Grading Your Fantasy Draft - Part 3

Time to get started with our final piece in the Grading Your Fantasy Draft segment (Part 1, Part 2) where we’ll take a look at one of the teams I drafted for a league that I’m in this fall.  Naturally, I like this team because, hey, I drafted it.  But, I’ll try to be as objective as possible in breaking down my strengths and weaknesses.  That said, the format of the league is pretty standard – QB,WR,WR,WR,RB,RB,TE,W/R/T,K,DEF.  It’s a ten team league and I had the 10^th pick in the draft.

 Antonio Brown

Here we go:

Round 1 – Calvin Johnson (WR, Lions)

Round 2 – Jimmy Graham (TE, Saints)

Round 3 – Jamaal Charles (RB, Chiefs)

Round 4 – Jordy Nelson (WR, Packers)

Round 5 – Willis McGahee (RB, Broncos)

Round 6 – Antonio Brown (WR, Steelers)

Round 7 – Stevie Johnson (WR, Bills)

Round 8 – Michael Bush (RB, Bears)

Round 9 – Philip Rivers (QB, Chargers)

Round 10 – Peyton Hillis (RB, Chiefs)

Round 11 – Ryan Williams (RB, Cardinals)

Round 12 – Russell Wilson (QB, Seahawks)

Round 13 – Greg Little (WR, Browns)

Round 14 – Sidney Rice (WR, Seahawks)

Round 15 – Lions Defense

Round 16 – Jason Hanson (K, Lions)

Sticking with the format from yesterday, let’s start with the positives.  First off, I absolutely love my team at WR.  To my delight, Calvin Johnson was still available when I was finally on the clock with the 10^th pick, as were Jimmy Graham and Matthew Stafford (QB, Lions).  I had a choice to make here, and it was a pretty tough one.  I could either go with Stafford/Johnson, Johnson/Graham, or Graham/Stafford.  Ultimately I decided on taking Johnson/Graham, arguably the number one guys at both the wide receiver and tight end position. 

As the rounds went on, I spent more and more picks putting together what I believe to be the strongest WR set in my league, using 4 of my top 7 picks to grab top talent at the WR position.  If you’ve read parts 1 and 2 from yesterday, you know that I’m high on Jordy Nelson.  I’m also very excited about Antonio Brown this year.  He had a breakout performance last year and is coming off a tremendous camp where he was able to strengthen his relationship with Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger.

I definitely have a weakness at running back, but at the same time, you wouldn’t have been saying that two years ago.  I’m going out on a limb hoping that Charles returns to pre-injury form, but if he doesn’t I made the right move to grab Peyton Hillis in a later round.  After all, head man Romeo Crennel did say he wanted his two running backs to have more than 500 carries between them this year.  Hell, there may even be some weeks where I start both of them.  How’s that for diversification?

Behind Charles I took McGahee and Bush, one starter (McGahee) and one goal-line back (Bush).  There could be weeks where I don’t get much from my RB position, but I’m hoping playing the matchups right will result in an RB squad that’s better than they look on paper.

Lastly, the quarterback position is one that I’m a little weary about.  In the first round, I opted to go with Calvin Johnson and Jimmy Graham, leaving Stafford on the board.  We’ll learn shortly whether or not this was a mistake, but I think I got great value with my pick of Philip Rivers in the 9^th round.  Hopefully he’s the Rivers of two years ago, and my hope is that he will be, especially with a healthy Antonio Gates to sling the rock to.

Although there are weaknesses, my strength at TE and WR in a passing league should allow me to make a deep run in the playoffs.

Grade: A- (factoring in upside – A)

*If you'd like me to grade your 2012 fantasy team, submit your pick number, team (in order of selection) and league format in the comments section.