Has the fantasy draft become obsolete?

[Upper Class Trash 67]

I was going to type a long theory, with some examples of why I think the fantasy draft is now the least important part of the fantasy season, but you guys probably wouldn't read it and I haven't had my coffee yet.

 

So.... With more spread offenses in the NFL, players being treated more like replaceable commodoties than valued assets, and so many injuries over the past few seasons to star players, do you think the waiver wire and trades have overtaken the actual draft as the most important piece of the championship puzzle? I recall the days when you drafted a team and you still had the majority of those players on your roster at seasons end. It isn't that way today, at least not from what I'm seeing.

 

During the game last night, I was looking over the standings in many of my leagues. The teams with 5-2 records or better also seemed to have the most waiver wire moves and trades. I didn't look at all my leagues, but this trend seemed to be pretty much the norm across the ones I did look at.

 

Would you agree with this? I'm thinking of altering my draft strategy next season in some leagues. Instead of taking the player I "want", I'll take the guy with the highest resale value and build my team after the draft via trades. I'm doing it this season anyway with the injury bug that has killed me and then the poor drafting on my part in some leagues.

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

Oh yeah WW wins ships, that and just luck. Playing an opponent who scores less than you no matter what each week is nice. The thing about the WW though is there are a TON of misses also. I cant pick the right player off the ww most of the time anyway. I did get sanu in most leagues but that was because everyone was sleeping on him.

[SaintsInDome2006 128]

I was going to type a long theory, with some examples of why I think the fantasy draft is now the least important part of the fantasy season, but you guys probably wouldn't read it and I haven't had my coffee yet.

 

So.... With more spread offenses in the NFL, players being treated more like replaceable commodoties than valued assets, and so many injuries over the past few seasons to star players, do you think the waiver wire and trades have overtaken the actual draft as the most important piece of the championship puzzle? I recall the days when you drafted a team and you still had the majority of those players on your roster at seasons end. It isn't that way today, at least not from what I'm seeing.

 

During the game last night, I was looking over the standings in many of my leagues. The teams with 5-2 records or better also seemed to have the most waiver wire moves and trades. I didn't look at all my leagues, but this trend seemed to be pretty much the norm across the ones I did look at.

 

Would you agree with this? I'm thinking of altering my draft strategy next season in some leagues. Instead of taking the player I "want", I'll take the guy with the highest resale value and build my team after the draft via trades. I'm doing it this season anyway with the injury bug that has killed me and then the poor drafting on my part in some leagues.

 

I don't think it's the least important part at all. Good luck finding a top RB1 off the WW.

 

And that WW activity is pretty work intensive, you will be putting some time in.

[eaglesfreak 10]

This yr is just a wacky year for all positions...Other then a a handful of Rbs who can you really trust in that position? I mean I can actually say that for every position this yr! Qbs are erratic this yr ..A lot of BIG name Wrs aren't getting it done or are injured...Its just across the board

[edjr 5,562]

You are wrong.

 

My draft.

 

I made a trade early in the 2nd round. I gave up dez bryant and drafted antonio brown and Foster in those spots.

 

My tight end is DOnnel, who I picked up week 1 and I traded Bradshaw/Garcon for Rivers .

 

That is my team otherwise.

 

 

13 F*ck Palermo Doug Martin RB

10 F*ck Palermo Antonio Brown WR

5 F*ck Palermo Arian Foster RB

13 F*ck Palermo Keenan Allen WR

2 F*ck Palermo Pierre Garcon WR

10 F*ck Palermo T.Y. Hilton WR

13 F*ck Palermo Robert Griffin III QB

2 F*ck Palermo Khiry Robinson RB

13 F*ck Palermo Ahmad Bradshaw RB

2 F*ck Palermo Darren McFadden RB

13 F*ck Palermo Eli Manning QB

2 F*ck Palermo Ryan Tannehill QB

13 F*ck Palermo Richard Rodgers TE

2 F*ck Palermo Timothy Wright TE

13 F*ck Palermo Ravens DST

2 F*ck Palermo Nick Novak K

[We Tigers 71]

Not entirely. You can win with a great draft or great in-season management of your team. In one league of mine, there's a 7-0 team that's made all of 2 waiver moves for the year, thanks to drafting Peyton, Maclin, Gates, Jordy, etc. There's also a 6-1 team that's made 17 transactions to cover for injuries, busts, and so on. But it's definitely more likely that you're going to have a just-okay draft than a home run.

 

That said, I do think it's become more viable to build a team off the wire over the past few years. Rookie and second-year receivers are making an impact much more quickly and the conventional wisdom hasn't adjusted to that yet. More and more passing-oriented teams and teams that use a 3-receiver base offense make more QBs than ever viable week to week matchup plays. Increasing RBBC and a ton of injuries have also made this season pretty wild at running back.

