Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. That definitely happened to me in the ongoing Fanex draft.

I like to send out lots of trade offers in this draft. One of my pet peeves in fantasy leagues are the guys who send out emails with blurbs like, "Hey, we're perfectly willing to trade the No. 1 pick - just send in your offer."

No. Don't waste my time. If you're serious about trading the pick, then prove it by putting together an offer and sending it out. Don't tell me to send you an offer (to me, that just translates into: "if there's some dummy who's willing to give me his first four draft picks for the No. 1 choice, we'll take, but we're not really considering anything remotely close to even.")

I go other route. When I want to move a pick, I'll send out 6-8 offers. If one of the other owners sees something that's somewhat even, then we can get into haggling out the details. In this ongoing crawl draft, there's a 12-hour pick window, so there's plenty of time.

There have been six trades in this year's draft, and I've been involved in four of them.

But I almost shot myself in the foot on the most recent deal. I'm busy with trying to get the magazine out the door, and I didn't proofread the trade offer closely enough. My offer was as follows. Give up Colin Kaepernick (whom I had already drafted) for an upcoming pick and give up my 8th-round pick for his 9th-round pick.

The guy was very agreeable to the trade, of course, but he was driving in his car and trying to work his cell phone. He accidentally hit "decline" rather than "accept" the trade, saving me from a colossal blunder.

I can't believe I did it. Would have been my worst trading blunder in 27 years of fantasy football.

I ended up agreeing to a nice win-win trade involving Kaepernick. I sent him, along with my 14th-round choice to Duane Cahill for his 7th- and 9th-round picks. He got the last of the franchise-type quarterbacks. I got Tavon Austin to be my 5th receiver and Ben Tate in the 9th round.

The draft, by the way, crawls along. A couple of observations.

Wait on quarterbacks
If you wanted to wait on a quarterback, that would have worked out OK in this draft. Andy Dalton, Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger and Jay Cutler weren't selected until the 10th round. Sam Bradford didn't go until late in the 11th, and Matt Schaub went in the 12th. We're in the 13th round, and Josh Freeman, remarkably, hasn't been picked yet.

Defenses
In this draft, the first defense went in the middle of the 11th round. The second two just got picked in the 13th.

Kickers
We're in the 13th, and nobody has pulled the trigger on a kicker yet.

Running backs
A few No. 2 tailbacks are still available. I didn't make running back a priority, so I've been loading up on these guys - Ben Tate in the 9th, Bernard Pierce in the 10th, and Toby Gerhart in the 12th. I almost selected Bryce Brown with my other 12th-round pick, but there was only one good wide receiver left (Brandon LaFell) so I figured I'd better grab him. I will be playing four receivers each week, so I thought it made sense to bring in LaFell to be the No. 6 guy.

In a ballpark sense, running backs - good, reliable running backs - tend to start 13 games on average. Those No. 2 backs - guys like Gerhart, Pierce and Tate - tend to start almost three games. So if you can get four good backup tailbacks, they should start about the same number of games as your regular starting tailback.


