Fantasy World League Forum

1) LB Kurt Kahui - Rhein

Rheins defense was actually good last year despite their dire offense but Kahui was too good a prospect to pass up.  Kahui should start immediately for Rhein and will have a great career, good pick.

2) LB Barry Robertson - San Antonio

Some were surprised how high Robertson went, hes a very good LB but with some other studs in other positions it was a mild surprise he was picked this high.  Robertson with a camp or two under his belt should develop into a very good LB.

3) HB Tony Hollings - Rhein

With Rhein having one of the worst rushing attacks last year Hollings is a great pick, some thought he may go #1 overall but Rhein got great value with their 3rd pick.  Hollings if he has a good camp could see a lot of action in his rookie year.

4) G Rob Hunt - Ohio

The new Ohio GM makes a great start, with a poor offensive line Hunt was selected to help, Hunt could start as a rookie and will help that dire Ohio line.

5) WR Gerran Walker - Austria

One of the best players in the draft, Walker joins an impressive DarkKnights receiving group and could see some action in the very near future, great skills and should develop well.

6) DT Steve Fifita - Barcelona

Confusion reigned over his wonderlic test, Fifita ended up going 6th to Barcelona as their defense is dire and they need a young DT to plug in the middle.

7) WR Kassim Osgood - London

London earlier in the week moved up 3 places and it worked out well as NY later admitted they were going to take Osgood.  With only 4 WR's on the team Osgood made sense and should see some WR3 action in his rookie year.

8) QB Drew Olsen - Sacramento

Great pick by the Surge, many thought Olsen may go in the top 3 but he slid all the way down to Sacramento, with veteran Delhomme slowing down and Rob Adamson injured for nearly all of last year Olsens a great pick.  He may not start his rookie year but could next year.

9) S Grant Mason - Mexico

Third year in a row Mexico takes a DB with its first pick, they have a great young defense already and Mason should add to that, the Aztecs should be one to watch for the future.  The best DB in the draft, needs some work but should develop well.

10) HB Gerald Riggs Jnr - New York

With Osgood gone the Knights were surprised to see Riggs fall down so far and selected him.  DeMario Brown is their starter but Riggs should start in the near future once Brown slows down, needs some work but could turn out to be a great young back.

11) DE Christian Fuchs - Austria

Slight surprise pick by Austria, DE Nathanial Adibi was rated by many as the better player, Fuchs joins an already strong defensive line and probably wont see that much action to begin with, has great talent but Austria already has one of the best d-lines in football so a strange pick.

12) WR Rich Muskinski - San Antonio

One of the strangest picks of the round, hardly any sleeper picks have been drafted in Round 1 so its a huge gamble by San Antonio on Muskinski.  Has good speed but not the best hands, will need a lot of work.

13) HB John David Washington - Birmingham

Many were surprised Washington fell so low, Washington wont see much action as a rookie but with the starting RB's entering their 6th year Washington could take over in the near future

14) DE Nathanial Adibi - Raleigh-Durham

Very good pick for Raleigh, they needed a d-line player and Adibi joins a talented defense and could see a lot of action as a rookie, as a speed rusher opposite Greg White he could do well,  nice pick again by Raleigh.

15) DE Thomas Reiser - Frankfurt

Another surprise here, Frankfurt already have a very good defensive line and Reiser was a surprising pick.  With no major holes to fill however they may have gone for the best player available.

16) TE Teyo Johnson - Amsterdam

Huge surprise Johnson fell so far, probably the best young TE prospect in the FWL since Christopher Fear who turned out to be an All-FWL HOFer.  Might not start his rookie year but hes one to watch, very good pick.

17) C Ben Nowland - Montreal

Surprisingly only the second offensive linemen selected in the first round, needs better speed but has the mechanics to play a long time in the FWL.  Sensible pick by Montreal.