 

Basically, most drafted teams are and always have been mediocre, but the wire now gives us more chances than ever to correct that. For the 2 or 3 teams in a league that kill their draft, it's business as usual.

[weepaws 2,459]

I disagree . The draft is still the best way to build a winning fantasy football team . But not falling in love with that roster and being willing to change during the season is the key . I see to many people fall in love with a player they draft and won't make adjustments during the season when the writing is on the wall that the super stud is not producing like they thought he would .

[Jarvis Basnight 119]

We draft larger rosters, and limit WW to very little action......that keeps the draft important.

[cnasty 5]

Oh yeah WW wins ships, that and just luck. Playing an opponent who scores less than you no matter what each week is nice.

 

 

Man this is so true. I currently have the 2nd most points in my league, yet sit at 10/12. I have the most pts scored against me, by a focking 110+. Currently sitting at 2-5 with 4/5 losses against the highest scoring team of the week. In 3/5 I was 2nd highest scorer. Wtf did I do to deserve that?

[bobby heenan 60]

Nope...drafting a deep and consistent team wins....10 of the 17 I drafted are on my roster ....one was dropped because of season ending injury and the rest were backups or kickers/def

 

Eddie lacy was my first pick....and I'm 10-4 in a double w/l league....Cuz I have luck/wilson ellington dez wallace and benjamin

 

Take a guy like wallace for instance....no huge gsmes yet...just consistent production....if you have a bunch of guys producing consistently you will win..., the waiver wire is important...very much....but it's certainly not more important than good drafting

 

I just beat a team with Marshawn leveon demaryius and julius and golden tate because all of my guys produced

[bugzy 1]

I think the approach to drafting has to change. Just getting any productive player with early picks is better than trying to build a perfect starting lineup. Taking several RBs early is now a very risky style of draft. Searching for upside/sleeper players is also risky. Better to just get some steady boring producers with early picks and hope late rounders will help and the WW will help some more.

[JT 137]

Agree with both posts immediately above.

 

The draft is still pivotal to building a solid team, but the 1st round stud that's going to carry you is becoming tougher and tougher to identify. I've always felt that the draft is largely won in the middle rounds, selecting solid performers over those with fan-driven 'upside'.

 

The ww is much the same. People get caught up in a flashy performance which may or may not be sustainable as a predictor, while guys with proven track records go unnoticed.

[PackYourNut 47]

Nothing is obsolete, you just have to draft differently and most importantly do your own rankings based on your own research tuned to your scoring system.

 

The draft is 100% skill. What happens to your team after you draft is 100% luck. You could have 5 injuries and have terrible luck or no injuries and be very fortunate.

 

The WW is important, but more so for the unlucky teams.

[Upper Class Trash 67]

For the record, I wasn't suggesting the draft WAS obsolete. I was asking for the input from the forum.

 

Couple of points though:

1. Nobody has a perfect draft every year. Certainly not in the last few years. Injuries have hit nearly everyone.

 

2. Where are you going to get your RB1 from? Well, ask that to the guys who drafted Montee Ball, Eddie Lacy, LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson and a couple others, in round one this season, then followed it up with Doug Martin or Zac Stacy in the 2nd, or the guys who drafted Reggie Bush, Ben Tate, Toby G., CJ Spiller, Or someone of the ilk as the RB2 (god forbid they took them as their RB1)? If you look at the busts this season in the first 4 rounds of the draft, odds are only two teams in a twelve team league hit on both their early RB choices. Naturally those guys will be the people in here, as the people in here never exaggerate about their greatness. lol

 

3. Is it luck, or simply good drafting when 18 of the top 25 WR's were likely taken in the late 4th round and on?

 

4. Look at the number of quality RB's starting on various teams right now, or the guys that will be starting going forward, that were not drafted: Bryce Brown and/or Anthony Dixon, Bolden/White, Forsett, West/Crowell, Bradshaw, Robinson, Hillman (99% of this board flamed me when I said CJ would NOT be the starter when/if Ball went down), Olivier, Williams, McKinnon/Asiata, Anone Smith, Rainey, Tre Mason, Carlos Hyde (should see more carries the 2nd half of the season). Guys, that's darn near half the league. That doesn't even include guys who have started and had great games, like Kniles Davis.

 

The idea wasn't to say I'm for or against the draft being the most important part. It was to hear your thoughts on it as well as your thoughts of trying a strategy drafting tradeable players vs. guys you want. There is a difference.

[bobby heenan 60]

For the record, I wasn't suggesting the draft WAS obsolete. I was asking for the input from the forum.

