Last night I had my 12-team work league snake draft: standard scoring, plus 0.5 PPR. So I used my draft board on most picks, but also accounted for the reception bonus. In other words, Antonio Brown and Jeremy Hill are ranked close to each other on my standard-scoring board. But the potential for Brown getting 50 more receptions than Hill equates to 25 more points.
With that in mind, and with the more-challenging-than-expected #4 pick, I drafted Brown in the first round. Coming back down, with my primary elite / near-elite RBs off the board, I grabbed my other top 2 WR: Calvin Johnson. If these two pan out as expected, I'm set. But I hated drafting two WRs off the bat. It meant I needed to get some very good RBs.
In the third round I was eyeing T.Y. Hilton, but couldn't imagine digging out of a 3-WR hole to start the draft (even though that could have meant netting three top-10 WRs). So I debated between Mark Ingram and Lamar Miller. Went back and forth for 45 of the 60 seconds on the clock. They're ranked one after the other on my board. I opted for Ingram because of the o-line tiebreaker: the Saints have an improved line, while Miami's is a bit of a mess. Miller overcame that last season, but I trust Ingram more. Obviously, could've gone either way. Was the toughest call I had to make all draft.
Round 4: With a surprising five QBs already gone, I anticipated Big Ben would be next. So I grabbed him, locking in the most elite positional player available.
In rounds 5-7 I was targeting five RBs: Latavius Murray, Ameer Abdullah, Arian Foster, Doug Martin, and Tre Marson, in that order. Got Murray, and then the guy right before me in the sixth grabbed Abdullah. So it took me three seconds to decide to draft Foster. Doug Martin was added to my roster in the seventh. I now felt decent about my RB situation: no elite guys off the bat, but two players with decent top 20 potential, one with decent top 12 potential, and Foster: a potential top 5 RB if he can stay healthy in the season's second half.
In round 8 the guy three spots ahead of me took the Bills DST. Seattle was already off the board. So that was my queue to lock in my preseason #2 DST, the Texans. My draft board shows they have favorable matchups in weeks 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 17. If they get off to an elite start, they could be great trade bait for an upgrade at RB.
I bypassed Mason in the ninth because Charles Johnson was still available. Getting him with the 100th pick was unexpected, and since I hadn't taken a WR in the six previous rounds, it was a good time to capitalize on an every week flex option with upside. Danny Woodhead followed in the 10th. I thought about a dozen or more players leading up to this pick, but Woodhead kept jumping out. He's pretty high on my draft board, and the 0.5 PPR makes him an every week flex--if he replicates his 2013 numbers. While he likely won't be that good, 50 catches for 600 yards and 5 scores makes him an RB3/4 with streaming potential when the bye weeks hit.
The final four rounds kicked off with a surprise move: Julius Thomas was still available. I'm much higher on Vernon Davis. So why am I shifting course? Why do I encourage everyone to draft Davis, and then go behind everyone's back and take the overrated Thomas? Because it was clear at that point Davis wouldn't be drafted. He'll be available at least until Week 1. I've got time to make sure Thomas is healthy. So it's a test run on Thomas, knowing that someone else would have grabbed him soon after if I hadn't. If I'd taken Davis, there wouldn't have been an obvious TE Plan B if somehow he wasn't what I thought he'd be.
Took Pierre Garcon the next round: 170-something targets two years ago, and should be used more this year than he was in last season's letdown--a good gamble in a PPR league. Then, surprisingly, Terrance Williams was available in the 13th. So I've got five WRs and can only play three: great trade bait, a buffer during bye weeks, and a safety net in case of injury.
Kicker Josh Brown closed out the draft. He's my kicking safety net if Dan Bailey and other elite guys go off the board. Brown should be a top 12 kicker in that offense.
So the lesson here is: I used the draft board every step of the way, but I also made some judgment calls based on who was taken. Drafting in a vacuum--pre-planning our decisions--is the wrong way to go. We need to feed off of what others are doing, spotting trends and those moments when it's the right time to pick certain players (Big Ben or the Texans D, for example).
Good luck in your next draft(s).
