I Feel a Draft

In a pleasant respite from the truly important issues of the day, my fantasy football league held its annual draft today. Yes, a new NFL season is almost upon us, so it was time to put our teams together in anticipation of the September 8th opening game between Oakland and New England.

My fantasy team, known as the Grapevine Stompers, held the #3 overall pick in the draft. That was a bit of a disappointment, because I really wanted to be able to select either Peyton Manning or Daunte Culpepper with my first pick, but I knew they likely would go #1 and #2. When the #2 team hesitated at taking Culpepper after Manning went #1, I thought I might sneak in there and still get him. But, sure enough, the team owner selected Culpepper, leaving me with a bit of a difficult decision: should I take the next highest rated quarterback - Donovan McNabb - or the top rated running back - LaDainian Tomlinson? After mulling it over for a minute or two, I selected McNabb. The league I'm in awards one point per pass completion, so the quarterback position will be the highest point-getter on the roster. Thus, I decided that having McNabb in the fold would be the wisest choice.

The draft progressed at a rapid pace from that point on, through all fifteen rounds. By the end of the live draft, here's what the Grapevine Stompers looked like (by position):

QB Donovan McNabb, PHI
QB Jake Plummer, DEN
RB Deuce McAllister, NO
RB Tiki Barber, NYG
RB Clinton Portis, WAS
RB J.J. Arrington, ARI
WR Torry Holt, STL
WR Jerry Porter, OAK
WR Jimmy Smith, JAC
WR Derrick Mason, BAL
WR Keary Colbert, CAR
TE Jermaine Wiggins, MIN
TE Daniel Graham, NE
PK Mike Vanderjagt, IND
DEF Minnesota Vikings

All in all, I'm pleased with the team I drafted. Time will tell, of course, but hopefully this group can keep me in contention for the league title. There are still a few interesting rookies out there who were not drafted, including the Cleveland Browns' highly touted WR Braylon Edwards, so I'll have to keep an eye on them to see how much of an impact they may have during the early part of the season. That's just part of the fun of fantasy football.

Let the games begin!