Here is the thread for you to post your teams for evaluation purposes and to ask advice week-to-week. When posting your question, make sure you include information such as scoring systems, draft slot, number of teams in your league, etc., so that appropriate feedback can be given. We had the draft for my first league this past Friday, and here is what I can away with. 12 team league, no keepers, no PPR, 10th overall pick: QB Kevin Kolb RB Michael Turner RB\WR Justin Forsett RB\WR Thomas Jones WR Andre Johnson WR Desean Jackson TE Dallas Clark D\ST Bengals K David Buehler BE Ricky Williams BE Santonio Holmes BE Jay Cutler BE Willis McGahee BE Malcom Floyd BE Devin Aromashodu BE Matt Leinart BE Dustin Keller Overall, I think I did ok. I'm pretty happy with my RB depth and my two starting WRs. I'm high on Kolb this year to be a good sleeper pick, so I was happy to get him in I think it was round 7 or 8. I wasn't paying attention at all when I picked Cutler after Kolb (same bye weeks), so I picked up Leinart late. The guy who drafted Ray Rice also picked up Leon Washington, so I think we may strike a deal today for McGahee straight up so that we both have our handcuffs. I didn't bother with Turner's handcuff, because if he goes down it will be a time share between Snelling and Norwood, so I'd be just as happy sticking Williams in there. I'm not really big on my backup WRs. I think Holmes will come back strong from his suspension, and Floyd should be the #1 guy while Vincent Jackson is out, but I don't know. I'm thinking about dropping Aromashodu for Mike Williams from Tampa Bay, who I hear has been playing lights out, but if anyone has an opinion, I'd like to hear it.
Word out of Chargers camp was that Rivers and Floyd were vibing really well, and Floyd was catching everything within ten yards of him.
Kind of a silly question, but wanted to get some feedback. I'm commissioning our office pool and one of the participants offered up her house for a draft day party. I have not done this before and there are a good amount of noobs in our league. Does any one do this? What's the set up with laptops, sharing laptops, etc. like? Generally speaking, I think it's a great idea, but I'm trying to wrap my head around the logistics of it all. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. So, in my wife's work league we drew the second pick, draft TBD. The commish has set passing TD's at 6 pts per, and it's likely that Brees, Rodgers, P. Manning will all be off the board by the late second round. Would you consider taking a QB at this spot? As soon as I heard the news, I was pretty set on Rice for the second pick, but the heavy passing metric has me thinking twice. I have AP in a keeper and generally speaking I think CJ will be a bust this year. Any general feedback is appreciated.
How the hell did you get Turner and AJ in a 12 team draft? Both definite first round picks in my opinion, especially non PPR. Your team is solid - Turner should be a touchdown machine this year, and although Desean Jackson's points per week are largely dependent on the big play, that potential weekly variation is balanced out by Johnson's week to week consistency. I'm guessing you sacrificed your RB2 position a bit to draft Clark in the 4th, so you got stuck with Jones and Forsett. Clark should put up low-end WR 1 numbers, so what you will lose at RB you should make up for with your WR's and TE. Although I don't think CJ will be anywhere near a bust this year, I won't even try to change your mind on that. Simply take Rice (or MJD, or CJ) and don't look back. Top 6 QB's scoring, assuming 6 points/ passing TD, last year: Rodgers 397.96 Brees 356.42 Favre 349.58 Manning 342.7 Schaub 338.5 Romo 325.82 Brady, Rivers, and Rapelisberger were RIGHT below Romo. The difference between the top QB and 6th best was 75 points, and that's assuming you even guessed that Rodgers would be the top QB (unlikely). Take out that outlier, and the difference between Brees (2) and Romo (6) was only 36 points. Spread those points over 17 weeks, and you can see that having Brees instead of Romo is worth ~2 points/week. Brady, Rivers, and Rapelisberger were <10 points less than Romo (I think), so having the 9th best QB leaves you with less than 50 points short