What type of league is this?
Standard head-to-head scoring with 2 keepers/year.
I was right? Go figure. That happens all too rarely for me.
I like this team a ton better (I told you Hillis would suck). I’m assuming you got Calvin in the first, then Forte, Jackson, and Thomas, and Rivers next (or maybe Rivers then Thomas). That’s a good start to the draft.
Personally, I don’t like Forte until the mid to late third round this year. He’s coming off injury, going to be sharing a lot more (including those goal line carries) with Bush, and he just doesn’t get into the end zone enough. But he’s safe and solid, and with Calvin in the first round, you have a nice start. I love Fred Jackson (if healthy), he was on a torrid pace last year before injury, and Demaryius Thomas has enough upside to take a shot. And Rivers should be better than last year (one would hope).
But your depth leaves something to be desired. I kinda like Leshoure as a late round flyer for depth, and maybe Shane Vereen takes over from Ridley (I’ve never drafted a NE Patriot RB simply because it’s always a clusterfuck), but I wouldn’t want to have to start either. I don’t think RGIII or Michael Floyd will produce much this year (I don’t know your keeper rules, so they may have future value). And Heyward Bey is a perennial tease. There’s some upside to all those guys, but as far as startable depth … I’d be worried.
Best of luck.
I’ll agree about the start. Heyward Bey is always a question mark, but taking risks can win the league. I like RGIII. Floyd doesn’t have a QB to throw to him. Definitely a cluster in NE, but we’ll see what happens come the regular season. Your starters look good enough to carry you in the beginning, which should give you time to scout and maybe upgrade your depth at RB, depending on what your league rules are for adding players. Owen Daniels is a question mark for me. I would go for someone like Jared Cook personally. He should be a good target in the End Zone for Locker. That’s my 2 cents at least.
What Hamlet said. Fantastic starters - I’d be doing a happy dance if I drafted that team - but awful, awful bench (and flex).
Just finished the draft in my league. Note that it is a 2 QB league with non-standard scoring. Weekly scores are usually over 150 fantasy points, and I think the league record is over 220 fantasy points.
The 2012 Darnassus Druids:
QB1: Peyton Manning
QB2: Phillip Rivers
WR1: Steve Smith
WR2: Mike Wallace
WR3: Lance Moore
RB1: Adrian Peterson
RB2: Reggie Bush
TE: Jimmy Graham
W/R/T: Mark Ingram
BN1: Alex Smith
BN2: Ryan Fitzpatrick
BN3: Anquan Boldin
BN4: Dustin Keller
BN5: Ben Tate
BN6: Austin Collie
K: Matt Bryant
D/ST: New Orleans
Do you really need two backup quarterbacks (4 total) in such a league? (Honest question, I’ve never played in a two QB league.) Also I’m curious, how many people are in this league?
It’s a 10 team league. I took the two backup QBs because both Manning and Rivers have the same bye week. I figure to trade one of the QBs not named Manning after that, unless Peyton’s dead or something. Secondary thought is that QBs sitting on my bench are not putting up points for my opponents.
I am in a 10 team PPR league with head to head matchups. With 2 Keepers we start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 D/ST 1 K. Listed in order of my draft (which is 15 rounds snake order and I was 10th, as I won the league last year):
Rd1 RB1 Ray Rice
Rd2 QB1 Drew Brees
RD3 RB2 Jamaal Charles
Rd4 WR1 Marques Colston
Rd5 WR2 Dawyane Bowe
RD6 WR3 Steve Smith
RD7 WR4 Brandon Loyd
RD8 WR5 Pierre Garcon
RD9 RB3 Green-Ellis
RD10 DST1 Seahawks
RD11 QB2 Daulton
RD12 K1 Nugent
RD13 DST2 Chiefs
RD14 RB4 Helu
RD15 WR6 Laurent Robinson
QB: Brees, Daulton
RB: Rice, Charles, Green-Ellis, Helu
WR: Colston, Bowe, Steve Smith, Loyd, Garcon, Robinson
DST: Seahawks, Chiefs
K: Nugent
Thanks!!!
In more than half his games, Andy Dalton threw for less than 200 yards, and in 10 he threw for one or less touchdowns. No way he should be on a fantasy roster in a 10 team league. And …
And …
Damn, I have no more. I really like your team. I’m absolutely stunned that Ray Rice would fall to 10. Are you drafting with a bunch of 8 year olds? Phillipino jail alai fans who have never seen American football? Dead people?
