Football.com Staff Fantasy League

It's Time...! As our boy Bruce Buffer would say. It's time for the first annual Football.com Fantasy Football League. Yesterday evening the Football.com Fantasy Staff League officially kicked off with a highly competitive draft that featured a commissioner coup and a non responsive FOX Sports league. Nice stuff FOX!

First off, FOX Sports Fantasy setup is wack! Initially FOX was the medium of choice for the Football.com Staff League. It was fresh looking, offered impressive free fantasy tools and was a change of pace for most of us old Yahoo leaguers. But after an intense battle with their servers and proxy/firewall settings, we decided to stick with the best; the league that never fails, Yahoo!. The original commissioner, Sarkett the Shark was instantly ripped apart by the crazed league owners and dramatically removed from his lofty position. Team Stouty, quickly stepped into the generals role and had the Yahoo league ready to go in just minutes. Yahoo!, thank you!

The league will be made up of seven of the eight Football.com analysts and three football fanatics that just had to get in on the action (the three "fanatics" are also fantasy rooks this year). Here's how the league point system is set up as well as the league draft order:

Roster Positions: QB, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, W/R, K, DEF

Stat Categories:

Passing Yards (25 yards per point; 5 points at 325 yards), Passing Touchdowns (6), Interceptions (-1)
Rushing Yards (10 yards per point; 5 points at 175 yards), Rushing Touchdowns (6)
Reception Yards (10 yards per point; 5 points at 150 yards), Reception Touchdowns (6)
Return Touchdowns (6)
2-Point Conversions (2)
Fumbles Lost (-1)
Offensive Fumble Return TD (6)
Field Goals 0-19 Yards (3), Field Goals 20-29 Yards (3), Field Goals 30-39 Yards (3), Field Goals 40-49 Yards (4), Field Goals 50+ Yards (5)
Point After Attempt Made (1), Point After Attempt Missed (-1)
Sack (1), Interception (2), Fumble Recovery (2), Touchdown (6), Safety (2), Block Kick (2), Kickoff and Punt Return Touchdowns (6)
Points Allowed 0 points (10), Points Allowed 1-6 points (7), Points Allowed 7-13 points (4), Points Allowed 14-20 points (1), Points Allowed 21-27 points (0), Points Allowed 28-34 points (-1), Points Allowed 35+ points (-4)  

Draft Order:

1.    Matt T. aka ‘Crush Force Hammer’
2.    Jim D. aka ‘Social Derwinism’
3.    Matty B. aka ‘MattyB’
4.    Michelle I./Steve P. aka ‘OC Force’
5.    Jeremiah S. aka ‘Sarkett the Shark’
6.    Tommy M. aka ‘Tommy’s Guns’
7.    Chris S. aka ‘Team Stouty’
8.    Danny D. aka ‘Brady Bunch’
9.    Morgan G. aka ‘futbol crush’
10.  James S. aka ‘JamesSweetness’

After knocking some colds one’s back and having a few slices of some pizza pie, the draft began with L.T. being selected by Crush Force Hammer. The draft continued as planned after L.T. was gone. Steve Jackson went second, Frank Gore third but Shaun Alexander went fourth ahead of Larry Johnson who actually fell to Sarkett the Shark at five. For a rookie squad, OC Force showed some guts taking Alexander ahead of Johnson. Alexander will be a solid pick and should have a monster year in 2007 so I applauded the pick and took L.J.

Some of the draft highlights: This was one of the more exciting and hyped-up drafts that I have been apart of. Why? Well the caliber of players is extremely, quality and having a few rookies in the league is always entertaining. I enjoy seeing new players fall in love with fantasy football while experiencing the highs and lows of the NFL season on another level. The highlight of the draft has to be the botched efforts on the behalf of FOX Spots and the relentless effort of new commish, Team Stouty to get our fantasy season kicked-off with a bang.

Some surprises: Peyton Manning stayed on the board a long time-Manning went 12 overall and was the second pick in round two, what a steal. OC Force had a sweet draft for a rookie squad, landing Alexander, Maurice Jones-Drew and Clinton Portis to name a few but loved Terrell Owens a little too much. OC Force selected TO before Chad Johnson and Torry Holt, NEWBS! Crush Force Hammer had a quiet draft from home missing the hype but not a step as he landed what is the best running back, receiver, quarterback trio in the league with L.T., Harrison and Brees-nice draft CFH.

Another surprise was Laurence Maroney. I see him as somewhat of a question mark in 2007 and it appears that I was not the only one. Maroney slipped to the second to last pick in the second round to Social Derwinism. This was one of the bigger pickups for Social though who now has a solid number one back to go along side Jackson-nice draft also Social D. JamesSweetness had a SWEET pick as he selected Larry Fitzgerald with the first pick in the fourth round-this pick was one of the better picks of the night.

The draft was one of the most even drafts across the board (on paper at least) that I have been a part of. Each team has a handful of weapons as well as suitable backups that should make for an extremely competitive and even playing field. Make sure to check out the complete draft results and to check back during the year for unique articles and perspectives from the first annual Football.com Staff League.

Teams to look out for (In order of draft strength):

The Rookie Squads (All looking strong, led by OCF):
•    OC Force- Shaun Alexander, Maurice Jones-Drew, Terrell Owens
•    Team MattyB- Frank Gore, Cedric Benson, Carson Palmer
•    Team futbol crush- Rudi Johnson, Peyton Manning, T.J. Houshmandzadeh

2007-08 Football.com Staff Fantasy League Draft Results