Fantasy Football 2012: Draft Day Edition

Hi my name is Crash and I'm a fantasy football geek (Hi Crash). I've been playing over 20 years which means I've spent WAY too much time over the years studying for drafts and tracking players while being commissioner of the majority of the leagues I've been in.

Each week during the regular season, I'll give you my Start 'Em and Sit 'Em list and thought I'd do my first blog of the season on the draft. My second draft is this weekend so it seemed like a good time to give you my sleepers and busts. The first draft I was in this season I admit I was very under prepared for as it's almost a "speed draft". We're in a 12 teamer and completed a 15 round draft in 58 minutes. Unfortunately I ended up with at least a couple guys I probably shouldn't have.

As a life long Vikings fan, it pains me to put Aaron Rodgers atop my draft cheat sheet. But if you've got the #1 pick, he's your safest bet. Since he became a starter, he's finished every season as either the #1 or #2 scorer. Safest pick on the board.

I know everyone else has Arian Foster, Ray Rice and LeSean McCoy at the top of their lists, but I think I'd actually take Tom Brady at #2 before the trio of backs.

At wide receiver, Megatron (Calvin Johnson) is so far ahead of the rest of the group, I'd even think about taking his at #3 overall.

Tight End used to be a position that leagues talked about doing away with or making optional. Now with Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham, there are players taking them in the 2nd round! Hard to go wrong with either one, but I like Graham a little better than Gronk with the big New England TE coming off the late season injury.

And if you take a kicker and a team defense before the last couple rounds of your draft, you're wasting picks...just sayin'.

A few players I'm down on this season: Peyton Manning in Denver. Reports are he can't complete a pass to his right over ten yards and he's coming off three neck surgeries. I'll pass.

Tony Romo is unfortunately my starter in one of my leagues. Of course I drafted him before Jason Witten's ruptured spleen, Miles Austin's problems coming back from injury and Dez Bryant also getting injured, so I've got to hope for the best.

And as exciting as Michael Vick is, you'd better spend another early pick on a back up because he's going to miss 4-8 games because of the way he plays.

Another painful pick as a sleeper is Chicago's Jay Cutler. He's got Brandon Marshall there and his head on straight. It's a tough division, but he's got weapons and could be on the rise.

Running back is becoming a quagmire with so many shared backfields and SO many injuries. I'm avoiding Adrian Peterson off the injury in a tough division and Ryan Mathews in San Diego because of injury and I see them as a team on the decline. also stay away from Michael Turner in Atlanta. He's on his way out in the new look, pass first offense.

A couple of sleepers to remember are Cedric Benson in Green Bay who by all accounts is running mad since he didn't get any other offers and has virtually no competition and rookie Doug Martin in Tampa Bay who will overtake LeGarrette Blount very soon.

At Wide Reciever I'm downgrading Wes Welker in New England because of the tight end options they have and his age. Not high on Larry Fitzgerald either. Do they even have a Quarterback on the roster?

Nate Washington in Tennessee is a sneaky sleeper. Kenny Britt is going to get a suspension and newly named starting QB Jake Locker looked Washington's way OFTEN late last season and through the pre-season.

A couple of sleeper Tight Ends to keep on your lists are Greg Olsen in Carolina and Kyle Rudolph in Minnesota. Cam Newton threw to his tight ends a TON last year in Carolina and Jeremy Shockey isn't there any more to share the catches. And reports out of Mankato have Rudolph rounding into his own. As the saying goes, you can't teach "big", and Rudolph is a 6'6" beast in the red zone.

Hope you've enjoyed the first (and likely LONGEST) fantasy post of the season. Good luck in your drafts and I'll return before the NFL season kickoff on September 5th between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys with my next post!