my fantasy football journal

I know it’s early, ok so week 1 isn’t even here yet, but, if you’re anything like me you’ve already started looking for possible waiver wire steals. Who will be this year’s unknown star? I have a few names I’d like to share, players that probably went undrafted in your league.

1. Kareem Huggins-RB, Tampa: With Derrick Ward now gone, Huggins becomes the #2 guy behind an injury prone Cadillac.

2. Legedu Naanee-WR, SanDiego: Since Malcom Floyd is still a very unproven receiver, and somebody has to step up in Vincent Jackson’s absence, I’m saying keep an eye on Naanee. If Jackson stays of the field for most of the year, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Naanee end the year with 60-70 catches.

3. Davone Bees-WR, Miami: He could stand to benefit the most from the Camarillo trade, and he may not even be available in your league. Being proactive with adding him now could be the best move to make, instead of waiting until after week 1 against Buffalo.

4. Jermaine Gresham-TE, Cinn: Sleeper TE pick of the year. He’s going to see a ton of single coverage and he’s already developing a good relationship with Palmer.

Good luck on the waiver wire.

I want to make a few notes about my team and point out a few great picks(and not-so-great picks) that I noticed last night.

(I picked 8th of 12, snake-style draft)

1st. Andre Johnson-WR: I went with the top receiver here, picking in the 8th spot kinda set the table for me to land him there(so did Steven Jackson getting picked 5th which I’ll cover later). Johnson is the sentimental favorite for me since he’s the only player that’s been on every championship team I’ve had(3 of the last 4 years). Interesting to note that the next 3 picks went Rogers, Brees, Manning.

2. Ryan Mathews-RB: Ok, some have said this is a little early, to which I can agree, however, I REALLY wanted him and knew I would not have a chance to get him if I waited. Now I just have to wait and see if my hunch will pay off.

3. Jamall Charles-RB: By now all of the top-tier WRs are gone but I can still get my hands on a solid Back. I believe Charles has tremendous up-side this year…dare I say Chris Johnson-like potential?

4. Wes Welker-WR: I love him here! The knee is looking miraculously well so far in preseason, so if he can produce like he has in seasons past this could be the best pick of my draft.

5. Visathe Shiancoe-TE: I’m kind of catching up on the tail-end of the TE run here, not that Shiancoe is a bad one but I would have loved to snagged J.Finley. My hope is that Favre will be able to find Shiancoe in the end zone as often as he did last year.

6. Kevin Kolb-QB: Once the top 5 QBs were gone I decided to sit back and wait to see who would fall. I’m ok with Kolb here, but I don’t feel comfortable with him(yet) as my starter. He’s in a great offensive system for QB stats, and since he’s an Eagles it makes it real easy for me to pull for him.

7. Ronnie Brown-RB: Wow, this is the value pick of my board! I kept seeing him fall and fall and once I just couldn’t let the fall continue, even though I wasn’t targeting a RB here…might need this guy if Mathews turns out to be a bust.

8. Vikings-DEF: I could have waited another round or two for a perfectly acceptable defense. It was perhaps the memories of years past where i’m adding and dropping defenses week after week that drove me to grab them here.

9. Jabar Gaffney-WR: Love what I’m seeing from this guy. Seems like he’s developing a great relationship with Orton, could have a big year.

10. Bernard Berrian-WR: Had my eye on him two rounds earlier, glad to see him last long enough to get here. He’s finally healthy, Sidney Rice is out a while, and Favre is back. Those 3 factors make me think this could be his year.

11. Kyle Orton-QB: Solid back-up. If Kolb struggles I feel confident with playing Orton.

12. Thomas Jones-RB: STEAL! This is great insurance if something happens to Charles, plus, it’s round 12!!! This guy had 1402 yards with 14 TDs last year. Seriously!

13. Nate Burleson-WR: The #2 guys in Detroit, he’ll be seeing plenty of single coverage, and it’s round 13 so it doesn’t really matter because the chances of me playing him is pretty slim.

14. Lawrence Tynes-K: Because I need a kicker.

Some of the picks I really liked:

• Wes Welker-4th round
• Thomas Jones-12th round
• Michael Bush-12th round
• Jerome Harrison-9th round
• Anthony Gonzalez-14th round
• Clinton Portis-11th round

…and a few I was scratching my head about:

• Sidney Rice was taken in the 5th round. There’s no reason to even draft him unless you’re loaded at WR.
• Falcons Defense was the 5th def. taken overall…I’m not making this up. I had them as the 24th ranked def.
• Jason Witten was the 2nd TE taken overall, in the 3rd round. Too soon.
• Vincent Jackson was taken in the 3rd round. This could break your draft since there’s no telling when he’ll actually return. Will it be 3 games? Or the entire season?
• Eli Manning going in the 4th round.  I’m pretty sure you could have waited at least 2 more rounds to get him.
• Steve Jackson taken with the 5th pick, ahead of Gore, Turner, Andre, Rogers, Brees and Manning. That kinda shook up the 1st round a bit.

Draft night is finally here! I’ll be giving updates and commentary throughout the night. Starting around 8pm

I’m curious what you think of the NFL’s (proposed) move to am 18 game schedule in 2012? What sort of implications will it have on the fantasy side.

I just completed a draft over at ESPN(free league with friends). I was kinda treating this as a warm-up for Friday’s big-boy draft(no offense Chad). I feel great about my team. It was a keeper league but only 4 players were on lock-down and with the 11th pick it really didn’t affect me at all.

So, here it is, let me know what you think.

1. Drew Brees-QB
2. Miles Austin-WR
3. Jamaal Charles-RB
4. Dallas Clark-TE
5. Wes Welker-WR
6. Jerome Harrison-RB
7. Terrell Owens-WR
8. Bernard Berrian-WR
9. Packers-DEF
10. Cadillac Williams-RB
11. Mike Williams(TB)-WR
12. Kevin Walter-WR
13. Alex Smith-QB
14. Jabar Gaffney-WR
15. Jason Snelling-RB
16. Robbie Gould-K

Testing out Ping.fm

While I’m here I’ll post my TE list.
1. Dallas Clark
2. Antonio Gates
3. Vernon Davis
4. Jermichael Finley
5. Tony Gonzalez
6. Jason Witten
7. Brent Celek
8. Visanthe Shiancoe
9. Chris Cooley
10. Owen Daniels
11. Kellen Winslow
12. Zach Miller

This could be my final mock draft before Friday. 

With the 5th pick……

1. Michael Turner-RB
2. Reggie Wayne-WR
3. Ryan Mathews-RB
4. Dallas Clark-TE
5. Michael Crabtree-WR
6. Bernard Berrian-WR
7. Kevin Kolb-QB
8. Jeremy Maclin-WR
9. Vikings-DEF
10. Laurence Maroney-RB
11. Dexter McCluster-WR
12. Willis McGahee-RB
13. Matthew Stafford-QB
14. Neil Rackers-K

Quite happy with these results.

Alex Smith looking very solid on SF’s first drive…against a very good Def. Looks like those 1st rd. picks are paying off for SF, Smith had plenty of time.