 

Couple of points though:

1. Nobody has a perfect draft every year. Certainly not in the last few years. Injuries have hit nearly everyone.

 

2. Where are you going to get your RB1 from? Well, ask that to the guys who drafted Montee Ball, Eddie Lacy, LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson and a couple others, in round one this season, then followed it up with Doug Martin or Zac Stacy in the 2nd, or the guys who drafted Reggie Bush, Ben Tate, Toby G., CJ Spiller, Or someone of the ilk as the RB2 (god forbid they took them as their RB1)? If you look at the busts this season in the first 4 rounds of the draft, odds are only two teams in a twelve team league hit on both their early RB choices. Naturally those guys will be the people in here, as the people in here never exaggerate about their greatness. lol

 

3. Is it luck, or simply good drafting when 18 of the top 25 WR's were likely taken in the late 4th round and on?

 

4. Look at the number of quality RB's starting on various teams right now, or the guys that will be starting going forward, that were not drafted: Bryce Brown and/or Anthony Dixon, Bolden/White, Forsett, West/Crowell, Bradshaw, Robinson, Hillman (99% of this board flamed me when I said CJ would NOT be the starter when/if Ball went down), Olivier, Williams, McKinnon/Asiata, Anone Smith, Rainey, Tre Mason, Carlos Hyde (should see more carries the 2nd half of the season). Guys, that's darn near half the league. That doesn't even include guys who have started and had great games, like Kniles Davis.

 

The idea wasn't to say I'm for or against the draft being the most important part. It was to hear your thoughts on it as well as your thoughts of trying a strategy drafting tradeable players vs. guys you want. There is a difference.

 

Not trying to be insulting..., but that strategy sounds stupid

 

When do u plan on unloading these tradeable assets? Before the season starts? After they've underperformed and yer getting buy low offers? Or when they are performing and you are winning? What exactly is a tradeable asset?

 

When drafting in Rd 1 and looking for a rb i try to analyze overall offensive situation...can this team move the ball? How does their run schedule look going in....how strong Is their offensive line?

 

In a high stakes 10 team ppr here is my draft

 

Lacy

Dez

Ellington

C patterson (here's a guy I "wanted" Cuz I owned him late last year)

Roddy

Wallace

Luck

Moreno

Ertz

Hyde

Benjamin

Ingram....first 12 rounds out of 17....I didn't draft a single guy with the intent to trade them...in fact in this league there has been one trade so far and the deadline is approaching...and that deal was between two good friends....and check the trade out....Gronk and Pierre thomas for Matt forte and Jordan reed...and that was after week 1....which is ridiculous ....and there are several thousands at stake ...right now I'm 10-4 in this double w/l league

 

I draft the guys I want based on my analysis....and I try to find guys that are going to drastically outperform their adp......again....I use wallace as an example....this guy has been so consistent...and a big part of my success so far..., no huge games but steady numbers every week ...new offensive system that is creative and plays to his strength....yet no one seemed to really want him that bad..,.and getting a guy like benjamin late has been key...but I wanted both of those guys on my team and had them targeted

 

I dunno...I guess we have two different trains of thought when it comes to this game....I mean...I thought the zero rb strategy was ridiculous....but this to me seems even more maybe....it sounds like a panic move....I've had some bad seasons....but I believe in my drafting methods...so, e times it doesn't work and you have to suffer through the year and go back to work the next year....I'm not changing my whole method and trying to draft a bunch of guys with the intent on trading them for a bunch of other guys

 

I draft my guys...try to draft a deep and consistent team....try to use the wire and fill holes and hope for the best

[tanatastic 2,061]

Its just as important, wich is not very important. Luck and waiver/free agent moves are equally a part of winning over the course of a season.

 

I draft my guys...try to draft a deep and consistent team....try to use the wire and fill holes and hope for the best

This sums it up well, just hope, pray and make the obvious add/drops. Its all luck from there.

[JT 137]

For the record, I wasn't suggesting the draft WAS obsolete. I was asking for the input from the forum.