FANEX ANALYSIS DRAFT
   Pick   Pos   
   1.01   RB   Adrian Peterson (Schauf) 
   1.02   RB   Doug Martin (Kellogg) 
   1.03   RB   Arian Foster (Harmon) 
   1.04   WR   Calvin Johnson (Cannon) 
   1.05   RB   Trent Richardson (Holm) 
   1.06   RB   LeSean McCoy (Schauf) 
   1.07   RB   Ray Rice (Rito) 
   1.08   RB   Jamaal Charles (Nease) 
   1.09   RB   Marshawn Lynch (Dolfi) 
   1.10   RB   C.J. Spiller (Dolfi) 
   1.11   RB   Alfred Morris (Day) 
   1.12   RB   Matt Forte (Adams) 
   2.01   RB   Chris Johnson (Adams) 
   2.02   RB   Steven Jackson (Day) 
   2.03   WR   A.J. Green (Cahill) 
   2.04   TE   Jimmy Graham (Cahill) 
   2.05   WR   Brandon Marshall (Nease) 
   2.06   WR   Dez Bryant (Rito) 
   2.07   WR   Larry Fitzgerald (Allan) 
   2.08   WR   Julio Jones (Holm) 
   2.09   QB   Aaron Rodgers (Cannon) 
   2.10   WR   Demaryius Thomas (Harmon) 
   2.11   WR   Roddy White (Kellogg) 
   2.12   RB   Maurice Jones-Drew (Cannon) 
   3.01   QB   Drew Brees (Nease) 
   3.02   WR   Randall Cobb (Allan) 
   3.03   WR   Victor Cruz (Harmon) 
   3.04   RB   Frank Gore (Kellogg) 
   3.05   RB   Darren McFadden (Holm) 
   3.06   WR   Danny Amendola (Allan) 
   3.07   WR   Andre Johnson (Rito) 
   3.08   RB   Darren Sproles (Allan) 
   3.09   QB   Peyton Manning (Dolfi) 
   3.10   WR   Percy Harvin (Cahill) 
   3.11   RB   Reggie Bush (Day) 
   3.12   RB   David Wilson (Adams) 
   4.01   RB   Stevan Ridley (Adams) 
   4.02   WR   Hakeem Nicks (Day) 
   4.03   RB   DeMarco Murray (Cahill) 
   4.04   RB   Lamar Miller (Cahill) 
   4.05   RB   Montee Ball (Nease) 
   4.06   QB   Cam Newton (Rito) 
   4.07   RB   Vick Ballard (Allan) 
   4.08   WR   Vincent Jackson (Holm) 
   4.09   WR   Dwayne Bowe (Kellogg) 
   4.10   RB   LeVeon Bell (Harmon) 
   4.11   WR   Reggie Wayne (Cannon) 
   4.12   WR   Marques Colston (Schauf) 
   5.01   WR   Jordy Nelson (Schauf) 
   5.02   WR   Antonio Brown (Allan) 
   5.03   WR   Wes Welker (Harmon) 
   5.04   RB   Chris Ivory (Kellogg) 
   5.05   QB   Tom Brady (Holm) 
   5.06   TE   Jason Witten (Cannon) 
   5.07   RB   Ryan Mathews (Rito) 
   5.08   RB   Eddie Lacy (Nease) 
   5.09   WR   Mike Wallace (Dolfi) 
   5.10   TE   Rob Gronkowski (Cahill) 
   5.11   WR   Eric Decker (Day) 
   5.12   WR   Josh Gordon (Adams) 
   6.01   WR   DeSean Jackson (Adams) 
   6.02   QB   Russell Wilson (Day) 
   6.03   WR   Pierre Garcon (Cahill) 
   6.04   WR   James Jones (Dolfi) 
   6.05   WR   T.Y. Hilton (Nease) 
   6.06   TE   Aaron Hernandez (Rito) 
   6.07   QB   Matt Ryan (Allan) 
   6.08   WR   Torrey Smith (Holm) 
   6.09   QB   Matthew Stafford (Kellogg) 
   6.10   QB   Andrew Luck (Harmon) 
   6.11   WR   Greg Jennings (Cannon) 
   6.12   RB   Rashard Mendenhall (Schauf) 
   7.01   QB   Tony Romo (Schauf) 
   7.02   WR   Jeremy Maclin (Cannon) 
   7.03   RB   Andre Brown (Harmon) 
   7.04   TE   Tony Gonzalez (Kellogg) 
