Next year at the draft I’m taking 6 straight RB’s

[Fearsome 22]

With all the injuries this year having a stable of backs is huge. Owners hoard them. We’re starting RB45 for craps sake that we scrounged off the depths of the wire. WR’s are a dime a dozen. Outside of the top 5-7 they’re the same and they’re always available. Next year I’m going to start my draft with 6 RB’s and see how it turns out. Call it a one year experiment and we’ll see how it goes. 

[easilyscan 558]

A man's gotta do what he's gotta do!

It certainly has been a strange year though. I mean, think about it.

I'm in a non-PPR Yahoo league. If I click on players, WR's, & total points for the season, Cordarrelle Patterson is #2 about 12 points behind Cooper Kupp.

If I change the position to RB' s, he's #5, about 58 points behind Derrick Henry, but only 7 points behind Austin Ekeler who's in 2nd.

And he's only played 5 games!

 

 

 

[cyclone24 1,814]

Yep and this time next year 3 will be hurt and youll have nothing behind it. This makes me want to to zero rb. Other than zeke…collins, chuba, mattison, gaskin….all waiver dudes who have contributed 

[justforbeer 39]

I think you are looking at it all wrong.  In the first two rounds your first two pics you want to be healthy throughout the year and be in the top spots in their position. If you draft six running back’s in a row in the first two running back’s you pick on your best to and they both get injured then you are really stuck with a bunch of crummy running backs and then really terrible wide receivers, Te and quarterback.

I look at the draft as picking top wide receivers and or a tight end as they do not get injured as easily and are more consistent with scoring points. Example Devante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Hopkins, Kelce.

[weepaws 2,457]

I’m going to keep doing what as worked for me since 1988. 

Does it always work, no, but it does more than it doesn’t , and I like winning.  

And despite it all this season, all three of my leagues there isn’t really a great team , so I’ll make the playoffs I’m sure.  

 

[AxeElf 787]

...and how many gay RBs?

[Gratefulegg1973 253]

Pick the best player available.  I get a kick out of these 'experts' that take like Javonte Williams or Chris Carson in the 2nd rd, ahead top 5 WRs, top 2 TEs, and the top QB.  

[skinsrule05 30]

7 hours ago, justforbeer said:

I think you are looking at it all wrong.  In the first two rounds your first two pics you want to be healthy throughout the year and be in the top spots in their position. If you draft six running back’s in a row in the first two running back’s you pick on your best to and they both get injured then you are really stuck with a bunch of crummy running backs and then really terrible wide receivers, Te and quarterback.

I look at the draft as picking top wide receivers and or a tight end as they do not get injured as easily and are more consistent with scoring points. Example Devante Adams, Tyreek Hill, Hopkins, Kelce.

Spot on, by taking RB with your top couple picks you are almost guaranteeing that some of your top pick will be injured. 

[skinsrule05 30]

8 hours ago, easilyscan said:

A man's gotta do what he's gotta do!

It certainly has been a strange year though. I mean, think about it.

I'm in a non-PPR Yahoo league. If I click on players, WR's, & total points for the season, Cordarrelle Patterson is #2 about 12 points behind Cooper Kupp.

If I change the position to RB' s, he's #5, about 58 points behind Derrick Henry, but only 7 points behind Austin Ekeler who's in 2nd.

And he's only played 5 games!

 

 

 

So this would be arguing against taking RBs early and hope to get the top waiver wire/late round RB. 

[weepaws 2,457]

4 hours ago, Gratefulegg1973 said:

Pick the best player available.  I get a kick out of these 'experts' that take like Javonte Williams or Chris Carson in the 2nd rd, ahead top 5 WRs, top 2 TEs, and the top QB.  

If you know how to join a league that took J Williams in the second round join it, easy money.  

[TimHauck 1,799]

7 hours ago, weepaws said:

I’m going to keep doing what as worked for me since 1988. 

Does it always work, no, but it does more than it doesn’t , and I like winning.  

And despite it all this season, all three of my leagues there isn’t really a great team , so I’ll make the playoffs I’m sure.  

 

which is...?

[weepaws 2,457]

1 hour ago, skinsrule05 said:

Spot on, by taking RB with your top couple picks you are almost guaranteeing that some of your top pick will be injured. 

Never a guarantee.  

Bench strength is very important, load up early and often worth Rbs and WRs.  Worry about qbs and tes in the double digit rounds.  

[weepaws 2,457]

4 minutes ago, TimHauck said:

which is...?

 

Just now, weepaws said:

Never a guarantee.  

Bench strength is very important, load up early and often worth Rbs and WRs.  Worry about qbs and tes in the double digit rounds.  

