by Michael Davies

This year, FPTV will be having a fantasy football challenge for the 2011-2012 NFL season. The owners in the league include current and old members of FPTV programming. In last year’s challenge, I had a 13-2 record, but lost in the first round of the playoffs and ended up coming in fourth. Needless to say I was not happy. This year I have a completely different approach to drafting my team.

A live draft will be held at lakeview 20 within the coming weeks. I have never done a live draft before and I am pumped to get it started. I am not messing around this year. Fantasy football needs to be taken as seriously as any class or occupation. If anything, I guarantee I will be checking my team nonstop during journalism class. Time for business.

Now that I have stressed my love for football, I need to go over my predraft strategies. So far I have taken two mock drafts on Yahoo Sports. My teams have been decent so far, but they could be better. Here are a few things I have gathered from these mock drafts.

I do not want a top five pick: I know that seems weird to most people. Who wouldn’t want Adrian Peterson or Chris Johnson (not the Experience Director)? I just see better players that can be taken later in the first round. Michael Vick, for example, is a versatile player who is a must in all fantasy leagues. I have seen him go as early as second overall. Not surprising. I would rather have a later pick so I would have an early pick in the second round. My goal is to get the number seven pick. Not too late, but still a solid pick.

My first pick will be a RB: I don’t want to reveal what player I will take, but choosing a star running back is a guaranteed great season. I tend to take running backs from successful teams because they are in the red zone more often than bad teams. So don’t expect me to take Maurice Jones Drew.

Wide receiver depth is important: Do not get stuck with a poor receiving core. That was one of my team’s flaws last year and I am not making the same mistake again. I had average receivers getting balls thrown to them by below average qb’s. In some cases, a wide receiver is just as important as a running back.

I have more strategies, but a magician never reveals their tricks. Here are the first eight rounds of my realistic team. Good luck to all of you participating in fantasy football leagues!

Round 1. Darren McFadden (Oak – RB)
Round 2. Ahmad Bradshaw (NYG – RB)
Round 3. Greg Jennings (GB – WR)
Round 4. Wes Welker (NE – WR)
Round 5. Matt Schaub (Hou – QB)
Round 6. Pierre Garcon (Ind – WR)
Round 7. Philadelphia (Phi – DEF)
Round 8. Dustin Keller (NYJ – TE)