For those of you who don't know FIDO is Fantasy Insights Dynasty Organization. All 12 owners are regular posters here at FI. Some, it is said, post too much. Well here's one more for me.

This is the intial draft for this dynasty league. Scoring is pretty normal, yards and TDs, except for 5 bonus points if a player reaches 100 yds rush/rec or 300 yds passing. Rosters can go up to 32 in the off season and will be at 22 for the regular season.

Here are the rosters as of right now. Feel free to be truthful but expect all of these guys to defend their teams. None of the owners have ever drafted in a dynasty before. Two of the owners have taken over an existing teams in a different dynasty.

Here is the front page if you want to look at trades and such. The very first trade isn't listed because the darn commish did it wrong.

So let us know what you think.

Another tough draft with the FI regulars. I don't know why I keep joining these leagues when there is much easier competition out there.


The 4th round in particular was rough for me. I was feeling good about my team with Tomlinson and DeAngelo Williams plus the top TE in the league for years to come and ready to even it out with a couple young stud WRs. Instead 7 WRs were snapped up leading up to my pick and I was left with Darrell Jackson as my #1 WR.

Maybe Chad Johnson was the pick at my first turn rather than Antonio Gates but Gates is 2 1/2 years younger and dominates his position (in fact he's scored more TDs than Johnson 3 years straight).

If Santana Moss returns to doing what he did in 2005 (1483 yards, 9 TDs) then I'm good to go. Regardless I think wide receiver is going to be the position I am constantly looking to improve in the rookie drafts. Or maybe I'll get lucky and be high man in the waiver wire order when the next Colston emerges. Heck I ended up taking 11 receivers so maybe I accidently drafted the next Colston?


I'm really looking forward to watching this thing play out in the coming years, seeing who's 20th round draft pick turns out to be a top 5 performer in a couple years, and there isn't another group of dudes I'd rather be doing this with.

I didn't know exactly how to value age, and I'm curious to see how the next several years play out. I've also been wondering who's late round pick ends up a stud over the long haul.

Overall, I like how my team is built. Palmer, Wayne, and Paker give me a solid combo that will be top scorers at their positions for several years. My biggest concern is my two and three WRs... I'm not really in love with Coles or Galloway, and compared to some other WR corps, I think I'm a little behind the curve there. Getting Tony Gonzalez in the 7th round was an absolute steal, and made my Adrian Peterson trade with Gian worth it.

I think in future drafts I'll look to solidify my WR corps and find a replacement for Edge, though I could scrape by for a few years with some sort of Julius Jones/Tatum Bell combo.

My "strategy," if you will, was to create a team that will compete immediately. I don't really care if I go into the tank 3 years from now so long as I can say that I am the inaugural FIDO champ. I'm sure I will second guess that strategy if I fail to make the playoffs this year and next and then fail to field a decent team, but I really think this team has a chance to dominate this year.

My likely starters are:

P. Manning, S. Alexander, B. Jacobs, M. Harrison, C. Chambers, any Saint WR not named Colston, Shockey, J. Wilkins and JAX. I think I've got great backups in C. Taylor and Muhammad and some young potential in Robert Meachum, Tarvaris Jackson, Leon Washington and Marcedes Lewis.

I like my team and am pretty impressed with how the draft went. It's hard to be disappointed when the only 2 players I wanted that I didn't get are DeDe Dorsey and Bobby Wade. And Shaun Alexander at 1.11 . . . are you freakin' kidding me!?!?

quote:

Originally posted by SaintFan:
I don't really care if I go into the tank 3 years from now....

What if it's more like 3 weeks from now?

Well, as this was my first time drafting with you guys, I wanted to make sure I was aggressive and didn't start doing a lot of following the leader. At first, I wasn't sure of passing up a stud RB, but the more I saw what I could end up with, the more I liked it.

My thoughts were two-fold. One, while I think studs often lead to championships, I felt more comfortable with this being a dynasty in building a more solid core than a solid team around one player. Secondly, RB is notoriously the shortest-lived position. When you look at the top RB's from even 3-4 yrs ago, the only guys you still see are LT and Alexander, and Alexander may not be there much longer. WR's, on the other hand, while more up and down, can end up being more valuable if you can find the elite guys that are always at the top. I'm hoping I was able to do so with Holt, Walker, and AJ.

I also know that I sacrificed some mid round picks to move up sometimes, but I also didn't want to miss the guys I wanted early on and that didn't happen. Well, it didn't with the exception of Vernon Davis, but ending up with Brees will probably work out even better I think.

I'm very happy with my team overall, but I also know that if AP doesn't end up panning out, then I'm gonna be in some trouble. I'm also banking a lot on Henry, but as most of you know, I'm pretty high on him. Just hope I'm right. But, if they perform like I think, then I'm gonna be pretty competitive for at least the next couple years.

As it stands now, my lineup will be Brees, Travis Henry, Jamal Lewis, Holt, Javon Walker, Andre Johnson, Watson, Chicago def, and some unknown kicker. If AP grabs the job earlier rather than later, all the better.

