Fantasy Football Draft Geek

I had my second draft this past weekend. Overall this draft went a little smoother than the first.

This is very QB heavy league, which I knew going into the draft. My goal going in was to get a QB from my top tier (consisting of 4 QBs). I was picking 4th of 14 teams. Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Peyton Manning were gone before my second pick (not unexpected). This left Aaron Rodgers as the lone QB in my top 4. Based on Rodgers' Average Draft Position (ADP) I was pretty confident I could get him as my next pick. I decided to go after a top WR, which were also starting to go fast. Ironically my next ranked WR was Greg Jennings. I grabbed Greg and sat and prayed until the next pick. Turns out my gamble was rewarded and I landed Rodgers in round 3. My one mental mistake in this draft was not grabbing a backup QB. The one thing I have going in my favor is that this league has a very shallow bench. Because of this, I expect players to often drop and pick up based on their own needs. My hope is that a quality backup QB will be dropped, that I can snag.

Here is a copy of the draft board.


Note: If you like this draft board template, you can get it for free below. If you have any comments on my draft or on this draft board template, post a comment!

I had my first draft this past weekend and what a complete debacle that was.

The owner decided to allow 18 teams to join. If you know anything about fantasy football that is WAY too many.
When there are that many teams, there are usually just not enough players to go around. (Note: I say "usually" for a reason.... keep reading).

In addition to that, the league is an auto-draft. If you've read my previous posts on auto drafts you know I am not a fan of them.

To compound the problems of this league even more the owner could not make his mind up regarding the scoring system. He had been tweaking it every other day or so leading up to the draft. I thought all was good as I had checked 4 hours or so before the draft and no changes. Around 11:45pm (draft was to start at midnight) my spidey-sense started tingling so I logged in to check everything before the draft. Sure enough, a couple hours prior, the owner completely changed the league scoring to a Point Per Reception (PPR) League. This make a huge difference in player ranking so I frantically began reranking my players. I make it about 30 players down my rankings (saving every other change) and I am locked out... The draft is complete. I gasp, prepare myself for the worst and head over to check out the draft results.

I was pleasantly surprised when, all things considered, I ended up with a halfway descent lineup!! Turns out the last second PPR change may have actually helped me.

My first 3 picks are guys who typically have an added advantage in PPR leagues.
I drafted in the #1 spot I was able to get Maurice Jones-Drew. I know, I know... everyone has anointed Adrian Peterson as the automatic overall #1. However, given this is a PPR league, my projections actually show MJD with a slight advantage.
For my 2nd and 3rd picks I snag Reggie Bush and Wes Welker.

I think what really helped me out this draft are the owners who did not understand the concept of ranking their players for an autodraft.

Here is a copy of the draft board. If you take a look you will see what I mean.


Note: If you like this draft board template, you can get it for free below. If you have any comments on my draft or on this draft board template, post a comment!