Expert-League Drafting For Experts in the Expert Offseason

Jacob SloanJul 15, 2008

For a week now, I’ve been participating in an ongoing expert-league draft put together by JunkyardJake.com.

Other than a few small mocks, this draft is my first of the 2008 fantasy-football season, and it’s also the earliest I have ever tried to put a team together for fantasy football.

Drafting this early is sort of like trying to sketch a picture of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s new twins before you’ve even seen them—and no, it’s not just hard because they still always look like stick figures.

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You know that it’s got to be some world-ending, judgment-day kind of beauty when these fantasy studs come together in training camp, but without seeing it live and in-person, there’s still that level of unpredictability.

Your rookie stud could burnout in training camp, your veteran’s injury could continue to flair up until he hits the PUP list, and your sure-thing WR3 could get passed on the depth chart.

Hey, the twins could end up being the most horrifying sight since Flava Flav returned to television. At this point, we just have to play with what we know and a lot of coach speak.

And for the record, until the Brangelina twins are seen in public, not shooting fiery red lasers from their eyeballs and demanding us to bow before them, I’m ducking every time I hear thunder.

The consolation for drafting this early is, of course, that I reinforce my ability to throw around my credentials as an “expert” and abuse power once again...as validated by a third party...which is not my mother.

Then there’s the other (real) benefit of drafting this early: my readers, as well as the readers of all these other esteemed fantasy-football outlets, get to see what several fantasy football minds think before their own drafts when it comes down to guts, glory, and the possession of this trophy. My mantel cries out for it—and not just because it could potentially double as a bottle opener.

I plan on discussing the draft and breaking down my own team once it has completed, but in the meantime, you can check out the running commentary on the expert draft from Smitty over at Fantasy Football Xtreme.

I already received credit (see: hatred of all involved) by snagging the potential “steal of the entire draft,” Chad Johnson near the end of the third.

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Who was the biggest steal of this round? Try Chad Johnson at 3.10. That is insane value! In fact, this was probably the steal of the entire draft—We see Chad having a top-five WR season in 2008.
"

I’ll take Ocho Cinco that late any day. I don’t mind his mouth. It might just end up being another way for him to catch the ball and/or celebrate his TD. You really notice when guys fall to you like this in a draft if you do one simple thing: tier your cheat sheet.

If you want to follow the expert draft as it happens, you can view the entire draft here. Keep in mind that there is a 10-hour clock between picks, so it moves in spurts each day.

I’ll also be spitting out commentary on the draft from time to time on my twitter stream (also displayed in sidebar).

If you would like to make a suggestion for my next pick, or would just like to discuss the draft with me, drop me a comment on this post, email me, or shoot me a twitter reply.