Drafts are underway. I’ll update my teams here as picks are made including some commentary.

JP’s High Stakes Draftmasters:

1.01 Adrian Peterson: I struggled here between MJD and Peterson, so I went Peterson here and MJD in DM3 where I again had the choice between the two. With this league being at somewhat higher stakes, I guess I sort of chose ADP.

2.12 Pierre Thomas: The WRs got sucked up fast in this league - I was hoping for Colston here. Drew Brees was available, which almost caused me to abandon the QB strategy and take an elite one here. Decided to go with Pierre, whom I normally would target later in the 3rd round, but at this draft slot (and with all of my WR targets gone), I had to draft guys earlier than Im used to seeing them drafted.

3.01 Antonio Gates: I made a decision here that I would not be loading up on TEs later, so I’d better get one of the top two now while I still can (again, earlier than Im used to seeing him drafted unfortunately). I am overloaded on Clark (my preferred redraft TE) in other leagues, so I went with Gates instead. I have the two basically even anyway.

4.12 Hakeem Nicks: The turn was so close to being Steve Smith (NYG) and Hakeem Nicks. I would have loved that combo in a draftmasters as one of the two (and sometimes both) will put up a big score each week (a poor man’s Fitz/Boldin from past years). Smith got taken at 4.11 spoiling that fantasy. With the WR heavy drafting in this particular league (versus the other two), I was lucky to get Nicks at least.

5.01 Jahvid Best: This one took some time to decide on. Best has grown on me as of late, but I needed another WR more. Unfortunately, the WRs available here were not value picks, so I shored up the RB position a little more and will focus on WR at a later time.

6.12 Pierre Garcon: Missed Maclin by one pick. Would have liked to have gone Garcon and Maclin at the turn as I am thin at WR.

7.01 Philip Rivers: Strayed from my QB gameplan, but I thought the value here was too good to pass up. This pick will have a significant impact on the rest of my draft, however. I’ll need to make some adjustments to make this pick work for me.

8.12 Brett Favre: This was a consequence of the Rivers pick. In order to create an efficient QB group, I would need to pair up Rivers with another potentially high scoring QB in order to make the Rivers pick really pay off. While a later QB could be valuable in a committee of like skilled QBs in draftmasters, that same late QB would contribute much less paired up with Rivers.

9.01 Braylon Edwards: Not the ideal WR3, but not bad in draftmasters if I could fill in with more WRs later.

10.12 Donald Brown: I like his value here. If he ends up producing this year, this team will be tough to beat.

11.01 Derrick Mason: I’m glad he was still around since I was thinking of taking him at 9.01 and chose Edwards instead. I felt a little silly when Edwards lasted rounds later in the other leagues, but I ended up getting the two I wanted anyway.

12.12 Nate Burleson: He could be decent on the other side of Calvin (if he can stay healthy of course).

13.01 Chaz Schilens: The likely WR1 in Oakland, which isn’t much normally, but in draftmasters could be a useful player to have. Especially on this team that has no true studs. Nicks, Garcon, Edwards, Mason, Burleson and Schilens. Not bad.

14.12 Kyle Orton: The only QB left that could put up a big enough week here and there to contribute on down weeks for Favre and Rivers.

15.01 Fred Davis: Could be great if Cooley is out for any period of time, but still useful as a backup to Gates otherwise.

Remaining picks:

16.12 Demaryius Thomas
17.01 Baltimore Ravens
18.12 Rob Bironas
19.01 Ben Watson
20.12 Davone Bess
21.01 Shayne Graham
22.12 Denver Broncos
23.01 Buffalo Bills
24.12 Justin Gage
25.01 Rian Lindell

The Team:

QB: Rivers, Favre, Orton
RB: Peterson, P. Thomas, Jahvid Best, Donald Brown
WR: Nicks, Garcon, Mason, Edwards, Burleson, Schilens, DM Thomas, Bess, Gage
TE: Gates, Watson, F Davis
K: Bironas, Graham, Lindell
Def: Ravens, Bills, Broncos

Overall: I feel pretty good about this team, except for the Schilens pick now that it looks like he’ll be out for an extended period of time. That could hurt given that WR was this team’s weak area and really needed quantity there. Only went with 3 defenses this time so that I could add another WR to make up for the Schilens injury. Good thing I took at least one quality defense in Baltimore to make up for the lack of a fourth defense. RB is very strong and so is QB (surprising for one of my teams).


