When do you start drafting?

[Djgb13 2,338]

So last year we started drafting kind of late (1 week before season started) and this year we are putting together another league to draft. My question is when do you guys usually start drafting your players? Its almost august now and the preseason will be started soon so im trying to gauge on when my league should set up our draft.

[shorepatrol 1,737]

Can't remember, I'm pretty liquored up when I draft

[Thornton Melon 544]

Typically ~6:15 PM

[KSB2424 3,083]

The weekend before Labor Day weekend. August 24th this year. To many people out of town Labor Day weekend and the season starts Sept 6th.

[rholio 339]

Monday after the NFL draft.

[CSWR 0]

We always try to schedule our draft as close to opening weekend as possible. If a significant portion of the league can't make it, then we start moving it back. It never fails that SOMEONE gets screwed because of preseason injuries and the earlier you draft the more chance you have to be in that number.

[Flgatorguy87 160]

Between 3rd and 4th preseason games.

[Mike FF Today 608]

Echoing what CSWR said, I like waiting as long as possible before drafting so you get a chance to see how particular camp battles play out and who gets injured. The recent Percy Harvin situation is a great example. If you hold a draft before news like this, it could seriously affect your team from the get-go.

[TwentyFourSeven 23]

We're going on the 21st. As another poster said, Labor Day has proven to be a bad weekend.

[Larry David 20]

The weekend before Labor Day weekend. August 24th this year. To many people out of town Labor Day weekend and the season starts Sept 6th.

This. You wait as long as you can which, because of people going away for Labor Day weekend, is usually the weekend before the holiday.

[rosslive99 1]

I'm gonna offer a flip side to the coin. A positive, albeit riskier, reason to draft earlier is so you can get guys to fall to you in parts of the draft that you won't be able to once the season gets here and the hype trains begin to roll.

 

Now for me I do alot of my drafting closer to the beginning of the season, because like its been mentioned I like to know about as many injuries as possible ect before I draft. However I have done a couple of drafts already. And going back to my point above, I was able to snag MJD as my 3rd RB in the middle 3rd due to the uncertainty with his health. However I've been able to watch a few drafts these last few nights, and with news of him being cleared for camp, hes now going late second.

 

Just something else to think about

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

Im in the middle of my third draft this year with 3 more to go.

[Upper Class Trash 67]

I do a lot of cheap leagues($10 to $20) until after the preseason, then I do my larger drafts. I usually end up with a ton of draftmaster leagues at RTsports, but mostly to find out the true ADP of players prior to the competitive leagues beginning. Nothing sucks worse than joining a high dollar pay league and seeing your RB1 go down in the preseason, which is why I wait. We are all draftaholics, so the cheap leagues keep me busy until the real fun begins.

[Serpent 51]

It depends on what you're looking for.

 

If you're extremely confident in your abilities and want an edge, and your competitors are people that are going to read up on everything before a draft, you probably want it earlier. That is because if you can do your own research you'll have it done in advance, and can do it quicker. If you wait, that edge is gone because all the resources will be ready by draft time and you won't have that advantage.

 

Pros: You can get lesser known players and really fill up on depth. More time to make trades, so you can trade your higher value pieces if you have guys you know will fill those spots.

 

Cons: Injuries can happen. Fantasy is a lot of speculation, and now you're even more speculative, so it can backfire. Things also change over time, so a month or two could be big.

 

The other approach is having it later. The advantage is you've had more time to study. You have more resources available to you. If you're in a league where you'll do the work but others won't, this is better for you. You have most of the data you need, but others won't use it.

Pros: Less likely to be impacted by a major injury or surprise depth chart change. Less likely to grab a very speculative player that winds up doing nothing. Less stressful since ADPs are pretty firmed up, so it's just textbook picks.

 

Cons: You'll miss out on the huge value plays. You might get bit by the draft day warriors that make huge runs up the board because of hype from preseason, and then do nothing. You probably won't make any trades because you just drafted close to the start of the season. If everyone else reads the same resources you won't really get any edge at all.

