Drafting Technique

[JO_75]

[quote name='PuRock' date='28 April 2010 - 10:07 AM' timestamp='1272463624' post='401534']
Was wondering if you guys employ draft strategies/techniques. Here are some of my drafting strategies.

[b]1. Draft Kicker in last round[/b] - Given
[b]2. Do not draft a Defense[/b] - Wait until preseason plays out to see who the roster casualty will be.
[b]3. Start the TE frenzy.[/b] Take your pick of TE. Clark/Witten/Gates/Gonzalez prove to be much more valuable than the middle of the pack guys. Once you pick one, everybody goes TE. Therefore you aren't missing out on the other positions.
[b]4. Draft Quarterback late - never early.[/b] - 3rd round the earliest. 4th-5th preferred. A mid-draft quarterback's value is much greater than a mid-draft running back.
[b]5. Stock up on starting RBs.[/b] - RB's are harder to come by in free agency, Serviceable WR's are always available in the free agent market. I can't tell you how many times I see people wanting trades because one of their RBs got injured or benched, and can't get his backup off the waiver wire.

Won another competitive league this year, so I won't be changing my mold. So what are your guys drafting strategies?
[/quote]

I agree with your points, I don't draft a Kicker until the last round or pick one up in Free Agency after the draft. I normally take Kickers week by week, like defenses. Defenses are another story, I like to draft Defenses early between rounds 3-5 and I try to find a good starting defense and depending on the matchup I find a defense ins FA that would give me more points than my starting defense. Tight Ends I usually go after a starting TE early like a Witten or Clark, but just like last year when I knew the QB I wanted I could get later, I'll get a TE later when I know I can get him.

QB is tricky. Last Year in my Yahoo FF league, I got Aaron Rodgers in Round 3 and that was by design. He was who I wanted all along and I knew I could get him in round 3, so I was able to address other positions in the first two rounds. It worked as I got to the championship game. I agree with RB's, luckily I was able to get Ray Rice Undrafted last year which was a steal for me, but I found some good running backs undrafted. Wide Receivers, well if it's early in round 1 and I know they will have a great season, and I'm in position for a Fitzgerald(got him in round 1 last year) or another top receiver I'll get him in round 1 but if not I just go with guys who have the QB that can find them and take guys others will over look.


[quote name='Give it to Clutch Clayton' date='28 April 2010 - 11:08 AM' timestamp='1272467291' post='401555']
[b]My strategy is essentially BPA.
[/b]
[/quote]

Yeah if I have a player in mind of who I want to draft, and he is gone I'll take the BPA route. I normally have a big board(lol not really just a word document lol) of players and go by that or even if a person is there I want but someone else is there that really is BPA I'll take the player who is BPA. In fact I'm about to start my big board for this year.

[Alexir]

Kills me when people draft kickers early. I laugh so hard. I usually don't draft one and just grab another player just to think about before i end up making a cut and signing a free agent kicker.

[lowrider]

At first I hated drafting DeAngelo, but last year my friend had the Ricky and Ronnie combo and just started both every week. He got consistently 30 points from the two of them every week. And consistency is whats important out of a team. And one of the two have to make it when playoffs come around. I think if I get stuck with picks 7-10 or 7-12. I will go Deangelo, a potiential driven pick like a Shonne Greene in non ppr or Jamall Charles in ppr, then in the third round go Stewart. It's a big hope that Stewart comes around that third round but I think he will drop because of the fact he spilts carries 50 50. Then you have a potiential big hitter with two consistent players. And if Stewart or Deangelo gets hurt your still money.

Also another thing, I'm done picking colts players. They screw me over when playoffs come around because their actual team sits them.

[AwakenTheDemon]

Basically what I try to do is:

Round 1: RB (unless Johnson, Rice, Peterson, and Turner are gone. Then I'll grab Rodgers or Brees depending on who's available.)
Round 2:RB/WR
Round 3: WR/QB
Round 4: TE

The rest of the rounds go by who's the best player available at a position I need. Defenses I leave until the last three rounds (kickers I leave until the last round), depending on who's available. After all, you can always look around the waiver wire for a good patchwork defense.

[RavensTown]

Call me old fashion, but I use NFL.com for my fantasy.

On a more related note, I've only been playing fantasy for 1 year, this being my 2nd. Last yr I fell a game short of the Championship, so I thought it was pretty decent, but to be honest I missed the draft, luckily got Peyton Manning, and used waivers to get Ray Rice and Cedric Benson. This year though, I was there for the draft (which was a few hours ago) and I think I've got my setup. I've been doing mock drafts like crazy for the past few days too. So here's what I do:

1. Draft WR's first. I get 3 WR's and 1 bench receiver first. Call me crazy, but who can argue with the likes of Andre Johnson, Brandon Marshall, DeSean Jackson, and Vincent Jackson.

2. Draft RB's. My reason behind this is 1 man: Reggie Bush. I'm a Saints fan as well, and did you see this man run at the end of the season? If Bush runs like he did, running over tacklers, ending the play, trick the defenders, he'll easily get 1200+ yards. Big sleeper in Bush if you ask me. Plus the RB position is very deep this year, there seems to be good runningbacks everywhere.

3. Tight Ends. I drafted RB/TE/RB this year, it's just how it worked out. Like said before, you want to start with TE's, because once one player picks them everybody picks them.

4. Defense. I draft defenses the earliest it seems, and I love to, this way I get Baltimore.

5. QB. Two sleepers this year allow you to draft QB's late: Joe Flacco and Chad Henne. Henne is a big sleeper with the likes of Brandon Marshall and a solid running game. And well, Flacco, nuff said. Both of them dropped late in the draft for me.

6. K. Drafting kickers last is a no-brainer.

7. Bench.

This strategy landed me with this roster:

Joe Flacco
Joseph Addai
Reggie Bush
Andre Johnson
Brandon Marshall
DeSean Jackson
Jermichael Finley
Jeremy Shockey
Vincent Jackson
Matt Prater
Robbie Gould
Baltimore Ravens
San Diego Chargers
Ben Tate

Solid team, good depth. Addai is always a decent fantasy RB, if not, the likes of Ben Tate over in Tex will make up for it. Finley backed up with Shockey, Baltimore backed up with San Diego (hoping Merriman plays).

I like to draft before the pre-season, makes it a bit more risky and fun.