Watch out for the fourth pick this year. If you that draft slot, at least be prepared. In Wednesday’s KP II Expert Football League, organized by Krause Publications, we were fourth to pick. The first 3 players selected were, in order: LaDainian Tomlinson, Steven Jackson and Shawn Alexander. Then my turn came.
The question before me was “do we pick Larry Johnson, the guy who single-handedly gave the crown to whomever had him last year or do we believe that, given a new coach, a new QB, a less powerful line in KC and the fact that LJ is holding out on his contract, either Gore or Westbrook are a better choice?”
I ended up picking LJ, and as soon as I did Brandon Funston, who was picking after me, posted that he would have taken him if I did not. That settled it. But, as I said, be prepared. Let’s hope that by the time you draft, you will know more about LJ’s situation than what is known now.
Thursday at lunch Lawr asked “why not Peyton”? "Because," I replied, "my teams never did well when the QB was picked early. I like to start with 2 or even 3 RBs."
In fact I grabbed two RBs and my first picks, and below is a round-by-round breakdown of our team. The full draft results will be featured in the next issue of Krause Publications Fantasy Sports Magazine.
Round Pos. Player
1 RB Larry Johnson Yeah, we know
2 RB Clinton Portis I had two objectives for this draft: stick to the cheat sheets and not to have any last minute change of hearts in the middle of a heated draft. Blame this pick on the cheat sheets. The second objective was not to draft any RBs from Denver.
3 WR Roy Williams This pick created buzz in the Chat Room. There are high expectations for the Detroit Lions and for Kitna making Williams a high point producer.
4 RB Jamal Lewis Unlike may other RBs, he has no competition
5 WR Darrell Jackson I liked him last year
6 TE Jeremy Shockey Big and bigger this year. Nevertheless one of the top rated TEs.
7 QB Vince Young You got to love this kid.
8 WR Matt Jones There is potential here
9 QB Phillip Rivers Given the reality of football today, we must have two QBs of reasonable quality on our teams.
10 RB Dominic Rhodes Depending on how things turn out in Oakland, he may be my second RB.
11 WR M. Muhammad In my opinion there were better WRs available, like, for example, Mike Furrey, but at this point of the draft, when reserves are being picked, one has to base his picks on the bye weeks
12 TE Dallas Clark
13 WR Nate Burleson
14 DE Pit Steelers
15 K Nate Keading
16 K David Akers A reserve, to be used once and then dropped immediately after Keading’s bye week.