1.02 Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, JAX
I think pretty much every cheat sheet I saw had ADP, MJD, Turner, and Forte in the top 5 (with a few working SJax and LT into the mix), so I planned to take one of them. I don't think anyone had Forte above MJD, so that meant I had to decide between MJD and Turner. Turner has "the curse of 370" touches looming and I think the Falcons have a much more difficult schedule this year. MJD has been a valuable fantasy asset for several years, and I think the departure of Fred Taylor should give him the opportunity to challenge ADP for the top spot in RB scoring.

I'm happy with Forte. He was a workhorse last season and his 3.9 yards per carry should improve after the Bears upgraded their offensive line. With a franchise QB in town, a legitimate passing threat should allow Forte to improve on his production.

From the fifth spot I was choosing between LT and Steven Jackson as the last two of my top-most tier. I had seen LT anywhere from 4 to 9 in various drafts, so I had a good feeling he'd be available at 5. He was actually 3rd in my rankings so I went there. I couldn't see taking anyone beyond these two as they are not in RBBC and no real TD vulture is looming. Here's hoping he stays healthy on a quality offense(SJs problem) and produces like a top-5 back.

I cut LT and SJ in the end as the injury/mileage risk is just too high, but LT went 5th anyways. Nobody else on my board really had upside to place them top 6 and the step down from there in my mind is pretty big.

Despite getting fewer than 20 carries in all but one game last year, Johnson still managed to rush for a little over 1200 yards with 10 TDs. Coach Fisher has gone on record as saying that the Titans are going to expand their use of Johnson. Given that, this manager believes that Johnson will improve upon last years numbers. I see this as a safe pick, with some upside from this draft spot.

1.12 Steve Slaton, RB, Hou
I had considered taking a WR here but just couldn€™t get past the thought of not having a solid RB on my team. Slaton averaged almost 14 points per game but in the last five games of the season jumped up to 16.5 ppg. I guess by taking him here I have faith that the 16.5 ppg potential can be done over a full season.

2.01 Frank Gore, RB, SF I'm not too excited about this pick. Most mocks have him in the top 8 so it would've been really hard to pass on him here. I'm a little worried that his receiving #'s nose dived towards the end of the season last year. In any case, he'll be getting a lot of touches so as long as his Rush avg is 4+ he should be a stud. I considered going with Brady here but he's too big of a question mark.

Thought trade was super risky. Basically saying no interest in a big risk/reward QB to pray that nobody grabs the last RB left before a big dropoff. That was the natural place for Brady to go, and figured as much. Didn't prevent Bonka from dreaming though:-D. Draft has been sort of a snooze both pace wise and pick wise to this point. Playing out like some magazine mock draft for the most part.

It has been reported that Brown showed up for training camp in great shape; in fact, the best shape of his life. If he stays healthy, I see no reason for Brown not to post top-10 RB numbers.

Despite being 34 years of age, he is still in unbelievable shape. While he, at times, can be an absolute idiot, he NORMALLY behaves in his first year with a team. As such, I drafted him here believing he will be a Top 10 WR.

This round seemed to go mostly to ADP as well. Sproles represented first semi-major reach even with kr/pr points. I usually think it's super risky to count on an offensive guy having that role the whole season. Much better to target the idps for that role.

So, I started looking at WR. I considered a number of different options here, but in the end I went with TJ. After a couple of 'risky' picks, I wanted someone who can be consistent. Not a flashy pick. Probably not going to be a breakout top 5 receiver, but hopefully he'll be solid.

question: do I get kicking points for him if he takes over the kicking duties in the regular season?

I hate picking guys from the same team especially back to back. However, Rivers stuck out from the rest of the QBs. I felt I had to take a QB here or else I'd be stuck with a 3rd tier guy which would force me to waste another pick on a backup sooner than if I picked a QB now. Romo was the only other guy I considered. If Warner had a health guarantee I would've picked him without thinking.

While it's true that the new QB in Denver is no Jay Cutler, someone has to be the big play threat in the Broncos offense, and I believe that Marshall is going to be that cog. His floor is 1000 yds and 8TDs. His ceiling is much higher than that.

Nothing stood out in this round. The suspended or soon to be suspended guys were taken right about where people had them. They are not nearly as risky in this format and represent likely good value.

I am frightened by having two Broncos on my fantasy team, however!!!

I intend to look back at a few leagues and see what sort of mistake (if any) getting a 3rd RB so early is. My hypothesis would be having all those (theoretically solid) points on the bench week in and week out versus plugging those relative points in on a weekly basis would make. Really the bye thing should easily be overcome by a spot starter. The PPG gap that is given up in the subsequent 20 picks to the next starter is something that is quantifiable as well. I'll try to take a shot at that too.

A couple rounds down the road now, I'm a little more concerned about this pick. He was the highest on my sheet, but maybe my sheet is skewed. I see him anywhere from 20th to 42nd on various WR lists.I took him 25th, so we shall see.

I now picked the 1st WR and the 1st LB off the board. what position is next? I promise, it won't be a kicker.

Another "backup" Rb that will see an increased role this year. He's got crazy yardage per touch and will be getting a nice boost from kick return yards. There's also a chance he takes over at punt returns since Douglas is injured for the year. I wanted a 3rd RB that's very highly likely will be producing week in and out. His ceiling in the near future isn't sky high unless Turner gets injured but he's not going to suddenly fall out of the offense like other RB's drafted around here might.

That said, as I write this, Stewart is experiencing some tenderness in his Achilles' tendon, but he is supposed to be ready for the regular-season opener. He may very well be the one with the injury problem....

