I acted like an expert every week during the football season posting my previews and predictions on this website, and it turns the advice I gave myself was not good enough to even make the playoffs in my main fantasy football league. I finished 6-6, fifth in a 10-team league and 1/2 game out of the playoffs.

Embarrassing for somebody who feels qualified to dish out advice to other fantasy football players.

So before I put the season behind me, I’m going back to my draft night to figure out what I did right and what went wrong with the hope that I can see some lessons to take into next year’s draft.

This was a standard 10-team league and I had the No. 9 pick in a snake draft. I am going to list the player I took, see how it worked out, and then say who I would pick if I could do it over again. (For the latter category, I will only include possible players picked soon after the pick was made. We can all look back and say we should have taken Cam Newton in the third round, so for the purpose of this story, I am only including alternatives that went soon after my pick, guys that I could have realistically considered for the choice.)

This should be therapeutic for me, and I hope it works for you too.

Round 1, No. 9 overall, Andre Johnson

How’d it work out: Not well. Johnson is a guy I have always wanted to have on my fantasy team and so I took a shot even though I usually avoid receivers in the first round. Johnson seemed like the big stud who was never injured and could be counted on to be reliable every week and great in many weeks. This year he missed six weeks in a row with an injury and then the bye week meant he was out for the important stretch of weeks 5-11 and then he missed three games later in the year. After opening the season with three straight games of 15 points or more, he never reached that threshold again the rest of the year.

If I had it to do over: I’d take LeSean McCoy. The decision was McCoy or Johnson and I made the wrong choice.

Round 2, No. 12 overall, Frank Gore

How’d it work out: Not bad. I had Gore ranked higher than most people and took him a little earlier than many mock drafts were projecting, but I can’t complain. Always an injury concern, he played every week and had double-digit carries in all but two games. In the 14 games he had at least 10 carries, he had 10 or more fantasy points in nine of them.

If I had it to do over: I’d take Drew Brees. As you will see later, I decided to wait on a quarterback and the choice worked out, but Brees was clearly the guy to take here.

Round 3, No. 29, Vincent Jackson

How'd it work out: Jackson was the ultimate boom-or-bust guy and looked like a third-round steal during the four weeks he had at least 18 fantasy points. Unfortunately, he resembled a late-round pick in the 10 weeks he scored in single digits. Still not sure why a veteran who is the clear No. 1 receiver on his team was so inconsistent.

If I had it to do over: I’d take Marques Colston, who had the same amount of 18-plus point performances and half of the single-digit outings that Jackson had.

Round 4, No. 32, Peyton Hillis

How'd it work out: Terrible. This is another guy I had rated higher than most people as I thought the injury-prone tag was allowing him to drop low enough in the draft to be a steal. Instead, he had one game in double digits during the first 14 weeks while missing six games due to injury.

If I had it to do over: I’d take Ryan Mathews, who had eight more double-digit performances than Hillis this year.

Round 5, No. 49, Percy Harvin.

How’d it work out: Not bad, if I could have survived his slow start. Harvin did not exceed 11 points in his first seven games and although some owners ditched him, I held on. I was rewarded with double-digit performances in seven of his final nine games, but if one of those had come earlier in the year maybe I would have been in the playoffs.

If I had it to do over: I’d take Harvin again. Like I said, if I had won a couple more games earlier in the year, his furious finish could have made him a team MVP.

Round 6, No. 52, Beanie Wells

How’d it work out: I thought this was Beanie’s year as the guy to carry the workload for the Cards and it looked like a steal when he totalled 31.5 points in the first two weeks. Then, sigh, the usual injury problem arrived and he missed a game, and not trusting him the next week, I benched him for the 138-yard, three-touchdown game against the Giants and there were not many great performances the rest of the way.

If I had it to do over: Wes Welker would have been a good pick here, huh?

Round 7, No. 69, Matt Ryan

How’d it work out: Ryan struggled early and I benched him for Matthew Stafford the rest of the year and later traded Ryan for Marques Colston, so while I didn’t get much out of Ryan, I did get good QB play and flipped him for a good receiver.

If I had it to do over: The next pick was Steve Smith, who I swore off after a disappointing 2010 season, but I wish I had believed in him one more time.

Round 8, No. 72, Sidney Rice

How’d it work out: Big bust here as his big-money reunion with Tavaris Jackson ended with him missing half the season due to injury and never scoring more than 14 points in a week.

If I had it to do over: Jordy Nelson, the next receiver taken in the draft.

Round 9, No. 89, Matthew Stafford

How’d it work out: My best pick of the draft, obviously. Just wish I was in a keeper league and could have him for a ninth-rounder again next year.

If I had it to do over: I’m sticking with Stafford.

Round 10, No. 92, Marcedes Lewis

How’d it work out: One of the biggest busts in all of fantasy football after never reaching double digits in a single week.

If I had it to do over: I have a hard time trusting rookie receivers, but wish I had believed in A.J. Green here.

Round 11, No. 109, Sam Bradford

How’d it work out: Not so well. How does a quarterback throw for more than 150 yards in 10 games and finish with six touchdown passes?

If I had it to do over: Bears defense would have given me a solid unit for the year.

Round 12, No. 112, Mike Thomas

How’d it work out: Another bad Jaguars’ receiver that I cut early in the year and never got in my lineup.

If I had it to do over: Jimmy Graham, who would have made a nice replacement for Marcedes Lewis.

Round 13, No. 129, Ben Tate

How’d it work out: Took a shot here that Arian Foster might be out a while longer and that paid off with back-to-back 100-yard weeks to start the season for Tate, but I should have traded him then.

If I had it to do over: I never take a kicker this early, but Sebastian Janikowski would have been in my line-up all year if I had taken him here.

Round 14, No. 132, Dustin Keller

How’d it work out: Looked good after the first two weeks, but I cut him by midseason.

If I had it to do over: Antonio Brown would have been a nice sleeper receiver in this spot.

Round 15, No. 149, David Buehler

How’d it work out: He got hurt in the preseason and never played this year, so I cut him before the regular season.

If I had it to do over: Cam Newton went undrafted in our league, but this would have been a nice time to take a chance on the rookie QB.

Round 16, 152, Dolphins Defense

How’d it work out: Scored minus-4 in the first week and was gone from my roster.

If I had it to do over: Rob Gronkowski, another guy who went undrafted, would have been a nice pick in the final round.