Target Drafting

[madd futher mucker 36]

EDIT: This was an old post from 2011. My 2012 version is posted further below.

 

I had planned a longer post about my target drafting techniques, including my draft sheets and projections. Unfortunately, 4 drafts, a business to run and a hospitalization got in the way. My second last draft is a standard PPR Re-draft league that drafts in a few hours.

 

Hopefully I'll post my complete draft prep including my notes and projections tomorrow, but I thought people might be interested in who I am targeting by round for PPR, even without explanation at this point. I suspect about 90% of my team's players will come from this list:

 

2011 PPR REDRAFT TARGETS (I don't remember for sure but I believe that I have either 6, 7 or 8 in a snake draft format. None of the 1st round RBs are likely to fall to me.) You will immediately notice that I maintain complete positional flexibility. I do not go into any draft targeting which positions to draft in any specific round.

 

RD 1 Foster, Rice, ADP, Charles, A J, Rodgers, White,

RD 2 Forte, Nicks

RD 3 Best, Brees, Rivers, V Jax

RD 4 Ingram, WITTEN, Bryant

RD 5 F Jones, Romo, V DAVIS, Harvin, Holmes

RD 6 Wells, F Jax, Ben, Manningham

RD 7 Freeman, Julio Jones,

RD 8 R Bush, Eli,

RD 9 Hitower, GRONKOWSKI, WINSLOW, GONZO, Amendola, L Moore

RD 10

RD 11 Woodhead, COOK

RD 12 McGahee, Den Moore

RD 13 Ridley, OLSEN

RD 14 Royal, Benn, Roberts, Burleson

RD 15 - 16 Def, K

 

There are reasons I'm targeting these guys which will become apparent when I post the whole analysis.

 

(Note: I originally had Turner as a round 3 target due to a math error - It looked very strange and I would never have drafted him there. Took Brees instead.)

[DaDanimal 2]

Do a non-ppr one too ha

[krizay 0]

I did an 8 round "target guide" for my draft as well. Then went and did like 10 different draft combinations to see which ones I like best. I too pick in the middle 7 of 14. So my list looks alot like yours for the most part. Just from round 3 on everyones a round or two higher.

 

As you said this guide will give me the ability to change plans on the fly with an educated plan instead of just winging it. As of right now i'm torn between 2 or 3 different combos. Basically because of this bonus scoring setup that i've never played before.

[kujerry 9]

Hey, MADD I am very interested in your targeting, I do kinda the same thing and I pick 8th in a 12 team PPR snake draft......

[madd futher mucker 36]

I actually had the 4th pick in the draft, so this was a little off the mark, but really not much. Obviously my round 2 targets were already gone by the time it got back to me. I'm not really a RB heavy drafter, but this draft just worked out that way. It seemed in this draft about 4 or 5 times my preferred target was taken just a pick or two in front of me (usually in the even rounds when I was drafting near the end of the round), so I could not achieve any early positional balance without sacrificing value. I was just not able to get a value pick at WR until round 6. I never panic when something like that happens; I have a lot of confidence in being able to find compensating value later. We can play a TE flex at 1PPR, so taking 3 TEs is not a bad strategy as long as they are a relative bargain. I can always trade one of them. But again, I didn't go into the draft with a pre-set plan to take 3 TEs. The important thing to notice here - and I bolded - is the projected fantasy points by player. Only with my 15th round flier pick on Denarius Moore, and with the Michael Bush pick did I deviate from drafting for maximum projected fantasy points. (He was the last RB with any kind of projectable and bankable fantasy points left, and I felt I needed one more RB). I also like his high upside in the event of an injury to McFadden. Note that Brees and Witten have great schedules for both the regular season, and for weeks 14-16 (S++P++).

 

Here's how it went (You'll notice I often project TDs to the 1/2 TD):

Rd...Player..ADP..Yds..TDs..Recepts..RecYds...FPTs..Bye..Schedule Notes

1. ADPeterson 1.02 1380 13 45 400 301 9 S+

2. Best 3.06 960 9 57 500 275 9 S- (Yes, I revised my projections up radically with the injury to LeShoure)

3. Brees 3.03 4400 32 15 20 367 11 S++P++

4. Witten. 4.08 86 940 7 222 S++P++

5. Wells 8.04 780 7 15 140 149 6 UPGRADE! (projections were not yet adjusted for loss of Ryan Williams - possibly add 70 FPTS up to around 220).