18) WR Carlton Brewster - Scotland

Needs some work but a good receiving prospect for Scotland

I followed the draft by phone and later in the draftroom  :o (many thanks from my side to Michel for doing my draft)

but I was really surprised when Michel called me to let me know TE Johnson was still available!? I have a huge TE problem now ;-) two very good ones on my roster :-)

But I am more then happy with my draft I will give myself a A- for this years draft :-)

The Mexico Aztecs had Grant Mason rated as the top DB in the draft, and John Saldi ranked as the #1 LB.  We had doubts that either would be available when the 9th pick in the 1st round was exercised.  However, when both were still on the board, a decision had to be made.  Mason was chosen.  Imagine the surprise in the Aztec's draft room when Saldi was still on the board when Mexico used it's second round pick, obtained from Paris!

Also, Mexico picked up the second best TE in the draft in John Freiser.

(http://images.nfl.com/images/players/60x80/1109753.jpg)
Grant Mason
Position: DB
Height: 6-0
Weight: 192
College: Michigan

(http://images.nfl.com/images/players/60x80/1114647.jpg)
John Saldi
Position: LB
Height: 6-5
Weight: 245
College: Texas Tech

as for the Austrian side:

Round 1 (#5):
With aging as a dark cloud over Austrias WR-squad the Austrian management did the best possible in obtaining WR Gerran Walker, a great talent and a future starter. The last minute trade to obtain the #5-overall-pick paid off...

Round1 (#11):
Surprise, surprise. In a nailbiting decision ADK decided to go for the D-line instead of adding talent elsewhere. With 2 DL-starters already traded away in the last couple of weeks ADK needed to go the save passage. Where many saw Nathaniel Abiti as best DL, Mario Kreiner had to take future TCs into account and found the better fit: Rather unknown Christian Fuchs. This pick was a very conservative one...

Round 2 (#32):
With TE2 Schnee traded away hours before the draft it was obvious that a TE would be important. David Cotaglie was a good choice, but obviously not the best TE in the draft. Again: A conservative choice...

Round 3 (#53 and #54):
Now here is the surprise: A kicker drafted in the 3rd round? yes, sir! and it was a good choice as kickers are highly underestimated in drafts. Owen Pochman will step into the footsteps of ADK-legend John Anderson in a couple of seasons and will be great from his first start on. G Brandon Evans completed Austrias quest for value-players. Considering that he was a top3-Guard in this draft it was a good choice indeed...

Round 5-8:
38 out of 72 possible picks (52,7%) brought fantastic players to Austria as ADK drafted 3 sleepers:
QB Brian St. Pierre now has ratings like a young god
T Pete Loughheed can be considered as a top5-OL in this draft and
WR Chris Vance adds strenght similar to those of 1st round pick Gerran Walker...

The gamble to get for those low picks totally paid off. A sight for other GMs to be careful with their low picks?

All in all a very good draft for Austria - ADK added depth on the roster but with no real superstar.

Let TC begin!

As this was only my second draft & I only heard of sleepers after the first. Is it just pot luck?

some kind of.
until last season you could invest some time and check the players real-life stats in order to find out which players might be picked by Paul (eg. good stats in the NFLE or in college...).
But some of us (excluding me) read Pauls mind too often so he decided to announce them randomly without connection to the real-life-performance...

so it is pure luck, so to speak....

Like Mario says i often used to look at the NFLE stats (Specially if the FWL season came after the end of NFLE) and work out what players should do well in the FWL.  Some GM's kinda guessed that and one GM actually picked all the sleepesr (didnt get them all though)

This year SOME were random but others i chose as they were picked higher in the NFLE allocation draft.  Its difficult as obviously theyre meant to be a surprise, its good if people have an idea but then again it takes away the whole purpose of it. Meant to be make it a bit more realistic so you get a 'Marques Colston' later in the draft and also a way of people keeping their later draft picks to try and get them.

So its worth keeping late picks and hope to draft a sleeper