Be Prepared

  Posted 8/31 by Colin Dowling, Exclusive to Footballguys.com

I recently participated in a draft with some of the other members of the Footballguys.com staff. The experience was a good one but my team is awful. Never mind that each of the participants is a very good drafter - I put together a team that would be hard pressed to compete against anyone.

So what happened?

Simple - Tom Brady fell to me at 1.12, something I didn't foresee. I paired him with Chris Johnson and began the wait for my next pick at the 3 / 4 turn . When that pick came, the Draft Dominator was screaming at me that Tony Gonzalez offered the best value for my selection. I selected him and then added Anthony Gonzalez (WR - Indy) with my 4th rounder as he was the best receiver available. Here's where things go bad in a hurry: I had anticipated a quarterback run between my 4.01 pick and my 5.12 pick. Didn't happen. I had a list of receivers that I was eyeing for my next two picks. All of them were gone by the time my selection came. If I recall correctly, I used my 5th rounder on Marion Barber and my 6th rounder to reach for a receiver even though about 35 were long gone by then.

Where did I go wrong? Easy: I didn't anticipate nor plan for having both Brady and Gonzalez on my team. My strategy - like many of you - was to get out of the gate with two running backs, a stud receiver, and either a top-3 quarterback, my top tight end, or another running back. Instead I ended up with one running back, a top quarterback, a top tight end, and a receiver that will be good but likely won't be great. And by picking in the 12th spot, I was naturally vulnerable to position runs in the upcoming rounds. Since this league was full of guys who knew a thing or two about fantasy football, the chance of any real value sliding to me in later rounds was pretty much gone.

As I was reminded, the important thing to realize before your draft starts is that while some things may happen that are unpredictable, it's worth thinking a little bit about the completely unforeseen scenarios that might pop up and throw you for a loop. For example:

• Maybe you want to take Larry Fitzgerald and Randy Moss in the first two rounds but somehow LaDainian Tomlinson slips to you in the first and Moss isn't available for you in the second. Do you stick with your strategy and take Greg Jennings, or do you follow your cheatsheet and grab Tom Brady instead? Then what?


• Are you waiting on a tight end no matter what? What if by some miracle Antonio Gates is available in the 6th round?


• Are you looking at a quarterback by committee? What happens if you miss on one of the committee members?


• What happens if you draft 3 running backs in the first four rounds only to look up and find another top-20 running back available to you in the 5th? Do you bypass him for a needed receiver, or take the best player available?

There are obviously a million different things that can happen during your draft. And most of those things can be handled pretty easily - the chances are good that you've processed enough football info at this point to not panic. But there are situations that might come up which completely shock you and if you're on the clock, you'll have limited time to make a decision that could impact the rest of your draft. Give it some thought ahead of time. Be Prepared.