of the 2nd best QB. I'm comparing to the 2nd best QB, because it's too hard to say for sure that Rodgers/Manning/Brees WILL be the best QB this year, so you can't plan on automatically getting the #1 QB. Now compare that to the top 6 Rbs (.5 ppr in my league) last year: CJ 367 AP 300 MJD 297 Ray Rice 285 Frank Gore 252 Thomas Jones 235 The number 9 RB was Ryan Grant with 221 points. Go to the #12 RB, and Jamaal Charles had <200 points. Take out CJ's numbers, and you can still see how much more variation there is between the #2-3-4 RB's and the #6 (or later) RB, compared to the #2,3,4 and 6th best QB's. Just because it's 6 points/passing TD, you don't want to compare top QB points to top RB points. Instead, you should compare top QB points to lower tier QB points, and you can see there's not much of a difference at all. Obviously, there's a chance that might change this season, and Brees/Manning/Rodgers end up WAY better than the rest of the QBs, but the NFL has been trending this way for a few years now. Take one of the top RBs, pick up a stud WR in the 2nd round- one of AJ, Moss, Wayne, Calvin, R White, B Marshall, Austin, Fitz, Jennings should definitely be available - then take a Schaub/Rivers/Romo/Brady in the 3rd if you're worried about a QB, but I've seen that tier of QB's last til the 4th. I'm kinda drunk and rambling so I hope this makes sense, and it's just my opinion, but I tried to provide some logic for my reasoning. In my 12 team league I pick 9th, and I will be very comfortable picking up Flacco in the 5th round (I love him as a sleeper). This lets me go RB/WR then WR/RB (or vice versa) in the first 4 rounds, and still end up with a Qb who (IMO) will only be marginally worse than a top 5 QB. So, while the other guys are picking up Schaub/Romo/Brady with a 3rd round pick and probably getting a few extra points/week at the QB position - but not getting their 2nd RB or WR until the 5th (or 6th if they take a TE) where you sort of have to start picking sleepers - I'll live with Flacco and (hopefully) already have a solid RB1, RB2, WR1, and WR2 locked up. blahblahblah.....pick Rice or MJD if you really don't like CJ this year (I don't see how he has <1500 yards and <10 TD's personally, which is a pretty damn safe pick). I've never worried about my QB position and usually end up doing quite well in FF.
I'm in a 10 team league where I know everyone personally and every year someone will host the draft, consisting of an easel, marker, and lots of beer, with each team writing their pick out by hand. We put a 2 minute limit per pick as a general (and friendly, don't be the dude with the stopwatch) guideline to keep things moving. At the end of the draft, pass in your teams to the commissioner, so he/she can upload them onto the site that you are using. Assuming you know everyone well since it's an office pool, this makes the draft, and therefore the league, way more personal and maybe even more competitive. Although this hand written method takes longer (~3-4 hours, compared to 2 hours) I strongly prefer it. Do EXACTLY as Old Crow advised.
League#2 was drafted last night, and I'm a little hungover. I won this one last year, so hopefully I can do it again. 12 teams, no PPR, no keepers, 9th overall pick: QB Kevin Kolb RB Ryan Grant RB\WR DeAngelo Williams RB\WR Cadillac Williams WR Steve Smith CAR WR Greg Jennings TE Vernon Davis D\ST Bengals D K Ron Bironas BE Mike Sims-Walker BE Montario Hardesty BE Lee Evans BE Kevin Smith BE Bernard Berrian BE Ben Rongrastname BE Donnie Avery BE Mewelde Moore I'm pretty happy with my team overall. I originally shied away from DeAngelo in favor of Grant due to the workload differences, but I couldn't pass him up again when he was there in the second. I don't really like the Sims-Walker pick, but I guess time will tell. I did get Cadillac in like the 10th round or so, which I am pretty happy with after hearing that Derrick Ward is on the way out of Tampa. I picked up Roethlisberger late, and I think he will be a consistent alternative late in the season if Kolb doesn't pan out for any reason (like I said in my other league, I'm big on him this year). And then of course, I have to be the dickhead who drafts Lee Evans. Fucker. But yeah, any thoughts are welcome.