Your wide receiver depth could use some work (I’m not sold on Bowe, but I like the upside of Garcon and Lloyd could have another amazing year in NE), but really, that’s just nitpicking. I want an invite to your league next year.
Actually in our draft we are required to take 2 QB’s in the draft but we can dump them after. And since I have Brees, I will dump Dalton and pick up a sleeper that is still undrafted.
As for Ray Rice, he was my keeper pick along with Brees. That is how I got him at 10. I wasn’t sold on Bowe either but in the 5th round I had to take him. My wide reciever core is one that could be stellar, or a flop, I am taking a chance!! That is what wins leagues. Thanks for the comments.
Whats the general thought on Mendenhall? My RBs are pretty week, Lynch and Richardson, then Mendenhall, and a couple piles of crap. my flex will be WR every week, so all I need is a third guy for bye and injury weeks. Byes don’t come till week 10 and 11, so I figure he will be healthy by then. Do you think he will be the starter when he gets healthy? I am debating if I should trade some of my WR depth to upgrade 3rd RB, but don’t know what kind of value I can get right now.
I did my first live draft in person in a long, long time. We had nine teams (???) but have since added a tenth and it was a snake draft and I drew 9, so I picked last and then first in the next round…so two picks at a time.
Here’s what I ended up with:
Eli Manning, NYG QB
LeSean McCoy, Phi
Steven Jackson, StL
Isaac Redman, Pit RB
Wes Welker, NE WR
DeSean Jackson, Phi WR
Vernon Davis, SF TE
Eagles D/ST
Mike Nugent, Cin K
Bench:
Mark Ingram, NO RB
Jermaine Gresham, Cin TE
Justin Blackmon, Jac WR
Felix Jones, Dal RB
Steve Smith, Car WR
Matt Schaub, Hou QB
Torrey Smith, Bal WR
In all I think this is a pretty solid team. My lone Cincinnati conceits were to Gresham and Nugent the kicker, both of whom are solid fantasy plays in their own right anyway, especially since the Bengals struggle to score TD’s in the red zone so Nugent gets a lot of work!
What do ya’ll think?
How in hell did LeSean McCoy fall to 9? And who did you reach for with your next pick? #10 is way to early for Wes Welker (unless it’s a full point per reception league). Did you trade up to get McCoy and have to give up your second round pick?
It seems like a solid team, but I wouldn’t be all that excited. With only 9 drafters, you should have at least 3 real studs, and, to me, you have one in McCoy. Welker is fine, I guess, in PPR leagues, but I’d take higher upside guys like Fitzgerald, White, Jennings, Green, or Jones before him.
That said, you have a good chunk of above average talent. I like Stephen Jackson and Eli is close to those studly QB’s, but DeSean and Torrey Smith are too inconsistent for me, and Redman is running behind a crappy O Line and is just filling time till Mendenhall gets back. I like your team, I just don’t see the firepower I’d want in a 9 team league.
Even though there were 9 original teams, only 6 people actually showed up, so there were 3 people we were assigned to draft for. We decided to initially go with BPA for the absent owners, which, according to our ESPN top 300 cheat sheet precipitated a small run on QB’s and somehow McCoy was available because the people present picked around him and above him (I think McCoy was ranked 3rd on that list). I didn’t want to be left without a decent QB as my wait for my next set of picks was so long so I took Eli at number 10 as he was the best QB available at that point.
By doing so I narrowly missed out on AJ Green, who was going to be my next target, a WR, at pick number 26, which was my next pick. In retrospect I should have gone stud WR with #10 pick (The very best of whom were already taken) instead of QB. So Welker was the pick at 26, and I picked DeSean Jackson at 27. Steven Jackson was the next pick after that.
I like my Desean Jackson pick because he’s got his new contract so is not playing disgruntled and our league rules allow me to double dip on TD’s if Jackson scores a punt return for a touchdown.
I have Redman in the flex role right now but I will probably swap him out and put in a receiver there.
I like this team. Eli is a good fantasy QB, other than maybe throwing a few too many picks.
