Drafted my 2nd team today. This league is .5 PPR, with big bonuses for yardage for rushing, receiving, and passing. Passing TDs worth 6. I picked 4th overall, and I fucked up. QB: RGIII (7) RB: Ray Rice (1) RB: Ryan Mathews (4) WR: Roddy White (2) WR: DeSean Jackson (6) WR: Stevie Johnson (5) TE: Jimmy Graham (3) K: Bironas (15) Def: Detroit (14) BN: Stevan Ridley (8) BN: Willis McGahee (9) BN: Matt Schaub (10) BN: Rashad Jennings (11) BN: Santana Moss (12) BN: Kendall Wright (13) For a league with big QB numbers, I ended up waiting on a QB. Aaron Rodgers went first overall, and McCoy went before Rice, so I HAD to take Rice with the 4th pick. By the time it got back to me, Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Eli Manning, Vick, Stafford, and Cam Newton were gone. There was no one left worth a 2nd round pick (or, IMHO, 3rd or 4th round pick), so I ended up just saying "fuck it" in terms of my QB and went for major RB depth, which I have in spades. I have four, and maybe five, RBs that have a really, really high upside. I've discussed packaging Schaub and someone else in a trade for Rivers, because I just don't have the faith in RGIII that I should. In fact, I'm highly debating starting Schaub over him most weeks. I was going to take Cutler in the 6th, but he got taken the pick before me (as a fucking backup! God fucking damn it!). This is the 2nd league I've bet on Mathews coming back after two weeks and cleaning up for me after he falls drastically because of his injury. Mathews plus Ray Rice gives me a strong set of starting RBs. McGahee and Ridley give me a lot of great set of backups, and if MJD is a no show week 1, I suspect Jennings is going to step in and take the fuck over right away, giving me excellent trade bait to upgrade at WR or QB. Gronk went in the first round again. I don't fucking get it. He is still a Tight End, and Tom Brady still has a LOT of mouths to feed in that passing game between Gronk, Welker, Lloyd, and Hernandez (not to mention Deion Branch). 2nd round, MAYBE, but he won't come close to those TD numbers again. He's not even the best TE in a PPR league (Graham has that honor, and I got him in round 3). While I am very weak at QB, I feel I have the depth to make up for it, whether it be via trade or after an injury.
Here's my lineup. I am going to so kill it this year. Opposing teams will fear the unstoppable Coby Fleener, Indianapolis Tight End who sees an average of 3 minutes a game. Go 20 team league! Fantasy football sucks.
One of many issues my friend. Running backs were absolutely raided by the time my 3rd and 4th picks came around. Even when I drafted Romo 2nd overall (wait, I need a quarterback!!), there was hardly a worthy running back in sight. Like I've said 3x now, take my advice and never join a 20 team league. And if you are in a 20 team league, don't pick 18th.
I agree with Graham over Gronk. Personally I like either as a mid to late 2nd round pick. I agree that first is too early. That being said, the argument for either of them going high is their comparative value above and beyond other TEs. Other positions have a lot more parity and depth. Say you're picking 10th in a 12 team league. You can grab a second tier WR and RB there. Based on their current ADPs on ESPN, that gets you Chris Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald. Both fine players, but not THAT much better than those who will be available a round later. Whereas Gronk/Graham will probably significantly outproduce the next tier at their position.
Finished the first of five drafts this year. This one is a ten team PPR, that I have been trying to get out of for the past three years, but keep getting guilted into sticking around. This is the one free league I play in, and of the ten guys, four showed up to the draft, and the yahoo autopick sucks since it fills your active slots before your bench no matter what, so defenses are going in the 8th and kickers in the 9th, which completely fucks everything up. That and one of the guys who was actually there drafted Randy Moss in the 4th round. That might have been a little bit of a reach. At any rate, passing TDs are 6 instead of 4, and as I said, PPR, but nothing else fancy. I had the 4th overall pick. QB: Aaron Rodgers (1) WR: Wes Welker (2) WR: Percy Harvin (4) RB: Jamaal Charles (3) TE: Brandon Pettigrew (7) W/T: Torrey Smith (6) W/R: Darren Sproles (5) DEF: Seattle (14) K: Matt Prater (16) BN: RG III (8) BN: Reggie Wayne (9) BN: Malcolm Floyd (10) BN: Jacob Tamme (11) BN: Randall Cobb (12) BN: Kendall Wright (13) BN: Toby Gerhart (15) All in all, I'm very happy with this team. What weirds me out about this league is that you only have to start 1 RB, and the max you can start is 2, but you can start as many as 4 WR, so I really just took two startable RBs, and then loaded up on quality WR and TE. The one stupid play was RGIII, who I just took cause I like the Redskins, but has little trade value and the same bye week at Rodgers. I guess I'll hope he blow up big, and I can package him up with someone to improve somewhere else. Meh, it's free, so I'm not second guessing much about this one.