Was pretty enjoyable throughout and I think everyone did really well. Gonna be a very competitive league I think. Will be neat to see how everyone adjusts to being a dynasty. I know from the 1 year I've already done, I've learned quite a bit. I'm sure everyone else will do the same.

Good luck, everyone

My plan of action was pretty simple - put a winning team on the field now while keeping the future in mind. I had no plans to avoid older players just for the sake of doing so. The way the draft fell, I don't believe I passed over an older talent to take a younger "riskier" player at any point.

Right out of the gate at #3 I knew I was passing on Larry Johnson is he were there. The ideal was Steven Jackson, but Frank Gore was very close in my rankings. I was very pleased to come back with Fitzgerald, who was the #1 WR on my board. I was very concerned about my selection in 3 with Marion Barber. I knew I needed a #2 RB and didn't really like a whole lot of options on the board. Adding the RBs from Oakland later in the draft made that selection a little more secure for me. After round 5 when I had Braylon Edwards and Tom Brady, I knew I was going to like the results of my draft no matter how they went from there.

My starters are going to be Brady, Gore, Barber (or Jordan?), Fitzgerald, Edwards, Holmes, Winslow, Kaeding and the Broncos defense. It's a young team with a lot of short term success. If they can play up to the talents they have shown so far, this is a highly competitive team for the next few seasons.

Where my team is lacking is experience. My goal was youth and I have youth almost exclusively. I do not typically focus a lot on backups, but in a dynasty league the backups are the most critical part of a team's future. I have a lot of rookies and 2nd and 3rd year players. There's a lot of potential and room for these guys to mature.

I believe this was a very successful draft for me.

I guess I'm not as good as the rest of these guys. Plenty of players I wanted slipped through my fingers. I don't think I really had a strategy as I would in a lot of leagues. Having drafted with most of these guys before I knew any strategy would have to be adjusted round by round anyway and maybe even pick by pick.

So what I did is I targeted two guys I wanted in the first two rounds that I thought could be available at picks 10 and 15. Those two players were MJD and Rudi. In the scoring system we are going to use they ended up #8 and #9 among RBs in scoring last year. Take out Tiki, who retired, and they each move up one slot. I felt both would be undervalued for different reasons. When I was offered a trade to move up to the 9th pick, give up my 2nd and 3rd, and get a 4th in return I couldn't resist securing the RB position.

My WRs may have suffered a bit because of the trade but I think I can make due with Driver, Reggie Brown, Porter, Mason, and Bruce. Then late in the draft I got a WR who I think will have a very good year, Bobby Wade. So I should be able to find 3 there. I'm just a little worried about the age.

I'm hopeful Vince Young will be my QB for now and the future. If not I have Trent Green and Pennington as short term help.

I got the TE I wanted in Cooley. He's steady and I like that and I didn't have to use a high pick to get him.

The crowning jewel for my team in my opinion is the young guys I have at RB. Guys that hopefully will get playing time sooner rather than later. Tony Hunt, Kenny Irons, Garrett Wolfe and Ahmad Bradshaw actually I guess I hope Irons doesn't see the field for a while. I'd rather Rudi get all the action. Plus Thomas Jones and Maurice Morris. Not a bad deal.

Although my WRs are older that position, as in most leagues, is the easiest to find a starting type player.

I can imagine a starting line up of
Young/Green
MJD and Rudi
Driver, Brown, Porter/Mason/Bruce
Cooley

I think I can at least compete with that.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ravage,

You guys convinced me in one of the threads to not look too far ahead when placing a value on players so I tried to do that while keeping my team young at the same time. I ended up with one of the younger teams so hopefully I accomplished that.

Jackson was an easy pick at 1.02 and over the last month or so, I never really considered anyone else. As much as I disliked Ronnie Brown last year, I am pretty happy to have acquired him at the end of the 2nd. His 2nd half rushing numbers were impressive last year. Hopefully that's a sign of the future rather than a memory of the past. Even though I'm a Bengals fan, I wasn't thrilled with Johnson at 3.02. I wish i could have traded down at that point and picked up an extra pick - there were quite a few WR's I valued pretty much the same at that point. My first disappointment was when Skip took winslow. That threw me off completely. I'm pretty happy though with Olsen, Witten, and Scheffler. I had decided to wait on QB and was targeting Romo in the 8th but after he went early, decided to take Kitna. The Detroit QB's should be good the next 10 years so hopefully it will be either Kitna or Stanton. My sleeper pick was WR Lowber of Minnesota. His competition was drafted in the 17th round but then so was the guy throwing the ball.

My starters now would be Kitna, Jackson, Brown, Johnson, Burress, Jackson, Witten, Elam, Minnesota. I feel pretty solid everywhere but maybe my 3rd WR. If Jackson doesn't continue like he did when he was a starter last year, I could be scrambling early. My backup at QB is shaky, as are my backup WR's, however someone should emerge at WR. I feel good at RB with Morency and Norwood and at TE with Scheffler. If Chris Perry ever makes it through a whole season, he could be good somewhere other than Cincy.