This round had a couple head scratchers. Jooles Jones for one. That guy is undraftable in my book. The fact that they dug up the rotting corpse of Edge to come take over there says a lot. I don't think this pick was made prior to the signing, but it was already being rumored. I thought the number of RB flyers going off around now was extremely high. Lots of these guys aren't really set up to be in a good situation even if there was an injury in front of them. This is primarily why I went IDP to catch a better PPG uptick rather than going after a guy that likely has little shot of producing anything.

I'm hoping for 1000 total yards, 5-6 TDs + KR duties here. A Jacobs injury (always possible) could make this even more lucrative.

7.01 Jonathan Vilma LB NOR
As I said before I would have loved to get Patrick Willis with pick 6.14 and taken Beason with this pick I am still very happy with getting Vilma as the next best player. After his knee injury he came back with 100 tackles in NO and I expect he will do it again this season. My plan coming in to this league was to get some solid defensive players and with Beason and Vilma I think I accomplished my goal.

With the top standout LBs already taken I didn't see a whole lot else that constituted value with this pick. This should round out my starting WRs, allowing me to concentrate on a few other holes. Looking back(forward), maybe another RB was in order here. There were a few I wouldn't have minded having that went prior to my next pick.

I mean he's got a good situation in place and has nobody pushing him at all. He could completely underperform and he'll still get 15 touches a game just for lack of any other options. He's got low miles and is perfectly set up to have a big year. I think I got bailed out for the 5th round here. Worst case it's a no risk high reward pick.

I believe this was ridiculous value here at pick 107. The only other option here was a QB.

White will be RB 1b in a run heavy Tennessee offense. Chris Johnson had 250 carries last year, White had 200. I am expecting a similiar time share this season, which should give me around 800 yards. add some goal-line TDs and I am talking about a nice pick at this stage of the draft. too bad he shares the bye-week with my #2 Julius Jones, but I am sure that I will add some more RBs later that should get some more work, come week 7.

Breaston is a slight sentimental pick for me. He was one of the steals I got last year. I had to draft him a lot earlier this year but still think he's slipped further than he should've because of the knee sprain that has sidelined him. It's a slight concern but it seems he'll be ready for the regular season. As a the 3rd receiver for a top 3 passing team and a kick and punt returner he'll get his points. Boldin has missed 4 games each of the past 2 years. His health is a huge question mark and chances are Breaston will get at least 3+ games where he'll be the #2 guy.

Almost picked Holt or one of the plethora of linebackers here. After looking over the LB's, I figured I'd take one of the leftover LB's next round.

Two years ago, Big Ben was a Top 6 fantasy QB. Since then, his situation has not regressed as he still has two top WR. Further, with the goal line situation unstable on the ground with no clear alternative punch it in, Roethlisberger has the skill set to run it in himself (10 rushing TDs in five seasons). I needed a QB and two years ago, I had him on my fantasy team and he was golden, so I pulled the trigger.

Nothing about this round stands out. People just filling out slots on need mostly.

So w/o a single IDP to this point I felt like I needed to get something started here. Rather than taking the next in a long line of usable LB, I opted for what I feel to be a DB w/ huge potential. He will certainly be a starting CB for Buffalo. He's young and still learning, meaning he could get picked on--not a bad thing in FF. I am also expecting him to return kicks for Buffalo. I've seen varying reports regarding this possibility, so we'll see how it turns out. I also considered Josh Wilson with this pick. Anyone who looks at last years scores will see that Wilson was the highest IDP (not just the highest DB) by a considerable margin. Hopefully I didn't pick the wrong KRing DB.

9.01 Torry Holt WR JAX

I really do not love Holt with this pick, but i think in Jacksonville he might make his return to glory. He should be Garrard's main target and hopefully he is healthy this season. I am hoping with MJD running wild defenses will need to stack the box alittle giving holt some 1 on 1 coverage.

So, finally I'm on the board at LB with LB, Lance Briggs. I'm expecting top ten LB numbers out of him again this season.

I mean here's a guy that will get 50 points this year easy on defense and another 100 on returns. Love it and the fact that it made Bonka go on a rant makes me happy.

10.01 Will Blackmon DB GNB
Before the huge linebacker run I had planned on taking two LB's with my picks here. However, the quality of DB's left compared to LB's was much higher. Blackmon is another kick/punt returner. Last year he proved he can hold his own at corner. Apparently, he'll be seeing more PT on defense this year which should only increase his tackle numbers. Even if he gets completely booted from defense his kick and punt return #'s will still make him a middle of the road IDP guy.

Avery and Moore both represented huge values in this round in my mind.

I expect the Steelers to be good. I wouldn't be surprised if Parker got injured. I would like to think that Rashard could step in and become an impact player. Way too early on this one. Shame on me.

I think Celek should get the opportunity to increase his numbers significantly from last year (that should really be a no-brainer if you see his numbers from last year). I'm hoping he can be relied upon as an every week TE for me, w/o *undrafted* ahead of him on the depth chart. Something around 600 yds and 5-6 TDs would be pleasing at this spot. Hopefully his minor injury is healed well before the regular season.

Will evaluate the "stud TE" teams later around that.

thought about Edgerrin James too, he was #2 in my queue. problem with him is that he would be my 3rd RB with the same bye week.

I hadn't really even glanced at Team Ds to this point, so I took a look at a few schedules. The Pats scheduled seems pretty weak this year. I'll be looking for a few fill ins, but not too many. The Pats always seem to make big plays, so that's what I'm looking for. Now not only do I want them to score 60 every game (Brady TD passes galore), but I want them to shutout their opponents every week.