HAFAX - Week 1 Preview Greg Allen, Fantasy Football Staff Writer Sep 5, 2003 | More

Finally the season is here!  It seems like forever since the Fantasy Sharks HAFAX staff starting pulling together this year’s team.  Actually it’s been since March that we started with the initial auctions and Todd Heap was the first player we acquired in early April.  If you have never had the unique opportunity to participate in an auction style draft, do yourself a favor and give it a try. 

If you are new to the site and haven’t been following along this offseason, check out these previously published articles to get you caught up.

HAFX – Time to Dominate  

Introducing your 2003 HAFAX team

We are competing against 15 other teams made up of some of the bigger names in the hobby (yes, this is a hobby).  The competition for acquiring players was fierce and the weekly battles will be even more intense.  Each week, Pat Smith and I will bring you a recap of the previous week and a look ahead to the coming matchup.  The league also has a new website that you can check out and follow along http://hafa2.dynastyleague.com/hafax/index.htm

Before the first snap of the season, there were a few more pieces of business we needed to attend to with our roster.  In August we had the opportunity for two more rounds of supplemental auctions.  Only those teams that saved cap room could participate.  We had $1.14 to spend and our eye on possibly 3 more players at the minimum of $0.30 per player.  To our dismay, there were very few players available that we felt were worth going after.  We took a shot at Vinny Testaverde but he went for more than we could afford.  We had a need for some defensive depth (still do) so we nominated LB Raynoch Thompson of Arizona and LB Darrin Smith of New Orleans.  We ended up winning both players for the minimum and then cut retired veteran Marvcus Patton which got us back down to the roster maximum of 30 players.  Several other teams are still above the roster limit so there may be a player or two hitting the waiver wire worth adding to the roster.

Week 1 Matchup

Each team will play the following positions each week:  1QB, 1RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1OFlex, 1K, 1P, 2DL, 2LB, 2DB, 1DFlex. 

In week 1 we are scheduled against division rival Fantasy Football Bookmarks.  They spent much more money on Defense and their lack of Offensive depth shows it.  They are anchored by Dolphins RB Ricky Williams, but that is all they have at the RB position.  They have a strong core of Wide Receivers with David Boston, Rod Gardner, and Derrick Mason so they will probably use their flex slot with a receiver.  At Quarterback and Tight End, this team is weak with Jeff Blake and Freddie Jones both from that less-than-mighty offense in the desert.  Their kicker is Olindo Mare who should be better than he fared the last two seasons.

Our offensive starting lineup will be QB Trent Green, RB Marshall Faulk, RB Fred Taylor, WR Donald Driver, WR Tai Streets, TE Todd Heap, and PK John Carney.  Our success against this matchup will be based on our strength at QB and TE.  I expect big weeks out of Faulk and Taylor as we have the best combo of RBs in the league.

Where this opponent lacks depth in the offense, it makes up in the defense.  The defensive unit is anchored by Brian Urlacher, Jevon Kearse and Julius Peppers.  The success of this team throughout the season could depend heavily on how well their defense performs. 

Our defensive starting lineup will be DL Aaron Schobel and Pat Williams, LB Darrin Smith and Mike Barrow, and DB Brock Marion and Sam Brandon.  We still have one more D slot to fill, and that will be a last minute decision.  We purposely didn’t spend much cap space on the defense so we have some long shot players on the roster.  We will be trolling the waiver wire after week 1 because surprise defensive stars are always crawling out from the woodwork during the first weeks of the season.

We are looking at a close race this week but I expect the final outcome to be in the Fantasy Sharks favor.  Go Sharks!