Off top, cats should know this is my first year playing. Yeah, I’m wild late to the party (sue me), but I couldn’t be more excited for the NFL season now that I’m the matrix. Being that I never played before, we formed an OnSMASH league so all the first timers could get their feet wet. I could have dodged a bunch of mistakes along the way if I would have known shit ahead of time, though. Luckily, I went in head first into two leagues this year, so for the fuck ups that happened in the first draft, I made up in the second one.
For as rookie as I was going into the draft, I probably could have studied teams and players a little harder, but I was never into school much, so I did minimal research and tried to get by like any other test I ever took in life. With the same fuck it, attitude.
The jury is out, but it might come back and kick me in the ass during the season later on, even though I’m projected to win the first matchup of the season.
Mistake #1: I had the FIRST pick in the draft, and went with Doug Martin over Adrian Peterson. I’m a Buccaneers fan, what can I say? But even I can admit I fucked up. My draft brothers shitted on me for that pick and now I understand why. Luckily, I didn’t choose Josh Freeman at any point, so I wasn’t too much of a stan for Tampa Bay. In the second draft, I landed the third pick (way better IMO), and took Marshawn Lynch even though Doug Martin was sitting in the cut. I couldn’t make the same mistake twice.
Mistake #2: I didn’t pick a TE fast enough. In my first draft, it might have been the 7th round before I swooped up a tight end (had to settle for Greg Olsen), but if I was smarter, I could have taken someone way better in the 5th. This is what happens when you don’t have a gameplan (or cheat sheet?). The second time around I swooped up Rob Gronkowski, even though he’s out for the first few weeks, and then still had a chance to steal Owen Daniels as backup.
Mistake #3: My bench is ass. By the later rounds, I had no idea who I was picking. I was taking guys at random, not even knowing what positions to fill, who had bye weeks, or what the names of any of the guys were. I had a better chance of winning the lottery than picking sleepers that would carry me to a winning season. I’m still kind of mad someone stole Jordy Nelson and Giovani Bernard in any draft.
Mistake #4: Out of all the QB’s in the second round, I went for Colin Kaepernick instead of opting for a smarter pick in Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady. Even Peyton Manning would have been a good pick. Now I have to pray that Kap has another breakout season. Luckily, the second time around was better, and I snatched up Aaron Rodgers to start and Russell Wilson as backup.
All in all, the season has yet to start and there are plenty more x-factors that could fuck up my chances even if I would have picked all all-star cast. Who knows, I might make more mistakes along the way too. But you live and you learn.
Below is my fantasy team from the first draft:
Maybe you guys can point out more mistakes that I can’t see, or even better, give a n00b some pointers on how to improve my team.