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AxeElf

Had to Get One In Before Memorial Day

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Just jumped into a $20 Yahoo Best Ball for S's & G's...  love that 30 second clock, 17 round drafts in less than an hour, no Ks or Ds...  17 rounds is kinda cruel, though--if you draft early in the 1st round, you also draft early in the last round--you draft early in 9 rounds and late in 8 rounds--how is that fair?

But anyway, you gotta check this out...  the ultimate stack team... drafting from the 6-slot out of 10 teams...

QB.....................................WR........................................TE

Dak Prescott....................CeeDee Lamb

Matthew Stafford............Robert Woods......................Tyler Higbee

Daniel Jones....................Kenny Golladay-------------------Evan Engram

Robert Tonyan is my other TE.  I REALLY wanted to wait and draft Jarwin or Schultz, just to complete the triple-triple-stack, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.

RBs:  Zeke, Mixon, D.Harris, Murray, Mack

Other WRs:  Henry Ruggs, Tre'Quan Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown

Seems like my scoring should be WILDLY variant--and in a Best Ball, that's perfect--I'll just skim the scoring spikes off the top each week, and won't have to eat the clunkers.

The really exciting thing is that Yahoo projects my team to score the 10th-most points out of 10 teams!  Gotta love Draft Analyzers!

EDIT:  Checked out the team projected to score the most points--he has the Mahomes/Hill stack--but not much after Hill (Julio/Sutton/Thomas), and Jonathan Taylor, J.K. Dobbins, and Ronald Jones at RB!  We shall see...

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On 8/4/2021 at 12:12 AM, AxeElf said:

Just jumped into a $20 Yahoo Best Ball for S's & G's...  love that 30 second clock, 17 round drafts in less than an hour, no Ks or Ds...  17 rounds is kinda cruel, though--if you draft early in the 1st round, you also draft early in the last round--you draft early in 9 rounds and late in 8 rounds--how is that fair?

But anyway, you gotta check this out...  the ultimate stack team... drafting from the 6-slot out of 10 teams...

QB.....................................WR........................................TE

Dak Prescott....................CeeDee Lamb

Matthew Stafford............Robert Woods......................Tyler Higbee

Daniel Jones....................Kenny Golladay-------------------Evan Engram

Robert Tonyan is my other TE.  I REALLY wanted to wait and draft Jarwin or Schultz, just to complete the triple-triple-stack, but I couldn't bring myself to do that.

RBs:  Zeke, Mixon, D.Harris, Murray, Mack

Other WRs:  Henry Ruggs, Tre'Quan Smith, Amon-Ra St. Brown

Seems like my scoring should be WILDLY variant--and in a Best Ball, that's perfect--I'll just skim the scoring spikes off the top each week, and won't have to eat the clunkers.

The really exciting thing is that Yahoo projects my team to score the 10th-most points out of 10 teams!  Gotta love Draft Analyzers!

EDIT:  Checked out the team projected to score the most points--he has the Mahomes/Hill stack--but not much after Hill (Julio/Sutton/Thomas), and Jonathan Taylor, J.K. Dobbins, and Ronald Jones at RB!  We shall see...

What a absolutely awful team. Seriously? You're bragging about that trash?

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30 minutes ago, wolves111 said:

What a absolutely awful team. Seriously? You're bragging about that trash?

Have you seen any other Best Ball triple-triple stacks lately?

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Somebody just "stole" Cam Akers in the 17th round of a $10 Yahoo Best Ball draft...

These things are like peanuts...  I can't stop...  And the level of competition is right where you want it to be for money contests.

Oh, yeah... the guy who had the overall #1 pick in that draft?  He picked Mahomes.

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My last two Yahoo Best Ball Leagues...  Which would you rather have, A for $20, or B for $10?

(Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex)

A............................................B

 

Kirk Cousins.........................Kirk Cousins

Matthew Stafford................Ben Roethlisberger

Daniel Jones........................Ryan Fitzpatrick

 

Ezekiel Elliott........................Aaron Jones

Najee Harris.........................Saquon Barkley

Chris Carson........................Chris Carson

Mike Davis...........................Mike Davis

Latavius Murray...................Latavius Murray

 

CeeDee Lamb......................CeeDee Lamb

Kenny Golladay....................Kenny Golladay

Brandon Aiyuk......................Adam Thielen

Brandin Cooks......................Brandin Cooks

Henry Ruggs III.....................Robby Anderson

Tre'Quan Smith.....................Tre'Quan Smith

 

Tyler Higbee..........................Tyler Higbee

Evan Engram.........................Anthony Firkser

C.J. Uzomah.........................C.J. Uzomah

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Man, I tell ya, it is fresh salmon season at the Yahoo Best Ball river...

$10 draft just now...  CMC is first, of course.  I have the second pick and take Henry, of course.  Guy with the third pick takes forever, and then picks...  CeeDee Lamb.

Kinda pissed me off, 'cause I wanted to get CeeDee in the third (after hopefully nabbing Najee in the 2nd--he's still way undervalued there--and I did), but on the other hand, you can't help but point and laugh, internally.

CeeDee Lamb #3 overall.  That beats the Mahomes #1 overall the other day.  At least Mahomes is the best at his position.  I love Lamb, but even I don't think he'll be the #1 overall WR.  There will be a lot of footballs in the air for Dallas, but not enough to make Lamb #1 overall.

(Oh, I went with Carson in the 3rd.)

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To further illustrate the point above about fresh salmon, Clyde Edwards-Forking-Helaire was taken 9th overall in my $20 Yahoo BB tonight (only 0.5 PPR).

Thanks in part to bonehead moves like that, my first three picks, from the 3-slot were...