JP’s Draftmasters 2:

1.06 Frank Gore: This one was a simple pre-draft. Had Gore ahead of AJ on the pre-draft, but I knew that it wouldn’t make any difference.

2.07 Brandon Marshall: Had the choice here between Marshall, Jennings and Calvin, all of whom are “my guys”. I went with Marshall as the slightly better redraft choice imo. Its only two picks, but this team is looking the best out of the three so far. I really like the 6 slot in draftmasters. The 5 slot is great as well. Foursport in the 5 hole went Andre Johnson and Calvin Johnson - LOVE that start.

3.06 Antonio Gates: Was going to take Clark here instead but then caught the report about him injuring his left leg, so I decided to go Gates again (an overreaction, but they’re so close to even that it was enough to make the switch). Fortunately, the injury appears to be minor.

4.07 Jahvid Best: I probably should have gone WR with this pick as there were a few nice options still on the board, but I decided to swing for the fences with Best instead.

5.06 Hakeem Nicks: Not bad for a mid-5th.

6.07 Mike Sims-Walker: Dropping due to the shoulder injury, but it looks like he will be ok so this pick may be a good one.

7.06 Marion Barber: Gore, Best and Barber is looking like a nice draftmasters backfield.

8.07 Devin Hester: Hester is a very nice WR4 and keeps me flexible at 9.06. I could go another WR or add on a RB4 at that pick.

9.06 Darren McFadden: Decided to go RB with a McFadden, a high risk, high upside pick, but a good gamble in the 9th, especially as a RB4.

10.07 Matthew Stafford: Here we go, a better than normal QB1 for me (although I am taking one a little earlier here than normal).

11.06 Ben Roethlisberger: Starting my run for QBs early. Ben could be good in this format with his value depressed due to the 4 games he will be out. Not as big of an issue as in a regular redraft with multiple QBs already going those weeks.

12.07 Jeremy Shockey: Backup for Gates. Oops!! Same bye week, LOL. Looks like I’ll need another backup later.

13.06 Kyle Orton: Had to take him earlier here since he has the potential to match the quality of Big Ben and Stafford. This is important since its better to have like-skilled players when forming a committee in draftmasters. You get more bang out of each pick that way. For example, Orton would contribute far less if he were matched up with Drew Brees and Peyton Manning and would therefore have much less value to that team.

Remaining picks:

14.07 Chris Chambers
15.06 Lance Moore
16.07 Ben Watson
17.06 NO Saints
18.07 Ryan Longwell
19.06 Devery Henderson
20.07 Houston Texans
21.06 Sebastian Janikowski
22.07 Cleveland Browns
23.06 Jordy Nelson
24.07 Arrelious Benn
25.06 Rian Lindell

The Team:

QB: Stafford, Big Ben, Orton
RB: Gore, Best, Barber, McFadden
WR: Marshall, Nicks, Sims-Walker, Hester, Chambers, Henderson, Moore, Benn
TE: Gates, Shockey, Watson
PK: Longwell, SeBass, Lindell
DEF: Saints, Texans, Browns

Overall: Also a strong team and a serious threat to fourpete. QB could be a little thin until Ben comes back. RB and WR, while not spectacular, are solid groups. TE is solid as well and Def is pretty good.


JP’s Draftmasters 3:

1.02 Maurice Jones-Drew: Per above, I hedged my bets and went MJD, predrafting MJD ahead of ADP, potentially leaving CJ3 to the 1.3. CJ3 went #1.

