Washington Redskins' Fred Smoot Wins Chris Cooley's Fantasy League

When Chris Cooley had a group of Washington Redskins players and their friends at his house for his NFL Fantasy Draft, he had no idea he would have competition, especially since he had to teach the teammates how to play fantasy.

The thought of athletes not playing fantasy sports was questionable to him. Cooley walks into arenas regularly with fans chanting "you are on my fantasy," so that got him pumped for it, but surprisingly he lost to Fred Smoot.

Smoot’s well-selected DC Lumber Company won by a marginal three points. Cooley probably never thought he would lose, and not with that number of points. “I felt confident going into the game that I was going to go home with the trophy,” Cooley said. “I mean, who expects Tampa Bay to score -3 points at home against the Chargers? That just doesn't happen.”

Smoot picked some good players like Larry Johnson, Brett Favre, and Steve Smith. Cooley reminded him that Carolina's wide receiver Smith was missing the first two games of the season. Smoot responded, “It doesn’t matter, the next 14 they gonna feel his wrath.” They did, as Smith finished his 14-game season with 1,421 receiving yards, third behind Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald.

Smoot felt the pick of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan wouldn’t matter. “Matt Ryan, he’s just a pair of shoes,” Smoot said. Who would have thought a rookie would lead the resurrection of the Falcons?

Well, Ryan turned out to be more than that, winning the AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and leading the Atlanta Falcons to a wild card loss over the weekend against the Cardinals in Arizona.

At the beginning of the season, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley had to explain to nine players from the NFL what Fantasy Football is. “No one knew what it was,” Cooley said. At the end of the season, he didn't walk away with the trophy—his teammate and cornerback did.

Sulaiman Folarin is the editor of JOCKlife.com. He can be reached at [e-mail]