Completed draft #2 last night, this one is more important for me since its for money and its against guys who really know their shit. Non-PPR, 10 teams, 6 pt passing tds, everything else standard. I picked 9th, which sucked. QB: Peyton Manning (4) RB: Stephen Jackson (3) RB: Benjarvis Green Ellis (5) RB/WR: Torrey Smith (7) WR: Calvin Johnson (1) WR: Roddy White (2) TE: Antonio Gates (6) DEF: Chiefs (13) K: Dan Bailey (15) BN: Kevin Smith (8) BN: Jacquizz Rodgers (9) BN: Brandon Pettigrew (10) BN: Darius Heyward-Bey (11) BN: Randy Moss (12) BN: Carson Palmer (14) Overall, I think this is a strong team. Obviously a little bit weak on RB, but I'm a believer in Steven Jackson, and while BGE isn't a superstar talent, I think he gets enough opportunities to have some decent games. And obviously, I LOVE the WR corps. Gates was a nice steal in the sixth, but I reached on Jacquizz by a round, maybe 2. Still, I think I've got a shot in this league. The first round was pretty nutty here...after the big three rbs went, Rodgers, Brady, Brees, and Stafford went 1-2-3-4, followed by MJD, which I really don't get. But hey, it meant I could have Calvin, I'll take it.
12-team, PPR league. I picked 12th. I can't believe Welker fell to the end of the 3rd round. I feel good about my team, although I have some injury-prone players.
One guy in my 12 team league drafted both Wes Welker and Brandon Lloyd (Welker as his number 1, Lloyd as his number 3), and now he is shitting his pants at the prospect of having both of them on his roster. He tried to offer me Lloyd for Stevie Johnson, which I briefly considered, but to me, Lloyd will be a deep threat and a guy who gets only a couple of targets a game. If he doesn't break a long one, he'll have a lot of 2 catches for 45 yard stat lines. Johnson, meanwhile, is the primary target on the Bills and should see at least 4 or 5 catches a game, which will be a nice boost in a PPR league. I did tell him I'd make a trade for Welker, and I'd even consider giving up Roddy White and Schaub (my backup QB) if he gave up Welker and Cutler (his backup QB). Welker is a PPR beast, although White is no slouch. I'd be torn, but I'd probably make the trade, given my belief that this will be a good year for Cutler now that he has some weapons around him. I don't know, would this be a bad trade for me?
Welker is indeed a PPR beast, while Roddy has publicly stated that he expects his role to diminish (see: Jones, Julio). You'd arguably be getting a better backup, which is good if RG3 doesn't produce. Having Ray Rice, Wes Welker and Jimmy Graham on one PPR roster is a recipe for $$$. I say do it.
Is there a reason you're starting Griffin over Schaub, or why you drafted him in the 7th? I love Griffin as a prospect, but he's a rookie and his receiving options are pretty bad. I know he'll get some rushing yardage, but I don't see how it's enough to start him. Schaub has consistently put up damn good numbers and his offensive weapons are awesome. Of course, Schaub could get sidelined with a sore vagina. Until then though, he has to be the better choice. Just some food for thought. As for the trade, I think it's reasonable. Cutler should have better numbers this year with Marshall in the mix, and Welker is about as good as it gets in a PPR league, even if you are losing White. I actually like Schaub better than Cutler, but Cutler is safer since he isn't an injury waiting to happen.
