here's hoping

what a nice last few days.  clemson wins its season opener without its best player.  ndsu won 52 - 0.  the gophers won in triple overtime.  i just finished the draft for one of my favorite leagues.

this is a 12-team PPR/IDP league $200 auction league.  6 bench spots, one flex.  $50 buy-in.  it has been going on about as long as i have been alive.  this is (hard to believe) my 3rd year in the league.  in my first year i took 2nd overall.  last year i didn't even make the playoffs.  i don't like to make excuses, but i'm going to blame it on andre johnson getting injured early and having maclin, mccoy, and vick miss significant time last year.  this year will hopefully be better.

i came into the draft with a strategy in mind based on the depth at certain positions this year.  here's how my team fared.

qb: philip rivers, $3
-i can't believe i got him for $3.  i know that vincent jackson is gone, but i feel like robert meachem will make up for most of that production.  antionio gates claims he's in the best shape of his life.  regardless, for THREE DOLLARS this was an absolute steal.

wr: hakeem nicks, $30
-i had him for $30 on my board, so he went right where i thought he would.  i was a bit passive with the upper-echelon receivers.  i like nicks, he's going to get plenty of touches.  i don't like his injury over the offseason, but he will be ready for week 1 so hopefully it is taken care of.  great value, a nice pickup here.

wr: aj green, $32
-i'm really high on AJ this year.  he clearly developed a rapport with andy dalton last year despite having no offseason to practice.  he's had a full summer to learn the system and develop chemistry with the entire offense.  he put up ridiculous numbers as a rookie.  i can't wait to see his numbers improve this year.

rb: matt forte: $49
-forte was one of my targets going in.  i wanted him for around $50 and that was right where i got him.  he's a stud RB in PPR format.  i don't like how the bears have announced that michael bush will get a majority of the goal line carries, but i felt that with his new contract (and no holdout) in place, he's still going to get a majority of the touches and his receiving value is almost unmatched by any other RB.  i'm ok with him as my #1 RB.

rb: darren sproles: $37
-i originally targeted demarco murray as my #2 RB but had him pegged for $30.  he went for $35 and i stopped bidding on him.  HUGE MISTAKE.  murray ended up being the single biggest steal of the draft.  once murray was off the board, many RBs went significantly over value.  heck, donald brown went for $21!!  had i known that players would be overpriced heading forward, i would have put upwards of $40-45 on murray.  either way, sproles had 86 (!!) receptions last year and 1,300 total yards.  he was the 5th highest RB in terms of average points per week.  i'm hoping he can reproduce those numbers this year.  he's basically guaranteed about 5 catches a week out of the backfield.  i just hope new orleans' offense doesn't change their scheme very much.

te: coby fleener, $2
-here's to hoping andrew luck keeps with the college days and targets fleener a ton during the games.  i'm banking on him being more of an endzone target (fingers crossed: 10 TDs this year?).  either way, my strategy going in was to spend no more than $3 on my TE, so i'm just glad i stuck to that budget.  the top-tier guys went for over value, and i'm just not a big fan of vernon or fred davis to spend $15-$20 on him.

flex: wes welker, $30
-wow.  yahoo had him under valued this year.  let's just say in a PPR format welker is consistently among the league's most productive players period.  122 receptions last year and over 1500 yards.  if he does 100 and 1200 this year, he'll still be among the top point-producing receivers.  i had budgeted $90 for my 2 receivers plus flex, so spending $92 on these 3 positions was a great value.  i felt like i got a lot more than i originally planned for.  i just hope that brandon lloyd doesn't take too many touches away.  i don't think he will as he was brought in to be a deep threat rather than a possession receiver.  so long as welker is healthy, this may be the best pick of the draft.

kicker: dan bailey, $1
-one of the top kickers.

lb: demarcus ware, $1
-i strategized in rounds 4-6 and filled all my IDP holes.  the contribution that IDP players give week-in and week-out isn't too significant.  but the disparity between ware and other LBs is quite impressive.  i got the best LB for a buck.  #winning

dl: jonathan babnin, $1
-see demarcus ware.  our league is heavy on sack value, so this was a great pickup.

cb: charles tillman, $1
-i believe he was the highest-point-producing corner based on our league's settings last year.  do you see a pattern with my defensive strategy?

bench: peyton hillis, $5
-i don't know what he's going to do in kansas city.  charles is still "the guy" but hillis has been promised the goal line opportunities.  i love his receiving capability (see: his one good year in cleveland), and i love the injury risk to charles.  if they split time i'm ok with that because he will be more valuable than the typical backup in this league.

bench: cj spiller, $4
-i just put a $4 bid on him and ended up winning him.  i think he has much more talent than fred jackson, but with jackson's contract extension he's still clearly the feature back in buffalo.  regardless, i'll just need spiller to spot-fill in week 6.  if he produces anything like he did while jackson was injured last year, this could be a pick that pays off.

bench: pierre thomas, $1
-this is a handcuff.  he put up good PPR numbers last year, although most of that was due to the fact that mark ingram was hurt for a while.  regardless, if sproles were to be injured for an extended period of time i know that new orleans would go with a committee backfield, so i'm ok with having him as a handcuff.

bench: nate washington, $1
-i just put a $1 bid on him thinking someone else would bid him up.  i didn't expect to win him, but i'm not going to complain.  britt is out for at least a week.  i do like kendall wright, but washington will still get plenty of touches either as the lead receiver when britt is out or as the #2 guy once britt is back.  i like kendall wright, but honestly i think his talent (if anything) will attract more attention.  so with the focus on both britt and wright, washington might have more looks than one would expect.

bench: greg little, $1
-great value here.  i've drafted him in every league so far.  he'll get more touches this year and hopefully will have more trips to the endzone.

bench: ben roethlisberger, $1
-i put a $1 bid on him because it was too early to nominate my sleepers but too late to have any of my targets on the board.  i didn't want him, didn't expect to get him.  i don't like his issues with his rotator cuff.  i was targeting flacco, schaub, or carson palmer as my #2 guy, so i was disappointed when i landed him.  unfortunately, after the draft there were really no quality QBs available in free agency.  thus, i'll just keep big ben and play him once during rivers' bye.

overall assessment: i'm pretty high on this team.  yahoo's new projection thing has the team finishing 11-2 and in 3rd place heading into the playoffs.  i'm ok with that.  i like that literally every position player has good hands and can be relied on in a PPR format.  i don't like that i missed out on michael bush as matt forte's handcuff.  i had him targeted on my board because a.) i spent the most money on forte and b.) bush had a heck of  a year last year.  that coupled with the fact that he's going to get the goal line touches makes him quite valuable.  in the round immediately following when i drafted spiller, i had $4 left to fill 4 bench spots.  thus, the max i could bid was $1.  bush went for $6 that round, so there was literally nothing i could do.  i had to re-evaluate my plan and go with pierre thomas instead.  while i like him as a handcuff, if sproles were to get injured, thomas wouldn't be nearly as valuable (due to mark ingram) as bush would be if forte were to be injured.

either way, i like that i have 3 solid receivers.  i like that - if they stay healthy - my running backs will be among the most productive in a PPR format.  i like that - although amounting to a minimal change in point value - i have arguably the 3 most productive IDP players at their respective positions.  barring injury, i think i'll snap my post-season drought.  i could be in for a fun season.

tomorrow evening i have my $250 league draft.  i'll keep you posted.