 

Couple of points though:

1. Nobody has a perfect draft every year. Certainly not in the last few years. Injuries have hit nearly everyone.

 

2. Where are you going to get your RB1 from? Well, ask that to the guys who drafted Montee Ball, Eddie Lacy, LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson and a couple others, in round one this season, then followed it up with Doug Martin or Zac Stacy in the 2nd, or the guys who drafted Reggie Bush, Ben Tate, Toby G., CJ Spiller, Or someone of the ilk as the RB2 (god forbid they took them as their RB1)? If you look at the busts this season in the first 4 rounds of the draft, odds are only two teams in a twelve team league hit on both their early RB choices. Naturally those guys will be the people in here, as the people in here never exaggerate about their greatness. lol

 

3. Is it luck, or simply good drafting when 18 of the top 25 WR's were likely taken in the late 4th round and on?

 

4. Look at the number of quality RB's starting on various teams right now, or the guys that will be starting going forward, that were not drafted: Bryce Brown and/or Anthony Dixon, Bolden/White, Forsett, West/Crowell, Bradshaw, Robinson, Hillman (99% of this board flamed me when I said CJ would NOT be the starter when/if Ball went down), Olivier, Williams, McKinnon/Asiata, Anone Smith, Rainey, Tre Mason, Carlos Hyde (should see more carries the 2nd half of the season). Guys, that's darn near half the league. That doesn't even include guys who have started and had great games, like Kniles Davis.

 

The idea wasn't to say I'm for or against the draft being the most important part. It was to hear your thoughts on it as well as your thoughts of trying a strategy drafting tradeable players vs. guys you want. There is a difference.

 

I'm not sure what input you wanted and didn't receive. Looks like some decent thoughts here.

 

IMO, there's been a gradual shift the last few years that have left some ff owners lagging behind, and you address it in #2 & #4. There are so few true #1 RB anymore that it doesn't make much sense to me to overpursue that guy. How many guys are the clear cut, #1, proven, no question, 3 down back on a team with a decent O-line anymore? A handful. And some of those guys will get hurt or underperform. It's been exacerbated this year by two guys who fit most of those criteria getting suspended.

 

But in any case, why reach for that #1 when you've already established that the league is filled with #2 & 3s? Pick the best looking of the low hanging fruit.

 

The NFL is a passing league and ff was created with heavy emphasis on RB. I think some players have been slow to adopt that new model.

 

As to #3, think about it: if ff owners regularly over-inflate the value of RB and reach too high for guys who don't deserve it, where are the WR going to be drafted? Yep. Later rounds.

[DaBeerz 88]

Uh yeah FF draft can break your team, but you still have to work the WW as every team will have holes.

 

If you have a good draft and score some WW gems (Ronnie Hillman anyone), you can win leagues.

 

Trying to get your primary players off the WW though...good luck. You better draft at least 1 decent QB, RB and WR to have a shot.

[PackYourNut 47]

For the record, I wasn't suggesting the draft WAS obsolete. I was asking for the input from the forum.

 

Couple of points though:

1. Nobody has a perfect draft every year. Certainly not in the last few years. Injuries have hit nearly everyone.

 

2. Where are you going to get your RB1 from? Well, ask that to the guys who drafted Montee Ball, Eddie Lacy, LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson and a couple others, in round one this season, then followed it up with Doug Martin or Zac Stacy in the 2nd, or the guys who drafted Reggie Bush, Ben Tate, Toby G., CJ Spiller, Or someone of the ilk as the RB2 (god forbid they took them as their RB1)? If you look at the busts this season in the first 4 rounds of the draft, odds are only two teams in a twelve team league hit on both their early RB choices. Naturally those guys will be the people in here, as the people in here never exaggerate about their greatness. lol

 

3. Is it luck, or simply good drafting when 18 of the top 25 WR's were likely taken in the late 4th round and on?

 

4. Look at the number of quality RB's starting on various teams right now, or the guys that will be starting going forward, that were not drafted: Bryce Brown and/or Anthony Dixon, Bolden/White, Forsett, West/Crowell, Bradshaw, Robinson, Hillman (99% of this board flamed me when I said CJ would NOT be the starter when/if Ball went down), Olivier, Williams, McKinnon/Asiata, Anone Smith, Rainey, Tre Mason, Carlos Hyde (should see more carries the 2nd half of the season). Guys, that's darn near half the league. That doesn't even include guys who have started and had great games, like Kniles Davis.

 

The idea wasn't to say I'm for or against the draft being the most important part. It was to hear your thoughts on it as well as your thoughts of trying a strategy drafting tradeable players vs. guys you want. There is a difference.

 

It's all about strategy. If you dont adapt for the things you mentioned in your 4 bullet points, then you are just like the other 90%.

 

Here is my response to your 4 points...

 

1. Of course not, so it's a moot point. Draft the best you can based on YOUR research. DO NOT follow any public rankings!

2. You get your #1 RB from the player pool, just like everyone else. If you draft wrong, there is more pressure on your mid round picks. However, this exact mindset is where the Zero RB theory comes from. If you know that a certain percentage of guys are going to get injured, then you simply draft the passing back in a time share with a late round pick. That way when a starter gets injured, you win and your opponent loses and you acquired that player at a fraction of the cost.