   7.05   QB   Robert Griffin III (Holm) 
   7.06   QB   Colin Kaepernick (Cahill (trade)) 
   7.07   WR   Steve Smith (Rito) 
   7.08   QB   Eli Manning (Nease) 
   7.09   WR   Stevie Johnson (Dolfi) 
   7.10   WR   Tavon Austin (Allan) 
   7.11   WR   Mike Williams (Day) 
   7.12   WR   Cecil Shorts III (Adams) 
   8.01   QB   Michael Vick (Adams) 
   8.02   TE   Vernon Davis (Day) 
   8.03   TE   Dennis Pitta (Dolfi) 
   8.04   RB   BenJarvus Green-Ellis (Dolfi) 
   8.05   TE   Greg Olsen (Allan) 
   8.06   WR   Kenny Britt (Rito) 
   8.07   WR   Miles Austin (Schauf) 
   8.08   RB   Jonathan Stewart (Holm) 
   8.09   WR   Anquan Boldin (Kellogg) 
   8.10   RB   Giovani Bernard (Harmon) 
   8.11   RB   Mark Ingram (Cannon) 
   8.12   RB   Shane Vereen (Schauf) 
   9.01   WR   Lance Moore (Schauf) 
   9.02   RB   Daryl Richardson (Cannon) 
   9.03   TE   Kyle Rudolph (Harmon) 
   9.04   QB   Alex Smith (Kellogg) 
   9.05   WR   Danario Alexander (Holm) 
   9.06   RB   Johnathan Franklin (Nease) 
   9.07   RB   Mikel Leshoure (Rito) 
   9.08   WR   Chris Givens (Nease) 
   9.09   WR   Denarius Moore (Dolfi) 
   9.10   RB   Ben Tate (Allan) 
   9.11   RB   Ahmad Bradshaw (Day) 
   9.12   WR   Emmanuel Sanders (Adams) 
   10.01   RB   Isaiah Pead (Adams) 
   10.02   TE   Antonio Gates (Day) 
   10.03   WR   Justin Blackmon (Cahill) 
   10.04   QB   Joe Flacco (Dolfi) 
   10.05   RB   Bernard Pierce (Allan) 
   10.06   RB   Zac Stacy (Rito) 
   10.07   QB   Andy Dalton (Allan) 
   10.08   WR   Kendall Wright (Holm) 
   10.09   RB   Fred Jackson (Kellogg) 
   10.10   WR   Vincent Brown (Harmon) 
   10.11   QB   Jay Cutler (Kellogg) 
   10.12   QB   Ben Roethlisberger (Schauf) 
   11.01   TE   Jermichael Finley (Schauf) 
   11.02   RB   Ryan Williams (Cannon) 
   11.03   QB   Ryan Tannehill (Harmon) 
   11.04   RB   Joseph Randle (Kellogg) 
   11.05   RB   DeAngelo Williams (Holm) 
   11.06   ST   Chicago  (Nease) 
   11.07   TE   Owen Daniels (Rito) 
   11.08   WR   Alshon Jeffery (Nease) 
   11.09   ST   Seattle  (Dolfi) 
   11.10   QB   Sam Bradford (Cahill) 
   11.11   QB   Carson Palmer (Day) 
   11.12   QB   Philip Rivers (Adams) 
   12.01   TE   Brandon Pettigrew (Adams) 
   12.02   WR   Sidney Rice (Day) 
   12.03   RB   Jacquizz Rodgers (Cahill) 
   12.04   WR   DeAndre Hopkins (Dolfi) 
   12.05   RB   Toby Gerhart (Allan) 
   12.06   RB   Ronnie Hillman (Rito) 
   12.07   WR   Brandon LaFell (Allan) 
   12.08   RB   Danny Woodhead (Holm) 
   12.09   QB   Matt Schaub (Kellogg) 
   12.10   RB   Bryce Brown (Harmon) 
   12.11   TE   Martellus Bennett (Cannon) 
   12.12   TE   Jared Cook (Schauf) 
   13.01   RB   Pierre Thomas (Schauf) 
   13.02   TE   Jermaine Gresham (Allan) 
   13.03   ST   San Francisco  (Harmon) 
   13.04   WR   Greg Little (Cannon) 
   13.05   WR   Brian Hartline (Holm) 

^aEUR"Ian Allan