It's the middle of May, which means fantasy football experts drafts are in full swing. It's not ideal, but for fantasy magazines to reach your newsstands by early July, they have to go to the printer by early June. So the Jets might not know who their starting quarterback is, but some of us already know what at least one of our fantasy teams will look like.
I participated in one last night for Lindy's Fantasy Football magazine. We're allowed to talk about our own teams but not spoil the results of the entire draft. A few tidbits:
Isaiah Crowell will probably be on a lot of Fantasy Index teams. As you've seen if you've been reading the site, we think Hue Jackson will lean on a strong running game in Cleveland, with Crowell his Jeremy Hill and Duke Johnson Jr. his Giovani Bernard. Straight off our early rankings I could have taken Crowell a round or two earlier than I did, but not surprisingly he was available even later. Because people are understandably reluctant to draft Cleveland skill position players.
Chargers will likely be undervalued. When the dust on the draft had settled, I had Danny Woodhead, Travis Benjamin and Philip Rivers on my roster. All drafted from the 10th round on. Woodhead went over 1,000 total yards and scored 9 TDs last season, Benjamin put up 966 and 5 and could be the No. 2, Rivers should still lead a pass-happy offense.
How early would you draft Cam Newton? I took him midway through the third round. Experts don't like to draft quarterbacks, which is fine, and in retrospect I could have drafted Drew Brees several rounds later. But Newton's pass-run mix makes him enough of a difference-maker that I think he is worth a third. Pretty sure Newton will go in the first or second in most drafts this summer.
I know wide receivers rule the NFL these days, but one result is that there seems to be greater depth at the position in drafts. Golden Tate and Eric Decker were guys I was able to draft somewhat later than our early rankings suggested they should be available.
Tonight I'll hold the Fantasy Index Experts Draft, the one that runs in our preseason magazine. The Auction will be next week. Will be interesting to see how favorably (or unfavorably) the experts view everyone.