I have Eli as my #7 QB, in a tier with Phillip Rivers, Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Peyton Manning, and Matt Ryan. I certainly don’t have him as a guy I need to have if those are available, and in a 10 team league, a top 10 QB should be there for you in rounds 4 or 5. Reaching for Eli was, to my mind, a mistake.
Yep, but I have a hard time concluding “the very best [stud WR’s] were already gone at 10”. If Foster and Rice were gone, and the top QB’s were gone (Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Stafford), that means there had to be at least one stud WR worth taking before Eli.
Heck, if RB’s were so passed over, you might have thought about going McCoy/McFadden or McCoy/Johnson, then waiting on a WR and get Eli next around.
Makes sense, if it’s a PPR league. And Steven Jackson is nice value in the 5th.
I like Jackson, but mostly because I think he’s underrated at his ADP (which is the 6.9 pick in a 12 team league). He’s way too boom or bust for me, but that may make him a nice complement to Welker.
Eli is a “good” fantasy QB. I don’t like taking “good” fantasy players with the 10th pick. Especially when I have that “good” fantasy player in a tier with 6 other QB’s who are of about equal value. I think that would be my biggest problem with your team, missing out on a stud WR or a second could be stud RB in favor of a “good” QB.
Best of luck!
I don’t like the uncertainty surrounding many of the QB’s you listed. Cam Newton was gone or I would have taken him. Vick I wouldn’t take there due to injury history. There is uncertainty surrounding Manning, whom I was going to take as my backup in the round I selected Shaub but someone got to him first (speaking of which, if Manning returns to form, he’s an ELITE fantasy QB along with Rogers and Brees, isn’t he?). Ryan was available, I probably should have taken him instead but eh. I think that’s a wash there. And Rivers is coming off a bad year and I am not sold that the Chargers offense is going to be all that great this season due to age (and Norv Turner!).
Adrian Peterson was still available when I picked 10th…but again: injuries and a bad team. I try to consider these things when I select a player, especially a RB on a bad offense as they get robbed of carries in the second halves of games due to constantly playing catchup.
We used this list: 2012 Fantasy Football Top 300 Rankings - ESPN to select players. By the time I picked, Foster, Rogers, Brady, Brees, Megatron, Fitzgerald, Johnson and Roddy White were all gone. When I realized McCoy was available with my first pick that was a no-brainer. Then I waffled a bit deciding whom to pick next. I could have gotten Chris Johnson, but was put off by the season he had last year, and the Titans aren’t very good and I doubt Johnson will ever again attain the numbers he got two years ago. No way I was picking MJD with his contract situation (and age and sucky team). Looking at the list from about 17 to 27, I banked on a stud WR being available by the time I picked again and decided to go QB with that pick because after I would have picked yet again, the drop off would have been enormous. So call it a reach, but there’s no way I take Mike Wallace, Marshawn Lynch, Jamaal Charles, Demarco Murray, Matt Forte, etc ahead of Eli in that scenario.
The real temptation I had to avoid was taking either AJ Green there or Gronk. I figured it was unlikely that Gronk would get 17 TD’s again, and silently hoped Green would be available when I picked again and took steady, productive, durable Eli. Green was taken right before my next pick and Welker was still available, so I took him instead. Its not like he doesn’t get 100 catches a year or anything, and my league does reward a point per reception.
My point wasn’t that Eli wasn’t the best of that group (I don’t think he is), but rather that their production in fantasy football will be roughly comparable, and that I greatly dislike being the first to draft a guy in one of my tiers. I may think Eli is the best, but, to me, the step down from Eli to a “not Eli” QB in that tier, is much, much smaller than the step down from Chris Johnson to Steven Jackson.
Two words: Matthew Stafford. If you had your heart set on the QB position and the top 3 are gone, grab the guy who is #4. I think Stafford is going to have a huge year, and have him in the tier above Eli and the rest.
I think it’s a reach. But it’s your team and you like Eli.
Welker is great in PPR (although I think he drops in production this year with a more vertical passing game with Lloyd and McDaniels in NE and with the emergence of Gronk and Hernandez), and is in a much better QB situation than AJ Green.
Good luck.
My issue with Stafford is that he’s never played a full season due to injuries…or is that incorrect? Maybe I’m thinking of Bradford.
How good to you all think Trent Richardson will actually be? Is he the next Mark Ingram (good, but disappointing), or will he have a breakout year?