3. It's good drafting, but I don't think WR is really your issue here or anyone's for that matter.

4. Again this goes back to #2. If you know this to be true for the last several years, then why arent you taking advantage of this trend?

 

I don't draft players to trade them ever. I draft players for depth for reasons 1,2 & 4 that you mentioned.

 

Next year think about all of these issues and then map out your plan for success. How do you combat these issues at the draft? It doesn't take long and quite frankly most people spend more time creating a grocery list then they do mapping out how to be successful in FF.

 

Don't be one of those guys!

[jerryskids 5,193]

None of my leagues do a ton of trades, so I wouldn't adopt that strategy. Even if they did it still doesn't make sense. Are you banking on owners who will trade a performer for a name? That seems risky.

[posty 2,296]

The draft is 100% skill luck.

LOL... Fixed...

[ramz04 21]

I was going to type a long theory, with some examples of why I think the fantasy draft is now the least important part of the fantasy season, but you guys probably wouldn't read it and I haven't had my coffee yet.

 

So.... With more spread offenses in the NFL, players being treated more like replaceable commodoties than valued assets, and so many injuries over the past few seasons to star players, do you think the waiver wire and trades have overtaken the actual draft as the most important piece of the championship puzzle? I recall the days when you drafted a team and you still had the majority of those players on your roster at seasons end. It isn't that way today, at least not from what I'm seeing.

 

During the game last night, I was looking over the standings in many of my leagues. The teams with 5-2 records or better also seemed to have the most waiver wire moves and trades. I didn't look at all my leagues, but this trend seemed to be pretty much the norm across the ones I did look at.

 

Would you agree with this? I'm thinking of altering my draft strategy next season in some leagues. Instead of taking the player I "want", I'll take the guy with the highest resale value and build my team after the draft via trades. I'm doing it this season anyway with the injury bug that has killed me and then the poor drafting on my part in some leagues.

Excellent post (I would have read your long post btw) and I agree for the most part. I'm 5-2 in one league and only have 5 players on that team from my draft. Of the 5 players I have left 2 of them are my 1st and 2nd round picks.

 

I have dominated all of my leagues since I started playing fantasy in '07. But the last few years I have DOMINATED like America's Team did in the mid 90's. This can be attributed to a major market inefficiency that Ive been exploiting and will continue to exploit until the "experts" finally catch on and the public follows. I did extensive research last summer which documented the average draft position of the top 30 picks over the last 5 years and how those players ended the season. What I found was interesting and proved the draft strategy I had been following the previous 2 years was spot on.

 

What I found might not be a shock to anyone but it was enough for me to stop drafting RB's in the first two rounds and especially in the first round. In a nutshell - WRs are as safe as it gets in the first couple rounds and rarely ever bust - similar to drafting OL in the 1st round in the NFL Draft. I only play in PPR's leagues and top flight WRs rule the roost. I don't have all the data in front of me but I can post the entire research project if anyone wants to see it. So while WRs never busted and rarely had season ending injuries over the last 5 years - the amount of RB busts was just baffling. More than half of the RBs in the 1st round over the last 5 years were considered busts or suffered season ending injuries. And that trend only continued this year.

 

So why are people continuing to take RBs in the 1st round when the chances of that player being a bust is higher than 50%? So I've been exploiting this market inefficiency and will continue to do so until WR's begin to rule the 1st round like they should. This year, once again, I went WR-WR with my first 2 picks, and then targeted the Joique Bells, Rashad Jennings', F-Jax's and Pierre's in the middle rounds. I attempt to trade to the end of the 1st round preferably pick #12 every single year. You can always find an idiot between 8-12 that will trade you picks to move up. That's exactly what I did this year in all 4 of my leagues as I knew I was going WR WR and knew I would get 2 of the top 4 WRs there.

 

I had Jordy #3 on my board behind Calvin and Demarius so I was a little higher on him than most and caught some flak for taking him over julio, dez and green. Here are how my 4 teams ended up after the first 2 rounds:

 

DT & Jordy 13-1

DT & Jordy 7-0

Jordy & Dez 6-1

Jordy & Julio 5-2

 

 

 

Sorry for the grammatical errors and what not. My laptop is crashed so I wrote this on my iPhone.

[stonewall 647]

Excellent post (I would have read your long post btw) and I agree for the most part. I'm 5-2 in one league and only have 5 players on that team from my draft. Of the 5 players I have left 2 of them are my 1st and 2nd round picks.

 

I have dominated all of my leagues since I started playing fantasy in '07. But the last few years I have DOMINATED like America's Team did in the mid 90's. This can be attributed to a major market inefficiency that Ive been exploiting and will continue to exploit until the "experts" finally catch on and the public follows. I did extensive research last summer which documented the average draft position of the top 30 picks over the last 5 years and how those players ended the season. What I found was interesting and proved the draft strategy I had been following the previous 2 years was spot on.