You're taking a real gamble at the QB position. Kolb has done absolutely nothing in the NFL, and I guarantee he's either the worst, or humping the bottom rung for starters in your league. Still, for a 12 man league that looks like a solid team. I'd just be prepared to make a trade or get Roethlisberger in action as soon as he makes a return. I agree with what you're saying about Williams/Grant. Williams is definitely the better player, but Grant carries the load for GB. My draft is next Sunday. Because there's no PPR I'm planning to load up on RBs early, and then snag a guy like Romo or Schaub in the 4th round since the noobs in my draft waste picks on their favorite team. I'm curious what people think of Frank Gore and Cedric Benson. Was Benson just a fluke last year? Is Gore at all worth the hype he gets every year? He's only had one season with 10 TDs. I'm not sure he's the elite back fantasy rankings make him out to be, but he might be my best option if I pick late in the first round.
Well, I had my draft today, and overall, I'm pretty pleased with my team. I'm probably in a situation where my team will either be tops in the league or dragging at the rear. My league is a 10 team, 6 pts/TD, 1 pt per 10 yards running/receiving, 1 pt per 30 yards passing, and generally standard scoring from there, no PPR. We play 1 QB, 3 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 Def. I had the 6th pick, which I hate, but today it worked in my favor in the 1st round. My team: QB: Eli Manning - 12th Round RB: Ray Rice - 1st RB: Beanie Wells - 4th RB: Arian Foster - 7th WR: Randy Moss - 2nd WR: Larry Fitzgerald - 3rd WR: Dwayne Bowe - 6th TE: Dallas Clark - 5th K: Matt Prater - 16th Def: Philly - 13th Bench: Brandon Jacobs - 8th Justin Forsett - 9th Devin Hester - 10th Braylon Edwards - 11th Donovan McNabb - 14th Demaryius Thomas - 15th (I've actually already put in a waiver claim to drop him and pick up Bernard Berrian, I was trying to get a Bronco so I have something to cheer for since I have to watch all of their games since I live in Denver) My draft was weird because there was some guy who wanted as many Packer players as possible, so he took Aaron Rodgers with the first overall pick. That's how Ray Rice fell to me, and it set off a really early run on QBs. I was thinking I'd get one of Romo/Brady/Schaub in the 4th round, and Romo and Brady were gone in the 3rd and Schaub went the pick before my 4th round pick. Once those guys were gone, I decided I could wait a while for a QB because I don't think there will be a huge difference between Eli/McNabb and Kolb/Flacco/etc. I figured I'd try for depth so that I can hopefully make a trade for a better QB. I'd appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.
In my experience, we've had live draft parties in one of my leagues every year. For a few years, we did it at a buddy of mine's house. He'd buy several poster boards and draw up a large draft chart and tape them together on his wall. Then, we'd draw draft order from a deck of cards (basically, he'd pull out the ace through the queen, and you'd draw a card to determine draft order, ace picks first, queen last). Then, we'd take turns picking, and each walk up and write our own picks in (like has been mentioned before). Two minute time limit, as was mentioned before, is a good time limit (and be reasonable, too. Don't be a dick screaming if it takes a bit longer, but also don't be that dick that makes everyone wait 10 minutes for you to pick your late-round-possible-sleeper-but-likely-bust pick). As for laptops, they were optional. A few of us had them, and my buddy would give everyone the password to his wireless router, so they could connect to the net and look stuff up if they wanted. Everyone else had cheat sheets and magazines. He'd also pass out paper and pens so everyone could keep track of their own team. For all these years, I was the commissioner, and I would enter the draft picks manually into a spreadsheet on my computer (basically a smaller version of the big draft board), and then enter the results when I got home. I found it easier to keep track of everything if I just made a spreadsheet of my own that I could enter things into as guys made their picks, plus it was easier to read than to try to read everyone else's handwriting. However, I will say that this method only works for me because I am borderline anal-retentive when it comes to organization. The past couple of years, though, we've done it differently. We are having our drafts at Hooters, and they take care of almost everything. Food is taken care of, as you're at a restaurant. They have a draft chart they hang on the wall for you, provide you with stickers of the top players at each position (you're going to have to start writing in names after about the 8th round), but it is SO much easier to do things this way. They even give each guy a sheet with positions and a pen to keep track of your own draft. The only downside is that sitting at a crowded table in a restaurant with a laptop isn't advisable, so you really have to do your prep beforehand and come with a prepared cheat sheet and any magazines or other paper items you might use to draft.
