The Fantasy Theory

It was five minutes before the draft started and I didn’t know what to do.

Oh, I had a plan. Two plans actually. That was the predicament. If I just had one plan I could’ve approached my chicken wings with reckless abandon and giggled like a school girl all the way to my first pick. But it wasn’t that kind of year. It wasn’t that kind of draft.

When the perverbial “straws were drawn” earlier in the week, I had inherited the 8th pick in the draft. Eighth pick is good if you like seeing your buddies take all the good running backs before it gets to you. Then, you must decide on a mediocre RB, or an elite QB or WR. You have to go elite in the first round. You have to go low risk. You have to go big points.

After ranking my players and participating in some mock drafts earlier in the week, I realized what I would have to do with my 8th pick. I would have to draft Drew Brees and scramble for good RB’s the rest of the draft, or take my chances on getting a slew of RBs and WRs early, and hope for a good QB later. Which is where Joe Flacco comes in. This Ravens QB is entering his 3rd season, and his stock has been rising. Rookie year: 14 TDs, 12 INTs. Second year: 21 TDs, 12 INTs. Third year: ?. What the crap is Joe Flacco going to do with his 3rd year? Well, he’s a year older and wiser. He’s healthy (was not last year). He’s got two new, solid receivers (Boldin & Stallworth). Can’t he throw 9 more TD’s? He could have 30 TDs and 4,500 yards. That would make him a Top 5 QB. And I can get him in the 7th round. He could be my “good QB later”.

Or he could completely suck, like so many fantasy players do. That’s the dilemma. I could go no risk with Brees and get a decent draft. Or I could go high risk with Flacco and pin the hopes of my season largely on his success. This is what I couldn’t decide on. But I’m convinced Flacco will produce, so with my first pick, I took Randy Moss, not Drew Brees.

My second pick was Ryan Grant. I don’t love Ryan Grant. I wasn’t thrilled about picking him. But the last thing I wanted was to pick a QB there and have it get back to me in the 3rd with no RB1s left. I estimated Beanie Wells would probably be my RB1, and that was unacceptable. So, Grant. Hopefully I won’t have to change my team’s name to Buried in Grant’s Tomb.

Third round pick was Jamaal Charles. In my estimation, he was the only RB1 left in the draft. Had to take him there. Fourth round pick was Marques Colston. He’s on my team every year, but always as WR1. This year he is my WR2, which I feel much better about. Meanwhile, QBs had been flying off the board early. Most of the good ones were gone by the 4th round. Flacco was still there. The guys around me all had QBs, which was good. I felt good about waiting until Round 6 to grab him. But Round 5 came along and Rose and Jennings, who sat at the beginning of the round, still didn’t have a QB. Please no. Please no.

Jennings picks Favre! Rose passes on his QB. Flacco will be safe unless a monstrosity occurs and someone drafts their backup QB in the 5th. The pick comes to me and I select Matt Forte. For my 3rd RB, I’ll take that value, even though I’m not crazy about him. Sixth round comes and I snatch Flacco.

The rest of the draft for me became about delaying my TE pick. After Finley went, I wasn’t real excited about anyone. I could’ve gotten Witten in the 7th. It was between him and Justin Forsett. Forsett could make my season. Witten could not. I took Forsett. Witten gets snatched up before the pick can get back to me. That’s okay, now I’m eyeing my sleeper TE, Zach Miller, who I can probably get in Round 11 or 12. And then Hartye grabs him in the 10th round. That pick and Birch grabbing Malcom Floyd were my daggers of the evening. Anyway, in Round Who Cares, I got Shiancoe, TE for the Vikes. It’s okay; viable TEs will surface on the waiver wire if Shank sucks.

And that was the draft. The Flacco Theory will be tested. If he has a big season, I think I will be in the mix again. If not, my team could be in serious trouble. Either way, I had fun taking a calculated risk with a somewhat undesirable draft position. Let the games begin!