Jump to content

CoreyDRoberts

Members
  • Content Count

    56
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Community Reputation

0 Neutral

About CoreyDRoberts

  • Rank
    FF Geek
  • Birthday 12/09/1977

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://majorleaguefantasysports.com
  • Yahoo
    cdrob12000
  • Skype
    m.l.f.sports

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Indianapolis, IN
  • Interests
    Major League Fantasy Sports is a collection of passionate fantasy football, baseball, and basketball leagues. We have been around since 2007 and we not only run our own realistic style professional leagues, but we also have our own website with a large group of writers that give our unique analysis of fantasy baseball, basketball, and football. What makes us different is our scoring and roster formulas that eliminate the statistical arbitrage opportunities (fudging numbers) that is rampant in most fantasy leagues. What we pride ourselves in is we run a truly competitive style of fantasy league that shuns the simulation concept that is common place. Our formulas weight the owners decision making ability which will be the determining factor rather than the blind luck that exists in most leagues. We envision our format as the new version of serious leagues and it will surely be copy catted by others. We also provide in depth analysis that will be more than useful for beginners and we specialize in the under the hood analysis that the more seasoned veteran will look for and appreciate.
  1. 3 teams left. Should have them filled within the next day or two.
  2. For those of you in the fantasy football world that are searching for a new challenge with a more well-rounded scoring and roster model I suggest you give our leagues a look. When I began designing league models back in 2007 I quickly realized that there was a whole lot of blind luck that decided the outcome in many match ups. My goal from that time was to minimize the blind luck impact as much as humanly possible. The way you achieve less of an impact is with depth, proper scoring, and a balanced approach. In a standard or PPR scoring setting losing one player to injury in the first quarter or a late scratch could cost you the week. Especially if it is one of your top players. Chances of success are diminished dramatically. What I have designed is a roster and scoring model that minimizes the impact of events that are out of your control. Also, you will see at the end of the article my scheduling concept that I came up with for 2 of our leagues in 2015 that will speak to the luck of the schedule issue some people complain about. League Model This is one of the first areas that I tinkered with for about 4 years until I had the base foundation I thought would work. I have made maybe one or two changes to that since 2011 based on the flow of the actual sport. After all, as the flow of the sport changes it will change how your leagues will flow. I will list positions below: Offense QB (1) RB (1) WR (2) TE (1) RW (2) WT (1) RWT (1) Now you should notice that there is only one forced starting RB. That is one of the changes I made back in 2015. The 2 back and sometimes 3 back offenses are so prevalent now that it makes no sense to force people to draft running backs like we have in the past. Also, the handful of feature backs that still remain in the sport have their value skyrocketed. If you are lucky enough to land one of the first 5 picks in a snake redraft then everyone else will be left to reach for backs in those massive time shares. Now I realize that in a PPR set up this is a different story, but the running back issue still has major impact. What we decided was to not force you to roll 2 RBs every week, but instead limit it to 1 and allow up to 4. Problem solved. This takes away the overvaluation of the those feature backs and brings it back down to the mean. Also, in our leagues you deploy the 2 back set from any team that uses it. For example: In 2016 I drafted both Freeman and Coleman from Atlanta. I was extremely happy with that result, the ability to do so, and not play roulette in that backfield every week. The flexibility in the roster model is a great tool to help owners dodge potential injury issues and potential bye week issues while keeping the strategy of making the right decisions to win intact. The RB change we made in 2015 is just one example of how we are forward thinking to keep the flow of our contest close to the flow of the actual sport. You may notice once you read below that there is 11 guys on defense and only 9 on offense starting. I have accounted for this in the scoring model. In 2017 there were 8 defensive players in the top 50 overall. Defense DE (2) DT (1) LB (3) CB (2) S (2) ID (1) IDP, also known as “The Game Changer” in fantasy football. I refuse to play in a season long league without IDP. They are so much more fun to play and they add a huge depth tool to help diminish the impact of blind luck scenarios. I began building