First Stanima Draft

This is probably not the smartest idea I've had, but since I have the adrenaline flowing from my first Stanima draft, I will post my thoughts about it. My challengers my use this against me in future drafts (I have 5 more to do), but that's OK.

A quick background on the Stanima contest (www.stanima.com). It's a qb heavy league since you're able to start 2 qb's each week, and they often score the most points. You are put in a 10 team division, and you play each team once during the 9 week regular season. You also get a w/l each week based on your point total. The top 5 scoring teams in the league get a win each week and the bottom 5 get a loss. I love this unique way of keeping records as it gives you some solace to have a big week, only to lose to the team that scores the most in the league. You may still sign up for this contest as drafts run up til the day before opening night.

I drew the 4th spot in the draft and looking at my pre-rankings, I had ARod, ADP, and Chris Johnson the top 3. If those 3 went 1-3, I was not sure if I should take Charles or Foster. Foster is the better player, but he has a bye week 11 which is when the cut line elimination starts. I tried avoiding players with a week 11 bye week for this reason. The first pick turned out to be Vick (as in most drafts), and I quickly realized I'd get ADP or CJohnson. I don't rank Vick high because he's an injury risk (as are most qb's) and teams slowed him down at the end of last season now that they were more prepared for him. He's a bonafide stud in FFL, but you won't see him on any of my teams.

Round 2, I got another stud rb in Maurice Jones-Drew. He's always been a first round pick, and the heavy work load he's had the past few years gives me some concern, but this was a no-brainer pick for me. By this time, 7 of the first 15 picks were qb's and only 6 were rb's (A. Johnson and White were also taken). In round 3, we were already at the 2nd tier of qb's, so I was hoping to land a top WR. I got my wish and took Hakeem Nicks. He broke out last season as Eli's favorite target. Seems to have a slight injury issue, but wr's are easily replaced.

By round 4, I start watching the qb's closely. I like a lot of the mid-tier qb's, but don't want to get stuck starting a Chad Henne or Jason Campbell. At this time, the top qb's left in my mind were Josh Freeman, Eli Manning, and Matthew Stafford. It was hard to pass on Josh Freeman, but I suddenly realized Dwayne Bowe fell on my lap. Last year, only Brandon Lloyd scored more points. Yet 11 other wr's were taken ahead of him. He's still reaching his prime and another year under Haley should be good for the Chiefs offense. At this point, I had a great core starting lineup with CJ, MJD, Nicks and Bowe.

Round 5, most of the QB's I liked were gone, so I grabbed Eli Manning. I like Manning this year and it helps even more that I already had Nicks. I planned on taking a 2nd qb in round 6 since I had other high upside
qb's on the board after I took Eli. Stafford, Flacco, Bradford and Kolb all went before my 6th pick. Cutler was the one qb I liked of the players left, but I passed on him and went with Jermichael Finley instead. He has the highest upside of any TE other than Dallas Clark. Gates continues to go first, but can you really trust his health? I figure with this core of starters, I can find a mediocre WR and QB to get me through most weeks.

In round 7, you start grabbing the #2 wr's and backup rb's hoping to get lucky. The next 6 or 7 rounds is pretty much a crap shoot. However, I was thrilled to get Knowshawn Moreno in the 7th as my 3rd top RB. In the past, I didn't like Moreno because Shanahan never sticks to 1 rb, and McDaniel was a pass happy coach. This year, they have John Fox who loves to run, run and run again. He relies on his defense to make plays and his offense to not make mistakes. For this reason, I see Moreno and McGahee as being busy this year.

As I said..the rest of the draft is pretty much a grab bag and time for your sleepers. Here's how the rest of my draft shaped out:
round 8: Fred Jackson (underrated back who should still get most of the touches while Spiller matures)
round 9: Mark Sanchez (safe pick as his job is not in jeopardy, so even if his stats aren't great, at least he'll be playing)
round 10: Braylon Edwards (Harbaugh should help the 49er passing attack, and with Crabtree hobbled, Edwards could break out)
round 11: GB Def (didn't have any position players I liked)
round 12: James Jones (my one sleeper pick this season, if you can even call him one)
round 13: Greg Olsen (new team will hopefully utilize his great talent)
round 14: Jerome Simpson (needed wr depth. Not sure what he can do without a proven qb)
round 15: James Starks (when in doubt, take a Packer! He's looked great in camp and could beat out Grant for the starting job)
round 16: Miami (great pass rush and that's usually the cause of turnovers)
round 17: Colt McCoy (between him and Alex Smith as my emergency qb. Went with youth)
round 18: Seabass (my top rated kicker and he was still there despite 6 other kickers being taken)
round 19: Vinatieri (when in doubt, take a kicker on a team that will score a lot)
round 20: Emmanuel Sanders (hoping he becomes Ben's #2 target. Need WR depth more than RB)

Like most everyone that drafts, I really like my team. Flex position is a bit weak with Sanchez/McCoy, but if Moreno comes thru, I can always go 3 rb's. I don't always like the teams I draft, but in this draft it seemed that everyone I wanted, fell to my next pick. Not once did a player I targeted go a pick or two in front of me. We'll see how it turns out.

Scooter
"Jack Daniels" league 141