Had my first draft of the year tonight. Standard yahoo scoring except passing TDs are worth 6 points. I had the 7th pick. 1. (7) Michael Turner 2. (18) Aaron Rodgers 3. (31) Cedric Benson 4. (42) Steve Smith (NYG) 5. (55) Mike Sims-Walker 6. (66) Tony Gonzalez 7. (79) Ronnie Brown 8. (90) Malcom Floyd 9. (103) Marion Barber 10. (114)Devin Aromashodu 11. (127) Devin Hester 12. (138) Kyle Orton 13. (151) San Diego 14. (162) Jerome Harrison 15. (175) John Kasay I really like my first two picks, especially Aaron Rodgers with more points for TDs. Not too sure of my WR's, though. I'm going to have to keep on eye on the waiver wire there.
I can't believe Aaron Rodgers fell to you there with that scoring (he went 1st round in my league with 4 pt TDs). Sounds like some people in your league may have made some bad picks. Your WR are definitely your weak spot, if you start two you'll be ok, if you start 3 your games will be won and lost by how your WRs do that week. However, 6pt passing TDs and ARod may make your WRs irrelevant. I just had my draft yesterday. Standard scoring, start QB, 2RB, 3WR, TE, K, D, 12 teams in the league. For being hungover, I don't mind my draft too much (5th pick). I handcuffed Ronnie with Ricky, and figured either Ocho or TO would have a pretty big year. I also screwed up on byes a bit but when you have a pounding headache, you miss details like that. I also have God on my team's side. 1. Frank Gore 2. Roddy White 3. DeSean Jackson 4. Chad Ochocinco 5. Ronnie Brown 6. Ricky Williams 7. Brent Celek 8. Terrell Owens 9. Carson Palmer 10. Arian Foster 11. Philadelphia 12. Kevin Walter 13. Alex Smith 14. Garrett Hartley 15. Tim Tebow
Any advice on how to go about this draft? It is an ESPN, 10 team, QB(1), RB(2), WR(3), WR/RB(1), TE(1), D(1), K(1), BN(5), IR(1). Seems like a lot of starters? QB pts: TD pass(5), 50yds pass(1), INT(-2), RB pts: TD rush(6), 20 yds rush (1), 100+ rush(3) WR pts: TD(6), 20 yds(1), 100+ yds (3) Rest seems pretty standard. Don't know draft order yet, but how would you all go about this?
Find a better league with a normal fucking scoring system. That being said, it's pretty tough to figure out how to draft without knowing where you'll be picking. With the bonuses for big days for RBs and WRs, you probably want to stock up on those with the first few picks, unless you're drafting late and can get one of the elite QBs in the second round. After that, who knows.
My first league drafted yesterday. 6 points for QB TDs. IDPs. .25 PPR. Points for return yardage (enough so to make Josh Cribbs the 11th highest scoring WR last year). Everything else is fairly standard. QB - Matt Schaub RB - Michael Turner RB - DeAngelo Williams WR - Steve Smith (CAR) WR - Hines Ward TE - Chris Cooley W/R - Matt Forte W/R - Josh Cribbs B - Jay Cutler B - Michael Bush B - Clinton Portis B - Kenny Britt B - Chaz Schilens DL - Antwan Odom LB - DeMarcus Ware DB - Eric Weddle B - D'Qwell Jackson
Your other team is much better. I don't like DeAngelo Williams or Ryan Grant and Cadillac is fucking worthless. Excellent WR's and the best TE in fantasy in my opinion, Davis will blow Gates away this year count on it. I have to agree with the previous post's on Kevin Kolb. The two starts he had are not an accurate portrayal of him as a QB. He was behind most of the game against the Saints so you have tons of garbage yards there, the other game was against KC and they are horrific. Many of the Philly radio shows have been pointing out his INT's, if you took his two starts and averaged them out the whole year he would have had 29. Obviously that is a silly was to look at it but if you reduce it by ten he would still have as many INT's as Mark Sanchez. Defenses will be hammering the A gap against Kolb trying to force mistakes, it wouldn't surprise me if he makes them. Still the Eagles could be shitty and he could be throwing the whole game and you could get a Schaub situation which is great for Fantasy. What does everybody think of the relatively unknowns this year? 1. Ryan Mathews 2. Jamal Charles (good year last year but still on KC) 3. Shonn Greene 4. Jahvid Best Who is the flyer this year? If I can't get either of the Johnson's, Fitzgerald or Moss I'm a big fan of Crabtree I think he could breakout this year. Bust of the year: I'm not very high on DeAngelo but I think the true flop will be Knowshon Moreno, no more Mike Shanahan and there is some bad buzz about the line.