a formula for IDP leagues back in 2010. I spent 3 seasons tinkering with the scoring approach as well as the roster model. Now what you find out there for IDP leagues is what is called “tackle driven” or “big play driven” for the most part. Tackle driven leagues are basic, boring, and it short changes players at other positions. Strategy for these leagues is simple: draft linebackers. Now I do realize that there are some safties that rack up tackles, but not even in spitting distance of the volume available at LB. Last time I checked coverage safties, corners, and linebackers are a huge part of their defense. Why leave them out? Doesn’t a corner jumping a slant route on 3rd and 4 that knocks the ball to the ground which causes a punt deserve some love? Or is that guy on a team getting blown out and on the field all game with 15 tackles deserve it? Maybe they both deserve some credit and love from the IDP formats. Big play leagues give ridiculous scoring to sacks and turnovers in some cases which again plays well for LBs, but at least this time the guys with their hands in the dirt get some love too. The problem here is the huge point total for sacks and maybe turnovers depending on the league. I will ask a similar question. What is the difference between a CB, LB, or S jumping a route on any down really and knocking the ball down? Now it’s 2 and 10, or 3rd and 7, or 4th and 3, etc. Those plays are just as impactful in a game. I also want to dispel the notion that these plays are not predictable. Nonsense. For example, if I know that X team is likely to work the left side of the field that day, target one of their receivers a lot that day, or pick on a certain player on defense in the pass game I know my cover guys over there will have “opportunity” to make a play. And if they have opportunity for a pass defensed then I have a chance at a pick or maybe a pick 6, and of course a couple of tackles. That is 4 opportunities. Odds are pretty good there especially if the pass defensed is weighted properly. I have heard this excuse so many times I just had to put it to bed. The facts are both Big Play, and Tackle Driven models give too much weight to certain players. There is ZERO balance in the scoring and the depth of the pool is shrunken. MLFF leagues have the unique combination of both approaches which I have constructed through trial and error over the last 9 years. We also score stuffs, tackles for loss, return yardage for fumbles & picks, and lost yardage on sacks, stuffs, and tackles for loss. These are weighted, but not over-weighted. This is a model that allows for all positions on defense to make an impact which helps the depth of the league. We have a balanced approach which makes more of the best players at all positions relevant. I will list last years top 10 by position in our model to give you an example: 2017 LB (5) DE (2) CB (2) DT (1) Special Teams K (1) Bench 8 IR 4 League Details 5 Leagues (4 Keeper, 1 Redraft) 12 Teams per league 5 Keepers (3 Offense, 2 Defense) Trading FAAB (Thursday, Saturday, Sunday) Traditional Head to Head Schedule Play Every One Every Week Schedule Quick note on the keeper leagues. You can keep up to 3 offense and 2 defense. However, you don’t have to keep anyone or you can trade away keepers for picks from another owner. Or trade picks to receive a keeper from another owner. A lot of flexibility. I came up with an idea back in 2015 which has worked very well. You play each team each week. For example, our leagues have 12 teams. So if you end up with the most points you would be 11-0. If you end up with the least you would be 0-11. The luck of the schedule in fantasy football can be quite frustrating to say the least. Ever been in a league where there is a jerk or two the last two weeks of the year that quit? You are fighting for your division, seeding, or just to make it in. Then these 2 teams don’t even show up costing you perhaps a division, a playoff spot, or God forbid the 1 seed. This scheduling concept nullifies that. If they quit the last two weeks everyone will get a win which eliminates any negative effect on the standings. The other luck part that is eliminated is the bye week warrior. This is the guy that always seems to play the better teams when they are having a heavy bye week. This is a non issue in this format. Everyone will play each other on heavy bye weeks, thus nullifying the bye week warrior effect. League Links The teams marked “no owner” are the teams available. MLFF2 (Keeper, Traditional Schedule) (FILLED) MLFF3 (Keeper, Play Everyone) (FILLED) MLFF4 (Keeper, Play Everyone) (FILLED) MLFFC (Redraft, Traditional Schedule) (2 Left) Interested? Thank you for taking your time to read this description of our football leagues. If you are interested in learning more contact me directly at majorleaguefantasysports@gmail.com and we can discuss further. P.S. To view the teams set up a dummy account with Fantrax to view them if are not a user or you can email me and I can send you the rosters so you can view.