 

So basically what it boils down to is do you think you can grab guys that would run up the boards if drafted later, and do you want to balance that against an injury happening.

 

I suggest trying both approaches. Many leagues like to draft early preseason just to balance it.

[mr_bungalow 1]

The weekend before labor day and the tuesday after labor day.

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

I do a lot of cheap leagues($10 to $20) until after the preseason, then I do my larger drafts. I usually end up with a ton of draftmaster leagues at RTsports, but mostly to find out the true ADP of players prior to the competitive leagues beginning. Nothing sucks worse than joining a high dollar pay league and seeing your RB1 go down in the preseason, which is why I wait. We are all draftaholics, so the cheap leagues keep me busy until the real fun begins.

 

I would rather take that chance and draft early where my sleepers still have max value.

[We Tigers 71]

This. You wait as long as you can which, because of people going away for Labor Day weekend, is usually the weekend before the holiday.

Thirded. My local league has pretty comfortably settled in to this spot. I like it being close to opening day even though I always do better in earlier drafts. Taking advantage of the early-draft information gap is great in random leagues, but among friends I'd rather people field decent teams and stay interested all year, even if that means I have no shot at stealing Ray Rice or Arian Foster in the 8th round.

 

I'm in the middle of a long slow draft in an 18-team keeper league right now, and usually pick up a couple more 12-team leagues mid-August.

[DaDanimal 2]

We used to do it the last weekend of preseason. However, this year, we are doing it the Wednesday night before the Thursday opener. Two guys are getting married in August and made it hard to get everyone in town.

 

Selfish really. I met my fiancee in our league...we're planning our wedding around the draft next year. Priorities.

[Serpent 51]

We used to do it the last weekend of preseason. However, this year, we are doing it the Wednesday night before the Thursday opener. Two guys are getting married in August and made it hard to get everyone in town.

 

Selfish really. I met my fiancee in our league...we're planning our wedding around the draft next year. Priorities.

 

Are they getting married to each other or something?

 

I've made it pretty well known that if there is a sporting event I won't attend a wedding. My friend's fiancees apparently respect that so they never schedule the weddings on sports events. I then proceed not to go anyway. I don't know why any men get married. I've slept with half my friends wives (before they got married). After marriage the men generally become weird, but the women are usually pretty cool still. I should sleep with them again just to see what happens.

[Quickolas1 80]

 

If you're extremely confident in your abilities and want an edge, and your competitors are people that are going to read up on everything before a draft, you probably want it earlier, the draft date doesn't matter.

 

concur.

if you can out-draft someone in July, you can out-draft them in late August after all the pre-season injuries.

[Djgb13 2,338]

My league is going to draft on 24th of August. There are actually a couple of preseason battles that I want to see who wins since it will determine who I will be drafting. A prime example is the RB situation in Denver. Either the new RB Monte Ball wins or it will be Hillman. Last year I had both McGahee and Moreno and they were pretty good Flex plays. With Peyton as QB it really helps the running game as well

[5Year1 23]

In the leagues I have run, the drafts were usually the weekend before Labor Day weekend. I like the later the better but as someone said people are away and doing other things on the holiday weekend. The danger of early drafts are injuries, like what happened to people who drafted Ryan Mathews before the first pre season game last year.

[Michariz 0]

8/24 - never easy coordinating 12 schedules. Gotta love auto-pick when it's picking for someone else.

[Johnson Rose 1]

I admit, I was always against drafting early for the usual concerns but I have come to prefer early drafting. if I'm going to have an advantage it's going to be how much I follow football year round.

[Peanut33 0]

The Sunday of Labor Day Weekend after all preseason games are over. Works well for our league. All owners in our league have no life outside of fantasy football.

[onejayhawk 3]

Yesterday.

 

Maclin and Pitta were both auto-drafted.

 

J

[snatchit 108]

we draft at 6;00 Sunday Aug 25.. just one game left going for preseason week 3, I like it because week 4 every one sits and you get to see what happens with the starters week 2 and 3