2.11 Marques Colston: Got the guy I was targeting from the beginning, but missed Greg Jennings (whom I wanted more) by one pick!

3.02 Desean Jackson: I have been up and down on this guy all off season (bought and sold him in several dynasty leagues this year). I am slightly on the down side right now, but he should be a pretty good draftmaster WR this year as I am anticipating high inconsistent scoring. This team is shaping up nicely.

4.11 Anquan Boldin: Nice value at 4.11, but you have to worry about his adjustment to a new team (like many other WRs before him having that difficulty).

5.02 Michael Crabtree: I am now set at WR -- this team is looking real good. Wish this were my high stakes team instead.

6.11 Arian Foster: I needed a RB badly and Foster seemed to be the best left on the board (ahead of Ricky Williams and Brandon Jacobs). This is a very RB heavy draft (as compared to the other two), which explains why I was able to snag the WR values. Still, I need to fill out the RB position or the WR values will be useless.

7.02 Jeremy Maclin: This could be the best value I have gotten so far in the three leagues. I would be a bit worried about Maclin as a WR3 in a regular redraft, but he is a nice WR3 in draftmasters and an even better WR5 as in this league. Unfortunately, three of my WRs are on bye during Week 8, so I’ll need to draft at least one more WR before round 13 or so.

8.11 Chris Cooley: Cooley is a good TE for a late 8th rounder, but unless I invest heavily in TE from here on out, this is going to be a weak area for this team.

9.02 Darren McFadden: Again. Not as good as a RB3, particularly when my RB2 is the unproven Arian Foster. I have to hope for 2 starters each week - MJD as one and McFadden/Foster as the #2. The five high end WRs should be able to take care of the flex.

10.11 Fred Jackson: He still should have a nice role in Buffalo for a 10th rounder and shores up the need for a trio to man the RB2 spot (McFadden, Foster and Jackson)

11.02 Matt Cassel: Gotta hope for the best here, the first of the 4 crappy QBs I plan to draft. I drafted him first since he has decent potential to put up a big number here and there which is what you want in a large committee over a more consistent but equally mediocre player.

12.11 Mark Sanchez: Much like Cassel, while most weeks will be average at best, I see Sanchez putting up some big numbers in random weeks.

13.02 David Garrard: The most consistent (and likely the best) of the bunch so far.

14.11 Todd Heap: Finally, a much needed second TE. As I mentioned above, this will be a weak area.

15.02 Chris Chambers: While I would not want to start him very often in a redraft, I like this guy a lot in draftmasters since you never know when he’ll put up a big number, but he will likely will put up a few.

16.11 Jake Delhomme: The last of the QBs outside of the mess in Buffalo. This foursome should do plenty well in this format.

17.02 Marshawn Lynch: Why not, I already have Fred Jackson and I figure one of the two should be useful most of the year.

Remaining picks:

18.11 Rob Bironas
19.02 David Akers
20.11 Houston Texans
21.02 Washington Redskins
22.11 Atlanta Falcons
23.02 Louis Murphy
24.11 Jacksonville Jaguars
25.02 Rashad Jennings

The Team:

QB: Cassel, Sanchez, Garrard, Delhomme
RB: MJD, Foster, McFadden, F Jackson, Lynch, R Jennings
WR: Colston, DeJackson, Boldin, Crabtree, Maclin, Chambers, Murphy
TE: Cooley, Heap
PK: Bironas, Akers
DEF: Texans, Redskins, Falcons, Jaguars

Overall: Another solid team (of course, all the teams probably think that right after the draft). Hopefully, RB can hold its own. I had to add a couple more RBs than usual due to the weakness there. WRs are really strong for draftmasters. TE is not great, but you can get away with that when the WRs are this good. Defense again should be good due to quantity and the two kickers I have here are the best set of kickers out of any team Ive drafted this year.