I think we are going to have to agree to disagree here as I would most always prefer a RB to a QB in the first round, depending on where I am picking. If Welker AND Moss are back next year, Brady looks like a good first pick whom I would take over a RB most likely. Also, picking at the turn I would consider a QB followed by a RB as well. A lot of who you take where depends on where you are drafting, what the other people around you are doing and most importantly who you forsee being left later on and planning ahead your picks.

Also, I don’t see Justin Fargas, Kenny Watson, Najeh Davenport, Maurice Morris as spectacular waiver wire adds. They were good for a game, or a string of games, but not guys I would want to go to war with long term. Fargas is the most intriguing and were he the number one guy for a whole season I would really like him, as he preformed well this season before getting hurt.

Another point that stems from the Derek Anderson comment is that I think it’s easier to get good runningbacks off the waiver wire. This season you have a decent number of examples including Ryan Grant, Earnest Graham, Justin Fargas, Kenny Watson, Najeh Davenport, Maurice Morris to name a few. Now granted that’s a not a whole lot of names considering everyone has at least two spots to fill but that at least gives you hope of pulling someone off the wire. On the other hand I think it would be foolish to think that you have a good chance of pulling a decent quarterback off the waiver wire.

Maybe this all means that the quarterback isn’t necessarily an automatic first round pick because of the difficulty of filling out the runningback slots but I do think it gives a lot of credibility to drafting a decent quarterback by the second or third rounds every time.

In related news it’ll be interesting to see how the patriots receiving corps changes over the off season. If Brady ends up having Randy Moss and Wes Welker again next year I think he’s an easy #1 pick.

Running backs on the other hand, you can play up to three every week (if you play one in the flex spot) and I personally want the best three I can get. Thus, since there is only one starting back for each team, with some exceptions, and usually only a few random backups emerging as viable options during a season I am spending my early round picks on RB’s. This will usually ensure that I can get two quality backs that should fuel my team in the first two picks, leaving me rounds 3-5 to get two strong wideouts and a QB if I desire. After round 5 you can start mixing it up a bit, taking wideouts with upside, backs in a platoon situation, defense, kicker what have you.

I also recommend that as a handcuff to backs with injury histories (Clinton Portis this year for instance) you take the backup in a later round as insurance. Another good option in a later round if you are looking for a good pick to make is people like Michael Turner who are a backup, but have shown the ability to have great games. LT goes down and you could have a big money back on your hands, even if you didn’t have LT to start with.

Obviously, there are tons of viable strategies to drafting a FF team and I think our league proved it with the top three slots going to people with varying selection methods. This is just how I see it and what propelled me to 4 consecutive top 3 finishes in my school league (3rd, 2nd, 2nd, 1st).

Kudos to you for winning the GB backfield sweepstakes, and he certainly helped your team, but based on who he was swapped for it wasn’t as big of a pickup in my opinion.