 

[Serenity Now 44]

Just because WR don’t get injured as often, doesn’t make them safer. This may vary by league a bit, but look at the top 12 in points at each position. You’ll likely find only 3 or 4 rbs that were drafted outside of the 12-14 and only Patterson came past the first four or five rounds. WRs on the other hand, most of the top 12 came well after the top 15 and many came in rounds 5 or later.

Also, it takes a special wr to win you a championship. RBs are still largely how you win the ship. RBs early, WRs, in the middle rounds, RB handcuffs in the late rounds.

[TBayXXXVII 2,115]

Over-react much?  In my office league, my RB's are McCaffrey, Barkley, and Montgomery... combined 6 games missed (2 more if you count the early game departures).  In my other 4 leagues, my RB's missed a total of 2 games combined.  In one league I was unlucky, in the others, I'm fine.  There's no defense for luck.

[Fearsome 22]

I guess the point I’m trying to make is after the draft, backs are next to impossible to acquire. So going with nonstop RB’s at the top of the draft when WR’s are easy to snag rounds 7-11 seems like the way to go. Having 5 WR2-3 on your roster is not awful. 

[Kopy 491]

I actually miss the 20 year's ago stud RB, RB theory. Those were fun times.

This day and age, just be flexible.

 

 

[easilyscan 558]

6 hours ago, skinsrule05 said:

So this would be arguing against taking RBs early and hope to get the top waiver wire/late round RB. 

It wasn't my intent to argue for or against the OP's idea.

Only pointing out what a strange year it's been.

[kcBlitzkrieg 17]

5 hours ago, weepaws said:

Never a guarantee.  

Bench strength is very important, load up early and often worth Rbs and WRs.  Worry about qbs and tes in the double digit rounds.  

[TBayXXXVII 2,115]

3 hours ago, Fearsome said:

I guess the point I’m trying to make is after the draft, backs are next to impossible to acquire. So going with nonstop RB’s at the top of the draft when WR’s are easy to snag rounds 7-11 seems like the way to go. Having 5 WR2-3 on your roster is not awful. 

My strategy is to get two good RB's in the first 3 rounds.  If I can get 3 in the first 4, great.  That's what I did in my office league with McCaffrey, Barkley, and Montgomery.  I then took Fournette and Melvin Gordon in the later rounds when no one wanted them.  I was able to pick up Herbert and I started him and Fournette last week and got 50 points between them.  Towards the end of the draft (re-draft league), I took J. Williams, so I have the Denver backfield locked in.  You don't need to take all the RB's early, you just need to realize that at a certain point in the draft, starting RB's are better values regardless of who's on the board.

[posty 2,296]

It is all luck anyway...

[TimHauck 1,799]

4 hours ago, Fearsome said:

I guess the point I’m trying to make is after the draft, backs are next to impossible to acquire. So going with nonstop RB’s at the top of the draft when WR’s are easy to snag rounds 7-11 seems like the way to go. Having 5 WR2-3 on your roster is not awful. 

Actually, the more I think about it, the more this may work.  Yes, 3 of the 6 may suck, but you'd only be starting 3 anyway, and even if you draft "traditionally," you could still end up with your 1st or 2nd round RB sucking.   So if you go 6 RB's in a row, unless you really suck at drafting you probably have 2 that are putting up 1st or 2nd round numbers and hopefully a third that's at least flex-worthy.

[polecatt 402]

I'm doing the opposite, I'm downgrading RBs as a whole most likely.

They're about like TEs now. There's a small handful you can get at the top of the draft that will payoff big time, but if you don't get one of those, then you may as well just take stock up on RBBC and handcuffs. Then play the hot hand or match ups. Just enough to where they don't lose you the game each week, and try to get your big points at other positions.

The days of a great fantasy football team having the foundation of two or three stud RBs is long gone!

If you happen to luck into such a team, great but it's likely not happening

[Ray_T 589]

18 hours ago, easilyscan said:

A man's gotta do what he's gotta do!

It certainly has been a strange year though. I mean, think about it.

I'm in a non-PPR Yahoo league. If I click on players, WR's, & total points for the season, Cordarrelle Patterson is #2 about 12 points behind Cooper Kupp.

If I change the position to RB' s, he's #5, about 58 points behind Derrick Henry, but only 7 points behind Austin Ekeler who's in 2nd.

And he's only played 5 games!

 

 

 

dude, there have not been many years in recent memory where RB's dont get hurt.

it happens a lot.

either you pay extra and get RB's who generally dont get hurt, or you pay for depth and draft extra backups.

in the end if you get lucky and your RB's stay healthy, you will always be able to trade them for WR's if you need them.

finding RB's on the wire in my 12 team leagues is very difficult.   finding WR's..... not so hard.  and we start 3 WR's compared to 2 RB's.