1.3 Derrick Henry

2.8 Najee Harris

3.3 Joe Mixon!...  and then, four solid WRs...

4.8 Robert Woods

5.3 Adam Thielen

6.8 Brandon Aiyuk

7.3 Kenny Golladay...  and then, for my RB4/5 one-two punch, I executed the 49ers coup at the 8/9 turn...

8.8 Trey Sermon

9.3 Raheem Mostert

10.8 Brandin Cooks

This team is the perfect example of waiting on QBs and TEs.  I have not drafted a single one to this point, but from this point forward the only pick that is NOT a QB or a TE is Amon-Ra St. Brown as my penultimate pick...

11.3 Kirk Cousins

12.8 Matt Ryan

13.3 Evan Engram

14.8 Daniel Jones

15.3 Anthony Firkser

16.8 Amon-Ra St. Brown

17.3 C.J. Uzomah

AND I ABSOLUTELY FREAKING LOVE IT!!!

It was soooo painful to not pick CeeDee Lamb in the 3rd... but c'mon, JOE MIXON?  Backing up Henry and Najee??  I just could not pass that up.  But I think maybe that is the first time this season that I have been in a position to draft CeeDee Lamb, and chose to draft someone else, knowing full well that Lamb would not be available at my next pick.

The Sermon/Mostert coup was just gravy.

This is like my new favorite team.

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Ok, this is probably the pinnacle of RB corps in a best ball league... still my usual complement of QBs and TEs--and WRs for the most part, though no Woods or Thielen in this one.  I usually get one or the other, but getting Carson in the fourth meant I didn't get Woods, and choosing Aiyuk over Thielen in the fifth meant I didn't get him either (Thielen shares a Week 7 bye with Lamb).  So maybe a little weaker than usual at WR... but those RBs...

QB:  Kirk Cousins (7) 10.4, Matt Ryan (6) 11.7, Daniel Jones (10) 13.7

RB:  Aaron Jones (13) 1.7, Najee Harris (7) 2.4, Chris Carson (9) 4.4, Mike Davis (6) 6.4,  Damien Harris (14) 8.4

WR:  CeeDee Lamb (7) 3.7, Brandon Aiyuk (6) 5.7, Kenny Golladay (10) 7.7, Brandin Cooks (10) 9.7, Tre'Quan Smith (6) 14.4, Amon-Ra St. Brown (9) 16.4

TE:  Evan Engram (10) 12.4, Anthony Firkser (13) 15.7, C.J. Uzomah (10) 17.7

If I could name these teams, I'd name this one the Sexual Harrisments.

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On 5/27/2021 at 2:43 AM, AxeElf said:

Behold, Axe Elf's first real-money draft of the season, a $20 team in RTSports' Best-Ball Championship (Grand Prize of $50,000).

10 team snake draft, PPR scoring, start QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, Flex, TE, K, DST, 24 rounds...

QB:  Patrick Mahomes (12) 3.10; Daniel Jones (10) 11.10

RB:  Joe Mixon (10) 2.01, Chris Carson (9) 4.01, Raheem Mostert (6) 7.10, Trey Sermon (6) 8.01, Tarik Cohen (10) 14.01, Samaje Perine (10) 18.01, James White (14) 19.10, Latavius Murray (6) 20.01

WR:  Davante Adams (13) 1.10, Robert Woods (11) 5.10, Brandon Aiyuk (6) 6.01, Will Fuller (14) 9.10, Robby Anderson (13) 10.01, Amon-Ra St. Brown (9) 12.01

TE:  Evan Engram (10) 13.10, Dalton Schultz (7) 15.10, C.J. Uzomah (10) 16.01, Hayden Hurst (6) 17.10

K:  Denver Broncos (11) 23.10, San Francisco 49ers (6) 24.01

DST:  Kansas City Chiefs (12) 21.10, Minnesota Vikings (7) 22.01

NOTE:  This is not a "rate my team" post; I know how good it is.  This is a "learn from my team" post.  You're welcome.

Utilit99 says axeelf failed. 

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Finally busted my Jonathan Taylor cherry tonight, drafting him in the 2nd as an RB2 to Aaron Jones, after Najee Harris didn't make it back to me.

I always said he would be a solid RB2...    (...and if not, it was only a throwaway $5 best ball.)

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On 8/18/2021 at 10:43 PM, AxeElf said:

Finally busted my Jonathan Taylor cherry tonight, drafting him in the 2nd as an RB2 to Aaron Jones, after Najee Harris didn't make it back to me.

When it rains it pours; it happened again tonight after taking Barkley at 1.9, and when Najee went on the turn, I took a second share of Taylor for my RB2.  Probly gonna regret not taking Mixon in both cases...

This was kind of a weird draft, too...  missed out on Lamb and Carson in the 3rd, but AJ Brown fell to me at 3.9 for some reason, so I got my first share of him, too.

The rest of the draft pretty much went according to script, I guess--but this was one of the rare best-ball leagues in which I didn't draft Uzomah.  I managed to get Higbee, Engram and Firkser ahead of him, so I didn't need the Weapon.

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Ok, this one is probably going to go down as one of my most trying--yet most rewarding--drafts of the season...

$250 Yahoo Private Prize managed league...  12 teams... typical half-PPR scoring...  typical $200 budget auction draft... starting 1 QB, THREE RBs, THREE WRs, 1 TE, THREE Flex, AND a SUPERFLEX (and a D/ST; no K)!!!  Six bench and two IR slots...

...and I played it like a fiddle--a master class in deep roster drafting.

QB:  Matthew Stafford (11) $15, Kirk Cousins (7) $11, Daniel Jones (10) $8

RB:  Najee Harris (7) $34, Mike Davis (6) $23, Damien Harris (14) $16, Gus Edwards (8) $7, Latavius Murray (6) $4, Mark Ingram II (10) $1 (everyone still sleeping on Ingram?)

