Over the course of the past month or so (yeah...it took that long!), weve been participating in another mock draft via e-mail. The draft was only four rounds and consisted of other fantasy football bloggers, including FF Librarian, FF Goat, FF Fools, Football Jabber, The Hazean, The Bruno Boys, West Coast Nonsense, Pancake Blocks, Football Burrito, Curveballs for Jesus and Football Outsiders. Here is how it went down (youll find analysis on the first round picks, as well as the rest of the rounds and analysis, after the jump)...

Round 1
1.01 Curveballs For Jesus: LaDainian Tomlinson (RB, SD)
1.02 Football Outsiders: Adrian Peterson (RB, Min)
1.03 Football Burrito: Joseph Addai (RB, Ind)
1.04 Panake Blocks: Stephen Jackson (RB, StL)
1.05 West Coast Nonsense: Brian Westbrook (RB, Phi)
1.06 Bruno Boys: Tom Brady (QB, NE)
1.07 The Hazean: Marion Barber (RB, Dal)
1.08 Football Jabber: Frank Gore (RB, SF)
1.09 Fantasy Football Fools: Clinton Portis (RB, Was)
1.10 Fantasy Football Geek Blog: Marshawn Lynch (RB, Buf)
1.11 Fantasy Football Goat: Larry Johnson (RB, KC)
1.12 Fantasy Football Librarian: Randy Moss (WR, NE)

Analysis: In the first round of this draft, there wasnt too much mystery to the picks. The 12 players you see here are generally the guys youll find in the first round of any draft. With our first pick from the 10 spot, we went with Marshawn Lynch, who should improve on an already impression season with a year in the league under his belt. We (mostly myself, not Matt) were tempted to go the Randy Moss route, but with Lynch still on the board, we figured it wasnt worth passing up that kind of talent at the running back position.

Round 2
2.01 Fantasy Football Librarian: Reggie Wayne (WR, Ind)
2.02 Fantasy Football Goat: Terrell Owens (WR, Dal)
2.03 Fantasy Football Geek Blog: Ryan Grant (RB, GB)
2.04 Fantasy Football Fools: Braylon Edwards (WR, Cle)
2.05 Football Jabber: Peyton Manning (QB, Ind)
2.06 The Hazean: Willis McGahee (RB, Bal)
2.07 Bruno Boys: Brandon Jacobs (RB, NYG)
2.08 West Coast Nonsense: Larry Fitzgerald (WR, AZ)
2.09 Pancake Blocks: Andre Johnson (WR, Hou)
2.10 Football Burrito: Maurice Jones-Drew (RB, Jax)
2.11 Football Outsiders: Laurence Maroney (RB, NE)
2.12 Curveballs For Jesus: Drew Brees (QB, NO)

Analysis: The second round of this draft is where things immediately started getting interesting. It obviously has become apparent that this year, while the running back class is pretty deep, the top tier receivers are a select group that goes fast. After selecting Randy Moss the first round, the FF Librarian had no problem taking another top receiver, even though she realized that she wouldnt have another pick for 22 picks. That is kind of depth that this years running back group allows for. As you can see, she was not the only one that had receivers on the mind, as Goat, Fools, West Coast, and Pancake all went with a wide receiver as well. We went with another running back, sticking to conventional wisdom that a good fantasy team can be built on the foundation of two solid running backs, with our selection of Ryan Grant (in retrospect, I most likely would have selected Braylon Edwards with this pick, but Matt was making the ultimate decisions in this one, so we went with Grant). The Bruno Boys selection of Brandon Jacobs is something I wouldnt have recommended, as the potential running back committee situation in NY is starting to scare me a bit from Jacobs. Also a questionable pick in the second round were Laurence Maroney and Drew Brees...both of which I would expect to be there a round or two later.

