Sick of our football drafts yet?

I had the second-to-last one this morning. This one was an online yahoo.com draft format league filled primarily with some guys on the east coast. The best part going into this season is that I’m coming off of back-to-back championships. This one was filled with surprises.

Round 1 – LaDainian Tomlinson

I drew the second pick in this draft and was dreading making the choice between Adrian Peterson and Brian Westbrook again when the guy with the first pick threw me the first curveball – he took Westbrook, whom I would likely have chosen myself. Tomlinson is the obvious number one pick, in my opinion, so getting a chance to grab him here, I think, clinched the steal of the draft.

Round 2 – Reggie Wayne

There were running backs that I could have chosen from but as Tony and I have discussed all month there are a lot of those guys we like in the mid-rounds this year. Wayne dropped to the 19th pick and I couldn’t pass him up. I feel like I got the top back and a top three wide receiver with my first two picks.

Round 3 – Drew Brees

This is another league that subtracts three points for interceptions so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t hunting for quarterbacks late in the draft. I believe Brees is set to have a monster season with the addition of Jeremy Shockey and the improvement of Robert Meachem complementing Reggie Bush, Deuce McAllister and Marques Colston.

Round 4 – Brandon Marshall

Michael Turner and Colston were both taken within two or three slots of my choice. I’d rather have had either one of them, but his suspension was reduced to one game and Jay Cutler has to throw the ball to someone. Marshall could be a top 10 wide receiver.

Round 5 – Jason Witten

I may have reached a bit for Witten but I don’t feel too badly about it. It’s a heavy yardage league – one point for every 10 yards – and I think you can make a case that Witten is the top tight end on the board this year. Gates was gone as was Gonzalez, who I wouldn’t have touched anyway. And Witten is probably the second receiving option for Tony Romo this year anyway.

Round 6 – Anquan Boldin

Yes, Boldin was still on the board. I generally see him ranked around 15 on wide receiver lists. I think he’ll be playing angry this year. I loved this pick at this stage of the game.

Round 7 – Thomas Jones

So I’d filled out my starting wide receivers, my quarterback and my tight end positions. I still needed a running back and if you’ve been paying attention to this blog you know that Tony and I both believe Jones’ situation is improved this season by the presence of Brett Favre and several new offensive linemen. Jones will definitely eclipse his one touchdown from last year and his yardage totals – which were above 1,000 yards – should move up as well.

Round 8 – Chris Chambers

Top wide receiver for one of the AFC’s best teams. Gates will be option one if healthy but Philip Rivers had some chemistry with this guy last year. I also feel pretty good about him filling in for Marshall in the first week and to get him in round eight I thought was solid.

Round 9 – Ray Rice

The next few picks I might have reached for a little bit, but I’ve become smitten with Rice. I keep reading that he is in the process of taking some – if not all – of the carries in Baltimore away from Willis McGahee (who went, if memory serves, in the third round). Could be a depth pick, could end up being a steal.

Round 10 – Chris Johnson

See Ray Rice. I think Johnson is the real deal. Watched him in the preseason and damn is he fast. He’ll be at minimum a change-of-pace back teaming with LenDale White and at best he could relegate White to goal-line and short-yardage time. And he will break some long runs.

Round 11 – Ricky Williams

Williams was named the starter for the Dolphins in week one. I don’t think he’ll necessarily emerge as an every-week starter playing for Miami but I do think that on a matchup-by-matchup basis he makes a nice depth guy. I can’t help thinking Bill Parcells, err, Tony Sparano, err whoever is pretending to run that team might not be showcasing Williams for a possible trade later in the season. If he ends up on a team like Seattle he could be a monster … but that’s idle speculation.

Round 12 – Jabar Gaffney

Paul Charchian of KFAN-AM’s Fantasy Football Weekly and Leaguesafe.com has been touting Gaffney as a potential sleeper given his status as “the other” wide receiver for New England. I’m not necessarily as high on Gaffney as Charch is but I do think he could put up solid numbers. And as I count, Gaffney will be my fifth wide receiver – we do start a flex running back/wide receiver position, so Gaffney will see some time, but it’ll be a bonus if he helps me win and if nothing else, a couple solid weeks would give him some trade value.

Round 13 – Chris Perry

This wasn’t necessarily a direction I was planning to go. But someone had taken Rudi Johnson already and someone a couple picks before me took Kenny Watson. Third time is the charm – someone had to grab the guy that is going to start for Cincy. I probably could have done better, but he’ll look good on my bench until he gets hurt in week four. By then I’ll need someone to cut for the bye weeks anyway.

Round 14 – Robert Meachem

It’s no secret that Zoneblitz.com has fallen for this guy. I’d rather have gotten Colston but I do believe Meachem will ultimately emerge as the second wideout for New Orleans.

Round 15 – Green Bay defense

Took a defense a round earlier than I normally would have in an 18 round draft, but many teams were onto their second picks. There are some negative points tied to poor defensive performance in this league so I didn’t want to end up with someone like Cincinnati or Miami – Green Bay has a generally solid defense and it plays in a division where the offenses, by and large, are unproven.

Round 16 – Chris Henry

Ehh. He can sit and wait on my bench or be cut or trade fodder when the suspension comes due. I’m no fan of this guy but he does have talent.

Round 17 – Tim Hightower

Charch and the crew on Fantasy Football Weekly on KFAN.com have been touting this rookie as a guy who could get goal-line and short-yardage carries in Arizona. The Arizona Republic has him down for “at least” 130 carries this season. I’ll take that from a 17th round pick.

Round 18 – Phil Dawson

Kickers are a dime a dozen. I’ve usually been able to grab a high-scoring kicker off the waiver wire in week five or six. Dawson likely won’t be on my roster when it’s all said and done – I’ve gone entire drafts without drafting them before. But with the trip to Vegas looming I didn’t want to accidentally forget to make a transaction and cost myself 6-10 points.

So there you have it. I’m a little fried on drafts for now, but luckily I have five days to wait for the last one, which will be at the Flamingo next Friday.

The season starts for real on Thursday. Tony and I will have some predictions for week one and more as the week plays out. In the meantime – drop us a line and let us know how you think our teams look. We’ve got thick skins – we can take it, good or bad.