2008 Fantasy Football Preview Extravaganza

The NFL season is less than a week away and of course with that comes fantasy football, one of my favorite past times. I have participated in fantasy football leagues in some form or fashion going way back before the internet days with some of my buddies from high school (over ten years). With the advent and growth of the internet, the popularity and participation of not only myself but many others has skyrocketed it to what it is today.

Last year, I started the tradition on my Xanga blog of Fantasy Football Tuesday which was a recap and preview of my fantasy football teams in the leagues I was in. This year the tradition has moved to this blog and to kick it off, here's a draft recap of the three fantasy football leagues that I'm in that are must watch/keep up with.

*To start off, the first league is Speed Kills, this league is one that I've been participating in since 2001 (eight years counting this season). I have finished in the top 3 four times and have won the championship twice including last season. It is made up of some friends from college and some friends of friends.

The team name this year is the K.C. Masterpieces. In this year's draft, the Masterpieces had the 7th overall pick and with it selected Tom Brady (a hold over from last year's championship team). The rest of the starting lineup is as follows:

QB - Tom Brady (1st round-7th pick)
RBs - Ronnie Brown (3nd round-31th pick), LenDale White (5th round-55th pick
WRs - Reggie Wayne (2nd round-18th pick), Wes Welker (4th round-42nd pick), Nate Burleson (8th round-90th pick)
TE - Chris Cooley (6th round-66th pick)
K - Rob Bironas (9th round-103rd pick)
DEF - New England (7th round-79th pick)

Key backups drafted: QB Jay Cutler (10th round-114th pick), WR Patrick Crayton (11th round-127th pick), RB Justin Fargas (12th round-138th pick), TE Marcedes Lewis (13th round-151st pick)

Season Prediction: While there are fewer teams this year (12 as opposed to 16) and there are several top teams not returning in this league (including those run by my friends Jon and Stephen), it will be a tough year. I have never repeated as a champ in this league. There are several question marks with this team (can Brady provide a top performance again this year, will the starting running backs be enough to win on a consistent basis, the question of a depleted team on one bye week), however this team does have the potential to compete deep into the playoffs. I do think they will finish in the top 3.

*The second league is one that I'm very excited about. It's called the League of Fantasy Footballers. This is the first year of the league and features several friends from college (Jon, Stephen, Adam, Joseph) and several of their friends.

The team name in this league is the Kansas City Chefs (play on the Snickers commercial back in the day). In this year's draft, the Chefs had the 2nd overall pick and with it selected Adrian Peterson. The rest of the starting lineup is as follows:

QB - Matt Hasselbeck (6th round-59th pick)
RBs - Adrian Peterson (1st round-2nd pick), Maurice Jones-Drew (2nd round-19th pick)
WRs - Andre Johnson (3rd round-22nd pick), Anquan Boldin (5th round-42nd pick), Hines Ward (9th round-82nd pick)
TE - Antonio Gates (4th round-39th pick)
K - Adam Vinatieri (8th round-79th pick)
DEF - New England (7th round-62nd pick)

Key backups drafted: QB Philip Rivers (11th round-102nd pick), RB Julius Jones (10th round-99th pick), WR Reggie Williams (12th round-119th pick), TE Donald Lee (14th round-139th pick)

Season Prediction: This team, the first of the three for me to live draft, is probably the best on paper. The 1-2 punch of Peterson and Jones-Drew is the best RB combination in the league. Health will be the concern for this team along with the talent at the WR position. This will also be a very competitive league. It will be hard to win the championship in this 10 team league but I think this team out of the three has the talent to win the championship.

*The third league I'm in will be a very interesting one as it is in uncharted territory. It is called the Young Guns league and it is made up of college/young adult leaders across the country and run by a guy who is at Lifeway and is a part of a department called Threads which is geared towards college/young adult ministry. I don't know anyone personally in this league so it'll be interesting to get to know them through this. Also this is the first league that I'm doing that's with ESPN. The other leagues I've been in have been through Yahoo so that'll also be an interesting change as well.

The team name in this league is the Kansas City Perkalators (throwback to one of the team names used by me last year). In this year's draft, the Perks had the 1st overall pick (second year in a row I've had a team with the first overall pick) and with it selected LaDanian Tomlinson. The rest of the starting lineup is as follows:

QB - Matt Hasselbeck (5th round-41st pick)
RBs - LaDanian Tomlinson (1st round-1st pick), Jamal Lewis (3rd round-21st pick)
WRs - Braylon Edwards (2nd round-20th pick), Greg Jennings (6th round-60th pick)
RB/WR - Hines Ward (7th round-61st pick)
TE - Antonio Gates (4th round-40th pick)
K- Rob Bironas (8th round-80th pick)
DEF- Seattle (9th round-81st pick)

Key backups drafted: QB Philip Rivers (10th round-100th pick), RB Jerious Norwood (13th round-121st pick), WR Bernard Berrian (11th round-101st pick), TE Tony Scheffler (12th round-120th pick)

Season Prediction: This team, like the Kansas City Chefs, had high draft picks. Also like the Chefs, they are in a 10 team league. They have the same starting QBs and TEs (Hasselbeck and Gates). The strength of this team is depth at WR and TE along with two quality starting RBs. The weakness of this team is depth at RB. It will be hard to judge how this team will fare in a league of unknowns. However, given the talent level of this team, it would be hard pressed not to list them as a favorite to win Division 1 and possibly the entire league.

This has been the great Fantasy Football Preview Extravaganza. Early next week (probably by Wednesday) will be the Week 1 preview matchups from each league. Until then, later days...