Sleeper Thread and some advice

[Molitoth]

So in your drafts, who would you consider sleepers? I was in a 10 team league with 6th pick.

I'll start:

*Leon Washington - Face it, Thomas Jones is not a great RB. LW is just a machine and he's been showing it in preseason. You will get Kick return yards with him as well. ESPN power rankings had him so low that everyone else in my league totally forgot about him. I had my eye on him from the begining and still picked him up in Round 13. I thought it was rediculas that he was still there.

*Patrick Crayton - As I recall, he had a decent year last year. Even with TO on his team, he was getting lots of looks from Romo like they had a certain connection. With TO not there to whine for balls, and Roy Williams being way over-rated imo (and now injured), look for Crayton to shine this year. I picked him up in the 12th round.

*Torry Holt - At first, you may think he is old and washed up... I know I did at first, until I looked at the Jags WR core. Holt is the best WR on this team, infact their WR's make the chiefs WR's look like the patriots when it comes to paper. A new WR may emerge on that team, but I would look for that QB to be headed Holt's way on a consistent basis. Look, the Rams have sucked ass the past few years as an entire team. It was not Holt's fault that the team has imploded. This year may prove he is not washed up. I picked him up in the 9th round.

*Hakeem Nicks - My Mr. Irrelivant. Personally I think when the season gets into the second half and WR's are getting injured, Nicks will see some major playtime and start catching some balls. They need a replacement for Plaxico, and Hicks has been coming around in practice, showcasing some talent. Last pick in the draft, but I still thought it was a good one considering my team is stacked. Most likely you could just pick him up FA during the season, but you gotta pick someone up with that last pick, right?


I'm no draft expert or anything, but I've won a few FF leagues. Don't waste picks on kickers, or defenses, or even backup QB's.

The highest ranked kickers barely ever come out of the season with the most points. New kickers seem to emerge every year to be FF stars. You can usually pick up the trends around week 4 on which FA is available that is kicking ass.

Defense? Find the worst offense in the league and pick up the FA Defense that will be playing them that week. For instance, during the Herm era I would just FA pickup whatever defense was playing the Chiefs offense that week, it would usually get me a decent amount of points. Now, if The Giants, Ravens, or Vikings defense is available in the mid round, which they should be and you are confident in what you've picked so far, for sure pick up one of those teams, because those defenses are stout. Shit, the Ravens had x2 pick 6 last week, and couldv'e had another if Ray Lewis held onto the ball. Thats x3 shoulda been pick 6. The Ravens D is f'ing good.

Backup QB - Don't waste a pick. All of the good QB's will be gone by the time you are ready to pickup a backup, so just hold out until your QB is coming up on his bye week, and pickup whoever is looking good/playing a shitty defense, then drop him again. Your main QB should be good enough to play the rest of the 15 weeks in the season.

Another tip that I have found to work well is draft based on consistancy. For instance, I drafted Peyton Manning as my QB due to the consistancy. Every year he puts out about 18-25 points per week it seems. Now, I loved the McNabb pick this year, some weeks he should put up 35 points... but you just know that a couple random weeks he will be throwing some stupid INT's, and then midseason he WILL miss a few games due to injury. It happens nearly every year.


For shits and giggles, here is how my team ended up:

1. DeAngelo Williams
2. Steve Smith
3. Peyton Manning
4. Terrell Owens
5. Tony Gonzalez
6. Willie Parker
7. Santonio Holmes
8. Reggie Bush
9. Torry Holt
10. Vikings Defense
11. Cedric Benson
12. Patrick Crayton
13. Leon Washington
14. Mason Crosby
15. Hakeem Nicks