I got RGIII when I did because he was the best high upside QB available, and I knew Schaub (my target) would be there in the 13th round, while RGIII would've been gone by the 8th round. I think Schaub and Cutler will have similar numbers, but my gut tells me Cutler will edge it out. Plus, I am a Bears homer, and want a rooting interest in them. I'm planning to offer the Roddy/Schaub for Welker/Cutler trade. The main obstacle is that the guy I am trading with is an even bigger Bears homer than me. He even has a Bears tattoo. He will likely balk at the idea of giving up Cutler.
Did my first draft of the year. 8 team snake. last pick (so the picking in twos)...and I fucked up. Spoiler E Manning (5) A Peterson (2) D Sproles (4) C Johnson (1) W Welker (3) M Colston (6) T Gonzalez (9) GB (16) Gostkowski (15) D Bowe (7) A Bradshaw (8) M Austin (10) B Roethlisberger (11) R Bush (12) C Benson (13) R Meachem (14) I know I shouldn't have bit on AP but I was worried about who would be around at RB come pick 24 (answer: Sproles and Charles). I'm stacked at WR, but it's an eight team league so a lot of people are. I feel like I picked out a whole bunch of middle-of-the-road, Megatron aside. Also someone got Gerhardt just before I was going to take him. Drats.
Related question: Given AP's shitty knee, is it worth moving for Gerhart? If so, how much should I be willing to give up? The RB FA pickings are slim (Tolbert, Pierre Thomas, etc.), but I'm not sure that Gerhart is worth actually playing if AP is out, given that I have Bush, Bradshaw, and plenty of good WRs to flex.
I have my biggest money league draft Saturday morning. It's a standard snake draft and I got first pick. PPR league, plus QB points are ridiculous. 0.5 points per completion, a point every 20 yards thrown, and 6 points per passing TD. So first pick... I figure my choices are Rodgers, Rice, Foster, and McCoy. I'm initially leaning McCoy since he scores so much and gets receptions, plus he doesn't have someone like Ben Tate taking his carries. However, with the insane amount of points for QBs in this league I'm really tempted to take Rodgers. Would that be crazy? I just feel like that after Brees, Rodgers, and Brady there is a huge drop off this year and they will likely all be gone when I get to pick again. Thoughts? Who would you take? *I would normally never take a QB with the first overall pick, but the crazy scoring system is making me reconsider.
Take Rodgers. He won't have quite the season as last year, but with .5 points per completion, there is no way Rodgers isn't better than any other QB you could get when your next pick rolls around. Figure it like this: If you take Rodgers, by the time it gets back to you, at BEST you can get a guy like Cutler/Romo/Schaub/Peyton/Eli. You'd be looking at, easily, a 200 to 300 point drop off between Rodgers and whoever is left. It may end up being worse, because in such a QB-scoring-heavy league, you can expect nearly every team to take a QB with one of their first two picks. If you take Foster (the best projected RB), by the time it gets back, there will still be a few decent RBs remaining on the board, even more so because I suspect almost everyone will draft a QB in the first round or two. The point drop off won't be more than 100 points, likely less, as I'd bet a top 12 RB will still be available. Long story short: take Rodgers. You would be absolutely silly NOT to take Rodgers.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being a homer. Plus, with PPR the value of the elite running backs drops off a bit. I hope there is a big run on QBs like you predict so all the top tier receivers and rbs aren't gone when it gets back to me. I kind of wish I was picking in the middle so I could get Brees or Brady and have a better shot at a top skills position player, but oh well.
I'm not as good at this as some of you. Here is my team. 10 in the league, pretty standard scoring. Passing TD is 4, receiving and rushing are 6. Not PPR. Play 1 QB, 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 1 WR/RB, 1 K, and 1 DEF. I know I didn't draft a defense or a kicker. I normally just do those positions by committee, especially since people were drafting defenses in the 8th round. But anyways, here it is: QB: Tony Romo Andrew Luck RB Ray Rice Ryan Matthews Cedric Benson Ben Tate LeGarrette Blount Felix Jones WR Brandon Marshall Marques Colston Demaryius Thomas Justin Blackmon Michael Crabtree Alshon Jeffery Chad Johnson (I am going to drop him before week one, but I've had him on every fantasy team I've managed for some reason so I took him in the last round) TE Jared Cook What do you guys think? I know I'm very deep at RB and WR, but keep in mind I have to drop one along with Chad before week on to pick up a kicker and a defense. Any thoughts on who I should drop?