QB Ben Roethlisberger
RBs Mark Ingram, Latavius Murray, Doug Martin, Danny Woodhead, Arian Foster
WRs Antonio Brown, Calvin Johnson, Charles Johnson, Terrance Williams, Pierre Garcon
TE Julius Thomas
DST Texans
K Josh Brown
With that in mind, and with the more-challenging-than-expected #4 pick, I drafted Brown in the first round. Coming back down, with my primary elite / near-elite RBs off the board, I grabbed my other top 2 WR: Calvin Johnson. If these two pan out as expected, I'm set. But I hated drafting two WRs off the bat. It meant I needed to get some very good RBs.
In the third round I was eyeing T.Y. Hilton, but couldn't imagine digging out of a 3-WR hole to start the draft (even though that could have meant netting three top-10 WRs). So I debated between Mark Ingram and Lamar Miller. Went back and forth for 45 of the 60 seconds on the clock. They're ranked one after the other on my board. I opted for Ingram because of the o-line tiebreaker: the Saints have an improved line, while Miami's is a bit of a mess. Miller overcame that last season, but I trust Ingram more. Obviously, could've gone either way. Was the toughest call I had to make all draft.
Round 4: With a surprising five QBs already gone, I anticipated Big Ben would be next. So I grabbed him, locking in the most elite positional player available.
In rounds 5-7 I was targeting five RBs: Latavius Murray, Ameer Abdullah, Arian Foster, Doug Martin, and Tre Marson, in that order. Got Murray, and then the guy right before me in the sixth grabbed Abdullah. So it took me three seconds to decide to draft Foster. Doug Martin was added to my roster in the seventh. I now felt decent about my RB situation: no elite guys off the bat, but two players with decent top 20 potential, one with decent top 12 potential, and Foster: a potential top 5 RB if he can stay healthy in the season's second half.
In round 8 the guy three spots ahead of me took the Bills DST. Seattle was already off the board. So that was my queue to lock in my preseason #2 DST, the Texans. My draft board shows they have favorable matchups in weeks 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 16, 17. If they get off to an elite start, they could be great trade bait for an upgrade at RB.
I bypassed Mason in the ninth because Charles Johnson was still available. Getting him with the 100th pick was unexpected, and since I hadn't taken a WR in the six previous rounds, it was a good time to capitalize on an every week flex option with upside. Danny Woodhead followed in the 10th. I thought about a dozen or more players leading up to this pick, but Woodhead kept jumping out. He's pretty high on my draft board, and the 0.5 PPR makes him an every week flex--if he replicates his 2013 numbers. While he likely won't be that good, 50 catches for 600 yards and 5 scores makes him an RB3/4 with streaming potential when the bye weeks hit.
The final four rounds kicked off with a surprise move: Julius Thomas was still available. I'm much higher on Vernon Davis. So why am I shifting course? Why do I encourage everyone to draft Davis, and then go behind everyone's back and take the overrated Thomas? Because it was clear at that point Davis wouldn't be drafted. He'll be available at least until Week 1. I've got time to make sure Thomas is healthy. So it's a test run on Thomas, knowing that someone else would have grabbed him soon after if I hadn't. If I'd taken Davis, there wouldn't have been an obvious TE Plan B if somehow he wasn't what I thought he'd be.
Took Pierre Garcon the next round: 170-something targets two years ago, and should be used more this year than he was in last season's letdown--a good gamble in a PPR league. Then, surprisingly, Terrance Williams was available in the 13th. So I've got five WRs and can only play three: great trade bait, a buffer during bye weeks, and a safety net in case of injury.
Kicker Josh Brown closed out the draft. He's my kicking safety net if Dan Bailey and other elite guys go off the board. Brown should be a top 12 kicker in that offense.
So the lesson here is: I used the draft board every step of the way, but I also made some judgment calls based on who was taken. Drafting in a vacuum--pre-planning our decisions--is the wrong way to go. We need to feed off of what others are doing, spotting trends and those moments when it's the right time to pick certain players (Big Ben or the Texans D, for example).
Good luck in your next draft(s).
QB Ben Roethlisberger
RBs Mark Ingram, Latavius Murray, Doug Martin, Danny Woodhead, Arian Foster
WRs Antonio Brown, Calvin Johnson, Charles Johnson, Terrance Williams, Pierre Garcon
TE Julius Thomas
DST Texans
K Josh Brown