Draft Rewind: 2011

The draft is a mere day away and it's the most important day of the fantasy football season. Drafting your team is essential for success, but just because you don't have an early top pick, doesn't mean you're doomed to fail. Here's a look at last year's 1st round, as evidence that a top 3 pick doesn't guarantee you an automatic championship and that at the end of the day, there is no such thing as a "sure thing".

#1-Adrian Peterson (Dr. Wily's Robots)
Last Year Peterson was a unanimous #1 pick with Chris Johnson holding out and Arian Foster slightly banged up. Peterson was on his way to his usual terrific season before he blew out both his ACL and MCL. Matt finished 9th last season. Proof that even a no brainer #1 pick still has the risk of injury to look out for.

#2-Chris Johnson (The Bad Robofies)
There were a lot of questions of how effective Chris Johnson would be after his holdout and I did think Dad jumped the gun on Johnson while Ray Rice was still there. Chris Johnson definitely failed to live up to his high drafted expectations, and though he ended up with a decent season, it wasn't the kind of season you would expect from the #2 overall pick. Dad would still make the playoffs, but imagine how things would've turned out had he gone Rice here instead of Johnson?

#3 Jamaal Charles (Shredders)
2 of the 3 teams in the top 3 didn't make the playoffs. Again, some guys have their preferences, which is why the draft itself is unpredictable. A guy like Ray Rice, who had #1 pick potential, was once again ignored for Jamaal Charles. Experts were high on Charles last season, but at #3 he was one of the biggest disappointments. He didn't exactly start the season hot, but after week 2 he was done for the season with an ACL injury. Boom, just like that your franchise player is taken away from you.

#4 Ray Rice (The_Twin_Killers)
Finally Rice went with the 4th pick to Leland, and Leland was able to swap him in a two for one for Ahmad Bradshaw and Roddy White. Rice was a game changer last season for both me and Leland as well as he flipped him for depth.

#5 Arian Foster (Channel 4 News Team)
If ever was a time getting kicked off a live draft worked wonders it was this time. Foster was slipping big time, as it widely known he'd probably miss the 1st week of the season due to injury. No one wanted him, definitely not Albert at #5, but a lost connection at the wrong time, forced Yahoo to auto select Foster for him. At the end of the day, it couldn't have worked out better, as Foster was a main reason why Albert repeated. Unpredictability, that's the name of the game.

#6 Michael Turner (Tony Homo)
A head scratching pick if there ever was one. Turner was good last season, but 6th overall pick good, not really. Definitely the biggest reach in the 1st round (non injury related). It was the beginning of a mediocre season for Mike.

#7 Rashard Mendenhall (Hoosier Daddy)
Ryan was in Auto-Draft Last Season, and it drafted Rashard Mendenhall for him. It didn't seem bad, but Mendenhall wasn't to great and an injury ended his season as well (That's 3 players in the top 10 so far where injuries derailed their seasons).

#8 Andre Johnson (Da Boyz)
Wasn't he what Calvin Johnson is this year? The without a shadow of a doubt best receiver and only receiver worthy of a 1st rd pick? Cindy was on auto draft mode and Yahoo "gifted" her the alleged most elite receiver in the NFL. Nope, injuries ruined his season (4 in the top 10 now) and he didn't come close to have any impact in the fantasy world.

#9 Aaron Rodgers (Take Dat Wit Chu)
Kenny was the only one who decided to go QB in Round 1, and thus ended up stealing Aaron Rodgers in the end of the 1st round. QB's early is always controversial, but I don't think Kenny would argue with Rodgers production last season. Drafted late isn't always a curse as seen here. Sometimes it pays off to go against the norm.

#10 LeSean McCoy (Rugged Raymont Harris)
 I remember being verrrrrry hesitant about this pick. I didn't know what to expect from McCoy, but here at #10 I had to roll the dice. 20 TD's later it worked out great to say the least. Turning a bad situation into a good one, McCoy went from last 1st rd pick of the draft to top 3 running back over the year. More proof, that studs don't just come from the coveted top 3 position.

Looking at the first round last year, half of these guys ended up not being worth their 1st round status and another 1 (Adrian Peterson) had his season derailed late. Does that mean half of this year's 1st round picks will fail, who knows, maybe, maybe not. The 1st round is always a good stepping stone, but it's how you draft and take care of your team throughout the season, that really determines how far you can get in the quest for the championship.