Beat John Hansen Online Championship League

[pmfarley21]

Pete,

I drafted in that league from the 10 spot, and I really thought you had a pretty solid draft. I loved your first few rounds. This was my first NFFC draft, although I have done the Chicago auction for the past 2 years (won't be able to make it this year). I felt I had a solid team but certainly not spectacular.

[Tom Kessenich]

Speaking of John, I'll be appearing on his Sirius show today at 4 ET. I'm sure we'll cover this league among other topics.

[Tom Kessenich]

John has analyzed this draft on his site. I won't post the entire article because it's a subscriber piece. Don't forget, though, we are offering a discounted rate for any NFFC player who subscribes to FantasyGuru.com. Just enter the code NFFCSTATS and you'll get the reduced rate. So you can read this whole article and all of John's terrific content and get yourself set for the fantasy season.

Here's John's take of the first three rounds:

ROUND PICK PLAYER TEAM
1 1 Arian Foster Albert Snodgrass
1 2 Ray Rice Goggles Pisano
1 3 LeSean McCoy Sauce on Side
1 4 Aaron Rodgers Team Crider
1 5 Ryan Mathews Rex's Lap Band
1 6 Calvin Johnson Team BBG
1 7 Drew Brees Team Hansens
1 8 Chris Johnson Gurrific
1 9 Tom Brady Melvillains
1 10 Maurice Jones-Drew Vigilant Jesters
1 11 Jimmy Graham Festivus Miracles 3
1 12 Matt Forte Arkansas Roid Ragers

My Pick: I didn’t really like Chris Johnson last year, and I was on the right track. I like him this year – and I’m on the right track. All the vibes are good on Johnson, and while I’m certainly not expecting 2008-2009 production, I think he’ll be a little better than 2010, and I do want a RB if at all possible early in my draft. Darren McFadden was really hard to pass on, but I have to give CJ credit here: The guy’s durable. In a high-stakes league, that was a priority for me, so I passed on McFadden.

Other Picks: No real surprises, quite frankly. Matt Forte makes it into Round One because of the PPR format, and I can see that. Jimmy Graham goes off the board in the first as well, which I’m fine with. Three QBs went in the first, which is totally understandable.

Note: Obviously, this draft was conducted before Thursday night’s Ryan Mathews injury.

ROUND PICK PLAYER TEAM
2 1 Rob Gronkowski Arkansas Roid Ragers
2 2 Darren McFadden Festivus Miracles 3
2 3 Roddy White Vigilant Jesters
2 4 Trent Richardson Melvillains
2 5 DeMarco Murray Gurrific
2 6 Larry Fitzgerald Team Hansens
2 7 Cam Newton Team BBG
2 8 Julio Jones Rex's Lap Band
2 9 Jordy Nelson Team Crider
2 10 Matthew Stafford Sauce on Side
2 11 Wes Welker Goggles Pisano
2 12 Marshawn Lynch Albert Snodgrass

My Pick: I’ve been kicking around the idea of going “old school” with RB-RB if drafting near the bottom of Round One, and the plan would have gone beautifully had I been drafting against “regular” players. Hell, it would have gone well if I was drafting against “experts,” but I paid a little bit of a price for it. Nothing terrible, but I am a little light at WR, Again, normally, I would have been fine, but these bastards made some good picks later in the draft. Still, I like DeMarco Murray and I’m very encouraged by the talk in Dallas that they’re going to use Murray more in the passing game. I’ve been saying for a while that Murray has major untapped potential as a receiver, and ESPN Dallas’ Todd Archer made a good point to me this week in that their receiving corps is really thin, so they’re going to need their backs to step up and help in the passing game. As for going RB-RB, I like to zig when others zag. I think I was ahead of the curve with RBs being devalued, and now I’m flipping the switch again.

Other Picks: That was a great value with McFadden. If he’s healthy, that’s deadly. We could have a bit of a value in Trent Richardson in the second, but he obviously has some issues with the knee. My feeling he will be okay, but I certainly can’t say that with confidence, and missing possibly the next 3-4 weeks would hurt him, for sure. This league was 6 points per TD pass, so passing on Mathew Stafford was very difficult to do. But the Murray talk of more action in the passing game put it over the top for me, and I’m enamored by the prospects of getting a little more value for an impact player at QB in Michael Vick.

ROUND PICK PLAYER TEAM
3 1 A.J. Green Arkansas Roid Ragers
3 2 Doug Martin Festivus Miracles 3
3 3 Percy Harvin Vigilant Jesters
3 4 Steve Smith Melvillains
3 5 Michael Vick Gurrific
3 6 Brandon Marshall Team Hansens
3 7 Darren Sproles Team BBG
3 8 Greg Jennings Rex's Lap Band
3 9 Jamaal Charles Team Crider
3 10 Adrian Peterson Sauce on Side
3 11 Marques Colston Goggles Pisano
3 12 Victor Cruz Albert Snodgrass

My Pick: Well, I’ve been talking Michael Vick up, so I had to put my money where my mouth is. He was a top-12 pick last year, yet he lost his way with the lockout and had two WRs dealing with issues. Those aren’t issues this year, and he’s looked very good this summer, so it’s simply an issue of health. If healthy, I have a top-15 fantasy talent about 30 picks in.

Other Picks: You can tell the PPR guys are flying off the board, and you can tell this draft is full of FantasyGuru.com people because Jamaal Charles and Adrian Peterson fell to the third round. Both could absolutely do well, and we could, in turn, be underrating them, but is anyone 100% confident they will deliver this year? You can’t be, and that’s the point: You should be 100% sold on at least your first 1-2 picks, preferably your first 4-5 picks. I don’t want to use a #2 pick on a guy I’m hoping does well; I want to know he will do well. By the way, this is where we’re at with Doug Martin. Either you reach out there and get him or you’re likely going to miss out, unless your league is inexperienced and/or conservative. Taking him in the 3rd is a risk, but I don’t think it will go down as a bad move.

Note: I’m not sure I would have taken Vick here after last night’s scare, but let’s not go overboard; I certainly knew he was an injury risk, which is why I drafted not one but two other upside-oriented backups.

[Greg Ambrosius]

From John: "Again, normally, I would have been fine, but these bastards made some good picks later in the draft."

WELCOME TO THE NFFC JOHN!! I love that line. This should be a lot of fun to watch John Hansen in the overall standings of the NFFC Online Championship. Let the Games Begin!!

[Captain Hook]

Greg/Tom - John had a nice writeup of his draft in the GURU email newsletter (can be had for beers in Vegas for those who want it).

BUT - he had links to the draft which don't work .......... any chance to getting a link here of the draft board?

[Greg Ambrosius]

Greg/Tom - John had a nice writeup of his draft in the GURU email newsletter (can be had for beers in Vegas for those who want it).

BUT - he had links to the draft which don't work .......... any chance to getting a link here of the draft board?

Sorry Perry, but we don't expose full drafts before the NFL season begins. John and 11 other NFFC owners deserve the privacy of this draft, even though The Guru is a celebrity.

[Captain Hook]

Okay I wouldn't have asked if he hadn't published links