6. S Moss 7.07 75 950 5 200 S-, P-

7. Julio Jones 7.04 64 900 6.5 193

8. Amendola 9.01 85 750 4 184

9. L Moore 9.06 65 730 6 174

10.Gronkowski 10.01 56 670 7.5 168 P+

11.M Bush 10.07 650 5.5 20 120 130 8

12.Cook 13.02 60 700 5 160 S+

13.Cutler 9.11 3500 23 18 180 1 293 8 11 S-, P-

14.Royal 15.04 54 630 4 141

15.Denarious Moore (my 'flier' pick)

16.ARIZ Def (very easy early schedule),6

17.K Suisham, PITT, 11

 

This was a live in-person draft. Nothing too exciting, but I got a good contending team out of it for a 12 team PPR against some solid competition. No significant holes, but I had to work for everything tonight.

Brees, Cutler

ADP, Best, Wells, M Bush

S Moss, Julio Jones, Amendola, L Moore, Royal, D Moore

Witten. Gronkowski, Cook

Suisham, AZ

[riverdank 1]

Hey Madd, have you put together a target draft list for 2012. If so I'd love to see it.

[ACL's 0]

Bump. I would love to see someone's "Target Draft" as well. Let's hear some opinions on this strategy.

[riverdank 1]

It worked very well for me in 2 very competitive leagues. 14man and 12man leagues. We draft in those same leagues this weekend so I was hoping to get a little input. I had never done the target draft strategy till last year.

[Frozenbeernuts 1,653]

It is pretty much how I always draft. There are always guys ranked near each other but I have vastly different views on where they will finish. There are always tons of guys with limited upside that I will not draft. I may not always be right with the guys I pick but upside and consistency are 2 of the most important factors when drafting. You can increase the probability of getting a high upside player by removing players from your sheet that you see as limited for production purposes. A guy like Beanie Wells. He will have some good games, but that AZ offensive line looks like shat and he just hasn't proved he can be a consistently productive RB. You could have him ranked in a middle round somewhere on your sheet and just pick him when his name is next up on your list but he will not be on mine.

[Stewburtx8 67]

Here is my target drafting for my draft this Sunday. It is a 12 team, PPR league. We start QB, RB, WR, TE, RB/WR, RB/WR, WR/TE, K, 3 IDP. 6 point ALL TD’s. Rules are a little quirky with 1 point for 12 yards rush/rec and 1 point for 30 yards passing. -3 points for interceptions and fumbles. I have the 10th pick, which I hate this year. Since I pick pretty close together, a lot of my targets will be duplicates. Just of note: There are 4-5 guys who will always grab a QB pretty early, then there are quite a few people that usually wait on QB. I am almost always in the latter and take my QB in the 6th or 7th round. But the QB ADP’s are going to be a little strange based on league tendencies. I’ll leave the IDP’s out but I usually target them starting in the 8th round or later.

 

1.10- McFadden, Brees, GRAHAM, Forte, Fitzgerald

2.03- GRAHAM, Forte, Charles, J.Jones, Welker, Stafford

3.10- Marshall, Jennings, Harvin, Nicks, Mathews, FJax

4.03- Harvin, Nicks, GATES, HERNANDEZ, FJax, Bradshaw

5.10- Bowe, A.Brown, S.Johnson, Decker, M.Ryan, V.DAVIS

6.03- M.Ryan, E.Manning, T.Romo, Decker, Wayne, V.DAVIS, JStew

7.10- P.Manning, PETTIGREW, WITTEN, K.Smith, R.Helu, Blackmon

8.03- Blackmon, F.DAVIS, Ma.Floyd, A.Boldin, B.Tate, Big Ben

9.10- A.Boldin, D.Heyward-Bey, D.Amendola, Ry.Williams, J.Rodgers, RG3

10.03- D.Amendola, K.Wright, RG3, TONY G, GRESHAM, Ry. Williams, J.Rodgers, S.Vereen

11.10- K.Wright, N.Washington, J.COOK, G.OLSEN, Fitzpatrick, Freeman, S.Vereen, P.Thomas

12.03- J.COOK, G.OLSEN, Fitzpatrick, Freeman, N. Washington, Lafell, Jeffery, S.Moss, K.Hunter, D.Thomas

 

I'll stop there. It gets tough to pin down targets and rounds at this point, especially when IDP's will be mixed in.

