First-Round 2012 Fantasy Football Redraft Recap

I need you to step into your imagination for just a little bit. I need you to close your eyes and – no, wait! DON’T CLOSE YOUR EYES! You can’t read if your eyes are closed!

OK, that was close.

I need you to imagine you were stuck on a space station for the past month. A space station that DIDN’T have enough guys on it to fill out a fantasy football league. This would force you to wait until the second week in October, when you finally returned to earth, to hold your first fantasy football draft of the season.

What would the first few rounds of a 2012 fantasy football draft look like if we drafted now – after Week 4. I thought this would be a great exercise, which would help fantasy owners understand the current value of some of their players – or some players they might be considering trading for.

So I gathered 12 of the top fantasy football writers in the land, including Eric Mack of SI.com, locked them in the basement, and forced them to watch Season 4 of “The Gilmore Girls.” And THEN, I got them to do a four-round fantasy football redraft with analysis.

2012 #TwitMock Fantasy Football Redraft

This mock draft was for a non-PPR league that scored four points for passing touchdowns. Below is my analysis of their picks from the first round.

1. Arian Foster, RB, Houston

Those that took Foster with the first overall pick have to be ecstatic that he’s still the No. 1 guy. He leads all running backs in non-PPR scoring, and the Texans plan to lean on him more than in recent seasons. If there has ever been a time to trade for Ben Tate, now is the time to do it.

2. Ray Rice, RB, Baltimore

You might remember that I advocated taking Rice over Foster with the first overall pick this summer. While Foster continues to outscore him, Rice remains a great pick – and there’s three-quarters of a season to play. His 22 receptions are 22 lost points in non-PPR leagues, but those are just added scoring opportunities on every pass. Only Darren Sproles (32) has more than Rice’s 30 targets among RBs. His 103 carries tops the league so far.

3. LeSean McCoy, RB, Philadelphia

There you have it – the top three picks remained the top three picks after four weeks. Your league’s standings likely indicate that having a top-three pick this season is more important than in other recent years. The Eagles have not played consistently on offense, but McCoy got back on track in Week 4. While his scoring pace is way off, he’s a better bet than anyone else left to score 10-plus touchdowns over the next 12 weeks.

4. Marshawn Lynch, RB, Seattle

Now things get interesting. Lynch was actually my pick and I maintain that there aren’t many other running backs left that are expected to rush for 100 yards and score at least once in each game going forward. “Beast Mode” leads the league in rushing and he’s second in carries. It’s doubtful he’d be the fourth pick in a PPR league, however. An offseason arrest hurt his draft status a bit this summer, but in early September, the league announced it would not suspend him until after his legal case concludes – sometime in 2013.

5. Calvin Johnson, WR, Detroit

Add Johnson’s owners to the group of bullet-dodgers after four weeks. Taking a wide receiver in the first round is a huge gamble, but so far, it has paid off. Despite being outscored by five other wide receivers, and getting into the end zone just once, Johnson is still the best bet to do aerial damage for the remainder of the year.

6. Robert Griffin III, QB, Washington

As expected, this was the most controversial of all the picks in this mock draft. RGIII has more fantasy points than any other player through four games, and even those that scoff at his selection here, can’t argue that he deserves a top-20 pick. He leads the league, along with fellow rookie teammate RB Alfred Morris, with four rushing touchdowns. He has a top-five fantasy schedule for quarterbacks from Weeks 6-10, but owners should know he has the third-toughest fantasy schedule for QBs in the fantasy playoff weeks (14-16).

7. Jamaal Charles, RB, Kansas City

After the first two weeks, Charles had 90 rushing yards total, and it looked like taking him in the first two or three rounds was a huge mistake. But he has 321 rushing yards and three scores in his past two games, and with Peyton Hillis (ankle) injured, Charles looks like a top-10 back again. It’s possible that Charles would swap draft positions with Lynch if this were a PPR draft.

8. Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota

Speaking of long-forgotten torn ACL injuries, A.P. has readers hating me, since I recommended staying away from him in the first couple rounds. From Week 1, Peterson has looked fantastic and he looks like he gets more confident in his running/cutting ability every week. Before you feed me to the lions, let’s just wait to see if that knee holds up for the next 12 games. It’s a looong season. (I now have him ranked as the No. 2 RB for Week 5 against Tennessee.)

9. Trent Richardson, RB, Cleveland

The rookie started his NFL career with a stinker (44 total yards), but he has since come through with four touchdowns and one 100-yard rushing game. (By the way, Walter Payton had eight carries for zero yards in his NFL debut.) Richardson is fun to watch, but the Browns need to develop some talent in other areas so that teams can’t key on the Heisman winner. Richardson has put a chasm between himself and Doug Martin, the other highly touted fantasy rookie running back in most drafts.

10. Maurice Jones-Drew, RB, Jacksonville

Averaging 4.9 yards per carry is great to see – but seeing that number next to 72 attempts makes his owners smile a little wider. The former holdout proved that he stayed in shape in the offseason and he has – so far – avoided hamstring injuries and other issues that have plagued returning holdout RBs in the past. Interestingly, he has played well enough for the Jaguars to not miss backup RB, Rashad Jennings (knee), for a couple games.

11. Darren McFadden, RB, Oakland

Run DMC has looked a little more like Grandmaster Flash-in-the-Pan (that just happened). McFadden ranks 20th among running backs in fantasy scoring after four weeks, but two things should be noted, both of which have to do with the Raiders schedule. Oakland had the third-hardest schedule for running backs in the first five weeks of the season. But in Weeks 11-16, the Raiders face the Saints, Bengals, Browns, Broncos, Chiefs and Panthers. Those six teams currently rank, on average, 21st against the run.

12. Reggie Bush, RB, Miami

This might have been the second-most controversial pick in the first round. There’s no question that he’s playing well (5.5 yards per carry), but is he playing well enough to make a three- or four-round jump from his Average Draft Position in August? With that said, defenses are going to have to start backing out of the box, as rookie QB Ryan Tannehill has proven that he can sling the ball with confidence, and WR Brian Hartline has emerged as a downfield threat. Also, the Chargers are the only team to have a better schedule for running backs than Miami from Weeks 6-10.

The 12 fantasy writers I got to take part in this mock draft all tweeted their own analysis of their picks in all four rounds.

Other first-round points of interest

• Where would C.J. Spiller have been drafted had he not injured his collarbone? Even with the injury, the only RB to score more fantasy points than Spiller through four weeks is Foster.
• When would the first Jets player be drafted – Round 84?
• How good would RGIII have been if WR Pierre Garcon was healthy in the first quarter of the season? We’re about to find out!
• What’s the average fantasy record of those teams that drafted a QB in the first round back in August? I’m guessing closer to 1-3 than 3-1.
• Did you notice only one quarterback landed in the first round, compared to three this summer?
• Rashard Mendenhall is about to return from his own torn ACL injury, and if Charles and Peterson are any indication, his owners shouldn’t be too worried about his injury.
• While Griffin’s fantasy value took the largest leap among these mock first-rounders, his teammate, Alfred Morris, was the first pick of the second round, making him the largest leaper in the draft. He went from undrafted to top-13 pick.