 

What I found might not be a shock to anyone but it was enough for me to stop drafting RB's in the first two rounds and especially in the first round. In a nutshell - WRs are as safe as it gets in the first couple rounds and rarely ever bust - similar to drafting OL in the 1st round in the NFL Draft. I only play in PPR's leagues and top flight WRs rule the roost. I don't have all the data in front of me but I can post the entire research project if anyone wants to see it. So while WRs never busted and rarely had season ending injuries over the last 5 years - the amount of RB busts was just baffling. More than half of the RBs in the 1st round over the last 5 years were considered busts or suffered season ending injuries. And that trend only continued this year.

 

So why are people continuing to take RBs in the 1st round when the chances of that player being a bust is higher than 50%? So I've been exploiting this market inefficiency and will continue to do so until WR's begin to rule the 1st round like they should. This year, once again, I went WR-WR with my first 2 picks, and then targeted the Joique Bells, Rashad Jennings', F-Jax's and Pierre's in the middle rounds. I attempt to trade to the end of the 1st round preferably pick #12 every single year. You can always find an idiot between 8-12 that will trade you picks to move up. That's exactly what I did this year in all 4 of my leagues as I knew I was going WR WR and knew I would get 2 of the top 4 WRs there.

 

I had Jordy #3 on my board behind Calvin and Demarius so I was a little higher on him than most and caught some flak for taking him over julio, dez and green. Here are how my 4 teams ended up after the first 2 rounds:

 

DT & Jordy 13-1

DT & Jordy 7-0

Jordy & Dez 6-1

Jordy & Julio 5-2

 

 

 

Sorry for the grammatical errors and what not. My laptop is crashed so I wrote this on my iPhone.

 

Interesting strategy, thanks for sharing it......but you must admit that you have also been very lucky. You could have easily ended up with Mega/Julio in a couple of those leagues and be floundering.

[Voltaire 4,558]

Injuries happen every year. This year had a new twist that saw a couple of stud RBs suspended too to make it seem worse. I've been burned frequently over the years and try to handcuff my RBs. Thing is, so many RBs are RBBC that my handcuff is often a valuable commodity himself and holds stand alone value..

 

I do think the popularity of PPR leagues and the NFL's proliferation of RBBC has diluted the RB market. The quality of RBs in rounds 2-3 are not the same as they've been in years past. It's a good point that we're also seeing more 1st round RB busts lately than I remember there ever being.

[PackYourNut 47]

LOL... Fixed...

 

It's not luck unless your picking guys out of a hat! Which you may do, who knows!

[Upper Class Trash 67]

I was never a fan of starting WR/WR, but I do believe going forward I may just do that, depending on where my pick is in the first round. What one of the posters above said is very true. I looked through the last 6 years of my drafts in one of my MFL Leagues. Over 50% of the RB's taken in the first two rounds have been total busts and a couple more have not played up to their ADP.

 

Many leagues I play in have shifted to allowing the team to start only one RB and go with 4 WR's, or 3 WR's and a Flex. I've stayed old school for too long. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but this season has definitely taught me adaption is necessary, even in fantasy football. In nearly all my drafts, I have taken a minimum of 3, but sometimes 4, running backs in my first 4 picks. The strategy has ALWAYS worked for me in the past. This season, it not only didn't work, I'm the only guy in most of those leagues without a legit starting running back. Go figure. lol If nothing else, I need to change my drafting style.

[bobby heenan 60]

I was never a fan of starting WR/WR, but I do believe going forward I may just do that, depending on where my pick is in the first round. What one of the posters above said is very true. I looked through the last 6 years of my drafts in one of my MFL Leagues. Over 50% of the RB's taken in the first two rounds have been total busts and a couple more have not played up to their ADP.

 

Many leagues I play in have shifted to allowing the team to start only one RB and go with 4 WR's, or 3 WR's and a Flex. I've stayed old school for too long. It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but this season has definitely taught me adaption is necessary, even in fantasy football. In nearly all my drafts, I have taken a minimum of 3, but sometimes 4, running backs in my first 4 picks. The strategy has ALWAYS worked for me in the past. This season, it not only didn't work, I'm the only guy in most of those leagues without a legit starting running back. Go figure. lol If nothing else, I need to change my drafting style.

 

I never lock myself into saying I need a rb in Rd 1 ...or a wr....I evaluate players and situations....I still value a rb over a wr in the first...bUT I'll go wr I'd the rbs I want/like aren't there....