WR:  CeeDee Lamb (7) $26, Brandon Aiyuk (6) $20, Kenny Golladay (10) $11, Mike Williams (7) $7, Brandin Cooks (10) $6, Marvin Jones, Jr. (7) $6, Amon-Ra St. Brown (9) $1

TE:  Evan Engram (10) $2, Mike Gesicki (14) $1

D/ST:  Washington Football Team (9) $1

REMAINING:  $0

Only guy I wanted that I didn't get was James Conner, but he went for $12, so I settled for Edwards.  Meh. 

But man you should see some of the scrubs these other teams are going to be starting.  I was done by pick #172 overall out of 228 players drafted, so I din't have to take any of the bottom 55 players.  lol

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So you'll be starting

  1. Stafford - steal
  2. Najee
  3. Davis
  4. Harris
  5. Lamb 
  6. Aiyuk
  7. Golladay
  8. Engram - steal
  9. Mike Williams - steal
  10. Cooks
  11. Marvin Jones/Ingram - steals
  12. Cousins or Jones if is playing a terrible defense

 

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14 minutes ago, nobody said:

So you'll be starting

  1. Stafford - steal
  2. Najee
  3. Davis
  4. Harris
  5. Lamb 
  6. Aiyuk
  7. Golladay
  8. Engram - steal
  9. Mike Williams - steal
  10. Cooks
  11. Marvin Jones/Ingram - steals
  12. Cousins or Jones if is playing a terrible defense

Basically.   Hoping Amon-Ra and Edwards fill in with bye week relief.

Parenthetically, this was my 45th draft of the season... I guess it TRUMPS all the rest!

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Dipped a toe back into the Yahoo best ball drafting pool tonight to see how things have changed following this weekend's preseason action.  It was just a $5 league, so it was a good time to draw the 10th pick out of ten--and therefore, also a good time to go WR/WR/WR/RB/WR to open things up...

1.10 Tyreek Hill

2.01 Davante Adams

3.10 CeeDee Lamb (nice!)

4.01 Chris Carson

5.10 Brandon Aiyuk

6.01 Mike Davis

I just couldn't take James Robinson with the first pick of the 6th round--not with Davis still on the board.  I guess if you're a Robinson truther, you'd probly be pretty ecstatic to get Robinson in the 6th after loading up on WRs, but I'm seriously skeptical of the Jags ability to run the ball this year--especially with no Etienne.

Robinson went at 7.2.  I can live with that; seems fair.

7.10 Damien Harris

8.01 Tyler Higbee

9.10 James Conner

10.01 Matthew Stafford

11.10 Kirk Cousins

12.01 Marvin Jones, Jr.

13.10 Evan Engram

14.01 Jameis Winston (Was targeting Daniel Jones here, but he was sniped at 13.09, so I improvised.)

15.10 Anthony Firkser

16.01 Mark Ingram II

17.10 Amon-Ra St. Brown

Definitely my best WR corps so far--and it din't even put me too far behind at RB, with something like RB10, RB15 and RB20 falling to me in Rounds 4, 6 and 7.

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8 hours ago, AxeElf said:

I just couldn't take James Robinson with the first pick of the 6th round--not with Davis still on the board.  I guess if you're a Robinson truther, you'd probly be pretty ecstatic to get Robinson in the 6th after loading up on WRs, but I'm seriously skeptical of the Jags ability to run the ball this year--especially with no Etienne.

ERROR 404 CHAMPIONSHIP NOT FOUND

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1 hour ago, jrokh said:

ERROR 404 CHAMPIONSHIP NOT FOUND

It's only a $5 league.  I'll take 2nd--with a healthy helping of the weekly high points payouts.

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14 DRAFTS IN 14 DAYS

It is now 2 weeks until opening night, and Axe Elf is sitting on 46 drafts completed this summer.  14 more would give me a nice, even 60 for the season.  So that's my plan...  14 drafts in 14 days.  I may not do exactly one per day, every day, but I will get 14 drafts done in the next 14 days.  Most of them will be Yahoo Best Ball drafts (snake drafts that take less than an hour), but I'd like to get another 5 managed auction leagues in as well.

And so, with the clock ticking, here is Draft #1 (or #47, if you will)--$10 Yahoo Best Ball, #2 draft position.

1.2 Derrick Henry

2.9 Stefon Diggs  (IKR?  The salmon are running, I tell ya...)

3.2 CeeDee Lamb (Probly shoulda gone Carson here, given that both Lamb and Diggs have a Week 7 bye, but man it's hard not to pair up Lamb and Diggs.)

4.9 Darrell Henderson, Jr.

5.2 Robert Woods

6.9 Damien Harris

7.2 Robby Anderson

8.9 Matthew Stafford

9.2 Raheem Mostert (Tyler Higbee was the third player on the board at this pick, and he would be my typical 9th round target, but I just wanted to see if he would stay on the board into the double digit rounds, so I took Mostert instead.  He not only made it into the 10th round, he made it back to my next pick!)

10.9 Tyler Higbee

11.2 Kirk Cousins

12.9 Marvin Jones, Jr. (I know, I know, he's another Week 7 bye.  So I'll only have 3 active WRs in Week 7.  Jones at this point is too much value to pass up.)

13.2 Mike Gesicki

14.9 Daniel Jones

15.2 Evan Engram

16.9 Tre'Quan Smith

17.1 Mark Ingram II

One down, 13 to go...

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Number Two (#48)

I wasn't feeling the draft slot draw, so I only ventured $5 on a Yahoo Best Ball league--and sure enough, I drew the dreaded 8 slot.

It was all the more tortuous when Davante Adams and Nick Chubb went at #5 and #6, leaving Derrick Henry still on the board at pick #7!  CURSES!!!

Then I almost got Barkley in the 2nd, but he went at pick #12!  CURSES!!!

If you told someone a month ago that you got Henry and Barkley with your first two picks from the 8 slot, they'd have never believed you.  Jones and Taylor is close, but you might have got them in the opposite rounds before Rodgers reported to camp.

