SI.com Experts League Draft 2004

After a successful debut last year, the SI.com Fantasy Football Experts League returned for 2004 with a draft on Aug. 16 pitting some of the top fantasy experts and writers against each other for fantasy glory.

Richard Harris of FantasyFootballExperts.com returns to defend his title against these other experts: Kirk Bouyelas, Ryan Houston and Greg Kellogg from FantasyAsylum.com; James Quintong and B. Duane Cross from SI.com; Corey Roberts and Sam Lubeck from STATS, Inc.; Mike Nazarek of FFMastermind.com; Dave Gawron from CREATiVESPORTS.com; Bob Harris from Fantasy Sports Publications; and Joe Levit of TheHuddle.com.

The scoring system is as follows:

? Passing: 4 points/TD; 1 point for every 25 yards passing; 1 point for 2-point conversion pass ? Rushing/Receiving: 6 points/TD; 1 point for every 10 yards rushing or receiving; 2 points for each 2-point conversion ? Kicking: 3 points for every field goal; 1 point for every extra point ? Defense/Special Teams: 6 points for every return TD; 2 points for every fumble recovery, interception or blocked kick; 1 point for every sack.

Each team starts one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, one kicker and one defense/special teams each week.

The draft was a standard 16-round, serpentine draft, with no trades of picks, although deals could be made officially after the draft.

Here is a rundown of the draft, with analysis of each round. Coming soon, each of the participants in the draft will have analysis of their own teams. And check back throughout the season as I keep everyone abreast of how the league is going.

Round 1: Not surprisingly, the first nine picks were running backs. That's about par for the course for leagues like this. Moss being taken after that is also no stunner, but Culpepper going after that is a slight surprise -- but he does have the potential for huge points on a weekly basis.

Round 2: Again, there was a run on backs, although at least studs like Marvin Harrison and Peyton Manning were also taken here. Cross hopes Vick will do more for him this year than last, when he took the Falcons' QB in the first round -- just days before he broke his leg.

Round 3: There were a bunch of receivers taken, but no real run emerged here. It's not a big surprise that Tony Gonzalez was taken early, given how far ahead he is of everyone else at tight end.