Tuesday, August 28, 2012

GHL Fantasy Football Draft Results

Why hello there.

Had three big drafts this weekend, three different styles of fantasy football. I am pretty stoked about how they all turned out. I think I'm in line for a decent year of fantasy football.

On Saturday, I stupidly had two scheduled for the same time. One league has a unique scoring system and outline, including IDP (individual defensive players). The other was a 10-team auction. So for about two hour I juggled between two different player ranking sheets, fumbled through a couple notebooks and was constantly looking back and forth on NFL and ESPN.com. A pretty brilliant way to spend an evening.

Sunday night was another draft. Pretty standard league. .5 points per reception. .2 points per completion.

So this is your time to critique me. Let me know what you like, what you don't like. How you think everything will pan out. Don't hesitate to ask any questions about your own lineup, or questions that you may have for upcoming drafts.

(Next week I will be starting my regular season writeups. So far, I haven't put much thought into the weekly rankings for Week 1. I assure you, they will come. And there will be another Advice Time post, so kindly hold your questions til then.)




League 1
(So Fly Like Hakeem Nicks)

Starting Lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, K, DL, LB, LB, DB, DB
The bench has requirements that mirror the starting lineup. For example, you must have one QB on the bench, must have one Kicker on the bench, must have two linebackers on the bench, etc.

Set-Up: 10-team. PPR league, bonus for large yardage games. Defensively, tackles and sacks are very highly rewarded. Essentially, your defensive players make or break your team.

Draft Position: Number 5

Strategy: Grab a running back first, then best players available. Get a second RB in the top four. Wait on quarterback until most starting spots are full. Be the first to get a linebacker (I was the second, and the first to have both LB slots filled). Be the first to get DB. 

My Lineup: (draft position in parentheses)
QB Jay Cutler (9) Backup QB Josh Freeman (18)
RB1 Chris Johnson (1) Backup RB Shonn Greene (11)
RB2 Fred Jackson (5) Backup RB Kevin Smith (16)
WR1 Greg Jennings (3) Backup WR Pierre Garcon (12)
WR2   Hakeem Nicks (4) Backup WR      Titus Young (19)          
TE Rob Gronkowski (2)           Backup TE Kyle Rudolph (23)
K Matt Prater (22) Backup K Alex Henery (24)
DL Ahtyba Rubin (10) Backup DL Haloti Ngata (15)
LB Chad Greenway (6) Backup LB Karlos Dansby (14)
LB Curtis Lofton (7) Backup LB Pat Angerer (20)
DB1 Tyvon Branch (8) Backup DB Dawan Landry (17)
DB2 Antoine Bethea (13) Backup DB Kyle Arrington (21)

Turns out I was very happy with this one. I feel that my defense is the best in the league. I would have liked stronger starting receivers, but both are solid. There were a lot of surprise picks that threw me off my game a bit. I do think that I reached on Cutler, but I wanted to be sure that I had a QB with at least top-8 potential.


League 2
Team Name: The Token Blackmon

Starting Lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, TE, FLEX, K, DEF
Seven bench spots

Set-Up: 10-team. Standard Scoring Auction League.

Draft Position: Auction ($200)

Strategy: Nominate expensive players that I don't really want early. Later, when everyone is mostly out of money, nominate players that I want. List a few players I know that I want and get them. Spend $160 on starters. $40 for backups. Try to be the last person to win a player, and the first person to be finished. Own no players for only $1.

My Lineup: (Dollar amount in parentheses)
QB Tony Romo ($13) Bench Matt Ryan ($8)
RB1 DeMarco Murray ($33) Bench Steve Johnson ($12)
RB2 Chris Johnson ($41) Bench Kevin Smith ($8)
WR1 Marques Colston ($12) Bench Denarius Moore ($6)
WR2 Victor Cruz ($19) Bench Jared Cook ($2)
TE Jermichael Finley ($10)             Bench Michael Bush ($10)
FLEX Brandon Lloyd ($15) Bench Santonio Holmes ($4)      
K Dan Bailey ($1)               
DEF Houston Texans ($2)



For the most part, it went as I planned it to. Got two great quarterbacks for half of what people paid for Rodgers, Brees and Brady. Love my starting running backs. Feel that I have a good WR corp that I got for cheap. Wish that I had passed on Finley and waited for a cheaper TE, so I could have had maybe a stronger starting receiver. Overall, I'm happy with it.