1.8 Aaron Jones

2.3 Jonathan Taylor

3.8 CeeDee Lamb

4.3 Robert Woods

5.8 Brandon Aiyuk

6.3 Damien Harris

7.8 Robby Anderson

8.3 James Conner (I had to make a quick pivot when my target, Kenny Golladay, fell at 8.2, and my backup target, Tyler Higbee, had fallen at 8.1.)

9.8 Matthew Stafford

10.3 Brandin Cooks

11.8 Kirk Cousins

12.3 Marvin Jones, Jr.

13.8 Mike Gesicki

14.3 Evan Engram

15.8 Daniel Jones

16.3 Mark Ingram II

17.8 Anthony Firkser

12 to go...

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On 8/13/2021 at 4:44 PM, AxeElf said:

At least Mahomes is the best at his position.

I agree.  even if its an overpay, if you are getting the best at the position you can at least justify it on that basis to some degree.

I"m noticing you are taking Cooks in a couple drafts(see below).   I had him last year and he was okay.   at what point in the draft are you getting him?

I also see Ruggs there.  Hes a guy I've also been trying to dig up info on.   I think he may be one of those guys you draft as a WR4 or WR5 who has WR2 upside potential.    is that about the place hes going in your drafts?

 

 

On 8/10/2021 at 9:54 PM, AxeElf said:

My last two Yahoo Best Ball Leagues...  Which would you rather have, A for $20, or B for $10?

(Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex)

A............................................B

 

Kirk Cousins.........................Kirk Cousins

Matthew Stafford................Ben Roethlisberger

Daniel Jones........................Ryan Fitzpatrick

 

Ezekiel Elliott........................Aaron Jones

Najee Harris.........................Saquon Barkley

Chris Carson........................Chris Carson

Mike Davis...........................Mike Davis

Latavius Murray...................Latavius Murray

 

CeeDee Lamb......................CeeDee Lamb

Kenny Golladay....................Kenny Golladay

Brandon Aiyuk......................Adam Thielen

Brandin Cooks......................Brandin Cooks

Henry Ruggs III.....................Robby Anderson

Tre'Quan Smith.....................Tre'Quan Smith

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Ray_T said:

I"m noticing you are taking Cooks in a couple drafts(see below).   I had him last year and he was okay.   at what point in the draft are you getting him?

The 10 team Yahoo Best Balls usually see him going in the 10th, at least when he goes to me, although he's been sniped ahead of me in the 9th a few times.  Even in the 9th I think he's a pretty solid value, as the #1 WR for a decent QB who will be playing from behind a lot.

In auctions he's usually pretty cheap, but partially because most people are pretty spent by the time Cooks is nominated--so $5-$6 at the most, usually.

8 minutes ago, Ray_T said:

I also see Ruggs there.  Hes a guy I've also been trying to dig up info on.   I think he may be one of those guys you draft as a WR4 or WR5 who has WR2 upside potential.    is that about the place hes going in your drafts?

Ruggs is more of a 13th-14th round pick in the 10 team Yahoo Best Ball format, but I don't think he should really go that high in a managed league.  He seems like the kind of boom or bust guy who could have a 150 yard, 2 TD game in a mismatch, but turn in a disturbing number of 3/40/0 games too.  So I like him as a late flyer in best balls, but not so much in managed leagues.  He MIGHT emerge as a consistent threat, but an inconsistent threat seems a lot more likely.

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7 minutes ago, AxeElf said:

The 10 team Yahoo Best Balls usually see him going in the 10th, at least when he goes to me, although he's been sniped ahead of me in the 9th a few times.  Even in the 9th I think he's a pretty solid value, as the #1 WR for a decent QB who will be playing from behind a lot.

In auctions he's usually pretty cheap, but partially because most people are pretty spent by the time Cooks is nominated--so $5-$6 at the most, usually.

Ruggs is more of a 13th-14th round pick in the 10 team Yahoo Best Ball format, but I don't think he should really go that high in a managed league.  He seems like the kind of boom or bust guy who could have a 150 yard, 2 TD game in a mismatch, but turn in a disturbing number of 3/40/0 games too.  So I like him as a late flyer in best balls, but not so much in managed leagues.  He MIGHT emerge as a consistent threat, but an inconsistent threat seems a lot more likely.

Your analysis of Cooks is fair.

hard to believe a 1000 yard WR is only going for 5-6 bucks but I guess people are scared of the lack of TD's and the dumpster fire that Houston has become.

Fair enough.   They still have to throw to somebody and at that price I'd take him too.

Your analysis on Ruggs is fairly consistant with mine too.

In my auction league I hope to get him for 2-3 dollars near the end of my auction draft.   I think there is some upside there. and anyone with that kind of speed will likely give you at least a couple good starts in a Best ball league.    a 60+ yard TD catch along with one or two other short catches likely lands him on the scoreboard.  If it doesnt, that means all your other WR's have put up numbers too and thats not a bad thing.

If he actually takes a step forward in his development he could even be a solid WR3.  You dont draft him for that,  but its one of the possible outcomes with a player like that.  Hes one of those guys who could get as low as 500 yards receiving or as high as 1000 if everything goes right.  7-800 yards is a fair projection, but realistically you draft him as your bubble WR and if he steps up you keep him, if he sucks you dump him.  but he should be rostered.

considering he looks like he may be the top WR option in Oakland, the odds are fair that they forcefeed him more passes than they did last year because every pass cant be to Waller.  Someone else has to step up and catch a few passes.   Hes as good an option as anyone else in that offense So he could surprise.

anyhow, thanks for the info.

 

 

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16 hours ago, Ray_T said:

Your analysis of Cooks is fair.

hard to believe a 1000 yard WR is only going for 5-6 bucks but I guess people are scared of the lack of TD's and the dumpster fire that Houston has become.