 

I took lacy at 6 this year (luckily I have a strong/deep team as or right now and am doing well)...but I liked lacy and if he was off the board I prob would have gone dt, graham or another receiver)...

 

Years ago I played in a start 3rb 4 WR high stakes standard league....at that time most teams were going rb/rb/rb....or two rbs and a wr....one year I took Marvin Harrison 4th overall and was nearly laughed out of the room....but I was able to get guys like priest holmes, Robert smith and Jamal lewis later....and did well....I don't think you ever lock yourself into a particular way of drafting...I think you evaluate players you like....look at their relative adp and give them target rounds and try to land em....

[Boilermaker04 11]

This is a great discussion.

 

I think part of the reason drafts seem to be less valuable, and waivers more valuable, is the parity of the game that the NFL has been working towards. I'd say they've achieved it, too. Any given Sunday is very real.

 

For fantasy, it is that much more important to play the match up game. Studs you play no matter what are in short supply. It's hard to bench big names for guys that are less known but the best do it.

 

Two great examples on this forum are the d/st discussions and rallo's wr threads. Perfect examples that what worked one week, might not work another, might be paydirt the next.... Etc.

 

Luck in the draft is still important, but very few competitive redraft leagues can be won in the draft anymore. Too little consistency.

[jdon 28]

 

You are wrong.

 

My draft.

 

I made a trade early in the 2nd round. I gave up dez bryant and drafted antonio brown and Foster in those spots.

 

My tight end is DOnnel, who I picked up week 1 and I traded Bradshaw/Garcon for Rivers .

 

That is my team otherwise.

 

 

13 F*ck Palermo Doug Martin RB

10 F*ck Palermo Antonio Brown WR

5 F*ck Palermo Arian Foster RB

13 F*ck Palermo Keenan Allen WR

2 F*ck Palermo Pierre Garcon WR

10 F*ck Palermo T.Y. Hilton WR

13 F*ck Palermo Robert Griffin III QB

2 F*ck Palermo Khiry Robinson RB

13 F*ck Palermo Ahmad Bradshaw RB

2 F*ck Palermo Darren McFadden RB

13 F*ck Palermo Eli Manning QB

2 F*ck Palermo Ryan Tannehill QB

13 F*ck Palermo Richard Rodgers TE

2 F*ck Palermo Timothy Wright TE

13 F*ck Palermo Ravens DST

2 F*ck Palermo Nick Novak K

 

 

did you post that on your fridge at home?

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

 

 

Man this is so true. I currently have the 2nd most points in my league, yet sit at 10/12. I have the most pts scored against me, by a focking 110+. Currently sitting at 2-5 with 4/5 losses against the highest scoring team of the week. In 3/5 I was 2nd highest scorer. Wtf did I do to deserve that?

Did you fock one of the fantasy gods wives?

[murf74 461]

Did you fock one of the fantasy gods wives?

Don't mock

Don't look at ADP

Draft best available every round within reason

 

Resist urge to draft rb like everyone else while leaving value on table at other positions

 

Rbs are less valuable than ever before

[American Chewy 98]

case in point to all of this might be my team:

 

Drafted team:

Peyton/Romo

Stacy/Gerhart/Fjax/K.Davis/Dunbar

Roddy/Patterson/Wallace/Hopkins

Witten

Crosby

Panthers

 

I have 3 of these guys left on my team. Everyone in the top half of my draft was a fail except peyton and I started 0-2 because of it. So I had to make moves. Picked up bradshaw week 1 after an owner foolishly dropped him (no one else bid on him that week either). Traded Fjax/Gerhart for Mathews/Olsen after week 2 to the Peterson owner. Picked up G.Tate after an owner dropped him week 4. This week I traded Peyton/Tate/Bradshaw for Cobb/Bernard/Hill/RG3.

 

Now I'm 4-3 and I have this team:

Romo/RG3

Bernard/Mathews/Hill/Cadet/Randle

Cobb/Wallace/Hopkins/Holmes

Olsen

Novak

Chiefs

 

Way better team that the steaming pile I drafted....esp when Mathews comes back.

 

I know next season i'll be approaching the draft completely different...probably similar to what murf just posted.

[Serpent 51]

I've had many years where I've only kept a handful of my draft picks, but I have yet to have a year where I made only a handful of waiver wire moves.

 

I think I average at least 20 moves a year.

[Huh? 7]

My team is pretty well intact, and I'm 5-2. Nobody trades in my league, so that takes out half of your equation. I play Forsett and Romo who are WW pickups, but my WRs and other RBs that I play most weeks were drafted. I essentially drafted my QB very late and streamed until Romo started being great every week, so I keep him.

