All Part of My Fantasy: Best 11th Round Pick Ever

Score for the Week: Squid 70.94, Baker's Dozen 49.04
My MVP: Drew Brees (QB, New Orleans) with 35 completions for 419 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception, 1 sack
Melodrama: watching my admittedly slim playoff hopes slip away

Despite this week's victory, I fell short of the playoffs. As previously explained, I needed some help in other matchups and it didn't work out. I suppose I can't feel too bad. I'm ending the season on a three-game win streak and am really pretty proud of the team I had assembled by the end. Without my double-quarterback-rib-breaking fiasco in the first two weeks, I might be singing a sweeter tune right now. So it goes.

There were rookie mistakes in the beginning, I'm sure. I could have drafted better and certainly could have made better roster moves in the early going. Amazingly, at the end of the season, I only have four players left from my original draft: Derrick Mason (WR, Baltimore), Kellen Winslow (TE, Tampa Bay), Matt Hasselbeck (QB, Seattle) and Vernon Davis (TE, San Francisco). All four have had MVP weeks for me.

Must say, I've had a blast. It was great to reconnect with old friends and, hopefully, make some new ones.

Time to hand out some hardware...

My MVP for the season: Vernon Davis

While I made a lot of mistakes early on, my 11th round draft pick could hardly have worked out better. I grabbed Davis as my backup tight end. Instead, he has become my most consistent point producer over the 13-week season. He is having the best season of his career, leading the league in receiving touchdowns and already breaking the 49ers' team record for touchdowns by a tight end in a season. He is the highest-scoring tight end in our league and seems destined for the Pro Bowl. My only regret is that I didn't play him every week. I almost traded him away one week - so glad I didn't!

Davis is a DC native and a Maryland Terrapin. He was the 6th overall pick in the 2006 draft. Before this year, Davis's performance had been steady but unspectacular. He had developed a reputation as a hot head, fighting with teammates at practice. But everything has come together for him this year as he has emerged as a vital weapon in the San Francisco offense.

Most interesting to me is the fact that he was an art major in college. He has an official Website (http://www.vernondavis85.net/) and I was rather hoping that there might be some examples of his work. There's a question link. Maybe I'll ask him about it.

And so, the offseason begins.