League 3
Team Name: Weeden't Start the Fire

Starting Lineup: QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, RB/WR, TE, FLEX, K, DEF
Six bench spots

Set-Up: 10-team. .5 PPR. .2 per completion. Bonus scoring for high yardage games. Flex can be RB/WR/TE

Draft Position: Pick 7

Strategy: Hated being number 7. Hope for a top tier RB to fall to me in first two rounds. WRs in mid rounds. Late on quarterback. Get Antonio Gates at any price. Use Shuffling Defense strategy and get a defense with great Week 1 matchup. Kicker last. Fill bench with sleepers.


My Lineup: (Draft position in parentheses)
QB Philip Rivers (7) Bench Michael Bush (9)
RB1 DeMarco Murray (3) Bench Lance Moore (10)
RB2 Steven Jackson (4) Bench Nate Washington (11)     
WR1 Calvin Johnson (1) Bench Matt Schaub (12)
WR2 Larry Fitzgerald (2) Bench Rashad Jennings (13)
WR/RB    Dwayne Bowe (6) Bench Greg Olsen (14)
TE Antonio Gates (5)

FLEX Pierre Garcon (8)            

K Matt Prater (16)               
DEF Detroit Lions (15)



First rounds did not go nearly as planned. Top five RBs were gone in the first six picks, so I opted for Calvin Johnson. Lynch and Forte were gone in the early 2nd round, so I decided I might as well have the top two WRs in the fantasy football rankings. I was lucky and had Murray fall to me in the 3rd and Steven Jackson fall to me in the fourth. Then took Gates.
Turns out, this team looks a lot like a 2010 Fantasy Football All-Star team. But I'm OK with that. Wish my flex was better, but I think Nate Washington will actually step it up with all of the Britt troubles. And I was sure to snatch Jennings in case MJD doesn't come back any time soon.


25 comments:

  1. I'm finally back! Haven't been able to do much with fantasy football this summer due to some major health issues with my father. Had to do some major cramming (including reading everything on GHL, of course!) to prepare for my first draft, but I think it came out okay. This is a pretty standard league with .5 PPR. Here's how I ended up:


    QB: Big Ben, Cutler (top QBs went way too early, so I waited)
    RB: Forte, Richardson, McGahee, Spiller
    WR: White, Harvin, A. Brown, Burleson, Crabtree
    TE: Gronk, Tamme (Got a hunch about Manning/Tamme)
    D/ST: GB
    K: Hanson


    I think I whiffed a bit on RBs, but by the time my pick (9 of 10) rolled around there wasn't much left that I trusted. The 1st round was all RBs and QBs, except the guy before me grabbed Megatron. In the late rounds, had a choice between Burleson and Titus Young and couldn't make up my mind, so I went with my gut on Burleson. Hope that doesn't bite me, but I'm not gonna use him unless someone goes down anyway. In all honesty, the thing that scares me the most about this draft was that Yahoo awarded me Best Draft in my league based on projected points. I don't take that as an accomplishment, since I have no faith in the computer's projected points.


    I have an important question about my other league. This is the league I started last year and I am commissioner. None of us has ever played in a keeper league, so we're trying it out this year. I allowed everyone to keep up to 2 players (or none) from last year, but those players count as their 1st and/or 2nd round picks. I was planning on running the draft order based on last year's finish, with the champion getting last pick. Which do you think is most fair? Should I still use a snaking format, or should I use the same positions for every round (ala NFL)?

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  2. Sorry, almost forgot to comment on your drafts. Can't say much about #1, since it is a format I haven't played and I don't now the ins and outs. Love #2, but agree with you on Finley being too expensive (he really burned me last year, mostly because Rodgers spreads it around so much). As I said in my other post, I have a feeling about Tamme this year, based on his chemistry with Manning in 2010 (old news, I know, but you know Peyton loves his TEs). Not bad on #3, considering the draft position, and loving the MegaFitz!

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  3. Have Kenny Britt (last round pick) and could pick up
    Alshon Jeffery before season starts , whats your thoughts?