[Flgatorguy87 160]

This the strategy I use. I like it because if you tell me where I am picking I will have a pretty good idea of what my team looks like, within reason. I will take some guys early in order to assure I get who I want. I find my teams look pretty similar across my leagues, which is great when you land some steals, but can be debilitating if you encounter an injury.

[riverdank 1]

Thanks Stewburx8, that's kind of the position I'm in tomorrow in the 14man league. I got 13th pick. Our rules are similar to yours. Now Sundays draft is similar rules but a 12 man league and I got 1st pick which I aint to crazy about.

[madd futher mucker 36]

It is a pleasure to see that my last year's post was resurrected. Here is my 2012 version.

 

Tomorrow night I have the 1st pick in the snake draft. I'm not really a RB heavy drafter and I seldom decide in advance how to play the early rounds. But since I had the 'hammer' I decided to put maximum pressure on the other owners and go RB RB RB. The idea was to take three studs so that the other owners would panic and take (inferior) RBs early as well and allow my other targets to fall to me. This year we are going FPC format, except the more standard 1 pt per receptions for TEs just like RBs and WRs. This will be a 12 team 20 rounder, and waivers will be closed from the draft to the 1st game of the season. One other thing - there will be no trades allowed in this league so it pays to get it right on draft day.

 

As always, I updated my final projections (again my thanks go out to swirvenirvin) and I created my tiered rankings for each position and then horizontally tiered the positions. I added in the ADPs and the SOS by position for both the season and the play-offs. By analyzing the tiered rankings against the ADPs, and the strength of schedules, I was able to arrive at my Targets by round. Note: This doesn't mean that if a player falls so that value presents itself, I won't take advantage of it - I will!

 

Here's what I came up with:

Rd...Player..ADP..FPTs..Bye..Schedule - S=season, P=playoffs....Notes

1. Rice 1.02 342 b8 Sch: S++P++ Could have take Foster but would have had to use a 5/6 round handcuff pick on Tate; My handcuff for Rice will be B Rainey in the 17th round.

2/3. Sproles 2.09 248, SC: S++P+; S Jax 2.08 239 SC: S+P+, Mathews 2.10 224 S+++, Martin 3.09 216 S+P+; Richardson 3.03 214 P+

4/5. Ryan 4.12 340 S++ P+; Harvin 4.08 255 S=neutral; A Brown 5.05 224 P+; Vick 5.12 320 S+P+ injury risk

6/7. Cutler 8.03 308 S+P+; Maclin 6.03 216 S+P+; Decker 6.05 216 S+P+; V Davis 5.12 202, S++P+++; Stewart 6.12 183, S+;

8/9. Gresham 10.04 178, P-; Little 10.10, 190 S_ P--, Britt 8.06 187 (3 game injury/suspension) S-; P Thomas 10.04 157 S+ P+

10/11. Olsen 11.09 174 S-, Cook 11.06 172 S-P-; M Williams 12.02 182 S++P+; K Hunter 11.01 124 neutral;

12/13. Keller 14.05 166 P+; J Baldwin 13.09 178 P++; K Wright 12.06 155 P-; R Brown handcuff for Mathews;

14/15. Rudolph 13.07 148 S+P--; Tolbert 14.01; Collie 13.03 (late high risk/ reward pick); S Smith (Stl); B Scott;

16. Fliers: Gordon, Simpson, D Nelson, Streater, Sanders; added R Wilson (or Cassel).

17. B Rainey (handcuff for Rice)

18. DEFENSE

19/20 kickers - (since no open free agent pick-ups in this format, need two in case one goes down before season starts)

 

I've done 3 mocks and they all were similar. Here's the best of the 3:

1 Rice, 2.Sproles, 3. Mathews, 4 Ryan, 5. A Brown, 6. Stewart 7. T Smith, 8. Little, 9. M Williams, 10. Gresham 11. Olsen 12 J Baldwin, 13, R Brown, 14. D Baldwin, 15. S Smith (Stl)

 

I'm a firm believer in this approach to target drafting. I'll let you know Sunday how it went down.

[DrG 94]

Ethats a nice list, from the look of it it really requires you to think thru even the later rounds.

