Fantasy Football Week: Challenge #1: Which team do you want?

Post I of III

This past Saturday, Armin/Sum/Pay/myself (Clement) met up at the world’s greatest unofficial draft headquarters for our yearly fantasy football draft (#1 of 2 actually) for a league we playfully have been a part of named the ‘Frank Stallone League’.

Let the hilarity ensue.

I will detail a few league rules in a few sentences; however, I’m going to first format the series of three posts you’ll see this week.

I'm sure A-Pete didn't go 11th overall in your draft, but due to keeper allocation rights...he did in ours!
Credit: Yahoo! Sports

Challenge #1: Which team do you want?
-I’ll post our collective rosters for our four squads. Simply put, which one do you want most? Why???

Challenge #2: Which 1^st Rounders were steals and which were debacles?
-I’ll post our entire first round, 12 picks in all, and I promise…you won’t see it coming.

Challenge #3: Who would you have kept?
-Keeper leagues aren’t the norm; however, I want to challenge a few of our readers to see just who you would and would not have reached on when keeper allocations are potentially on the line?

Now here are some league rules. We have tried our best to make this the most challenging of fantasy leagues out there.

Basics
A) 12-teams.
B) 16-round ladder draft.
C) Starters include 2 QBs, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 K, & 1 DEF. 6 reserve sports.

Draft
D) Max of 2 min/pick for the first 6 rounds and Max of 1 min/pick for the last 10.

Free Agents/Waivers
E) Teams will be locked 5 minutes before kickoff of the first game until the kickoff of the Monday night game in terms of free agents. If the commish or a designate fails to lock the teams, the honor system is in effect.
F) Free agent draft: If you wish to pick up a player in the free agent draft, send me an e-mail indicating who you wish to add and drop in order of priority by 10am on Tuesday. Free agents will go to teams with the highest waiver priority (determined by worst record).

Keepers
G) Each team has two keeper allocations; 1 for rounds 4-9 and 1 for rounds 10-16. Keeper allocations CAN be traded. They DO NOT carry over to next season.
H) If you drop a player during the season, you cannot keep him next year (unless due to season-ending injury or a QB-related forced drop.)

2-Starting QB Rules
I) If a backup becomes a starter and you have 4 starting QBs, you must drop/trade one w/i 24 hours.
J) You will maintain keeper rights to the QB in the case of a forced drop.
K) If you have 3 starters on your roster, you may NOT pick up a 4^th starter with the intention of working a trade. Picking up a starting QB when you already have 3 can only be done if you are dropping one of your 3 current starters.

Draft Lottery Bonuses
L) Each owner will predict the Conference Champions, Super Bowl Champions, League MVP and the tie-breaker. The winner will get an extra entry for the #1 pick overall.
M) The winner of the regular season championship will receive an extra entry for the #1 pick overall.

After viewing my draft, I think Wall-E might've been a savvier fantasy football GM.
Credit: Rotten Tomatoes

Note: If you see the word [keeper’ next to a player’s name, that particular draftee was automatically kept on their team by their owner (check above for rules for keepers) by using either their own keeper allocation or trading for someone else’s.

Without any further banter…let’s take a look at the teams.

Team #1: Armin [3^rd pick overall]

Who else would you take if names like LT, AP, and Brady were off the board?
Credit: Seven Again

1- Peyton Manning
2- Marques Colston
3- Eli Manning
4- Steve Smith [Carolina]
5- Jonathan Stewart
6- Selvin Young
7- Trent Edwards
8- Patrick Crayton
9- Michael Turner [keeper]
10- Vernon Davis
11- Jerious Norwood
12- Anthony Gonzalez
13- Timothy Hightower
14- Seattle DEF
15- Josh Scobee
16- Laurent Robinson

Team #2: Sum [5^th pick overall]

Can YOU name this 6'7 wideout rookie?
Credit: Eastwood Mailman

1- Clinton Portis (traded 5^th pick to Pay in deal)
2- Drew Brees
3- TJ Houshmanzadeh
4- Darren McFadden
5- Anquan Boldin
6- Jason Campbell
7- Ronnie Brown
8- Donte Stallworth
9- Chicago DEF
10- Jay Cutler [keeper]
11- Vincent Jackson
12- Chad Henne
13- Tony Scheffler
14- James Hardy
15- Indianapolis DEF
16- Rob Bironas

Team #3: Clement [10^th pick overall]

Anybody else peg him as a potential 3rd-rounder last month?
Credit: Yahoo! Sports

1- Larry Johnson
2- Terrell Owens
3- Brett Favre
4- Reggie Bush
5- Vince Young [keeper]
6- Kellen Winslow Jr. [keeper]
7- Felix Jones
8- Laveraneus Coles
9- Kevin Smith
10- Minnesota DEF
11- Joe Flacco
12- Ted Ginn, Jr.
13- Chris Brown
14- Jabbar Gaffney
15- Sage Rosenfels
16- Ladell Betts

Team #4: Paymon [12^th pick overall]

How much would you risk for a guy who automatically misses 2 or 3 games?
Credit: Yahoo! Sports

1- Stephen Jackson (traded for #5 pick overall in a trade)
2- Carson Palmer
3- Torry Holt
4- Willis McGahee
5- Jason Witten [keeper]
6- Marvin Harrison
7- Chad Pennington
8- Brandon Marshall [keeper]
9- Kyle Orton
10- Ricky Williams
11- Pittsburgh DEF
12- Brady Quinn
13- Ray Rice
14- Kevin Walter
15- Drew Bennett
16- Josh Brown

A lot to take in? Imagine our trepidation…

ESPECIALLY MINE!?!?!

Until next challenge…