Well, the decision has been made. I have decided to continue on with my Gold Dinner Fantasy Football league as the main topic of discussion in the “My Fantasy Football League” series here on TheSportsWatchers.com. I had my draft on Thursday, and I must say, it went pretty well.

I ended up with the 3rd overall pick, which quite frankly, I tried to trade out of as soon as I heard I had it. As some of you may have read, I have decided to pass up on Matt Forte. Of course, that decision came before last night’s Bears-Broncos game, in which Forte looked like he was destined for another big 2009 fantasy football season. However, I’m still skeptical on how he’ll fit into the passing offense, and I’m not a fan of the low yards per carry average, so he’s just not one of “my guys” for the year, but certainly, I won’t know him.

Anyway, after Adrian Peterson and Maurice Jones-Drew were taking off the board, I went with the guy I think is going to have a big season: Steven Jackson! Jackson just appears to be a running back who has nothing but upside this year. Just last year, in an injury-plagued season, he led the entire NFL in yards from scrimmage per game. Granted, he didn’t play in a lot of games, but he also got off to a horrible start, and yet was still as productive as anyone in the league, game for game.

So I liked that pick, even though I would have liked to have traded down and got him later, but it is what it is.

In order, Forte, Turner, DeAngelo Williams, Brees, LT, Fitzgerald and Frank Gore rounded out my league’s first round. Brees at pick #7 was too high in my opinion, but I like the idea that Turner fell to #5, just because it means my league has the perception of him that I do.

The second round was led off by the selection of Tom Brady, and with the 18th pick of the draft, I took Steve Slaton, who I couldn’t believe had fallen that far. If he hadn’t gotten that far, I would have drafted his wide receiver teammate, assuming he would have been available since he went just 2 spots before I picked up Slaton. If neither of them had been available, I might have gotten Calvin Johnson…maybe!

With my 3rd pick, I went running back again, by selecting Pierre Thomas. I guess I have to go ahead and write my piece on my draft strategy of “running back, running back, running back.” It doesn’t seem like the greatest strategy in the world, but you look at my roster at the end and tell me you don’t like it.

My 4th pick was yet another New Orleans Saints player, wide receiver Marques Colston. I hope that he is healthy, because when he is, he and Drew Brees can’t be stopped. Note: I wanted Philip Rivers here, but I just missed out on him.

For my 5th pick, I was probably going to go quarterback, but I just missed out on Kurt Warner, too, so I decided to go with my backup quarterback plan, which you’ll see later. As a result of passing on a QB, I got a 4th running back and drafted Darren McFadden.

I know what you’re saying: “You’re crazy!” Yes, I got my 4th running back before I even had a starting quarterback, but in my opinion, quarterbacks just aren’t that valuable. Besides there are a lot of undervalued guys out there—this year especially!

My 6th pick saw Vincent Jackson join the squad. Many of you were surprised to see Jackson make my top 10, and I was just as surprised to see him fall to the 8th round. Nonetheless, he’s my #2 wide receiver, with #1 potential, irregardless of what other experts may think.

My 7th pick was Cedric Benson. Yes, a 5th running back before I even had a quarterback. But in my defense, I didn’t want Benson, but was rushed into a pick after my internet connection dropped during my time slot. If I had the time to go through my options, I would have picked up quarterback Matt Schaub, who I am very high on this year, but I did’t have the time.

My 8th was David Garrard. And while many of you may think that was a bad pick, think again my friends! David Garrard was a Top 10 quarterback last year in fantasy football! This year the Jaguars upgraded at the wide receiver position, so he could be even better. Plus, the Jags have a 6-game stretch against some very poor defensive teams, in which Garrad could easily have 4 or 5 big games. So hate on Garrard if you want, but a Top 10 QB in the 8th round is nothing to sneeze at.

My last two picks of note were my 9th pick (WR, Hines Ward) and my 10th pick (QB, Carson Palmer). Carson Palmer is on my All-Sleeper Pick team, so you know I love that pick, and Hines Ward is the Steelers fantasy football equivalent of Wes Welker, so he’ll play when I’m not getting consistent production out of one my wide receivers or running backs.

