2nd to last round. I'd say 90% of the time, he shouldn't even be drafted before the last round.
Know your leagues scoring system before your draft. Every league is different and therefore different positions hold different value. Also, how many starters at each position are vital to your stategy.
I always try to limit my risk in the first few rounds. I'll stick to guys that have a history of success rather than the next breakout star.
I never draft for balance. You have plenty of time to fill in positions via trades and waiver wire. Draft the most points(obviously based on value and your rankings) and worry about filling those holes later in the draft with potential or later in the season via trades and wire.
Make your own. Its not rocket science, look at what dudes did last season, the season before if they are coming off injuries, factor in age, roster changes, coaching changes, offensive system, all that stuff, over the off season and preseason, and make final tweaks in the last couple weeks of the preseason. Why would dudes be better or worse than they were in the previous season? Have they added another WR opposite the one you are looking at? Will that help or hurt their #s? Stuff like that. Start early and keep at it as things change in the off season and preseason. Im ready for next Sunday.
...closing the gap on the top RBs in terms of points, so with as deep as the league at WR, there's no reason not to come away with at least 3 that will score a lot of points.
There's just not a lot of the dependable, perennial 1,300+ yard, 12+ TD RBs anymore and most of the guys at the top are injury risks too. I tend to look a little more down the list for guys that will catch a lot of balls. For example - I got Reggie Bush in the 5th round last year as my RB2, and while he tailed off toward the end, he made up for the lack of TDs with catches. That enabled me to get 3 bonafide #1 WRs, which along with TY Hilton who I got much later, I more or less ran the run-and-shoot all year and cleaned up.
I also tend to take a backup QB earlier than most as well. Make's great trade-bait mid season as well as injury protection.
There's no one strategy that wins. You have to get the best value out of your picks. The biggest mistake people make is they look at the holes they need to fill and reach for players to fill them in the mid rounds. Those are the rounds where you can get way more value and a lot of people don't.
Making tiers is crucial. It helps a lot. And don't let the yahoo (or whichever site your league is) rankings sway you much. It's really just a very loose guide.
your draft to the scoring system and don't be overly concerned about bye weeks. if you have a chance at a talented player draft him no matter what his bye week is. Talent should be the first priority.
If this is a money league? Scratch that, but if it's a league amongst friends with no money involved, draft who you have no trouble cheering for. I, for instance, have not drafted Anthony Romo or Thomas Brady in any league, EVER! I just despise them both so much. This season I drafted nicks because as sore as I am for losing him, he is a good kid and I want him to do well, so I threw him on my team since he is no longer on my TEAM... FF is far more fun when your excitement does not live at the same time as your rage
to emphasize a stud TE. If you can get WR/RB numbers out of that one position every week while nearly everyone else is lucky to have it break double digits, you've got an advantage.
Our league is weird in that RB's take a backseat to WR's and, especially, QB's. The top ten scorers in my league are almost always all QB's, and I've found myself stockpiling good WR's while everyone else snatches up RB's out of some weird obligation.
If this is a money league? Scratch that, but if it's a league amongst friends with no money involved, draft who you have no trouble cheering for. I, for instance, have not drafted Anthony Romo or Thomas Brady in any league, EVER! I just despise them both so much. This season I drafted nicks because as sore as I am for losing him, he is a good kid and I want him to do well, so I threw him on my team since he is no longer on my TEAM... FF is far more fun when your excitement does not live at the same time as your rage
not to draft NFC East divisional rivals. But I use that as more of a tie-breaker than an all-out rule. For example, I'd be an idiot not to draft LeSean McCoy if he's still available at the 5th pick. But if my pick was McCoy vs. Charles vs. Peterson, I'd use the divisional tiebreaker. Just makes rooting on Sunday for fantasy much more enjoyable.
And I have a damn strong record in fantasy (cough cough defending Champ in my 14 team big-money league cough cough) so this method hasn't really hurt me at all. I'm not going to be stupid about it and never draft an opposing NFC East player, but it's definitely something I take into account.
I don't really have a formal plan, I adjust according to the flow of the draft. Just reading BBI, I guess one thing I am a bigger proponent of than most is securing that RB1. But that's mainly because I'm in a 14 team league and I feel like the bigger the league, the more important it is to grab a RB in the 1st couple of rounds. I know that there is always a sleeper stud RB on the waivers, I'm not talking about RB2s and RB3s.
And I've always been a "draft DEF + K" at the very end kind of guy, but this year I've actually been targeting the Seahawks DEF. I wouldn't take them too early but I feel like they're a more valuable asset than a WR3 or RB3. You can find good Flex type guys on waivers over the year, you can't find a Top 5 D. The Hawks D is the only D I'd consider taking relatively early though. There doesn't seem to be another safe-bet to be elite D this year with the declines of San Fran and Carolina.
and not just go by the board, especially at RB. If you follow fantasy, the board is well engrained in you, even if you don't want it to be. But really, around have of the top 20 RBs are going to be disappointments. Even if you have to go a "tier down", it's worth it to get your guy, so you're not sitting there all year kicking yourself for something you "knew".
