The fantasy football draft is over, and with two games left to go tonight it looking like I'll have a loss for week 1. My third year in the league, and I've played the same team every year in week 1. Historically, I've won the game, but apparently I'm just showing him some sympathy this year.
So, without further ado, here's my current roster. Changes will be made as the season progresses.
QUARTERBACKS:
Matt Hasselbeck - Seahawks
Vince Young - Titans
Chad Pennington - J-E-T-S Jets!
Hasselbeck and Young were both keepers for me. I really dig the fact that my primary quarterbacks are an old, nerdy white guy, and a young, athletic black guy. Quarterback pickings were lean this year, so I was happy I got a back-up as strong as Chad. Who then had to go and sprain his ankle in the game. I will likely hold onto him until it is determined just how bad that injury is. He would have been a better pick than Vince this week, but I LOVE that Vince runs in his own touchdowns, but I don't really NEED my third quarterback until week 4.
RUNNING BACKS:
Warrick Dunn - Falcons
Ahman Green - Houston
Julius Jones - Cowboys
Deuce McAllister - Saints
It wasn't until typing this out that I realized all my RBs are from the South. Probably won't be that way for long, as they ALL put in less than stellar performances this week. I miss Tiki Barber! You'd think with Joey Harrington at QB the Falcons would do nothing but run the ball, but apparently they NEED the ball in order to do that. Thankfully, I legally only have to activate one of them a week.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS:
Bernard Berrian - da Bears
Steve Smith - Panthers
Javon Walker - Broncos
Hines Ward - Steelers
Tony Gonzales - Chiefs
Javon Walker was my third keeper for the year. I was nervous about that, as there were better players available, but he has the potential to be a really studly player this year. And I was afraid that whatever draft pick I gave up would cost me a key piece of my team. I feel better about all of that now. Primarily because I now own Steve Smith. Who many experts consider to be the best wide receiver in fantasy football land this year. This is quite astounding, as it means that another team decided they DIDN'T WANT to KEEP Mr. Smith. And two other teams decided to pick SOMEONE ELSE with their first pick of the draft. One team picked Tony "I love his ribs" Romo, as she was without quarterbacks at all and needed to get some while they were gettable. The second picker decided Reggie Wayne and his 19 points from Thursdays game made him a preferable pick. I'm OK with that, as it means I got myself a kick-ass wide receiver and 14 points for the week.
Tony Gonzalez sat on the bench this week, because although he is the second-best tight end in the universe at the moment he is a TIGHT END, who traditionally don't do as well as the wide receivers. I was very glad of this fact when we were watching the pre-game shows yesterday (sans sound) and there was a headline that came across the screen that stated "Tony Gonzalez Threatened With Death" (or something similar). We asked the Kansas City fans we were sitting with if they knew anything, and they were as worried as I was. From the size and wording of the headline it seemed that perhaps he had a stalker at the team hotel, or had contracted some inoperable form of cancer last week. He was playing Sunday, which made me feel moderately better, but still a bit worried. We found out later that afternoon, that things weren't really all that bad. Over the summer he suffered from Bell's Palsy, which is treatable (and was treated successfully). Then, he had a blood test that came back with some scary results, until it turned up that blood samples had been swapped. I'm sure neither of these events were fun for Tony Gonzalez, and there were some scary moments when he THOUGHT his life was in danger. But that was all resolved quite some time ago, and his life was never actually IN danger, so all is well now.
KICKERS:
Shayne Graham - Bengals
Rob Bironas - Titans
I'm in love with Rob Bironas. Have been since I started putting together my spreadsheet of doom in preparation for draft day. He was the twenty-first best kicker on my list, which means he should have been left on the bench all season (10 teams, 2 kickers per team, and the lowest-scoring position means folks don't generally take 3 kickers unless they do something silly like drafting 2 kickers with the same BYE week. Not that anyone in our league did that this year or anything, I'm just saying it's a possibility). Anyway, back to Mr. Bironas. As soon as I came across his name the first time I started humming "My Sharona, but substituting in his name "Rob Bironas." As time passed, more lyrics were developed:
He's my little kicker man
My kicker man
Come on kick a field goal
ROB BIRONAS!
With a song like that, how could I NOT pick the guy? My Sweetie says it's a bad idea to have a kicker and a QB from the same team, but it worked for me just fine my first season in the league, and I'm happy to have Rob Bironas on my team.
DEFENSES:
Ravens
Giants
The Ravens defense was one of the bright spots in an otherwise dim season for me last year. I think they were one of my highest scorers week after week. So much so that I briefly considered them as my third keeper. But I knew that no one picks defenses until you get to the mid-rounds of the draft, so I figured third round, maybe fourth, I'd snatch them up and thus start the run on defenses. Except in round 2 the person who picked right ahead of me took da Bears defense with his pick. So I snatched up the Ravens right behind him. (Thankfully I wanted the Ravens more than da Bears, but I knew I wanted one of those teams for sure). Upon later questioning the other team owner indicated that he had given up his third round pick in a trade, and was afraid by the 4th round the good defenses would be gone. Thus reinforcing why I didn't want to do a trade to improve upon Javon Walker. The Giants defense seem to end up on my team every year. I don't TRY to get them, or avoid it, they just always happen to be the best defense available when it comes time for me to pick one of my two defenses, and thus they are mine again.
Overall, and acceptable team, but one that will be able to use some fine tuning in the coming weeks.
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