Two questions: if you were picking at the turn who do you like and do expect Sproles to produce like he did last year

[DrG 94]

Backup qb?

[madd futher mucker 36]

Ethats a nice list, from the look of it it really requires you to think thru even the later rounds.

Two questions: if you were picking at the turn who do you like and do expect Sproles to produce like he did last year

 

Q1: I'm thinking you mean the 1/2 turn because I am picking at the 2/3 turn. If I was picking at the turn, I likely would not go RB RB RB, but more of a BPA strategy. But other than that the approach would be the same. I like whoever drops of these six guys (assumes PPR): J Jones, Welker, Graham, Gronk, Brady, Brees. I'd mock to test out what RBs would be available at the 3/4 turn and see how it looks. After round 4 my targets would be similar to the value picks I've selected here, although the round drafted might be off by a round.

 

Q2: My projection for Sproles is 570 yds rushing, 81 recepts for 650 yds, 7.5 (7 or 8) combined TDs for a total of 248 ppr fpts....so, yes i do!

[DrG 94]

[some of your later picks certainly mirror some guys I like.

 

At the 1/2 turn, I expect to have a shot at one of these guys: McFadden, Jamal Charles, Matthews, Sproles ..., and either Gronk or Graham. I like the WR value in rounds 4-6 better than I do at the top. I'm also a Sproles fan, but 12/13 is high for him. The top 4 qbs will be gone. I've been burned drafting WRS at the turn too many times to do that again!

[madd futher mucker 36]

[some of your later picks certainly mirror some guys I like.

 

At the 1/2 turn, I expect to have a shot at one of these guys: McFadden, Jamal Charles, Matthews, Sproles ..., and either Gronk or Graham. I like the WR value in rounds 4-6 better than I do at the top. I'm also a Sproles fan, but 12/13 is high for him. The top 4 qbs will be gone. I've been burned drafting WRS at the turn too many times to do that again!

 

The neat thing is that Stewburtx8 who uses this technique very well posted his targets from the turn just above mine. Knowing Stewy, he put a lot of thought into targeting from that position. If I were you, I'd study his contribution.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Backup qb?

 

A valid point. If I picked Vick, I'd get a good back-up QB; with Ryan, I'll add Russell Wilson to my round 16 flier list or take Cassel with that pick.

[riverdank 1]

Thank You Madd, and Stew. My live draft at 3pm today is where I have the 13th pick. I'll let yall know how I did later on this evening. Thanks again!

[RaiderHaters Revenge 3,660]

A valid point. If I picked Vick, I'd get a good back-up QB; with Ryan, I'll add Russell Wilson to my round 16 flier list or take Cassel with that pick.

 

people use backup QB's?

[madd futher mucker 36]

people use backup QB's?

 

In a standard Re-draft format I would not use a back-up QB with Ryan as my QB, but as I explained above, this is FPC Rules. There is no trading and no open free agency after blind bid waivers have been awarded. Two years ago, I lost out of the money because I went with one K and 1 QB. In different weeks, both got injured after waivers were opened but prior to their games. In each case, it cost me a win. I would have finished either 1st or 2nd in league and high enough overall to compete for the big money.

 

In this format, drafting two QBs and two kickers is a virtually mandatory protocol...I learned that the expensive way!

[Evil Genius 0]

There is no trading and no open free agency after blind bid waivers have been awarded.

 

Pretty pi$$ poor design if you ask me.

 

Strategy notwithstanding, Free Agency is one of joys of FF play.

 

Why undermine it with rules that work against the fun?

[Frozenbeernuts 1,653]

Pretty pi$$ poor design if you ask me.

 

Strategy notwithstanding, Free Agency is one of joys of FF play.

 

Why undermine it with rules that work against the fun?

I guess its for guys who like to do a bunch of drafts but don't care much to put the rest of the effort in. My teams usually thrive through FA pickups and WW adds. I can see it if you just want to do a bunch of drafts, kind of like a bunch of small crack hits (no I do not have experience with small crack hits). That is really the only reason I can see. That has to leave a bunch of good players on the WW without a home. That would make me sad to see such a waste.

[madd futher mucker 36]

Actually that is how the high stakes Fantasy Players Championship is designed. The no-trade rule is a must in national high stakes leagues so the chances of collusion are significantly reduced. Open free agent pick-ups are not allowed for that same reason. It has nothing to do whatever with the amount of effort that gets put into managing the teams.