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  4. I can only speak to the last one. I would say it is OK to better than average. Do not like Murray because he has no history to look at so he is a Gamble with a 3rd round pick. I do not like Bowe because he will never get 15 TDs again but he is fine for a WR3. Fitzgerald isn't going to be a star just solid (which is actually a testament to how good he really is). Rivers will be a second tier starter which is fine. Megatron will be a star. Jackson is a steal at 4 but he is only a legit RB2 and not a true RB1. Garcon seems to be set up well for a good season but without a big track history and a rookie QB (even if he is a potential Newton) you can't be sure of anything. Bush, Moore and Washington or fine bye week filler. I agree with the Lions but not Prater.

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  5. Also, I do not understand why you wasted bench spots with a QB and a TE.

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  6. It looks good to me. I think your starting RBs are solid. I'd have opted for Young over Burleson, but that remains to be seen. Anyone's guess really. I like the team you came up with. Don't let Yahoo scare you.

    Keeper league I would use a snake draft still. If it wasn't, that wouldn't be fair to the top teams of the previous season. The only time I would do it like the NFL is if it were a dynasty league, and you were really only choosing from FAs and Rookies, rather than a large pool of players.

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  7. Thanks. I think I'll have to make MegaFitz my catchphrase for the season.

    Tamme is a good sleeper, but he is going in drafts... My favorite sleepers that are going undrafted would have to be Greg Olsen and Kyle Rudolph

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  8. Britts situation is very weird.. but I say you have to stick to him. If it wasn't for the injury/off field issue, then he would have been a top WR pick. And when he does come back, he could very well perform like one and return to the form he was in last year. I just don't think that is worth giving up for Jeffrey.

    Keep your eye on Jeffrey, I'm sure he is off most people's radar. But I'd keep Britt, he'll be a great asset once he's back.

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  9. Gracias. Like I said... I'm the 2010 all-star team.

    Murray is my biggest concern. I am really gambling that he will stay healthy. That is why I always preach taking RBs in the first two rounds. Also wish my backup RB was stronger.

    Lions will be hard to give up, but I think it will for SDS. I like Prater. I think Manning will give him a lot of opportunities and mile high is a very nice place to kick the ball. We'll see. Its only a 10-team league, so there are more than enough capable backups on the bench if he doesn't pan out.

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  10. The flex spot can be filled by a tight end, so in this league I really treated the TE like a receiver. I liked the upside of Olsen more than the WRs on the board. I think he could turn in a killer year and perhaps even fill my flex spot.

    As for the QB... I don't really know. It is pretty out of character for me to run with two quarterbacks. He just fell really late and I thought at the moment that having a top backup might help, just in case. Don't know why I was so cautious in this one.

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  11. Hi, I just had the 9th overall pick in a 10 team standard scoring league
    with spots as follows: QB, RB, RB, RB/WR, WR, WR, TE, D/ST, K, BE, BE,
    BE, BE, BE, BE, BE

    My team went like this with the round in parens

    QB- Matt Staff. (2)

    RB1- Chris Johnson (1)

    RB2- Steven Jackson (4)

    RB/WR- Doug Martin (7)

    WR- Julio Jones (3)

    WR- Miles Austin (5)

    TE- Gates (6)

    D/ST- Bears (11)

    K- D. Akers (15)

    BE- Eric Decker (8)

    BE- Cedric Benson (9)

    BE- Titus Young (10)

    BE- L. Blount (12)

    BE- Bernard Scott (13)

    BE- Brandon LaFell (14)

    BE- Mike Williams (16)



    I'm pretty happy with my draft except for my computer froze on my 5th
    and 13th round pick so it autopicked me Austin and B. Scott. How do you
    think this will turn out?

    Also any trades you think I should make to strengthen something?

    And anyone I should drop B. Scott for? Russel WIlson? Greg Olson? Robert Turbin? K. Hunter?



    THANKS SO MUCH

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  12. I have a question about my draft tomorrow morning that I'm almost ashamed to ask. (I tweeted this, but thought I'd give a better explanation here.) This is the keeper league I asked about earlier in this thread. I went ahead and made it snaking as you suggested and the order is based on last season's standings, which makes me 7th of 8 (we lost 2 managers this year). I chose to only keep McCoy, since I didn't think my other players were worth a 2nd round pick. As it turns out, I am the only manager who did not keep 2 players, so I actually get to pick 1st! (Then not again until 7th of the 3rd round.) Because of the non-returning managers, both Arian Foster and Aaron Rodgers are available. I'm torn on which to choose! Since I already have McCoy, should I pass on Foster and grab Rodgers? Or is the Foster/McCoy combo too good to pass up? When my 2nd pick comes up, I will likely have Murray, Richardson, SJax, FJax, Sproles, and maybe AP to choose from if I don't take Foster. For QBs, Brady, Stafford, Vick, E. Manning, and Rivers are already off the table, which means most of my competition will not need a QB, but I know for a fact that Rodgers will be gone if I pass on him because of one player who will be autodrafting for sure.