It was fun to be drafting at this time of year although I agree with GM, it went too fast. I didn't watch 1 minute of the NBA playoffs.

quote:

Originally posted by BuckeyeArt:
I didn't watch 1 minute of the NBA playoffs.

So if this draft hadn't been taking place, would the NBA playoffs somehow move from dead last in priority up ahead of something?

My strategy was to draft the most talented players with some consideration to opportunity.

Quarterback
I'm very excited about McNabb, Rivers, and Vick. I think Rivers is a franchise QB for me, though I admit my opinion of him is much higher than what most other people think. McNabb can put up top 3 numbers if he is healthy, and Vick can put up some good numbers (when not in jail).

Running Back
Reggie Bush is one of the most gifted backs in the NFL, and Portis is up there as well. Both are young. Kevin Jones is high risk, high reward. This could burn me as a #3 RB, but I also drafted Fred Taylor. Last year the Jaguars had 23 rushing touchdowns. I don't think MJD is going to duplicate his performance from last year and I can see Taylor ending up with 9-10 TDs. Davenport will reportedly be taking some time away from FWP and hopefully will get some goalline carries. Duckett is my longshot candidate for comeback player of the year, but I'd rather see a healthy Kevin Jones playing well.

Wide Receiver
Calvin Johnson is the most physically gifted receiver ever out of college, and I think the stars are perfectly aligned for him to produce in year one. Lee Evans is another very talented young receiver. My #3 WR initially could be Brandon Marshall or Drew Bennett. Not great but not bad either. I really like the upside of Bennett who might get some time as the #2 WR in the Rams offense with Bruce getting up there in age. In the later rounds I took some chances with young guys like Sidney Rice, Craig Davis, Demetrius Williams, Jason Hill, and Mark Bradley. If two of those young guys pan out, I will be very happy.

Tight End
In the fifth round I took Vernon Davis. This guy is the most physically gifted tight end ever out of college. I'm not as confident in his success as I am with Calvin Johnson, but the potential is definitely there. Also I have some high potential guys in Shiancoe and Graham. Shiancoe didn't get much playing time behind Shockey, but now he's the man in Minnesota. Graham is a former first round pick who played in an offense where Brady spread the ball around a lot. I think Graham will be more productive in Denver, though it will be interesting to see how he does with Scheffler there.

I like my chances with...

QB McNabb
RB Bush, Portis
WR Ca.Johnson, Evans, Bennett
TE Davis
K Akers
D Green Bay

I think I have the talent to win, but my main concern is injury with guys like McNabb, Portis, KJones, Bennett, and VDavis. If these guys aren't healthy I might end up with a high draft position next year.

Wow. I didn't realize how "gifted" your team was. Between Bush, CJ, and Vernon Davis, I don't think the rest of us stand a chance against your "giftedness"

quote:

Originally posted by gianmarco:
Wow. I didn't realize how "gifted" your team was. Between Bush, CJ, and Vernon Davis, I don't think the rest of us stand a chance against your "giftedness"

Hey don't worry too much though. Even though you have inferior athletes, at least you have some that used to be gifted (Lewis, Culpepper, Boston). If we could go back in time you'd really have something there.

quote:

Originally posted by Optimus Prime:

quote:

Originally posted by gianmarco:
Wow. I didn't realize how "gifted" your team was. Between Bush, CJ, and Vernon Davis, I don't think the rest of us stand a chance against your "giftedness"

Hey don't worry too much though. Even though you have inferior athletes, at least you have some that used to be gifted (Lewis, Culpepper, Boston). If we could go back in time you'd really have something there.

-golfclap-

After a quick run through, I came up with three tiers:

Top:

Kab's Krushers
OP's Vanilla...
Buckeye
Saint's Vikes

Middle:

Boomer's Blankets
Sea Monkey's
Skip's...Havoc
Inglorious

Bottom:

Balls Deep
Ten's Titans
Glass' Gluttons
Inept Iguanas

Of course, some teams went toward youth, which may pay off in the long run, but as for this year and in general, that's about how I'd rank them.

Looks like Saint got the best draw of all, being in the top tier while his 3 division rivals are all in the bottom

Don't worry Ten... like usual, it's painfully obvious that Bullies has no idea what he is talking about!

quote:

Don't worry Ten... like usual, it's painfully obvious that Bullies has no idea what he is talking about!

Maybe it was a subconscious thing, what with some of the team names and all. At least yours is correct.

quote:

Originally posted by Bullies:

quote:

Don't worry Ten... like usual, it's painfully obvious that Bullies has no idea what he is talking about!

Maybe it was a subconscious thing, what with some of the team names and all. At least yours is correct.

Having my team listed 12th out of 12 in the only non-biased ranking so far will just make victory be ever so much more treasured.

quote:

Having my team listed 12th out of 12 in the only non-biased ranking so far will just make victory be ever so much more treasured.

Actually, you could be as high as ninth!