I feel like I’ve earned at least a tad bit of credibility for my performances last year. In 4 leagues I took 1st in two leagues, 2nd in one, and 3rd in the final one. I obviously got lucky in a couple with key pickups like Brandon Lloyd and LT, but in one league I drafted Apete, Jamaal, and Darren McFadden so get at me dawg. Obviously all this information is my own and there are plenty other better sources than me so don’t view this as the end all, just what I think.
Jamaal Charles
Yes, I’m going to take him early. Ideally you want the 10-12th pick and you take Jamaal with your first pick. He lead the league with an avg of 6.4!!!!!!! yards per carry. The next closest guy was 5.6. If he gets more carries, which he should, he’s the #1 RB in the game. I’m being unbelievably stupid divulging this information but this is going to be his even bigger breakout year. To boot, he was 14th in receptions among rb’s which is great for ppr and 9th in total yards. The guy is a stud and worth a 1st round pick. He drops to the second round and you’ve got yourself a huge steal.
Darren McFadden
1st round pick? I don’t see why not. 1,157 yards in 13 games last year. 47 catches for 507 yards (6th among rb’s in yards for 13 games!). 10 tds! Yes he’s on Oakland and morons talk about sharing time with Michael Bush . WAKE UP! He’s young at 24 and ready to break out with a better season than last year. Avoid injuries and you’ve got a stud. Drops to the second round and you snag him up.
Roddy White
Led the league with 115 catches which is dynamite for ppr. That averages to 7 points per game PLUS any yards he gets. He got in the end zone 10 times and he’s Matt Ryan’s (a up and coming ELITE QB) favorite target. This is really a no brainer and the question really becomes how early do you get Roddy? I’d probably pass on him until the beginning of the 2nd round and I’m taking him with any late 2nd round pick.
I know I threw out some pretty cupcake picks but I’m not sure everyone really understands how good the players are I highlighted. It’s not until someone puts information in front of your face do you start to believe. I’ve always had the philosophy of never drafting a QB with the first round pick because the difference in great QB’s isn’t as great as the RB’s. Why did I win the league last year? I had 3 RB’s in the top 10 who didn’t get injured, simple as that. I can even back this up with some data from our league last year. Notice what round the manager drafted a QB and what place they finished:
Round QB was drafted 1st – 3rd place (picked up Vick btw)
” ” ” 2nd – 9th
” ” ” 2nd – 6th
” ” ” 3rd – 5th
” ” ” 3rd – 8th
” ” ” 3rd – 11th
” ” ” 3rd – 10th
” ” ” 4th – 2nd
” ” ” 5th – 5th
” ” ” 6th – 1st
” ” ” 6th – 4th
” ” ” 7th – 12th
People who drafted QB’s in the 4th, 5th, and 6th round took 4 of the top 5 spots. AND the guy who got 3rd didn’t even use his 1st round pick and was vaulted by Vick’s performance which shows he didn’t even need his 1st round QB pick. This did not happen by accident.
I’m going to give one more tip that I shouldn’t give. Picking up injured or suspended players in later rounds is a brilliant idea. For instance, CK4 got Roethlisberger real late and after the 4 game suspension, he became his starting QB. I picked up Sidney Rice and Santonio Holmes last year, who didn’t play til at least week 10, and by week 16 not only did I have my core of RB’s, I had another 4 WR’s to choose from.
Paying attention to diamonds in the rough and consistent performers is way smarter than going for sleepers who don’t pan out. Drafting rookie RB’s is the biggest gamble of them all by the way and in my opinion ill advised. I’ll just throw out a few more names who I’m probably going to stay away from MJD because of Jennings and injury, I would have said APete but with McNabb at QB he should be just fine and Shonne Green who just never seems as good as the hype.
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