 

I think people are right that it's dysfunctional and they won't win a lot, but these are still NFL players.  It's not like they're going to pass for 125 yards a game on their way to losing.

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50 minutes ago, jeffkomlo said:

WOW, cool team, you should win it all.

I've learned so much from you.

 

Ladies and gentleman, the newest member of the Æ™, I.O.U.! Club!

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Funny how you don't like when people post rate my team or look at mine team posts on this bored but it's ok when the mighty AxeElf posts because he is so knowledgeable.

This board has really gone downhill when its monopolized by this guy.  Miss the days of Swampdog, Kutulu, RaysLimoDriver, SwirvinIrvin and  the like.

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51 minutes ago, jeffkomlo said:

Funny how you don't like when people post rate my team or look at mine team posts on this bored but it's ok when the mighty AxeElf posts because he is so knowledgeable.

This board has really gone downhill when its monopolized by this guy.  Miss the days of Swampdog, Kutulu, RaysLimoDriver, SwirvinIrvin and  the like.

Not sure where you've ever gotten a whiff of a care from Axe Elf as to what other people post on this board, but if you're mistaking these for "Rate My Team" posts you are laboring under a misapperception.

These are instructional drafts designed to help readers win their own league championships, just as Axe Elf is winning his.

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10 hours ago, jeffkomlo said:

WOW, cool team, you should win it all.

I've learned so much from you.

 

Lol, this is going to make Linda jealous. 

 

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Number Three (#49)

Tonight’s draft was a 10-team Private Prize League on Yahoo, $150 entry fee, called “It Takes Two.” Start 2QB, 2RB, 2WR, 2TE, 2Flex, 2K and 2D, with 7 bench slots, and 2IR. Pretty typical PPR scoring, but 6 pt pass TDs (and -2 INTs)–and 2 pt bonuses for 40+ yard TDs. Standard $200 budget auction draft. My team name is “Pair o’ Dice Found.”

Just as at a poker table, it’s important to read the room in a fantasy football draft. My read on the room in tonight’s draft is that they were moderately experienced at auction drafts–enough to know that patience is a virtue–but they seemed to be a little freaked out by the extra starting slots and were maybe TOO conservative early on.

I’ve drafted several “deep roster” teams lately, including a league with 3 starting RBs, 3 starting WRs and 3 Flex positions + a Superflex–so I had a pretty good idea of what I could spend on my starters–and other than McCaffrey at $62, a lot of the top RBs seemed to be going for entirely affordable prices. Chubb at $35… Cook at $45… Kamara for $44… Barkley at $36… I mean there really aren’t THAT many extra starters–it’s basically just a double-flex league with extra starters in the support positions.

So when I had the chance to roster Zeke for $40, and then Henry for $42, I took it. If I literally had the first two picks in a conventional draft, I would draft Henry and Zeke. So that couldn’t possibly be better.

It must have cost me at WR, right?

Not really, I’ve got Ridley and Lamb as my starters, with some combination of Mike Davis, Kenny Golladay, Brandin Cooks and Mike Williams rounding out the Flex positions.

QB: Kirk Cousins (7) $18, Daniel Jones (10) $10, Matt Ryan (6) $9
RB: Derrick Henry (13) $42, Ezekiel Elliott (7) $40, Mike Davis (6) $13, James Conner (12) $2
WR: Calvin Ridley (6) $23, CeeDee Lamb (7) $15, Kenny Golladay (10) $3, Brandin Cooks (10) $1, Mike Williams (7) $1
TE: Mike Gesicki (14) $4, Anthony Firkser (13) $1, C.J. Uzomah (10) $1
K: Chris Boswell (7) $3, Graham Gano (10) $2, Chase McLaughlin (13) $1
D/ST:  Pittsburgh Steelers (7) $4, Washington Football Team (9) $4, New England Patriots (14) $3
REMAINING: $0

I might have overspent on defenses a little, but I don’t think I really hurt the rest of my team by doing it, and I may have the top 2 Ds in sacks this season (PIT and WAS), plus a team that has a weaker schedule than it’s used to, and that gets the other half of its defense that opted out last year back this year (NE). So I’m hoping to salt away a few extra points per week with the extra $5 or so I spent at the position to give myself strong streaming options.

I have a Ryan-Ridley stack and a Jones-Golladay stack to promote scoring variance, along with a Ridley-Davis stack and a Zeke-Lamb stack to promote consistency.

I think I’m loaded for bear.

11 to go…

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3 hours ago, jeffkomlo said:

Can't wait for the 4th one.............

Another proud member of the Æ™, I.O.U.! Club!

3 hours ago, jeffkomlo said:

That one's even cooler.

IKR?

Well wait no longer, eager Elf fans!  It's time for...

Number Four (#50)

Back to a $10 Yahoo Best Ball league–still need 2 more $5s, 2 more $10s and 2 more $20s after this one. And of course four more managed leagues.

Drew the 9 slot again, so that’s two consecutive from the badlands. Better make the next one a $20 draft; I’m due for a top half slot.

Not real excited about this one; it was just to get today’s draft over with. I mean, when you've just drafted Henry and Zeke in the previous draft, and now you're in the 9th slot, there's a palpable sense of regression.  It does represent my first-ever share of Tony Jones, Jr. (starting to try to counterbalance all my early shares of Latavius Murray), but I don’t know if I’m popping the champagne over it. RBs took kind of a back burner in this one, at least after the opening rounds. The Sony Michel trade has caused Damien Harris to move up a bit, and now he’s going too early for me to snag him at his “usual” target zone–so yeah, RBs are definitely a weak spot.

Not to be outdone, the WRs are unusually weak as well, partially due to missing out on Lamb and Aiyuk by a slot each.

