Every fantasy football owner has a different strategy of how they want to attack their roster and build a team for a season and after missing the playoffs for three straight seasons in my serious keeper pay league, I decided to go with my gut for a team as an experiment to see how it would turn out and in the first week of the season some of the top team performances were Adrian Peterson, Drew Brees, Shane Vereen and Jordan Cameron.
Adrian Peterson was the keeper pick in the league for my team and it was in the second round last year because people were afraid after he was coming back from knee surgery, I noticed that and pounced on him, thinking he would have a nice season. 2,000 yards later he ended up being my fantasy MVP and keeping him in the second allowed me to take Drew Brees with my first round pick. Sometimes it can be a reach to take a quarterback with that pick, but in a 12 team keeper league and my team picking in the back end of the first round, I realized that taking an elite quarterback was better than taking a second tier running back, especially knowing that it wouldn't come back to my team for two rounds.
Peterson added two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown and gained almost 30 points in my league, which is nice since I am up against an owner with Peyton Manning, which means all hope is lost for Week 1. There are still players to play on Sunday night, including Rueben Randle, Jason Witten and Brandon Myers as well as Josh Brown as my kicker. Randall Cobb and James Jones are still yet to factor in and Hakeem Nicks will also be playing tonight on NBC on Sunday night football in a huge game against the Dallas Cowboys.
Brees didn't have a prolific day points wise like Peyton Manning, but he put up 357 yards and two touchdowns to go with one interception and more importantly, he got the win at home over a division rival in the Falcons. Brees will put up big numbers and an owner can't complain about a 20 point day against a good defense. Shane Vereen started off the season very well for the team after I decided to select him as my second running back in the draft, hoping that his use out of the backfield could come in handy in a PPR league. With Danny Woodhead in San Diego, Vereen likely would get the bulk of the touches he had, but he also ended up leading the team in rushing against the Bills over Stevan Ridley.
Vereen finished with nearly 20 points in my scoring system in Yahoo, coming in with seven catches for 58 yards and a solid 106 yards rushing and that could lead to a very productive season overall after Brady went to him often in the game. The Pats won at the end with a field goal and Vereen showed he could be a valuable asset on offense. The biggest disappointment on the team was Mike Wallace, as he had just one catch for 15 yards in his debut, but the Dolphins pulled out the win. Bad move on backup Jordan Cameron, as I left in Jason Witten (who could have a big game) but Cameron was solid, making a touchdown reception and snagging over 100 receiving yards.
Darren McFadden had one touchdown and three receptions and if he can be on the field and healthy this season, he could continue that style of production. Denarius Moore had five catches and a touchdown in that game and he exceeded projections for the week against the Colts. DeAngelo Williams had nearly 100 yards combined on the day and Peterson was at his best again, rushing for over 90 yards and adding a 70-yard TD in a loss.