The first weekend of the NFL season has arrived, and anyone who knows me even remotely well knows that I’m a bit crazy when it comes to fantasy football. I’m usually managing multiple teams each year along with a ridiculously complicated, 16-team “dynasty” league that I’ve run for the lastten years or so. (For the uninitiated, a dynasty league allows teams to keep a specific number of players from year to year, trade draft picks, and lots of other long-term options.)
This year, I’m in three leagues: the dynasty league one I run, a fun league full of professional geeks from around the media biz, and a league run by (and filled with) some of my former Wizard Entertainment buddies.
Here’s the breakdown of my Week 1 rosters for each of the teams, just for the sake of conversation:
League #1: The AQFL
This is the dynasty league I’ve been running for the past ten years or so. There are 16 teams in the league, and team owners keep six players from year to year. Owners are also able to trade draft picks for future seasons throughout the year, which makes for a lot of wheeling and dealing all year. Oh, and the league also uses individual defensive players (one from the Defensive Line, one Defensive Back, and one Linebacker).
Here’s what my team, the Ghetto Gators, looks like headed into Week 1:
Tom Brady QB
- one of the six players I kept from 2011
Tim Tebow QB
- amazingly, not one of the players I kept from 2011, but I ended up getting him in a preseason trade that gave me Maurice Jones-Drew and Tebow for Darren Sproles and Jacquizz Rodgers
John Skelton QB
Blaine Gabbert QB
Peyton Hillis RB
Rashad Jennings RB
Maurice Jones-Drew RB
- acquired him in the aforementioned preseason trade
Michael Bush RB
Rashard Mendenhall RB
Keiland Williams RB
Greg Jennings WR
- one of my other keepers for this season
Danny Amendola WR
Denarius Moore WR
- another keeper from 2011
Aaron Hernandez TE
- another keeper from 2011
Matt Prater K
Ahtyba Rubin DL
London Fletcher LB
George Wilson DB
Will this finally be the year I go to the championship? I feel like the addition of Maurice Jones-Drew might be the element I need to get there. Fingers crossed, as I would love to finally be a contender in the league I’ve been managing for a decade. *sigh*
League #2: Bazooka Loves Steve Grogan League
This league is run by my buddy Brian Truitt, the resident nerd journalist at USA Today, and the league is made up of various entertainment-media professionals from around the biz. I won the league two seasons ago, and I’m hoping to regain the championship this year with my team, the Galador Spaceknights. (Not even the geekiest team name in the league, I assure you.) There are also 20 teams in the league, which makes the competition for players pretty crazy.
Here’s how my team looks going into Week 1:
Robert Griffin III QB
Andy Dalton QB
Russell Wilson QB
Chris Johnson RB
Darren Sproles RB
Isaac Redman RB
Taiwan Jones RB
Pierre Garcon WR
Reggie Wayne WR
Danny Amendola WR
Brad Smith WR
Kyle Rudolph TE
Dallas Clark TE
Alex Henery K
Minnesota DT
I’m excited about my trio of young QBs, as I’m a big fan of RG3, but I’m not too confident in my RBs. I like the group of WRs I ended up with, but I don’t have a lot of depth at the position, which worries me. I predict big things for Kyle Rudolph this year, so Iw as happy to get him in the draft. As for my defensive team, I’m just going to pick up a different team every week depending on the matchup, so we’ll see how that goes, I guess.
League #3: Day-Late Football
This is a 14-team league that was started by some of my old buddies at Wizard Entertainment, and it’s continued on long after many of us left the company. It’s a unique league in that it puts a heavy emphasis on defense, with teams drafting seven (7!) defensive players in addition to the offensive side of the ball.
Here’s how my team looks going into Week 1:
Tom Brady QB
Andrew Luck QB
Fred Jackson RB
Rashad Jennings RB
Jacquizz Rodgers RB
Dexter McCluster RB
Alfred Morris RB
Ryan Mathews RB
Eric Decker WR
Antonio Brown WR
Pierre Garcon WR
Danny Amendola WR
Robert Meachem WR
Coby Fleener TE
Robbie Gould K
Chad Greenway LB
Luke Kuechly LB
Lance Briggs LB
Mario Williams DE
Chris Clemons DE
Kyle Arrington DB
Charles Tillman DB
I’m not sure how I feel about this team, as I’m not entirely comfortable with the defensive side of scoring in this league. I’m a big fan of Chad Greenway, though, so I’m happy I have him on my squad.
So there are my teams for the 2012 season. It will be interesting to see what they look like at the end of the season, and whether any of my expectations were met by the players I took a gamble on at draft time. Here’s hoping I make a run for the championship in at least one of the leagues, given how much time I put into researching all of these players!
