The hindsight draft, redrafting your fantasy football team, best fantasy football draft picks

The hindsight draft

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The fantasy football season is hitting its stretch run and by now every team is on its way to the playoffs, fighting for a playoff spot or out of the running completely. Whatever our team’s situation, it’s always interesting to look back at draft day and see what we could have done better.

The following is a 10-round breakdown of the best picks we could have made on draft day. Each player has an Antsports’ Average Draft Position (ADP) at least a full round later than when we’ll draft him, so this is a team you actually could have had. I’ll list the player’s current positional ranking in Antsports’ High Performance Scoring System along with their August ADP. We’ll assume that we had the #6 pick, so if we’re making a pick in the second round, the player must have an ADP of 3.06 or later. And we’ll stay away from waiver wire wonders. No one was picking Derek Anderson on draft day.

It’s impossible to predict future performance, but if we had drafted this team, we’d be sitting pretty right now. Let’s take a look.


Round 1: Clinton Portis, RB7 (3.01)
Clinton PortisIt was a close call to take Portis over Tom Brady here, but grabbing Clinton gives us a more secure situation than drafting Brady here and Marion Barber in the fourth. It also allows us to take a certain Browns WR in the fourth, but more on that later. Portis is quietly having a very nice year, averaging 105 total yards and 0.7 TD per game. He’s been dinged up here and there, but seems to be hitting his stride after posting 353 total yards in the last two games.

Round 2: Randy Moss, WR1 (4.05)
Moss was the biggest wildcard heading into the draft. He would have been drafted much earlier had he not been dealing with hamstring issue during the preseason or showed any kind of heart during his stint in Oakland. Those who gambled that Moss would thrive in the winning atmosphere in New England were dead on. With the benefit of perfect hindsight, Moss is a no-brainer for us in the second.

Round 3: Adrian Peterson, RB2 (5.01)
I know he just hurt his knee, but we’ll grab Chester Taylor later on to protect our investment. Peterson has averaged 145 total yards and 1.0 TD per game and is running away (literally) with Rookie of the Year honors. He has scored in five of nine contests and had two games where he would have won fantasy games on his own. In week 6, he racked up 224 yards and three TD against the Bears before setting a single-game record with 296 rushing yards (and three TD) against the Chargers in week 9.

Round 4: Braylon Edwards, WR5 (6.05)
Braylon EdwardsNow that he has some consistent QB play, the third-year wideout has really come into his own this season, averaging 83 yards and 1.1 TD per game. What’s even more amazing is how he’s outperforming all the guys – Deion Branch, Santana Moss, Chris Chambers, Darrell Jackson, Mark Clayton and Vincent Jackson – that had similar ADPs. Fantasy owners who plucked him out of that group should be thanking their lucky stars.

Round 5: Tony Romo, QB2 (6.10)
Like I said, grabbing Tom Brady in the first was tempting, but Romo has been almost as good and was readily available in the fifth. He is on pace to throw for 4542 yards and 41 TD, giving us an advantage over just about every other fantasy team we face.

Round 6: Chester Taylor, RB48 (and rising) (8.04)
I’ll admit that I wouldn’t have used this pick on Taylor if not for Adrian Peterson’s injury on Sunday. But this is called the Hindsight Draft, isn’t it?

Round 7: Jason Witten, TE4 (8.06)
Witten has been a terrific value for those who waited for the bigger names at TE to be drafted first. He is on pace for 1118 yards and nine TD. Not bad at all for a seventh-round pick.

Round 8: LenDale White, RB18 (9.06)
Granted, White was brutal in week 10 against the Jags – eight carries for 12 yards – but in the previous three games, he racked up 368 total yards and two scores. He’s the clear RB1 in Tennessee (at least for now) and should be a nice backup for the stretch run.

Round 9: Jeff Garcia, QB12 (13.03)
Jeff GarciaGarcia is quietly having a nice season for the Bucs. He has averaged 239 yards and 1.4 TD over the last five games and gives us a guy we can plug in there if (gasp!) something happens to our QB1, Tony Romo.

Round 10: Wes Welker, WR6 (13.09)
Welker was undervalued on draft day by those who thought Donte Stallworth would be a true WR2 in New England. While Stallworth has come on of late, the Pats are throwing the ball all over the field, which means that there are enough balls for everyone. Welker is on pace for 1216 total yards and 12 TD. He’ll make for a very nice WR3 in the 10th.

Whew! That gives us a roster that looks like this:

QB: Tony Romo/Jeff Garcia
RB1: Clinton Portis/LenDale White
RB2: Adrian Peterson/Chester Taylor
WR1: Randy Moss
WR2: Braylon Edwards/Wes Welker
TE: Jason Witten

That includes QB2, RB2, RB7, WR1, WR5 and TE4.

How would you like to run that lineup out there next week?


Send questions and comments to jpaulsen@bullz-eye.com.