 

The commissioner and his good friend play in multiple high stakes leagues every year (and I have played in them as well). This is not part of the FFPC, but the commissioner likes the rules and it is very easy to commish a league like this. Since I enjoy all different formats and it is a local live draft league with guys I know - and there is lots of 'dead money', of course I'm in.

 

That is all beside the point. Here's how the draft went down against my targets. BTW, as the drinking increased and the attention spans went down, the later picks in the draft got progressively easier for me:

1. RB Rice

2. RB S Jax

3. RB Martin

4. WR Dez

5. QB Ryan

6. WR Decker

7. RB Hillis (with a nod to Stonewall)

8. TE Gresham

9. WR Little

10. WR J Baldwin

11. TE Cook

12. TE Olsen (the two guys who play in the FFPC were obviously the strongest other two teams. Since they both ignored the position completely, I took the last of the second tier guys as a 'defensive' pick. I can use two TE as a flex anyway if I have to, since this is a double flex league.)

13. WR Malcolm Floyd

14. RB Ryan Williams

15. WR Steve Smith (Stl)

16. QB R. Wilson

17. RB B. Rainey (R Rice handcuff)

18. DEF - SD

19. K Bullock K

20. K Tucker (I drafted him for personal reasons - I'm told that my son-in-law is his cousin - and I think he will beat out Cundiff.

 

Every year I'm in the money against these guys, and this looks like a very strong team for a 12 team ppr league to me. Agree?

[stonewall 647]

Every year I'm in the money against these guys, and this looks like a very strong team for a 12 team ppr league to me. Agree?

 

You owned that draft, Madd. Ridiculous value through and through, particularly late. Love Hillis in the 7th (of course...outstanding RB4), Floyd in the 13th is out-and-out robbery, Williams in the 14th is a great late upside pick, and Wilson in the 16th could pay huge dividends. I picked up Tucker as free agent yesterday also in a league...big leg. After watching him kick this weekend, I think he runs Cundiff out of town.

[riverdank 1]

Ok, this is how it went in the 14 man ppr draft. Positions are QB, WR, WR, RB, RB, TE, W/T, W/R, K, DEF, BN, BN, BN, BN

 

1. Jay Graham

2. Jamaal Charles

3. Percy Harvin

4. Shonn Green

5. Jay Cutler

6. Reggie Wayne

7. Justin Blackmon

8. Malcolm Floyd

9. Ryan Williams

10. Kendall Wright

11. Jared Cook

12. Jahvid Best

13. Pittsburgh Steelers Def.

14. Rob Bironas

 

14 players drafting 14 positions and excessive drinking makes this league a difficult one at times. lol. I like Cutler but really wasn't planning on drafting him but qbs were ate up by the end of the 5th. Fun time though.

[madd futher mucker 36]

You owned that draft, Madd. Ridiculous value through and through, particularly late. Love Hillis in the 7th (of course...outstanding RB4), Floyd in the 13th is out-and-out robbery, Williams in the 14th is a great late upside pick, and Wilson in the 16th could pay huge dividends. I picked up Tucker as free agent yesterday also in a league...big leg. After watching him kick this weekend, I think he runs Cundiff out of town.

 

The point of Target Drafting by Round is not to stick exactly to a script, but to use the targets as your value benchmarks. When greater value falls to you than your targets, you ignore your targets and take advantage of the greater value. This draft was a good example of that. On the 4/5 turn, Harvin was gone, but Dez was there. At 7.01 I ignored other options and took Hillis.

 

This morning after analyzing, that was my 'regret' pick though. Ben Tate was still there, and I let my toughest competitor (who took Foster out of the 5 hole after Rodgers Brady and Brees went 2, 3, & 4) to get him in the 8th. Even though I had Hillis as the better 'value', not taking Tate as a defensive pick at that point may turn out to be a huge mistake.

 

The lesson that will I take away from this draft is there are times where there is greater value in 'defensive drafting'.

[stonewall 647]

Even though I had Hillis as the better 'value', not taking Tate as a defensive pick at that point may turn out to be a huge mistake.