[Wargod 3]

just go to a team Rb concept in the rules; problem solved.

[weepaws 2,457]

Load up on Rbs and WRs early, draft everyone else in the double digit rounds.  And build up that bench

And just when one thinks they should change, theirs will be people on here this time next season saying heck with wr I’m going Rbs early. Stay ahead of the competition. 

[AxeElf 787]

3 hours ago, polecatt said:

The days of a great fantasy football team having the foundation of two or three stud RBs is long gone!

If you happen to luck into such a team, great but it's likely not happening

You don't have to "luck into it" if your Axe Elf wisdom is unadulterated.

Those owners have some pair of Henry/Zeke/Jones/Najee/Mixon in their backfield from the first two rounds, and are cruising.

[polecatt 402]

Two or three teams or so can get 2 RBs, sure. I remember though when in a 12 team draft, probably 8+ had two good RBs.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,627]

What happens if a few other teams decide to just take rb’s too? How will you know it’s happening? Drafting after the draft is easy. 

[GobbleDog 816]

I get the frustration. I used to go overboard drafting RB's based on this theory... such a rare commodity and if you can use them in flex, even better.  From my experience, it doesn't always work. Top WRs are also important especially in ppr leagues.  Waivers will likely net you an extra starting RB or two if needed.

A combo of RBs and top WR's in the first 4 rounds is now my choice. I agree with hoarding extra RBs in following rounds, which does make it harder to nail those 9th/10th+ round QB and TE. 

[purplengold47 27]

How about doing the opposite and don't draft a running back in the early rds since OP mentioned about injuries. 

[Nomad99 404]

11 hours ago, AxeElf said:

You don't have to "luck into it" if your Axe Elf wisdom is unadulterated.

Those owners have some pair of Henry/Zeke/Jones/Najee/Mixon in their backfield from the first two rounds, and are cruising.

I drafted from the 7 hole in a ten teamer & got Jones then Eckler....then Henderson. Still ended up with Jefferson, McLaurin and Lockett. 

I always go for my 2 RB'S first....especially when everyone else goes off the reservation for Mahomes, Kelce etc.

[TBayXXXVII 2,115]

2 hours ago, purplengold47 said:

How about doing the opposite and don't draft a running back in the early rds since OP mentioned about injuries. 

Because injuries are just as likely to happen with RB's taken in the 4th and 5th round as they do for RB's taken in the 1st or 2nd round.  Remember, JK Dobbins and Cam Akers were projected 3rd through 5th round RB's.  You forget them because it happened before the draft.  Montgomery was a 3rd or 4th round RB.  Raheem Mostert, Kareem Hunt, etc.  The only solution is to get lucky.  That's what fantasy football is.  Luck.  You either have it or you don't.  It's no different in the NFL.  The only thing that really separates the teams at each level, is health.  You have to be lucky enough to be healthier than your opponent.  Sure, you can use your "skill" to acquire the best possible talent, but at the end of the day, if they're not healthy, you won't win.

[nobody 2,037]

Just draft Derrick Henry.   He's like having 6 runningbacks on your team by himself.

[posty 2,296]

3 hours ago, Nomad99 said:

I drafted from the 7 hole in a ten teamer & got Jones then Eckler....then Henderson. Still ended up with Jefferson, McLaurin and Lockett. 

I always go for my 2 RB'S first....especially when everyone else goes off the reservation for Mahomes, Kelce etc.

Depends on the scoring system...  Have seen many before where Mahomes and Kelce would easily out-score RBs...

[AxeElf 787]

21 minutes ago, posty said:

Depends on the scoring system...  Have seen many before where Mahomes and Kelce would easily out-score RBs...

How they score relative to RBs is irrelevant.  How they score relative to other QBs and TEs is the important thing.

If you got 10 pts for a FG, would you draft a K #1 overall?  Of course not, because all Kickers score pretty randomly and about the same, relative to each other, so they are not high-priority targets--even if they all scored 50 pts per game.

[weepaws 2,457]

I did some ten team mocks this past offseason, it’s just amazing the teams you end up with.  

I think you can get a kicker on the first round in a ten team league and still draft a winner.  

[Nomad99 404]

2 hours ago, posty said:

Depends on the scoring system...  Have seen many before where Mahomes and Kelce would easily out-score RBs...

It's a mindset.....these guys can't stand to go 2 rounds before going off the rails for those guys. 

[huskyhater75 242]

My first 3 picks (Kamara, A Jones, Chubb) were all RBs, didn't plan it that way but rd. 3 Chubb was there. My WRs (Julio, Ridley, Shepard, Mike Williams) are shaky but I'm getting by.

[AxeElf 787]

30 minutes ago, huskyhater75 said:

rd. 3 Chubb was there

lol

Love those 4-teamers!