    (Full disclosure, the league is 0.5PPR and the weekly roster is QB, RB1, RB2, RB/WR, WR1, WR2, WR/TE, TE, K, D/ST)

    As I type this, I'm thinking I have to go with Foster, but Rodgers is so tempting!

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  13. Wow. Just finished my second draft (the keeper league) and I think I understand the term "embarrassment of riches." The fact that it was only 8 teams helped. Took Foster with my early pick, as discussed. Only 2 other teams besides mine needed a starting QB, so when Brees was grabbed right before my 2nd pick, I thought I could easily wait a couple rounds and grab Newton or even Peyton. Wrong. For some reason, people started grabbing backup QBs as early as round 4. Weird. But I waited and kept grabbing WRs and RBs. Waited really long on TE too, but the WR/RB crop was too good to pass up! Here's how I ended up. (0.5PPR,
    weekly roster is QB, RB1, RB2, RB/WR, WR1, WR2, WR/TE, TE, K, D/ST)

    QB: Big Ben, Cutler (exact same as other league)
    RB: Foster, McCoy, Sproles, D. Wilson, K. Smith
    WR: Green, Marshall, Harvin, A. Brown, T. Young, Britt
    TE: Tamme
    D/ST: Houston
    Kicker: Hanson

    My biggest challenge will be deciding who to bench. Guess I shouldn't complain! On a side note, Yahoo awarded Best Draft to my wife, who was on autodraft. Her team has 4 Packers players (Rodgers, Jennings, Nelson, and Finley).

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  14. Hey can you tell me how my draft looks, just had it last night. .5 points per completion for QB's, and -.5 per incompletion, and we can start a 2nd QB in the Flex spot. Also it is PPR , 1 point per reception. I had first pick-

    QB-Aaron Rodgers (1)
    RB- Matt Forte (2)
    RB- Fred Jackson (3)
    WR1- Jordy Nelson(4)
    WR2- Demaryious Thomas (6)
    WR3- Steve Smith (7)
    FLEX- Phillip Rivers (5)
    TE- Tony Gonzalez(9)
    K- Janikowski
    D- seattle (plan to rotate defenses per week based on matchup

    MY bench -
    Peyton Hillis
    Roy Helu
    Isaac Redman
    Sidney Rice
    Greg Little
    Kellen Winslow

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  15. Looks good to me. I agree with your thinking on everything. Austin is hobbled, if he is healthy it could turn out to be a good pick. No way to tell what he'll be able to do on Wednesday though. The hamstring scares me. I'll have my rankings for Week one soon, but I would maybe consider putting Decker in his place.

    Agree that Scott should be dropped. Kendall Hunter would be nice if you want the sleeper. Backup QB might be a good idea too, as a "Just in Case" because of STafford's injury history.

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  16. Sorry I couldn't get to this! I'm excited to hear what you did though. I'd have gone with Foster and hoped for Brady to come to me at my next pick.

    Let me know how it turned out.

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  17. This is a disgustingly deep WR group. Very good draft. And honestly, for where he is being drafted. Big Ben could turn out to be a big sleeper. They have hardly any running game, and two awesome receivers. I think they could pass it a ton. Unfortunately his O-Line took a big hit. So Sack numbers will be high once again.

    Leave it to Yahoo to rank and auto-draft in first place. Haha. Enjoy watching all the packers games this year.

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  18. Dont know how to judge the points per completion/incompletion thing.. but I would imagine that Rodgers be the best QB in that ranking system as well. Though he doesnt throw nearly as many passes as Brady or Brees.

    Great idea getting a great second QB for the flex. He'll pass a lot and get some good numbers for you, I'm sure.

    Honestly don't know how I feel about your WR set. Jordy is nice. I'm worried about Thomas only because I think Decker could wind up with more than him, but we'll see. If Peyton has some juice left, Thomas could be a very proficient deep threat. Also a little weary about Smith. He slowed at the end of last year when teams started to figure out Newton... hopefully they can start the same way they did last year. I would like to see stronger bench WRs than Rice and Little. But that is just the nature of the draft sometimes.