While I'm not going to argue about Moreno possibly being the bust of the year, your reasoning is absolutely wrong. Moreno was a rookie last year in McDaniel's first season as the Broncos head coach. Moreno has never been associated with the Broncos while Shanahan was an employee. And even last season, McDaniels implemented a different blocking scheme than Shanahan had, so even though there may have been some carryover in personnel, there was nothing to suggest that Shanahan deserves any credit for Moreno's performance last season (which was very meh anyway). I think Moreno won't do much because McDaniels doesn't stress the running game, just look at New England when he was there. I think Orton could be a surprise for fantasy, kind of like Cassel in 2008, because he has a year of experience in the system, and he's showing a better grasp of it so far this year. I think any of the 4 "unknowns" will make good #2 or #3 backs. Personally, I believe Greene will be tops among the group, but that's because I firmly believe Todd Haley has no clue what he's doing and will tank Charles' progress/performance from the end of last season. Matthews will be the top rookie performer, in my opinion. Best will be the worst of the 4, simply because the Lions don't have the line to support a top fantasy performer.
I wrote that poorly. What I was getting at was the Denver offense is totally different. Shanahan was known (In fantasy circles) as being the coach who could make no names get 1000 yards. Olandis Gary, Mike Anderson, Mike Bell even got 8 TD's with him and you could have started Rueben Droughns a couple weeks as well. My point is sometimes in fantasy it's hard to swallow certain changes, (Baltimore D is no longer the number one defense ect...) one might be that you can't always bank on Denver running backs. Shanahan is long gone, I know he has nothing to do with Moreno but on draft day somebody might slip and draft Moreno because of Denver's "system" which is totally different now.
So if that is the case, we should draft Clinton Portis this year, right? Shanahan is in Washington now, and Portis is the leading candidate to get the starting RB job. Sure, he is old, but he is one year removed from a good season (last year sucked, granted), has been a reliable back in the past, and now has Shanahan as his head coach. However, I'm suspecting that Portis isn't going to be picked until at least round 3 or 4, and likely he'll be picked as a late RB2, but more likely a backup RB. I guess MY point is that, while Shanahan can take young, not-necessarily-that-good RBs and turn them into useful fantasy starters in Denver, can he take old, oft-injured-one-concussion-away-from-retirement RBs and turn them into useful fantasy starters?
Why don't you like Deangelo, or Ryan Grant for that matter? I'm guessing because of Jonathan Stewart. Assuming he doesn't get hurt - and you kind of have to do that for every RB - here's why I think he has a high floor and high ceiling as a late first/mid 2nd round pick: 1) When Deangelo and Stewart played together last year (13 games), Williams outscored him in EVERY game except one- when he got hurt in the first quarter. 2) Stewart topped 100 yards in 4 of his last 5 games when Williams was out. Those defenses ranked 32nd, 6th, 14th, and 26th in YPA allowed. Yes, he is/will be a great player, and can provide value of his own later in the draft, but that doesn't mean that he will take half of Williams' touches 3) Williams is back to full health, Stewart is still getting healthy. If Stewart's injury lingers and he misses any time, Deangelo automatically becomes a top 3 RB. 4) The passing offense got much better when Moore took over as the starter last year, which should keep defenses from completely keying on the running game. (63%, 200yards vs 55%, 180 for Delhomme) 5) Williams is in a contract year, and I doubt Carolina can resign him. I think they will run him ragged, and keep Stewart (relatively) fresh. 6) He's flat out good. Scored 20 TD's 2 years ago, so while Stewart could easily steal some goal line TD's, I think Deangelo will get enough chances inside the 10. Re: Ryan Grant - He's about as much of a sure thing as you can have in fantasy football. Low ceiling, low floor. As a player? Average, at best. But he's in the best situation possible. ONLY legitimate running back on an offense that has a chance to break records. With defenses selling out against their passing attack, he should be running against 6 in the box a lot. GB's o-line is improved, and he will be getting ALL the goal line carries (besides Rodgers scrambling). How does that add up to anything less than 1200+ yards and 10 Tds, worst case? (I wouldn't take him in the first, but I'm going by his ADP of 25). Re: Knowshown Moreno - 100% agree. I think Denver is just a trainwreck of a situation this year. I am also staying away from Beanie Wells (unless he falls past the 4th somehow). With Boldin gone and Leinart looking like a complete bust, I think he has a tough situation. I think he will have some great games this year, but not enough to validate his draft position. 