Fantasy Football Draft Geek

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. My first fantasy football draft is coming up this Friday, so I am scrambling to make sure my research is in order and I am ready to go. This is my first year in this league so I am a little unsure of the competition.

It is an online draft. I prefer a live draft (actually sitting in a room with people), but I will take this over a auto-draft any day. I was talking to a friend of mine who has been in the league for a couple of years and he says only about half of the people even log in to do the draft. The other half just lets the site pick for them based on the rankings they provide.

This is an absolutely horrible idea for them... but great for me, since I will be facing them. The league is run using Yahoo. Here is my understanding of the logic Yahoo uses when drafting based off a members rankings:

1. It will pick the highest ranked player on your list who has not been selected.
2. It will fill your starting lineup first!!

#2 is an absolutely horrible idea. Think about it...
Say you have to start 2 RBs, 2WRs, 1QB, 1TE, 1DEF, and 1 K.
Since yahoo will fill your starting lineup first, you will actually pick your defense in the 7th round, and your kicker in the 8th!! This is an absolutely horrible idea. I never pick a defense before the 10th and the kicker is always my last pick of the draft.

Another thing I dislike about this league so far is how early the draft is. In an ideal world you will have your draft as close to the beginning of the regular season as possible. A lot can happen between now and opening day, including a dreaded season ending injury for your #1 pick. I am praying nothing like this happens... but it is certainly possible.

I will be posting again soon to talk about the process I use for my player projections.... So stay tuned. Also I will be sure to post the results of this draft to let you know how I faired.