The annual fantasy football woes

Just like last year, I am finding that what I thought was an awesome draft has turned out to be less than mediocre. The season is halfway over in my 16-team league, and I remain unimpressed with my top 10 draft picks:

  1. Matt Forte (7th overall) – I thought I was getting a great deal by having Forte drop out of the top 5 and into my hands. Drew Brees was on the board, but my thought was that an elite RB was too good to pass up. Of course, what has happened is that Forte has been a bust – you don’t spend a 1st round pick on the #30 RB in fantasy point (FP) production.
  2. Andre Johnson – an exception to my poor draft, the first WR off the board has paid off. Johnson is the #1 WR in my league, meaning that finally one of my players has lived up to their draft expectations. If only this happened more frequently for me…
  3. Greg Jennings – deciding to secure two elite wideouts, I took the 5th WR in the draft with Jennings. Yes 5th off the board, but currently 32nd in FP production. Roddy White, Marques Colston, and Chad Ochocinco are all looking really good in hindsight.
  4. Jason Witten – my league has no TE position, but does have a WR/TE slot. My thought was that Witten should produce like a high-end receiver, but being the #59 WR/TE isn’t what I had in mind with a fourth-round pick. Witten consistently gets a number of short targets by Tony Romo, but the TE’s last three FP totals of {3, 4, 5} just aren’t cutting it.
  5. Willie Parker – ugh, see my 10th pick.
  6. Carson Palmer – there was a big run on QBs early in the draft, but I decided to be patient and go for a middle-tier QB later on. Palmer is currently the #7 QB in the league and just came off a 5 TD game. He’s been up and down throughout the season but I’ll feel pretty good if I end up with a top 10 QB in the sixth round.
  7. Marshawn Lynch – Lynch fell really far in the draft due to the suspension. When Fred Jackson performed well in his absence, I began to worry that Lynch was not going to pay off in the way I had hoped. His post-suspension output of {4, 12, 7, 10} isn’t spectacular, but certainly nice for a 7th rounder.
  8. Kevin Walter – I just dropped Walter this week. Coming back from the injury with a 16-FP game, I thought I might have something good on my hands. However, I can’t reserve a bench spot for a WR whose last four games have been {4, 3, 2, 2}.
  9. Matt Cassel – meh, a low-end draft pick for a low-end QB. Can’t really complain about this one, especially since I’ve just traded him away for Matt Hasselbeck who hopefully turns things around and stays healthy.
  10. Rashard Mendenhall – I had the foresight to draft Parker’s handcuff, but not the patience to retain him on my bench. In the early goings of the season, it looked like Parker would be the guy for the Steelers. Now Mendenhall is the #16 RB and playing for one of my opponents.

Despite the lackluster draft and the Mendenhall blunder, my team is still 4-3. I’ve made good moves with free agent DSTs, cashing in on a 25-FP performance from Denver, and a massive 43-FP from the 49ers. Surprisingly, kicker Lawrence Tynes has been a solid free agent acquisition, averaging over 10 FP/game. I also managed to have a good run with Glen Coffee, using the RB to help me through a couple of bye weeks.

The second half of the fantasy football season is going to be crucial for my team, the Shambling Corpses. If Forte, Jennings, and Witten can get going, then I should be playoff bound. If not, then I’m just going to have to keep hitting that DST lottery.

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