But hey, I have one of my strongest trinities of TEs in this one…

1.9 Saquon Barkley
2.2 Najee Harris
3.9 Terry McLaurin
4.2 Robert Woods
5.9 Adam Thielen
6.2 Mike Davis
7.9 Kenny Golladay
8.2 Tyler Higbee
9.9 Matthew Stafford
10.2 Kirk Cousins
11.9 Mike Gesicki
12.2 Mike Williams
13.9 Evan Engram
14.2 Daniel Jones
15.9 Mark Ingram II
16.2 Amon-Ra St. Brown
17.9 Tony Jones, Jr.

10 to go…

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26 minutes ago, jeffkomlo said:

You're really proud of yourself aren't you?

It would be a shame to waste all the adoration.

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Yeah that last one is not looking too great.  I do like McLaurin in a best ball quite a bit.  That's going to be a high variance offense.

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11 minutes ago, nobody said:

Yeah that last one is not looking too great. 

Even Axe Elf can't draft Henry and Zeke ALL the time...

I do like how they pay out these Yahoo Best Ball leagues though--even though you only win like 2.5x your entry fee for 1st place, 20% of your entry fee is up for grabs each week to the highest score.  So for a $10 league, you can win $2 each week for having the highest score.  So if you have a team that's really boom or bust, you might score back most of your entry fee even if you don't technically "win" the league.

So yeah, this is probly one where I'm just hoping to get some of the entry fee back.

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Number Five (#51)

Since my last two Yahoo Best Ball Leagues, a $5 and a $10, had me drafting from the 8 and the 9 slot, I figured chance should favor a top-end of the draft pick for tonight's $20 contest.

But no, I still had to draft from the Badlands (picks 7-8-9), albeit from the best pick of the Badlands this time.  Given that the top half of the first round went according to script and I was forced into the alternate strategy of picking a WR in the first round, I am fairly pleased with the results.  It seems better than the other two Badlands teams; but then it should be, given that it is from the best of the Badlands slots.

That said, I had to fight and scratch and retreat and change course and refocus all the way through this draft, it seemed, so it had the potential to have really gone sideways...

...but Axe Elf finds a way.

Things got started in the first round when I was holding out hope of Aaron Jones falling to me, but with Chubb and Jones left on the board for pick #6, he chose Jones.  So, first pivot...

1.7 Tyreek Hill (Davante Adams can't score on 12.1% of his targets forever, and the Chiefs' offense will be setting records.  Hill is the WR to own in 2021.  At this point I was toying with the idea of drafting Mahomes in the third for the Biggest Forking Stack Anyone Has Ever Seen, since I usually draft Lamb as my WR1 there and I already had Hill for my WR1--but I had to abandon that strategy when Mahomes fell in the 2nd.  Pivot #2)

2.4 Najee Harris (Fork yeah!  He'll score more than Chubb anyway...)

3.7 CeeDee Lamb (Was kind of looking at Carson as the safer choice here, but when he fell a couple of picks before me, I figured what the heck; pivot #3.)

4.4 Robert Woods (Kinda committed to the whole Monster WR Team idea at this point; targeting Gus Edwards, Mike Davis, Damien Harris, etc. in the upcoming rounds...  So now my usual top 2 WRs are my second 2 WRs... behind Tyreek Hill... mwahahahaHAHAHAAAAA!!!)

5.7 Brandon Aiyuk (Gus Edwards fell at 5.2, bah.  Pivot #4 to target Mike Davis.  He falls at 5.4--CURSES!  He usually lasts into the 6th!  Fine, I can't have a RB2, I'll put another top tennish WR into my flex slot.  Pivot #5.)

6.4 Trey Sermon (Ok, surely I can get Damien Harris 6 picks later around the turn in the 6th, right?  Nope, 5.9.  Really?  Pivot #6 to target Darrell Henderson.  He lasts all the way to 6.1.  Allrightythen, I didn't want to have to do this until the 7/8 turn, but if y'all are gonna hoover up RBs for the first ten rounds, I'll attempt the Sermon/Mostert coup in Rounds 6 and 7.  Pivot #7.  Really kind of genius way to draft a RB2 by committee in a best-ball league, don't you think?)

7.7 Melvin Gordon (You have got to be kidding me!!!  Raheem Mostert drops at 7.2  Pivot #8 to target Gordon and Javonte Williams for my RB3/RB4.)

8.4 Kenny Golladay (Javonte Williams goes at 7.9 and I slap my forehead.  Pivot #9.  Tyler Higbee was there for the taking...  but hey, this is the Monster WR Team, yeah!  One more top tennish WR can't hurt!  And I've sometimes seen Higbee fall into the double-digit rounds, so I'll take a chance on targeting him in the 9th.)

9.7 Matthew Stafford (You guessed it--Higbee goes at 9.6!  Pivot #10--though I felt better about nabbing Stafford here than hoping he made it through the turn.)

10.4 James Conner (Forking-A!  I axually got my 10th round target!  Party at the Elf Institute!  Now get out there and show that poosie Edmonds how a cancer survivor carries the mail!)

11.7 Kirk Cousins (Also my target here.)

12.4 Mike Williams (It just never ends.  I wanted Marvin Jones here; he went one pick too early at 12.3.  Pivot #11 to another WR with a Week 7 bye.)

13.7 Evan Engram (Well, at least Mike Gesicki had the courtesy to go TWO picks ahead of me, instead of just one, so I had an extra 30 seconds for Pivot #12.)

14.4 Daniel Jones (OMG-OMG-OMG-Matt Ryan is still on the board!  I axually have him ranked a little higher than Daniel Jones, but I ALWAYS take Daniel Jones in the 15th!  This is a draft where I'm trying new things!  Yeah, but I have Galloway and Engram for a three-way stack!  In the end, I went for the upside of the stack because it was a Best Ball league.  In a managed league, I probly take Ryan, but when I'm actively promoting high variance scoring to skim the big weeks off the top, a QB/WR stack is the way to go.  And I ALWAYS take Daniel Jones--so I'm comfortable living or dying by my convictions.  Toughest draft decision I've had to make in a while, though.  Guess I can't really count it as Pivot #12, since Jones was pretty much my target all along and I was just hoping Ryan would get picked so I wouldn't have to make the choice.)