And that’s how my Gold Dinner Fantasy football draft went. You can look at the full draft here, and you here is my entire team by draft’s end:

Starters:
QB: David Garrard
RB: Steven Jackson
RB: Steve Slaton
RB: Pierre Thomas
WR: Marques Colston
WR: Vincent Jackson
TE: John Carlson
DF: Dolphins
KK: Kris Brown

Bench:
Darren McFadden, RB
Cedric Benson, RB
Hines Ward, WR
Carson Palmer, QB
Derrick Mason, WR
Domenik Hixon, WR
Jeremy Shockey, TE

So I had my first fantasy football draft of the summer last night. I haven’t decided which one of my fantasy football leagues is the one I’ll talk about here on the site throughout the season, but this one is very much in the running.

Unlike any other draft I have ever done, last night’s draft was an auction draft. At first, I was skeptical of the method, just because I feel as if auction drafts give an advantage to less knowledgeable drafters, because they have a shot at everybody and don’t have to account for a player’s potential fantasy value. However, the auction draft method does counter that in some way by allowing players to nominate when and who gets auctioned on. However, it’s still a much more viable option for lesser prepared fantasy football players.

That said, let’s discuss my draft.

The day before the auction, I knew which 3 players I was willing to go after and pay a 10% premium for—that is, players that I would be willing to pay 10% more than their average auction price. Those players, at the time, were Andre Johnson, Steven Jackson and Matt Forte. Those were my targets after a mock auction draft I partook in demonstrated that I could get those guys for just under 150 of my 200 allotted auction dollars. You see, my strategy was to spend money on those 3 guys, have them carry me and get an undervalued quarterback, Phillip Rivers.

Well, right before the draft I decided I didn’t want Matt Forte. I just don’t trust a guy who averaged less than 4-yards per carry. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a Top 5 pick in my opinion, but the price I would have to pay for him was too close to Adrian Peterson, and much higher than some of the running backs I have ranked after him. So while I would still pick Matt Forte atop a snake fantasy draft, the dollars I would have to spend to get him in comparison to others wasn’t worth it production-wise. Thus, right before the draft, I decided that Forte wouldn’t be a part of my strategy and that I would go after Steve Slaton instead.

Sure enough, I got all 3 of my guys, Johnson, Jackson and Slaton for about $135, leaving me with a lot more points than I had anticipated. That is where I began to mess up.

After missing out on Anquan Boldin due to an internet problem, I was determined not to miss out on any other players that I was willing to pay for. So when I saw Kurt Warner going for a price far below that of what I had valued him at, I went after him, even though I was still pretty sure I wanted Philip Rivers. Drafting Warner is great, and barring injury he’ll do great for me, but that injury thing really scared me. So after getting T.J. Houshmandzadeh, I got Rivers with my next buy, and that really set a brother back. I know had 18 points left to fill 10 spots on fantasy football roster. While I hope I can trade Warner after the big Week 1 of fantasy football I expect him to have, but having 2 “big-price” quarterbacks on my roster affected the rest of my draft.

After spending $14 on Rivers, I had to wait a long time before bidding on anyone else. Every now and then I drove up the price on someone I wasn’t going to get myself, but I couldn’t buy anyone until I bought Julius Jones for $3. In fact, I really only intended on spending $1 on Jones, but someone else in my league tried to get him for $2 right before the clock.

After that, I managed to fill out the rest of my roster pretty effectively, and of course, cheaply. I have Zach Miller at TE, the Jets defense and Robbie Gould at kicker. So in the end, I feel pretty good about my team so long as Steven Jackson, Andre Johnson and Steve Slaton stay healthy and productive!

Week 1 Fantasy Football Projections – Top Picks
1. Quarterback Projections
2. Running Back Projections
3. Wide Receiver Projections
4. Tight End Projections
5. Defensive Projections

Week 1 Fantasy Football Projections – Extra Picks
1. Quarterback Fantasy Football Projections
2. Running Back Fantasy Football Projections
3. Wide Receiver Fantasy Football Projections
4. Tight End Fantasy Football Projections

Week 1 Fantasy Football Projections – Sleeper Picks
1. Quarterback Sleeper Picks
2. Running Back Sleeper Picks
3. Wide Receiver Sleeper Picks
4. Tight Ends Sleeper Picks
5. Defensive Sleeper Picks