Coming into the draft, I was happy to end up with the 7th overall pick. So happy in fact I poured myself a pre-draft scotch, passed out in the 12th round and drafted Kendall Wright. Damn you Maker’s Mark. Your humble Guru’s team, “The Dirty Turbans”, will need things to fall right to be in the running at the end. My targets in the first round were LeSean McCoy or Ray Rice. I ended up with Trent Richardson. “Ended up with” sounds like I’m disappointed. I’m not. T-Rich is a very solid RB1 in PPR leagues and should put up 1200 rushing yards, 11 TD’s with 50 receptions and 400 receiving yards. I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger on Arian Foster because of his injury issues and I kept having Shawn Alexander flashbacks. I’ll let someone else light a candle for Foster.
My sights were set on Reggie Bush in the second round, but he was grabbed two spots ahead of me so I went with a strong WR1 in Brandon Marshall and his guaranteed 100 catches. Marshall and Jay Cutler have developed quite a relationship there in Chi-town. They should make a Step Brothers sequel. More room for activities!
In the third round, I attempted to zig while the others were zagging. I broke my own rule of waiting on quarterbacks and drafted last year’s top fantasy scorer Drew Brees. Maybe the zig will work. My targeted guy, Darren Sproles, was sniped two picks in front of me. I could have grabbed DeMarcco Murray or David Wilson there, but decided to wait and see if they fell to the fourth round. Of course they didn’t and I was left with Darren McFaddon. It could be a jam or cram kind of year for McFaddon. While he’s the Raiders only real threat, the injury history and the fact the Raiders will be playing from behind will hurt his fantasy chances. I’ll cross my fingers and pray to Al Davis that McFaddon gets 1000 rushing yards, 300 receiving and 6 TD’s.
Making Stevie Johnson my WR3 was a bit of a stretch, but it’s possible Stevie J gets 70 catches and 960 yards. It’s also possible Matt Leinart morphs into Jim Kelly. I’m expecting big things from the receivers I grabbed later in the draft. Brian Hartline (11) and Greg Little (13) may just lead their teams in catches before it’s all said and done.
Taking WR Pierre Garcon (6) and TE Greg Olsen (8) in the first ten rounds rounded out my starters with two safe picks that should net 140 combined catches and 13 touchdowns.
One thing I have been doing in drafts this year is drafting my defense and kicker in the 14th and 15th rounds. Why wait until the last two picks when I’ll probably be dropping one of my late round picks anyway. With that philosophy I ended up with a top 5 defense and kicker with Denver and Matt Bryant. By going a round early I missed out on players like Felix Jones and Markus Wheaton. Hope they weren’t Snicker sleepers.
Overall, Matthew Berry and the fantasy professors at Yahoo graded me out at a B+. Mom was so proud she taped it to the fridge.
Look for The Guru’s fantasy football jam it or cram on these here pages once the NFL season kicks off. Have a great fake football year, Razzballer’s.