15.7 Anthony Firkser (Target.  Would rather he was my TE3, but I kinda punted the TE position when I eschewed Higbee back in the 8th, so, hope for the best.)

16.4 Mark Ingram II (Target.  At least he provides a solid 6-8 point floor every week, at my weakest position.)

17.7 Jared Cook (I will count THIS as Pivot #13, because I had C.J. Uzomah in my queue as my last round selection for the past two rounds now, but with Cook being available, and Uzomah sharing Engram's Week 10 bye, I made the pivot to Cook.  See, I CAN abandon my convictions and pivot to a higher-valued player when appropriate for my team.)

So it may not be my BEST team of all time, but I worked hard not to let this one devolve into a hot mess of disappointment, what with all the snipes and concomitant pivots I endured (13 pivots in 17 rounds!).  So I'm kind of proud of it.

I'll be expecting a lot out of Gordon and Ingram early in the season, with Sermon and Conner set to come on later in the season, if at all.  And of course I'm hoping Najee is a strong RB1 all season.  So hopefully everyone will work together to hold down the fort in the backfield while the WRs do the heavy lifting.

Those WRs tho...

9 to go...

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On 8/29/2021 at 1:29 AM, AxeElf said:

QB: Kirk Cousins (7) $18, Daniel Jones (10) $10, Matt Ryan (6) $9
RB: Derrick Henry (13) $42, Ezekiel Elliott (7) $40, Mike Davis (6) $13, James Conner (12) $2
WR: Calvin Ridley (6) $23, CeeDee Lamb (7) $15, Kenny Golladay (10) $3, Brandin Cooks (10) $1, Mike Williams (7) $1
TE: Mike Gesicki (14) $4, Anthony Firkser (13) $1, C.J. Uzomah (10) $1
K: Chris Boswell (7) $3, Graham Gano (10) $2, Chase McLaughlin (13) $1
D/ST:  Pittsburgh Steelers (7) $4, Washington Football Team (9) $4, New England Patriots (14) $3

Did a little maneuvering in this league, bordering on genius, if I do say so myself.

Players were locked after the draft until waivers ran last night. We have two IR slots. CeeDee Lamb is on the COVID list, so I dropped him on IR and picked up Amon-Ra St. Brown for free.

This is where it gets good. I’m a little worried about Chase McLaughlin, since he missed a long FG attempt AND an extra point in the last preseason game, and the coach has kind of hinted that they might look at who gets cut this week… SO, even though most of the Ks in this league are rostered (at least the ones with secure jobs), I dropped Chase McLaughlin and picked up Wil Lutz, who is currently out following core muscle surgery that is expected to keep him sidelined for the first four weeks of the regular season. Then I stuck HIM on IR too, and picked up Mark Ingram II, the starting RB for the Texans!

So now I have two skill position prospects “borrowed” at least until such time as I need to reinstate CeeDee Lamb. I’ll coast along on Boswell and Gano at K through six weeks. Lutz can take his time coming back, whether he misses 4 weeks, 5 weeks, or stays on the shelf through their Week 6 bye, as long as I can activate him for Boswell’s Week 7 bye. Then when Boswell returns, I cut Gano and run the rest of the season on Boswell and Lutz! So I’ve effectively insured my bye weeks at the K position while at the same time freeing up an extra roster slot for the season!

It’s good to be king…

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Number 6 (#52)

Tonight’s draft is a managed $100 Yahoo Public Prize League auction draft (10 team half-PPR, 1QB/2RB/2WR/1TE/1Flex/1K/1D/6Bench/0IR).

It had been a while since I drafted me some Mahomes…

QB: Patrick Mahomes (12) $34
RB: Aaron Jones (13) $54, Chris Carson (9) $34, Mike Davis (6) $14, Damien Harris (14) $12, Mark Ingram II (10) $1
WR: CeeDee Lamb (7) $20, Robert Woods (11) $15, Brandin Cooks (10) $4, Kenny Golladay (10) $2, Marvin Jones, Jr. (7) $2, Amon-Ra St. Brown (9) $1
TE: Mike Gesicki (14) $2
K: Younghoe Koo (6) $2
D/ST: Los Angeles Rams (11) $3

The only small regret I had was a little buyer’s remorse at spending $15 on Woods, when I could have had both Aiyuk ($7) and Thielen ($5) for approximately the same money shortly thereafter. But then I got Golladay for $2, and it was ok again…

8 to go…

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Number Seven (#53)

Dang, I almost forgot I still had a draft to do tonight... So I threw $5 at another Yahoo Best Ball...

...and I got another #9 slot.  Good grief.  At least it wasn't a $20.

No cheating in this one--the first round went pretty much exactly by script--CMC/Cook/Henry/Zeke/Kamara/Jones/Adams so I'm mentally rolling my eyes and mumbling "Here comes Kelce" and then I was gonna take Barkley and aim for Najee around the turn, but 1.8 was smarter than 90% of the 1.8ers out there and picked Barkley himself, likely thinking that he'll trick me into taking Kelce with all the glee of an early Christmas present.

Hey, I'm a Chiefs, fan, ok?--but I'm not an idiot.

1.9 Tyreek Hill

1.10 manages to go RB/RB without taking Najee (Chubb/Taylor--thank you, preseason hype!)...

2.2 Najee Harris - BOOM! goes the dynamite...  A nice balanced start, with a low-end RB1 and the best WR in fantasy football.

Keeping the balance theme going, I'm targeting Lamb and Carson as my top two targets at the next turn--but which to take first?  1.10 made it easy when he went RB/RB at the first turn...

3.9 CeeDee Lamb

Sure enough, he goes Kittle and Kupp.  Love those early TE picks!

