Beam Me Up Scottie: Rapid Draft Is Fantasy Football at Warp Speed

John LorgeJul 31, 2009

When's the last time you completed a 12-team, 20-round fantasy football draft in 30 minutes?

For me, it was a first when I logged on to Rapid Draft (www.RapidDraft.com), and played their revolutionary single-player fantasy football game.

Rapid Draft enhances the strategy that fantasy football heads love by putting it on the front-burner and turning up the gas.

The premise of the game is pretty straight forward.

Rapid Draft has comprised 11 fantasy football experts from all-across the web including places like USATODAY.com and AthlonSports.com in order to fill out your league.

Each expert has created a 3D avatar that represents them, or who they want to be in a digital world.

If you've played fantasy football before, you can jump right in and create a team. It all starts with a team name, I chose Seattle Seacocks, of course.

After that, you get to choose an avatar for yourself. This was one part of Rapid Draft where I think they can expand. The five avatars and four color schemes left me jealous of the looks the "Rapid Draft Pros" had, only fueling my fire to beat the best.

Before my draft I took a quick glance of the Rapid Draft player rankings. Notables are Steve Slaton at seven, Tom Brady at 15 (13 spots higher than Drew Brees), Reggie Bush at 23, Peyton Manning at 41, and Larry Johnson at 45. I found their rankings to be of a much higher quality than some of the big boys.

One of the really cool things about the Rapid Draft setup is that you get to choose your draft position. I considered the 12 spot so I could get two top RBs on the turn, specifically Steve Slaton, whose ADP is 13.

I couldn't do it though, I just can't pass on Adrian Peterson, especially in the one vs. all format that Rapid Draft presents.

After AP, 11 more RBs flew off the board to end the first round. I was glad I didn't pick 12th because Slaton went 11th.

When the picks came back to me I went with Anquan Boldin and Wes Welker. Not great picks, but I didn't want to reach on a RB when I had two very good WRs in front of me.

On the next turn I was one pick away from Peyton Manning, but I did get the guy I was really eyeing in Larry Johnson.

I found that it's easy to get some good WRs on Rapid Draft and very hard to get RBs. I kept avoiding a reach on RBs and it left me taking WRs at a very good value but now I am worried about my backfield.

The way quality players flew off the board, I definitely felt like I was drafting against pros.

The position format is QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, K, D with allows you to have plenty of backups on your 20-man roster. I noticed that defenses were not being drafted and I scooped up Pittsburgh, Minnesota, and Philadelphia in the draft, so I should have a shut-down D in every week.

The 30 seconds you get sounds like ample time to make a pick but when you're in the thick of it, that time goes very quickly. I found myself scrambling to make picks a few times, but if you use your queue it will keep you from making a blunder.

I highly recommend trying out Rapid Draft if you are a true fantasy football fan. The proposition of winning $250,000 is well worth the 30-minute investment.