The College Fantasy Football Invitational draft was conducted a week ago, with 18 teams taking part in this year's version. I'm running the RotoWire team.
The league features all 120 teams, and the starting lineup is as follows: QB/QB/RB/RB/WR/WR/Flex/TE/K/DEF. I ended up with the fifth pick, which in hindsight turned out to be a nice spot, I think.
I think my team is looking good. If I remember right, I finished fourth last year, and I like this year's team more.
For those who want to move along quickly, here's what I ended up with—a more detailed breakdown is available after the results:
- (5) Justin Blackmon, WR, Oklahoma State
- (32) Juron Criner, WR, Arizona
- (41) Adonis Thomas, RB, Toledo
- (68) Alex Carder, QB, Western Michigan
- (77) Robert Turbin, RB, Utah State
- (104) Taylor Martinez, QB, Nebraska
- (113) Jason Ford, RB, Illinois
- (140) Dwight Jones, WR, North Carolina
- (149) Kriss Proctor, QB, Navy
- (176) Florida State DST
- (185) DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson
- (212) Josh Harris, RB, Wake Forest
- (221) Collin Klein, QB, Kansas State
- (248) Danny Hrapmann, K, Southern Mississippi
- (257) Josh Chichester, TE, Louisville
- (284) D.J. Adams, RB, Maryland
- (293) Ryan Grant, WR, Tulane
- (320) Brett Moncrief, WR, Troy
- (329) Ryan Otten, TE, San Jose State
- (356) UCF DST
At QB: I think I'm loaded here. I have more injury risk than most, but I think Carder should be a consistent producer while I can alternate the other three as huge-upside runners depending on matchup and health. I love the upside I have here.
At RB: I deliberately went a bit light at running back, as my first two picks were Blackmon and Criner. But I'm still really happy with landing Thomas and Turbin. Ford I'm a bit worried about, since he hasn't been apparently lighting it up in practice for Illinois. Still, I think he should be reasonable in that role.
Josh Harris was an absolutely awful choke pick on my part. I took him in the 12th round (212th overall), but I was distracted because I was conflicted between whether I should draft Klein or another runner. Klein was easily my top-rated player left, but I was very light at running back still. So with the clock running down I panicked and took Harris over numerous other players who would have been more useful (Jared Hassin, Dennis Johnson, Lampford Mark and Perry Jones, off the top of my head). Klein luckily fell to my 13th pick, but Harris was a horrible pick and I cut him after the draft, replacing him with Duane Bennett of Minnesota.
I also added Rice's Jeremy Eddington after the draft. Between Bennett, Eddington and Adams, I think I should be able to find a legitimate RB4.
At WR: I fully expect Blackmon's numbers to fall a bit in 2011 (how could they not?), but I still think he should be a good fifth overall pick given the combination of his extreme effectiveness and a friendly schedule. Criner is an awesome WR2, and I think both Jones and Hopkins have lots of potential in their roles. Grant is about as good of a WR5 as I could have hoped for.
Moncrief was a wasted pick—I cut him after the draft and picked up Patrick Hearn of UAB, who I would have drafted if I had noticed he was still on the board.
At TE: Chichester had 317 yards and five scores as a TE last year, so I'm hoping he can make another jump with Cameron Graham (40 catches for 470 yards and five scores last year) out of the lineup.
Otten is under the radar but nonetheless flashed big upside in a brief showing last year. In the final four games he played last year he totaled 17 catches for 201 yards and three scores, so he was definitely worth a late pick.
Between those two, I'm optimistic that I can get some solid TE production despite going cheap at the position.
At K: It quite simply would be huge if Hrapmann could produce like last year, when he averaged 10.2 points per game. I'm not necessarily expecting it, but it was worth the gamble.
At DEF: Florida State allowed 19.6 points per game last year, but I expect them to improve in 2011. Of the 48 sacks the team totaled in 14 games last year, 38.5 are accounted for in the returning roster. Of the 95 tackles for loss from last year, 73.5 are accounted for. This is a defense that was very disruptive a year ago and returns most of the key pieces.