Round 3
3.01 Curveballs For Jesus: Jamal Lewis (RB, Cle)
3.02 Football Outsiders: Marques Colston (WR, NO)
3.03 Football Burrito: Tony Romo (QB, Dal)
3.04 Pancake Blocks: Chad Johnson (WR, Cin)
3.05 West Coast Nonsense: T.J. Housmandzadeh (WR, Cin)
3.06 Bruno Boys: Steve Smith (WR, Car)
3.07 The Hazean: Brandon Marshall (WR, Den)
3.08 Football Jabber: Plaxico Burress (WR, NYG)
3.09 Fantasy Football Fools: Edgerrin James (RB, AZ)
3.10 Fantasy Football Geek Blog: Torry Holt (WR, StL)
3.11 Fantasy Football Goat: Santonio Holmes (WR, Pit)
3.12 Fantasy Football Librarian: Reggie Bush (RB, NO)

Analysis: As with the second round, we again see a mad dash for the receivers, as eight of the twelve picks in the round are at the position. Most of the picks in this round though are pretty solid, with no real reaches. As you can see though with the FF Librarians pick, when you take receivers with your first two draft picks, Reggie Bush is the kind of running back that you are starting in the RB1 spot...not exactly the spot Id like to be in going into week 1. The main information you want to take out of this round though is that if you dont get a receiver in the top three rounds, youre going to be filling your WR1 slot each week with a player with potentially less fantasy production than Santonio Holmes...so think long and hard about going Tom Brady, RB, RB or something like that. With the running back situation secure on our team, we went with the top receiver at our spot with Torry Holt.

Round 4
4.01 Fantasy Football Librarian: Ronnie Brown (RB, Mia)
4.02 Fantasy Football Goat: Earnest Graham (RB, TB)
4.03 Fantasy Football Geek Blog: Anquan Boldin (WR, AZ)
4.04 Fantasy Football Fools: Michael Turner (RB, Atl)
4.05 Football Jabber: LenDale White (RB, Ten)
4.06 The Hazean: Carson Palmer (QB, Cin)
4.07 Bruno Boys: Darren McFadden (RB, Oak)
4.08 West Coast Nonsense: Willie Parker (RB, Pit)
4.09 Pancake Blocks: Jonathan Stewart (RB, Car)
4.10 Football Burrito: Wes Welker (WR, NE)
4.11 Football Outsiders: Jason Witten (TE, Dal)
4.12 Curveballs For Jesus: Lee Evans (WR, Buf)

Analysis: In the final round of this draft (only 4 rounds, remember?), we see a lot of teams trying to secure their second running backs, after a huge run on receivers in the previous two rounds. The FF Librarian (sorry to keep picking on you!), ended up with a pretty scary running back situation with Reggie Bush and Ronnie Brown, just to show the consequences of drafting a WR in the first two rounds. If Brown gets back to 100% early in the year, it could suffice, but otherwise shed have to hope that a later round running back pick stepped up to help carry the team. Other than that though, we see a few high risk, potentially high reward players selected in this round, including Michael Turner, Darren McFadden and Jonathan Stewart. Willie Parker in the fourth round could pay off pretty big as well if he can get his touchdown numbers backup this year. We see the first tight end taken off the board at the end of this round as well, with Witten going at the 47th pick of the draft. Considering the quality of wide receivers left at this point (see the next pick), this is acutally not a bad pick. Plus, Outsiders already had a top tier receiver with Colston, so they can take the risk on a top tier tight end and round out their roster with a couple third or fourth tier receivers.

For the most part, what I saw in this draft is pretty consistent with what Ive been seeing in mock drafts and real drafts so far this season. We ended up with Marshawn Lynch, Ryan Grant, Torry Holt and Anquan Boldin, which isnt too bad of a foundation to build your fantasy team on. At this point, my personal recommendation for most draft positions is to go RB, WR, RB, WR (Im not keen on taking a top tier quarterback, as I think you can get great value out of the second and third tier guys a lot later in the draft). Of course it all depends on how the planets align in your draft though, so dont go blindly selecting based on my suggestion, but its something to consider. Anyways, hopefully this gives you some insight into what might happen in your draft, but even if it doesnt, good luck!

Related posts:
Mock draft roundup
2008 NFL Mock Draft - count us in