Last year I got roasted in 2 drafts for picking Knowshon Moreno in the mid-rounds (a few rounds earlier than projections). But I believed in it, I really wanted him, and it worked. The other side was that I picked Ray Rice in the 1st in one draft ("board") when I had a strong feeling that McCoy was going to be really good. And I was pissed about it all year. It doesn't always work - I thought Hakeem Nicks would have a huge year and I picked him in both my money leagues. But at least I owned it.
Last night I had Zak Stacy sitting there as the "best available" and I don't believe in him at all, so I picked a WR instead. It might work, might not - but it's mine and I own it.
If you have the 6th pick and the guy you like best is 10 on "the board" and has no chance to get back to you - just pick him even if people will call it a "reach". It's not a reach if he won't get back to you.
Reason being the drop off from an injured wr to the backups is huge
The drop off from a starting rb to backup rb is very little.
Plus rbs are injured more.
I see it every year, i save my pick ups and creep up the waiver wire and snag a rb from a good offense when the starter goes down.
I go first four rounds wrs nearly every year.
Then pick Eli with the last pick in the draft.
lol
A back up qb or tight end. In all likelihood you will only be using these players once and aren't worth the roster spots. I also like to go qb or wr in the first as opposed to the conventional rb
This year, I wound up crossing them out when picked and I feel it helps me anticipate trends better (you won't be picking a TE too early and be stuck scrambling for a QB late).
Biggest part of the season is picking up players. You need to adjust to how your team is doing and looking on waiver wire for players. Give up on Hakeem Nicks if he isn't getting it done for a few weeks.
Know your leagues scoring system before your draft. Every league is different and therefore different positions hold different value. Also, how many starters at each position are vital to your stategy.
I always try to limit my risk in the first few rounds. I'll stick to guys that have a history of success rather than the next breakout star.
There's just not a lot of the dependable, perennial 1,300+ yard, 12+ TD RBs anymore and most of the guys at the top are injury risks too. I tend to look a little more down the list for guys that will catch a lot of balls. For example - I got Reggie Bush in the 5th round last year as my RB2, and while he tailed off toward the end, he made up for the lack of TDs with catches. That enabled me to get 3 bonafide #1 WRs, which along with TY Hilton who I got much later, I more or less ran the run-and-shoot all year and cleaned up.
I also tend to take a backup QB earlier than most as well. Make's great trade-bait mid season as well as injury protection.
The key is finding that break out performer at WR.
Making tiers is crucial. It helps a lot. And don't let the yahoo (or whichever site your league is) rankings sway you much. It's really just a very loose guide.
Our league is weird in that RB's take a backseat to WR's and, especially, QB's. The top ten scorers in my league are almost always all QB's, and I've found myself stockpiling good WR's while everyone else snatches up RB's out of some weird obligation.
Anthony Romo? Thomas Brady?
Really?
And I have a damn strong record in fantasy (cough cough defending Champ in my 14 team big-money league cough cough) so this method hasn't really hurt me at all. I'm not going to be stupid about it and never draft an opposing NFC East player, but it's definitely something I take into account.
I don't really have a formal plan, I adjust according to the flow of the draft. Just reading BBI, I guess one thing I am a bigger proponent of than most is securing that RB1. But that's mainly because I'm in a 14 team league and I feel like the bigger the league, the more important it is to grab a RB in the 1st couple of rounds. I know that there is always a sleeper stud RB on the waivers, I'm not talking about RB2s and RB3s.
And I've always been a "draft DEF + K" at the very end kind of guy, but this year I've actually been targeting the Seahawks DEF. I wouldn't take them too early but I feel like they're a more valuable asset than a WR3 or RB3. You can find good Flex type guys on waivers over the year, you can't find a Top 5 D. The Hawks D is the only D I'd consider taking relatively early though. There doesn't seem to be another safe-bet to be elite D this year with the declines of San Fran and Carolina.
Last year I got roasted in 2 drafts for picking Knowshon Moreno in the mid-rounds (a few rounds earlier than projections). But I believed in it, I really wanted him, and it worked. The other side was that I picked Ray Rice in the 1st in one draft ("board") when I had a strong feeling that McCoy was going to be really good. And I was pissed about it all year. It doesn't always work - I thought Hakeem Nicks would have a huge year and I picked him in both my money leagues. But at least I owned it.
Last night I had Zak Stacy sitting there as the "best available" and I don't believe in him at all, so I picked a WR instead. It might work, might not - but it's mine and I own it.
If you have the 6th pick and the guy you like best is 10 on "the board" and has no chance to get back to you - just pick him even if people will call it a "reach". It's not a reach if he won't get back to you.
The drop off from a starting rb to backup rb is very little.
Plus rbs are injured more.
I see it every year, i save my pick ups and creep up the waiver wire and snag a rb from a good offense when the starter goes down.
I go first four rounds wrs nearly every year.
Then pick Eli with the last pick in the draft.
lol
makes will be his first" .[ a month ago]
Now I'm beginning to think we were both wrong. He keeps lobbing them to Washington to win games at the end. :-]
makes will be his first" .[ a month ago]
Now I'm beginning to think we were both wrong. He keeps lobbing them to Washington to win games at the end. :-]
This year, I wound up crossing them out when picked and I feel it helps me anticipate trends better (you won't be picking a TE too early and be stuck scrambling for a QB late).
Biggest part of the season is picking up players. You need to adjust to how your team is doing and looking on waiver wire for players. Give up on Hakeem Nicks if he isn't getting it done for a few weeks.