4.2 Chris Carson - If he HAD taken Carson, I was ready to get me a piece of the Gus Bus.  But I like Carson better.

5.9 Brandon Aiyuk - That's it, just keep alternating WRs and RBs... Balance... Balance...  Ommmm.....

6.2 Damien Harris - This is a milestone--the first time in 53 drafts I have chosen Damien Harris over Mike Davis when both were on the board in the 6th.  Cutting Cam was a game-changer.

Parenthetically, our 5th grade teacher was Mr. Harris, and we always used to call him Mr. Hairy Ass, because, you know, we were in 5th grade.  So now whenever I have both Harrissesses on my team, I want to call it "The Hairy Asses," but I don't think anyone else would get it.  Or find it funny, if they did.  Unless they were in 5th grade, and then they would find it hysterical.  But I digress...

7.9 Robby Anderson - REALLY wanted to take Anderson and then Golladay at this turn for complete global domination at WR, but there's that crafty #8 slot guy sniping me again at 7.8!

8.2 Raheem Mostert - So yeah, no Golladay, but hey, that would have broken the WR/RB cycle anyway... so... RB... RB... hmmm...  Mostert has the spiky upsides and downsides to his season that I don't want to deal with in a managed league, but which are great in a best-ball RB4.  And now I have 4 WRs and 4 RBs.  And balanced on top of them, I carefully place my first QB...

9.9 Matthew Stafford - JENGA!

10.2 Brandin Cooks - I suppose when I have two Brandins/Brandons and two Harrissesses, I can name my team "Brandin' Hairy Asses."  ::: snort :::

11.9 Kirk Cousins - Standard drafting position.

12.2 Marvin Jones, Jr. rounds out another stellar WR corps--and continues the recent QB/WR cycle that has subtly replaced the WR/RB cycle, culminating in...

But first, a little story.  So after I drafted Cousins--you know, the QB3 over the back half of 2020?--Fields was taken next.  You know, the rookie from Ohio State drafted by the Bears?  Over the next two rounds, the QBs drafted were, in order... Jameis Winston...  Trevor Lawrence...  and Trey Freakin' Lance... leaving behind for me a QB who has only finished lower than QB12 one (1) time since 2015 (and that was when he was the QB15 in 2017)...

13.9 Matt Ryan.  You read that right.  Rookie QBs... even rookie QBs who are not currently starting, and in Lance's case, have a very real shot at not starting all season long... oh, and the only QB to ever throw 30 TDs and 30 INTs in a season (who is in a tight QB competition in the first place)... these QBs were drafted before Matt Ryan!  In the 12th and 13th round!!  Not even last round flyers!!!  Just brazenly drafting these scrubs right in front of MATT RYAN!!!

The salmon are swimming, I tell ya...

14.2 Jared Cook - Thought for sure I'd get Engram here, with his injury, but he went even before Ryan at 13.7.  Still, I need 3 TEs in my last 4 picks, so...

15.9 Anthony Firkser

16.2 Mark Ingram II - My RB5 is my floor, the guy who will get me 6-8 points each and every single week, just in case all my studs decide to take a vacation the same week.

17.9 C.J. Uzomah - The worst thing about these Yahoo Best Ball drafts is that they are an odd number of rounds (17), so if you have a late pick in the first round, you also have a late pick in the last round.  There was always a little sense of justice when having a late pick in the first round meant that you got the best Kicker in the last round--but you don't even get that in a Yahoo Best Ball.  Picks 7-8-9 are nothing but shame, from start to finish.  Of course, Yahoo Best Ball leagues don't use Kickers, so there's that, but it still doesn't feel fair somehow.  And your last-round target better be COMPLETELY off of everyone's radar--like Uzomah.

The balance looks good; I like it.  Possibly a weaker group of TEs, without a headliner like Higbee/Gesicki/Engram, but if I'm going to be weak somewhere, that's the place to be weak.  Hopefully they all take weekly turns scoring their 5-7 TDs.

7 (ONE WEEK!) to go...

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Number Eight (#54)

$10 for 10... a $10 Yahoo Best Ball, drafting from the 10 slot.  Hey, at least it's not 7-8-9 like the last FOUR consecutive drafts... Sheesh.

I briefly toyed with the idea of doing something absolutely ridiculous--like Hill/Kelce at that first turn--and I would have done it, too, if I could have been guaranteed of getting both Mahomes and Carson at the 3/4 turn.  But the chances of one of them not making it back was just too high to pass up the Barkley/Harris bam-bam.  (And I was right, Mahomes made it; Carson didn't.  I would have had the Chiefs mega-stack, but my RB1 would have been Gus Edwards.

1.10 Saquon Barkley

2.1 Najee Harris

3.10 CeeDee Lamb

4.1 Robert Woods

5.10 Brandon Aiyuk

6.1 Damien Harris - Thought I was going to have to pick him over Mike Davis again, but 5.9 spared me the agony by "sniping" Davis in front of me and clearing my conscience.

7.10 Kenny Golladay - I had my eye on doing the Mostert/Sermon coup at this turn to make my RB corps strong like bull, but Sermon fell halfway through the round.  Pivoted to giving my WRs some steroids, with Golladay and Anderson.  And then Anderson fell.  So, Golladay and Higbee it'll be, by golly.

8.1 Tyler Higbee

9.10 Matthew Stafford

10.1 Brandin Cooks

11.10 Kirk Cousins

12.1 Marvin Jones, Jr.

13.10 Evan Engram - This time Matt Ryan fell a few picks before me, but not until after Fields and Lawrence again. Astonishing.

14.1 Daniel Jones

15.10 Anthony Firkser

16.1 Mark Ingram

17.10 Tony Jones, Jr. - Yeah, RBs are a little weak after shooting for the Mostert/Sermon coup and missing.  I'll need Barkley and the Harry Asses to come through.

6 to go...

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