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  19. The results are the ones I shared in my other post (where you said I had a "
    disgustingly deep WR group"). I agree it's ridiculously deep, but I couldn't help myself. :) The list of QBs I mentioned above were all keepers, so the only elite QB I had a shot at was Brees. I had a plan of attack that if Brees was taken, I'd grab a WR1 out of a pool of Marshall, Green, White, Jones, Nelson, or Jennings, then grab my RB3 as either FJax or Sproles, then hope that I could grab Harvin and Brown or possibly Decker. Brees went on the pick just before mine, so I took Marshall at the end of the 3rd, and decided to gamble on the swing back and grab Green, since I already had 2 top RBs. Fjax, went before my next pick, so I grabbed Sproles immediately and then Brown and figured I was set. Was going to pick up P. Manning, but the guy who grabbed Brees took him, too, so I stayed with the "best available" strategy. Couldn't believe Harvin fell to me in the 7th. I got Ben in the 10th and Cutler in the 14th (of 16 total rounds).

    I really can't believe my luck. I'm weakest at QB and TE, but I'm not that worried. In this league last year, Harvin finished 3rd overall in scoring for WRs and I landed him in the 7th. Sproles was the 3rd overall for RBs (less than a point behind McCoy) and I have him, McCoy, AND Foster. Not too bad.

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  20. hey ghl! what do you think of this 10 team, standard scoring league draft? i had the 7th pick:
    QB's: M. Ryan and A. Luck
    RB's: J. Charles, S. Jackson, BJGE, D. Brown, Ryan Williams
    WR's: C. Johnson, J. Jones, M. Colston, D. Thomas, T. Young, S. Rice
    TE: J. Tamme
    D/ST: Seahawks
    K: Janikowski


    P. Hillis was taken the pick before me so i took Thomas, and I had a few other players that i wanted come close to me but then get picked. Still some great players available as free agents (J. Rodgers, I. Pead, M. Floyd, A. Jeffrey...any of them over Rice??). Overall i think i'm pretty happy with my team. Didn't know whether to go with MJD, Brees, or Megatron 7th but i had calvin last year and i love the guy (how can you not) so i just went with him. I like M. Ryan this year a lot and i think Luck has great potential too. Let me know what you think of my team!

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  21. Had my big money league draft tonight. 3rd pick in a 12 team standard:


    QB: Rivers
    RB: Rice
    RB: FJax
    WR: Julio Jones
    WR: Lloyd
    R/W/T: R. Jennings
    TE: Gates
    K: Gostkowski
    Def: Atlanta


    Bench:
    Russell Wilson
    Mark Ingram
    Kenny Britt
    Sidney Rice
    Denarius Moore
    Greg Olsen


    I'm not in love with my Rivers/Gates tandem, but QB's and RB's went off the board crazy early. And they can't really go down from last year. And I only need Jennings play ably against Minnesota this week so I can begin to slot in some crazy upside WR's in the flex.

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  22. Looks good. I have Rice over everyone that you mentioned. Not many receivers for Wilson to go to in Seattle. Rice could be a nice steal.

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  23. I'd be pretty thrilled about Rivers/Gates. If I'm not mistaken, I have the same duo in one of my leagues. They are going to hook up a lot, in my opinion, and you will reap double the benefits of it.

    After this week, your Flex could be trouble, but you have a great list of sleepers, one of them is bound to step up.

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  24. Had my first 2 QB league draft (2Q, 2W, 2R, 1T, 1WRT, 1K, 1D) tonight (late start, going to play weeks 2-15, playoffs 16-17), 8 teams standard. 4th Pick. Went a little handcuff crazy (sick of RBs going down from last season) and have weaker WR than I wanted, but otherwise, I think I did OK.

    QB: Stafford (3), Romo (4), Schaub (10)
    WR: Dez (8), Demaryius (9), Maclin (11), Meachem (14)
    RB: Foster (1), Martin (5), Mathews (6), FJax (7), Spiller (12), Tate (13),
    TE: Graham (2)
    K: Bryant (16)
    D: NE (15)

    Should I do a rotating D? Any suggestions on WR improvements, etc.?

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  25. I'd rotate defense, and start by getting someone other than NE. WRs look good, if there are still some good ones in free agency, you could go after them by dropping Spiller. I think you're fine as is though.

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