their relative draft position. One thing to keep in mind with these grades and scores is that a good evaluation does not always mean that a player is or is not a great NFL prospect this is more of a track meet and as we know there is more to football than running, jumping and lifting weights. Track speed and strength does not always translate to football speed and strength. But enough about that, let’s see how the 2013 NFL Combine played out and what, if any, effect it will have on 2013 fantasy football…

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