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This season the Fantasy Doctor will answer a few of our readers' fantasy questions on an almost daily basis, Monday through Friday. Send your questions to the Doc at the address above.
Last year, in my 12-team, one-keeper, PPR league, where WRs get 1 point per reception and RBs get 1 point for every 2 receptions, 5 of the top 10 point scorers for the season were WRs. I have Tom Brady as my one keeper and it will cost me my 4th round pick. I am picking 10th in the 1st round, and some of the RB keepers are Adrian Peterson and Clinton Portis. Am I crazy to be thinking of starting my draft with WR-WR? I can perhaps get 2 out of Terrell Owens, Reggie Wayne, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson (if healthy) and Marques Colston, rather than RBs like Willis McGahee or Ryan Grant. If we learned anything last season, it's that RBs can be found late in the draft and through free agency. We start 1 QB, 2 RBs and 3 WRs — no flex position. Any thoughts?
— Bryon Bonafede
You bring up an interesting point here, Bryon. It's certainly unconventional to draft a receiver in each of the first two rounds, but it might be the wisest strategy in your situation. If the best you can get at RB is McGahee or Grant — both borderline top-10 backs — you may be better off looking at WRs, especially in a PPR league. If you could grab T.O. with your first-round pick and then come back and get Fitzgerald or Wayne in the second round, that's an awesome receiver duo that will pile up catches, yards and TDs. If one of the top RBs slips to you at No. 10 — someone like Frank Gore — he's worth taking. If not, however, go with your WR-WR plan and grab two great wideouts to team with Brady.
Despite being a Dolphins fan (please, no snickering), I don't pick my fantasy team with my heart, so I wasn't planning on taking a shot with any Miami players this year … until I started thinking about Jay Feely. I'm looking at a team that ran the ball decently well last year and should improve on that this year. They have a better O-line and a better backup RB in Ricky Williams, who will probably start the first couple of games. What I don't see is enough talent anywhere else to score very many TDs. That leads me to believe that they will have a lot of FG opportunities. Add to that, Jay Feely went 21-for-23 in FGs last year and hit his only shot from over 50 yards. Opportunities + accuracy. It sounds like a recipe for a potential top-10 kicker. Yet all of the early rankings that I've seen place him no higher than 27th (PFW has him at 30). What am I missing?
— Bob Gossman, Seattle, Wash.
Well, Bob, I understand your logic as to why Feely could be successful, and maybe we do have him a bit low in our rankings. However, the only way for kickers to get you fantasy points is for their offenses to move the ball, and I can't see the Dolphins doing that very well this season. In addition to Ronnie Brown possibly missing time to start the season, they have a first-year head coach, a lackluster option at QB, a weak receiving corps and an improved but still shaky O-line. Not exactly the recipe for scoring points. Even if Ricky Williams does return to his old form — a very big "if" — Miami will be trailing so frequently that it will often be forced to abandon the run. You can go ahead and take a chance on Feely, but remember that there are plenty of equally talented kickers who play for much better offenses — those guys are going to get a lot more than 23 FG attempts.
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