Introducing Your 2003 HAFAX Team Pat Smith, Fantasy Football Staff Writer Jul 29, 2003 | More

HAFAX[1] (Hire And Fire Association eXpert league) has been going strong, and as your Offensive Coordinator, I have been right in the thick of it.  After Tony assembled the staff, online strategy sessions began immediately, and continued throughout an auction and rookie draft of players.  In this article I will try to briefly recap the auction and draft strategy and set us up for the season to begin. 

So how did this powerhouse come to be?  Well, it all started with General Manager Doug Coutts.  It was his idea to maximize value on defense and put most of our 30 million dollar salary cap into offense.  As the OC I heartily agreed!  Our hope was that the additional funds would allow us to get at least one superstar, and a balanced roster of 40 players or so, in the online auction.  Then we’d draft our 6 guys in the rookie/FA draft, and use the pre-season to whittle down our roster to the regular season max of 30.

Well, it became apparent quickly that most other teams were going to spend more than us on defense, so part one of our plan was working – we’d have more $$ than everyone else on offense.  However, it was also apparent that offensive spending was going to be very high for the superstars, and roster sizes accordingly closer to the minimum of 26 than the maximum of 50 permitted.  The rest of the league must have been figuring on filling out their rosters with free agents, because they were way overspending on the superstars.  So we shifted gears, and decided that if we were going to have more money than everyone else, we’d spend it on not one but two superstars.  By the time we had figured this all out, Marshall Faulk was already on the team, and the best guy out there was Fred Taylor.  So we went after him, and 5.94 million dollars later he joined the squad, giving us arguably the most potent 1-2 RB punch in this 16 team league, and two guys to choose from next season as our offensive keeper.

For the rest of the offense, we tried to maximize value and watch our spending, spreading it around evenly, and knowing that when push came to shove our stronger financial position would allow us to get the players we want.  I haven’t the space to tell you all the details on each pick, but rest assured each player was debated, and a consensus reached (usually, at least a majority opinion was secured).  This is where the talents of Head Coach Mike Rumsey, GM Coutts and Owner Tony Holm were invaluable, the skills really showed in our veteran leadership (the other three of us were simply members, lucky enough to be selected to join this group, but we brought some surprising insights to the table as well).  A few guys we thought we paid higher than we should, and we missed the boat on some bargains early, but for the most part it worked, and the team came together.  One player of note is TE Todd Heap, as we determined with 16 teams, having a top guy at that position would really give us an advantage, and we were happy to get him as cheaply as we did.

Defensive Coordinator Doug Gaskell was given the unenviable task of assembling a defense on a strict budget, and really came through.  He focused on guys that were coming into their own, second year guys, first-time starters, guys taking on new positions or joining new teams, or veterans with something to prove, looking for anything that showed some upside.  We decided that we were not going to drop 5.0 million plus on a Brian Urlacher.  Lots of value was unearthed on defense, and we are very pleased with the squad.

On special teams we simply targeted guys we liked, and surprisingly got them cheap.  P Hentrich of Tennessee was a particular favorite of Mr. Allen, so landing him was great, and seeing him recently re-sign with the Titans even better.  Kicker John Carney is rock solid, and getting him for just above the minimum of $300,000.00 right in line with our bargain hunting strategy too.

We had a rookie/free agent draft to round out our rosters, and since our team had no real needs, targeted two defensive players, and winged the rest. Given the defensive strategy, we concluded that we’d better take some shots on rookie defensive players who could turn into the next Jevon Kearse or Julius Peppers.   So when DL Terrell Suggs and Terence Newman both were there for the taking in the draft, we took them.  One more DB later, and after picking up some back up “injury away from starting” RBs, and a TE from the leftovers, the draft was concluded.  Any player on a roster with a “zero” dollar value assigned them was acquired in the draft.  The remaining roster issues (bye week problems on defense, no back up ST guys) we’ll address either in the upcoming supplemental auction (which is why we held back salary cap) or during the first few weeks of the season off the waiver wire.

The player selection process, with a few exceptions, has come to a close, and the 16 team’s rosters have come together.  So without further adieu, here is your Fantasy Sharks HAFAX squad:

Next, Greg will be back, outlining our week one match up, and filling you all in on the final roster.  Then we’ll do the same each week on a rotation.  In the mean time, go and familiarize yourself with HAFAX, read the rules, check out the other teams, and let us know what you think.  Drop me a line with suggested roster moves, help me make starting decisions on offense, give us some local pointers during camp regarding your favorites.  I plan on a running commentary in the forums too, so join in.  It is your team too.  And on that line, since we have a supplemental auction in August and free agency once the season starts, if you see a diamond in the rough that is not on a roster, let us know, we just might make room for your pick on the team!  This is gonna be great.