Reaches, steals and a busted season

Now that I am eliminated from the playoffs in one of my three leagues, it is a perfect time to look back and ask, "What happened?" There are eight teams in this particular league, but with two starting quarterbacks, three starting wide receivers, two running backs, a flex, tight end, kicker and seven bench slots, the player pool is somewhat respectable.

I had the first overall pick. There were five RBs that everyone coveted to start the year off, but my choice always came down to Aaron Rodgers or Andrew Luck. Rodgers is currently third in QB points per game, and I'm still wearing my cheese hat. Just about every other first-rounder was a bust. Jamaal Charles and Le'Veon Bell suffered season-ending injuries, Eddie Lacy played exactly one good football game, Andrew Luck alternatively disappoints and is injured and Marshawn Lynch may finally be worn down.

My next pick was not so great. I "stole" Jeremy Hill at 16th overall while Matt Forte and Justin Forsett were still on the board. Of course, now that I'm eliminated, Hill is finally showing some life and Forsett's season is over. I made up for the Hill pick with Julio Jones at 17, who led all wideouts in per-game scoring coming into this week. Some second round low-lights: Peyton Manning, DeMarco Murray and LeSean McCoy before the Bills' bye week. Of course, the clown that took Jordy Nelson suffered immediate buyer's remorse, and Russell Wilson in the third looks pretty shaky in retrospect, even in a two-QB league.

Although I didn't truly "bust," Frank Gore at 40 did not turn out to be the savvy "undervalued veteran" move I imagined. Turns out, Gore is just old. Somehow, DeAndre Hopkins was stolen at 46 just after current free agent Joseph Randle and Super Bowl-team-destroyer Jimmy Graham.

Kelvin Benjamin "Jordy Nelson Lite" went around 50 and was followed by Tony Romo. The younger Manning went next, highlighting just how awful picking Peyton in the third was. My pick, Jordan Matthews, has been less effective than the Eagles this year. And they called him uncoverable in the preseason. Bleh.

Travis Kelce early in the seventh round brought me back on track, but of course Greg Olsen went six picks later, completely ruining my steal. Cam Newton, Philip Rivers and Tom Brady went in the seventh and eighth rounds, throwing the fantasy hopes and dreams of anyone that picked a quarterback early into a radioactive dumpster and lighting it on fire. We also saw Carlos Hyde, Andre Ellington and LeGarrette Blount go in the eighth, suggesting that maybe you shouldn't wait on a running back.

Some late highlights: I stole Allen Robinson at 88th overall and then drafted Nelson Agholor at 89. Yikes. Victor Cruz went 93rd. The 139th pick was wasted on Tim Tebow as a joke, because of course there is nobody useful that late, right? Except that Tyler Eifert went two picks later.

Some weeks, you start Allen Robinson and he catches three touchdowns in a meaningless losers bracket matchup; other weeks starting Crockett Gillmore over Travis Kelce gets you eliminated from the postseason. That's why it's fun. Right?