1. Ryan Mathews 2. Jamal Charles (good year last year but still on KC) 3. Shonn Greene 4. Jahvid Best Who is the flyer this year? Depends where you draft them. I think the order goes Mathews/Greene, Charles, then Best, but based on where they're currently being picked, I'm targeting Best for a 2009-Matt Forte/ 2010-Ray Rice year. Detroit has an improved oline and WAY more options (Burleson, Scheffler, CJ full health). When in doubt, draft talent, and Best has it. I think most people are worried about him for 3 reasons: it's Detroit's offense, he's injury prone, and he will split time with Kevin Smith. Except: I think Detroit's offense will be MUCH improved, he's been more unlucky than injury prone, and most importantly, he's been taking 80+% of the first team reps. Not to mention he's dangerous in the open field, and Stafford will check down to him a decent amount of the time (for PPR). As far as value picks (I've seen him last til the 6th or 7th), it could pay off huge. Other value picks based on the draft position where they seem to be falling: Ahmad Bradshaw - Super talented, a star if Jacobs gets hurt (again), and I think he will be starting by week 6 regardless of Jacobs' health. Lasting til 7th round or later Jermichael Finley - You will pay a decent amount to get him (5th rounder, 6th at best) but the other elite TE's usually go in the 3rd and 4th, and I think he has a great great chance to be the #1 TE. He was Rodgers favorite target the 2nd half of last season, especially in the red zone. I think he has a chance to be the #1 GB receiver - ahead of Jennings - on what should be a ridiculous offense. If you want a top TE but don't want to take one where Gates/Clark/Davis are going, he's your guy.
Even when I am not a commissioner (I'm the commish of 2 leagues this year) I still have to play caretaker to some leagues silly decisions. Case in point: I am joining up with my little brother's league this year. I did this league two years ago, and it was almost completely standard scoring. I skipped it last year, but rejoined this year. I sign up, and what do I see for scoring? .25 points per completion 25 passing yards per point (1 point at 300 yards, 2 points at 350, and 3 points at 400) 6 point passing TDs 10 rushing yards per point (2 points at 100 yards, 2 points at 150 yards, 3 points at 200 yards) 6 point rushing TDs .5 points per reception 20 receiving yards per point (2 points at 100 yards, 3 points at 200 yards) 6 points per receiving TDs QBs are INSANELY overvalued, followed by RBs. WRs, meanwhile (and especially TEs) are WAY undervalued, even with PPR. Finally, he only has 4 playoff teams for a 12 team league. My feeling is that the playoffs should be at LEAST 6 teams, if not 8. The problem with only 4 teams is that if a team starts slow, they have very little chance of catching up later and they give up, and become a dead team. Nothing annoys me more than a dead team. With 8 teams making the playoffs, at least a team that starts 0-4 still has something to play for, as they can turn around and win a few in a row and be right back into contention for a playoff spot, even if it is a shitty one against the top team. I'm just so confused, I know this guy has been the commissioner of his league for the past 2 years, but is this REALLY how they scored their league last year? And last year, they only had 8 teams. 8 teams, with that scoring... I can only imagine the kind of point totals teams were putting up last year. On the bright side, he is very receptive to changing things. He admitted that scoring got out of hand last year, and he really wants to reign it in, especially with QBs. I'm hoping to talk him into some more reasonable scoring at the draft (i.e. remove points per completion, change playoff teams to 8, lower receiving yards per point, make receiving and rushing yards equal in terms of bonuses). On the brighter side, I think there are really only two guys in this league that really know their shit, so I have a feeling I should easily walk away with some money at the end of this thing.