 

Funny you should mention those two....Tate and Hillis. To me, they are true "look alike" players that I have struggled to choose between. Both will see a lot of playing time and have great upside......particularly in the event of injury to Charles or Foster, in which they immediately become RB1's imo.

 

I noticed that Tucker was awarded the job in Baltimore this morning, so we did well on that.

[Stewburtx8 67]

Here is my target drafting for my draft this Sunday. It is a 12 team, PPR league. We start QB, RB, WR, TE, RB/WR, RB/WR, WR/TE, K, 3 IDP. 6 point ALL TD’s. Rules are a little quirky with 1 point for 12 yards rush/rec and 1 point for 30 yards passing. -3 points for interceptions and fumbles. I have the 10th pick, which I hate this year. Since I pick pretty close together, a lot of my targets will be duplicates. Just of note: There are 4-5 guys who will always grab a QB pretty early, then there are quite a few people that usually wait on QB. I am almost always in the latter and take my QB in the 6th or 7th round. But the QB ADP’s are going to be a little strange based on league tendencies. I’ll leave the IDP’s out but I usually target them starting in the 8th round or later.

 

1.10- McFadden, Brees, GRAHAM, Forte, Fitzgerald

2.03- GRAHAM, Forte, Charles, J.Jones, Welker, Stafford

3.10- Marshall, Jennings, Harvin, Nicks, Mathews, FJax

4.03- Harvin, Nicks, GATES, HERNANDEZ, FJax, Bradshaw

5.10- Bowe, A.Brown, S.Johnson, Decker, M.Ryan, V.DAVIS

6.03- M.Ryan, E.Manning, T.Romo, Decker, Wayne, V.DAVIS, JStew

7.10- P.Manning, PETTIGREW, WITTEN, K.Smith, R.Helu, Blackmon

8.03- Blackmon, F.DAVIS, Ma.Floyd, A.Boldin, B.Tate, Big Ben

9.10- A.Boldin, D.Heyward-Bey, D.Amendola, Ry.Williams, J.Rodgers, RG3

10.03- D.Amendola, K.Wright, RG3, TONY G, GRESHAM, Ry. Williams, J.Rodgers, S.Vereen

11.10- K.Wright, N.Washington, J.COOK, G.OLSEN, Fitzpatrick, Freeman, S.Vereen, P.Thomas

12.03- J.COOK, G.OLSEN, Fitzpatrick, Freeman, N. Washington, Lafell, Jeffery, S.Moss, K.Hunter, D.Thomas

 

I'll stop there. It gets tough to pin down targets and rounds at this point, especially when IDP's will be mixed in.

 

Well, I just finished my draft this afternoon. In the end, my target drafting turned out about right. I ended up taking Antonio Brown a round earlier than listed because all my targets were gone. Harvin and Hernandez went the two picks before me.

 

1.10- Darren McFadden

2.03- Jimmy Graham

3.10- Ryan Mathews

4.03- Antonio Brown

5.10- Matt Ryan

6.03- Demaryius Thomas

7.10- Jonathan Stewart

8.03- Kevin Smith

 

The target drafting list kind of falls off here because I took a few IDP's (Derrick Johnson, Colin McCarthy). I did land the following players later: Malcom Floyd, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Pierre Thomas. Also drafted Randall Cobb, Sidney Rice, David Akers, and IDP Donald Butler.

[madd futher mucker 36]

It is interesting to see how many targets by round that Stewburtx8 shares with me, even though we drafted from exact opposite sides of our drafts. The moral of this is that it is the technique and the thought process that makes the difference, not the draft position.

 

For those who have enjoyed my longer, article-type posts, I followed up my 1st article on RosterWatch, Your Fantasy Draft 12-Step Program http://rosterwatch.com/?p=4249 by crafting an article based on the discussion in this post. It is titled Some Advanced Drafting Strategies . It should be up on RosterWatch by tomorrow or Wednesday. I'll post the link here when it is up.

[riverdank 1]

Ok so here is how my draft went on the 12-man league on Sunday. I had 1st pick and it turned out to be a pretty good day. I'll have to drop a player and pick up a kicker.