 

I think the draft is still the most important thing, but you can have a bad draft and salvage your season with good moves after. AP was my first round pick and has played one game for me. I like to try to identify guys who might be hot WW pickups and break out late season when my other guys might be fading. I've got Sankey waiting for just that. With the blind auction waiver pickup system that we have, it's too unpredictable to actually try to build your team that way.

[bobby heenan 60]

I've had many years where I've only kept a handful of my draft picks, but I have yet to have a year where I made only a handful of waiver wire moves.

 

I think I average at least 20 moves a year.

Would you make that many moves if you were paying $20 a pop for them? I do and still sometimes end up making that many lol

 

There is certainly some good discussion in this thread so I'm all for it....but I'm still not sure I understand the point of it....the op suggests that the draft may have become obsolete in his title and posts....then says he isn't trying to say that

 

I still don't understand this new "plan of attack"....acquiring tradeable guys? ....again....tradeable guys are guys who are performing well....or guys who are buy low that you prob won't get full value for....

 

I always go into a draft with an open mind...a bunch of targets and target rounds....Im confident in my ability to do this and draft....I fully realize that in any given year I could be crippled by injuries and underperformance....to the point that even feverishly working the waiver wire won't help....you just have to grin and bear it and come back next year...it doesn't mean you strip down everything you've ever done and start over

 

3 years ago I had a year...one of the worst I've had since I started....2 years ago my team was so so...last year I kicked ass....drafted charles, gio, leveon, marshall, decker, vernon.....dominated....

 

This year I took lacy 6th overall and I'm 10-4 and in 2nd place....aside from kicker and defense I have only a new te off waivers and a sometimes flex wr that I grabbed off waivers....the rest of my guys are from my draft (I must admit aside from moreno I've been fortunate with injuries so far)

 

Like huh? Mentioned....you can have a bad draft and salvage it with some good ww work...but I'd rather not have that stress...the draft is still the foundation...minimize risk...maximize potential....find guys who can outperform their adp....

 

Don't overreact to a bad year when nothing seems to go your way..there is no magic formula that you are going to discover...if something has worked for you before it can work again

[American Chewy 98]

I will say its waaaaaaaaayyyyyy easier to salvage a good season with waivers in a short bench league like mine. there are bad drops all season long.

[Huh? 7]

I will say its waaaaaaaaayyyyyy easier to salvage a good season with waivers in a short bench league like mine. there are bad drops all season long.

 

I'll agree with this. I used to play in a league where we had 11 bench spots and 9 starter spots. The WW was pretty much useless unless somebody who was normally reliable got hurt. Then the WW order was based on seasonal record, so if you had any kind of decent team, you had no chance at WW pickups. Plus in that league, we were allowed only 7 pickups for the entire season. In that league, having a good draft was critical for success.

 

In my current league, we only have 5 bench spots and unlimited WW pickups (as long as you win the auctions; $0 bids allowed). We have many people making multiple pickups every week, and we have teams that look completely different from the drafted team. Stephen Jackson was just dropped. Granted he has been awful, but he is still a starter. In my previous league, there's no way he would have been dropped.

[edjr 5,562]

I will say its waaaaaaaaayyyyyy easier to salvage a good season with waivers in a short bench league like mine. there are bad drops all season long.

 

 

I drafted the Ravens in the 15th round of 16.

 

I dropped them after week 1

 

I also dropped Tannehill

[tanatastic 2,061]

Don't mock

Don't look at ADP

Draft best available every round within reason

 

Resist urge to draft rb like everyone else while leaving value on table at other positions

 

Rbs are less valuable than ever before

Its soooo hard to do this when we are on this forum from june-sep doing nothing but overanalyzing and talking ourselves into/out of dumb picks and rankings. Iv said many years in a row that I wanted to lock myself in a dark room and make my list without any influences other than player/coach movement and rosters. None of this Sankey will be the man, Stacy got all the carries last year, marshawn will hit the wall after X carries bullcrud. Simply my extensive knowledge of football and gut feeling. Simple analysis...Does he play for a good team that gets first downs and redzone opportunities? If no, he sucks, dont take him high. Simple stuff like that.

[DaBeerz 88]

Its soooo hard to do this when we are on this forum from june-sep doing nothing but overanalyzing and talking ourselves into/out of dumb picks and rankings. Iv said many years in a row that I wanted to lock myself in a dark room and make my list without any influences other than player/coach movement and rosters. None of this Sankey will be the man, Stacy got all the carries last year, marshawn will hit the wall after X carries bullcrud. Simply my extensive knowledge of football and gut feeling. Simple analysis...Does he play for a good team that gets first downs and redzone opportunities? If no, he sucks, dont take him high. Simple stuff like that.

 

Montes Ball?