Draft recap No. 1

Took part in my first of three drafts this weekend. This is my big-money league, which I'm competing in for the seventh or eighth straight year along with my dad. It's a 10-team, PPR (points per reception) snake draft with a whopping $100 entry fee, and we had the third overall pick. Dad fronts the money and I make the personnel decisions. You must carry 2 QBs, 4 RBs, 4 WRs, 2 TEs, 2 DEFs and 2 Ks on your roster. Round of selection in parenthesis.

ACE IN THE HOLE

QB Tony Romo (5)
QB Eli Manning (13)

RB Matt Forte (1)
RB Frank Gore (3)
RB Reggie Bush (6)
RB LeSean McCoy (11)

WR Steve Smith (2)
WR Anquan Boldin (4)
WR Kevin Walter (8)
WR Devin Hester (9)

TE Chris Cooley (7)
TE Donald Lee (14)

DEF Eagles (10)
DEF Patriots (12)

K Neil Rackers (15)
K ? (Dad made the last pick without me)

RANDOM THOUGHTS: I was thrilled to see Forte slip to us at the third pick, and I was surprised to see Adrian Peterson and Michael Turner go 1-2, given the PPR format ...

I wanted to come back with a WR and Smith was the only top-10 guy left on our board by the time we made our second pick ...

Very happy with Gore, still available in the third round. My plan all along was RB-WR-RB or RB-WR-WR with the first three picks ...

Also thrilled with Boldin as our fourth pick. I have him just outside the top 10 WRs this year at No. 11. ...

Wanted to grab Kurt Warner with our next pick; even though I'm not particularly high on him this year I think he's good value for a sixth-round selection and was the best QB available. But he went one pick ahead of us. I settled for Romo, taking him over Donovan McNabb. Those were the only two trustworthy No. 1 QBs left. ...

I'm not a huge Bush fan but I like him in this format, especially as a No. 3 ....

Not thrilled with our WR depth, but I had spent earlier picks on Bush and Cooley (I think he's a top-5 TE). I liked Walter as a possession receiver (wanted Anthony Gonzalez instead but he was gone) and Hester as a possible breakout candidate ...

Defenses were going way too high. Someone took Pittsburgh in the sixth round and the Giants in the seventh ... Will they really be that much better than my selections, the Eagles and Pats, who I got much later? I don't think so ...

I did feel the pressure to reach a bit for the Eagles when top-10 defenses started flying off the board. I really wanted the Jets but they were already gone. It turns out by reaching for Philly I missed out on getting Ahmad Bradshaw and Chris Wells, two guys I probably would have taken ahead of McCoy as my fourth RB. ...

I took McCoy over Sproles because I think the guy he's behind on the depth chart (Brian Westbrook) is more likely to get hurt than the guy ahead of Sproles (LaDainian Tomlinson). ...

A few more surprises from other drafters: Eddie Royal went ahead of Brandon Marshall ... the Bengals' Chris Henry was among the 40 WRs drafted ... LT2 fell to the second round.