 

1. Ray Rice

2. Darren Sproles

3. Ryan Matthews

4. Percy Harvin

5. Hakeem Knicks

6. Tony Romo

7. Tony Gonzalez

8. Randall Cobb

9. David Wilson

10. Toby Gerhart

11. Greg Little

12. Kenny Britt

13. Alshon Jeffrey (gamecock fan lol)

14. James Anderson D

15. Seahawks DEF

[DrG 94]

MADD

Very nice article, much appreciated

[giraldi02 470]

I just finished my main 12 team PPR league and targeted many of the players I wanted. Unfortunately I gambled on round 5 and skipped over Rivers after bumping Eric Decker up two rounds. Most of my draft was flexible due to others around me...and honestly...if my quarterback duo can outperform their ADP I got a good chance at contention. Drafted from the 3 hole: Start 1QB, 2 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 1 Flex (r/w/t), Def, K, 2 IDP.

 

1: LeSean McCoy

2: Julio Jones

3: DeMarco Murray

4: Antonio Brown

5: Eric Decker

6: Torrey Smith

7: Patrick Willis

8: Titus Young

9: Rashaad Jennings

10: Brandon Pettigrew

11: Josh Freeman

12: James Laurinitis

13: Toby Gerhert (yeah...I dunno)

14: Ryan Fitzpatrick

15: Seattle Defense

16: David Nelson (didn't draft a kicker)

[madd futher mucker 36]

MADD

Very nice article, much appreciated

 

The second article Advanced Drafting Strategies hit the RosterWatch website this morning. It was based on the discussion in this post. You may note that I took some creative license in the interest of brevity (I didn't want to have to explain FFPC format and I took more credit for my 7.01 pick than the truth just to illustrate my point about defensive drafting.)

 

Other than that, here is the link. http://rosterwatch.com/?p=4539

Enjoy!

[Stewburtx8 67]

Nice article MFM. I didn't know you were officially writing articles anywhere. Good stuff.

 

I like the target drafting concept obviously. I never put it on paper like I did this year, but I've always had it in my mind groupings of players I'd be looking at in each round. Putting it on paper just makes it a little more organized and easier to track.

 

I can't say I really ever look to make "defensive" picks but it's an interesting idea. I do sometimes like to take 2 TE's early in a league that can flex TE's because they are usually undervalued, and also because it weakens everyone else at the TE position. But other than that, I usually just focus on taking the best player available with each of my picks.

[DrG 94]

I had targets for each rd in 6pt td league ppr, picked 8 of 12

 

Cal Johnson

Graham

Martin

Ryan

A brown

K smith

B Tate

M Bush

R Jennings

T young

M crabtree

M leshoure

S Vareen

G Olsen

R Wilson

Mike Goodson

M Bryant

Minnesota d

[WhiteWonder 2,223]

I feel like 90% of fantasy owners go into their drafts with targets in mind for each round. They might say they are going "best available" but in reality they have a short list of 4-5 targets. These targets may change slightly as the draft unfolds and are subject to previous positional selections, but more or less we all have certain targets in mind.

 

In a recent keeper league draft of mine I went in with the following targets

 

Rd 1 - Chris Johnson, Julio Jones, Jimmy Graham, Greg Jennings, Ahmad Bradshaw

 

Rd 2 - Matt Ryan, Antonio Gates, Doug Martin (all from previous round)

 

Rd 3 - All from previous round, Antonio Brown, RG3, Peyton Manning, plus some others

 

and so on.

 

As the draft would unfold I would tweak my targets. For example, Once drafting Matt Ryan, I was no longer looking for a QB until later. Once I drafted Julio Jones and Antonio Brown, I ignored WR for a while even if i had specific WR targets for rounds 4 and 5.

[DrG 94]

Same I didn't think mega or Graham would necessarily be there but having the list kept me much more in focus

 

I went hard at rb after rd 5 because others were going wr or qb

 

I had intended to start rb rb but couldn't pass up clear tier one guys

[southcarolina 166]

Ok so here is how my draft went on the 12-man league on Sunday. I had 1st pick and it turned out to be a pretty good day. I'll have to drop a player and pick up a kicker.

 

1. Ray Rice

2. Darren Sproles

3. Ryan Matthews

4. Percy Harvin

5. Hakeem Knicks

6. Tony Romo

7. Tony Gonzalez

8. Randall Cobb

9. David Wilson

10. Toby Gerhart

11. Greg Little

12. Kenny Britt

13. Alshon Jeffrey (gamecock fan lol)

14. James Anderson D

15. Seahawks DEF