  3. When I started playing fantasy football back in 2004 I won my league and quickly became addicted to it. However, after about 3 years of playing in standard leagues I quickly became bored with the setup. I also didn’t like the degree of blind luck that exists in those standard structures. I do realize there will be a degree of blind luck at times in anything we do in life, let alone fantasy football. So in 2007 I began to build new league formulas to help minimize the blind luck and maximize the skill of decision-making. Our scoring model and roster model are key in that we have much more flexibility plus a deeper pool of players to utilize. We also added in the use of IDP to the roster model back in 2010. I am sure we have all been in the unfortunate position of losing one of our key guys in those standard leagues in the first quarter, then being irritated for losing by a couple of points. The reality is we are here to have fun and maybe win a few bucks, but who needs that aggravation? The fact is the weighting on the higher end players in those models is too great. With a Major League Fantasy Football league you will have the volume to counter balance the loss of a key player. Basically, we have taken much of the sting out of it. The roster consists of 9 offensive starters, 11 defensive starters, and 1 kicker. The offensive positions consist of: QB, RB, WR, WR, TE, RW, RW, WT, RWT. About 3 years ago we ditched the 2 RB set up because of the way the game is played today. Not many teams have a featured back anymore so this allows the owner to focus on depth at other positions while not forcing that same owner to start 2 RBs. You can start up to 4 if you so choose, but we think this is a much better set up for the owners. This also minimizes the need to reach early in your drafts for those backs in a time share. The value of the very few feature backs is still there, but we don’t believe you should be forced to start a back that may only see 12 touches in bad match up. We want you to have that decision in your hands and not in the hands of some mundane traditional model. The defensive positions consist of: DE, DE, DT, LB, LB, LB, CB, CB, S, S, ID. When you play in IDP leagues you generally hear people ask if the league is tackle driven or big play. The model I developed over the last 8 years is a blend of the two. I do think that players that rack up a lot of tackles for their NFL club are valuable, but so are the guys that play on the outside. The corner position is usually the position that is not weighted properly in most IDP set ups. In our leagues, all of the positions will carry a more balanced weighting and can have huge games for you if played under the right circumstances. The strategy that can be used on this side of the ball is what I love the most about our leagues. The most valuable part of majorleaguefantasysports.com is our community of writers, radio hosts, arbitration committee members, and our league owners. We are pretty selective on who we invite into our community. Which is how we have built such a tight group of people who are successful in their personal life, but like to be involved in something more professional and realistic. We will have a staff of 5 football writers for 2018, and two radio shows. The first show will start the first Thursday in June hosted by Mike Riggall, John Gozzi, and James Wilk. Our football articles for 2018 will begin in May. These are all keeper leagues except for our MLFFC which is a complete redraft every year. In the keeper leagues you can keep up to 3 offensive players, and 2 defensive players if you choose to. However, it is not required. I will list links below to the leagues with openings. MLFF2 MLFF3 MLFF4 MLFFC If you are interested in learning more email me at majorleaguefantasysports@gmail.com and we will get a chat going. Cheers
  4. For many years now at Major League Fantasy Sports we have worked to provide the most innovative and fair fantasy football models available. Over ten years of trying different scoring formulas, roster formulas, league depth, payout structures, trading rules, and hosts we have what we set out to create to begin with. What is one of the biggest complaints about standard league formulas? The blind luck of the injury bug killing you and the schedule. Whether it’s losing your guy for the year, for 4 weeks, or losing two players you own just for that week who are injured in the first quarter. Frustrating! There are ways to mitigate the impact of losing two variables from your fantasy football equation. Lengthen the equation is one for sure, but also what about alllll those other really good football players who get no play in most leagues? The problem with these standard roster formulas is they lack depth, flexibility, and they are wayyyyy too top-heavy. Those are your major issues. (I will touch on the scheduling issue a little later) Over the years we have developed a way to incorporate the 3 key sides of football in your fantasy leagues in a legit fashion. The first key is obviously offense, the second is defense, and the third special teams. We incorporate an 11 man IDP starting roster that is an absolute blast to play with. Now the IDP nay-sayers have never experienced a system set up like ours. The traditional IDP set-up is archaic and poorly thought out. They are “tackle heavy” systems. Pretty dumb if you ask me. Any fool would just draft the defenders from crappy teams because they will be on the field most of the game. Pretty basic strategy and not a very intelligent way to play. Then there are “big play” type systems. These are a little better than the traditional tackle heavy leagues, but are still lacking. We have developed our own system that adds in both concepts plus a number of unique approaches I had Fantrax create for us years ago. These are just some of the additions we have made to cover for the frustrations we have all felt in traditional fantasy football leagues. Bottom line is this: I have been playing for 14 years now and I will never go back to play in a standard league ever again. The special teams side of the ball adds even more excitement and allows you to use those key IDP players who also return punts/kicks as a bonus. However, they are few and far between these days. Obviously this side of the game gets zero love unless you score. No one can argue that Tyreek Hill was not the most dynamic player in the NFL last year. 61 catches for 593 yards 6 TDs, 267 yards rushing 3 TDs, 384 kick return yards 1 TD, and 592 punt return yards 2 TDs. That is 1,836 total yards plus 12 TDs. He finished as the number 7 receiver overall in our leagues. NFL coaches absolutely love these types of guys and you will love owning them here. Now think about the discount paid to your score in a standard league with this guy. You got none of those return yards. Now we don’t score both punt and kick return yards the same. Punt return yards are scored like rushing or receiving yards. After all they are the hardest yards to get in the NFL. Tyreek led the NFL with 592. Second was Tavon Austin with 364. The kick return yards are scored on a sliding scale based on an initial total and then after that, score goes up. This is based on the average amount of “dead” yardage in returns and then weighed against the average amount of kick return yards the league averages per game. So it’s a sound approach and not out of control. However, if your boy gets a 110 yard KRTD trust me you will be digging it. I think even more important than anything is the community we have created over the years. We host our own live radio shows every Sunday morning, we have a 15 man writing and editing staff as well. We had Davin Joseph the 2-time Pro-Bowl guard from Tampa on our shows the whole 2015 season. That should give you an idea of the quality we are bringing to the table. Our community members are built up of football/baseball/lacrosse/golf/basketball coaches, former players, CPAs, Financial Advisors, Attorneys, Teachers, Professors, radio personalities, and all the way to recent college graduates. We are a fun group and we value our community as much as anything else. The league openings we have are $200 to buy in and 100% payout. We have 2 openings in MLFF1 and 2 openings in MLFF3. The only difference in format between the two leagues is the scheduling concept. League one is a traditional H2H schedule while league three you play each team each week. The concept of the league three schedule is something implemented 4 years ago in two of our leagues. It completely removes the luck of the schedule and completely eliminates dead beat owners that may quit on their teams the last 2 weeks of the year. In our concept if someone does quit then everyone will get a win and not just the lucky guy who gets to play them that week. In league three we also have 14 weeks of regular season and two weeks of playoffs. Seven teams make the playoffs with the #1 seed getting a bye. Week 15 the six remaining teams face off with the top three scoring teams moving on to week 16 the championship round. Week 16 we call our final four. The top 3 scoring teams in week 16 will take payouts and the team in 4th does not. Pretty fun concept, but not for everyone which is why we have traditional scheduling in other leagues. Another potential spot we are looking to fill for this year is in our writing staff. We are looking to bring on one maybe two football writers for this season. The most important skill needed from the writers is a deep knowledge of football and fantasy football. Writing skills are important as well, but we have a good group of editors that can help you if you need a little guidance. If you are interested in exploring a league, a writing opportunity, or both my email address is majorleaguefantasysports@gmail.com and phone number is 317.603.9434. My name is Corey D Roberts. We will surely fill these openings fast with the time of year that is approaching. So if you’re interested contact us right away. Cheers
×