SDMB Dynasty League: Year One

The Game Room
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Gotta hand it to furt, incidentally, who thought MJD would outproduce AP… and was right, even though it was really just because he didn’t fumble as much.

Hamlet drafted 3 of the top 12 running backs, and also had Tim Hightower, the 20th, and Justin Forsett, the 24th. That said, one of his top three guys is Thomas Jones, who is bound to realize he’s old eventually.

Oh, and not only did I draft the fourth-ranked kicker, I also drafted the eighth-ranked kicker, who finished just one point behind. How’s that for consistency?

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Injury is actually a big part of the whole “Curse of 370” thing – RBs just seem to get hurt a huge percentage of the time after their really high workload seasons.
I’ll post everyone’s final roster here a bit later. We’ll have a discussion/vote about potential rules changes in the run up to next season, but if anyone has any proposals in mind right now, feel free to PM me or post them here just so we remember to address them when the time comes. Just bear in mind that, in most areas, changes should be incremental, as this is a dynasty league and people (presumably) drafted and traded with our current setup in mind.
2010 Draft Order:

  1. Exploding Pancakes (Beef)
  2. New York Fanboys (Ellis Dee)
  3. Deliverance (The Mad Hermit)
  4. RetroVertigo
  5. Fightin’ Quakers (furt)
  6. Warner’s Brothers (dalej42)
  7. Varlos’ Zzzzzzz
  8. Isotopes (Petey)
  9. The Gusterrhoids (Justin_Bailey)
  10. CuteWiddleBunny (Hamlet)
  11. We Do HGH (Stringer)
  12. 9 Inch Neils (RNATB)
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To be fair, Tony Gonzalez is my #1 TE and Burleson was giving me some good points before he went down. In hindsight though, it was probably a dumbass move on my part.

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He had just had a stretch of 3 out of 4 games with 6+ catches and 75+ yards, including a two-TD game. Witten was coming off a stretch of like 5 straight ~50 yard, no TD games.

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True, but I have a bad feeling Burleson won’t be a good long run acquisition. It made sense at the time, but my receiver corps could be mighty thin next year if Donald Driver figures out he’s 35 and Burleson busts.

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Sorry about your luck. :wink:

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Congrats on your win RNATB.

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As for the offseason stuff, I suggest we allow offseason trading, set a pretty late cut date at which you have to submit which players you want to cut from your roster (say, about 3 weeks before the draft), then whatever players remain on people’s rosters after the cut date are added to the back of their draft as keepers.

That is if they cut 5 people, they’d have a draft pick in rounds 1-5, and then rounds 6-25 would be taken up by the people from their roster last year that t hey didn’t cut (or players they got by offseason trade). No limitations to the number of keepers/cuts - if you only want 2 draft picks, go ahead and keep 23 players on your roster.

Any players that are currently free agents, or are cut in that pre-draft cut period, are eligible to be drafted, along with rookies. It would be technically complicated to do a rookie-only draft, so you may as well just make anyone not on a roster draftable. Chances are if the players didn’t make the pre-draft cuts then they’re not all that desirable anyway and would be less desirable than most rookies.

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Seconded to everything SenorBeef says.

As for offseason trading, I’m in the market for a WR and Kyle Orton, Bruce Gadrowski and Michael Vick (who will probably start somewhere next year) are all on the block.

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I’ll give you a quarter and this nice pocket lint for 'em.

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In the keeper league, the offseason trading period begins August 1st and ends with keeper declaration (cut deadline) a week before the draft. This works well because you have most of the preseason to determine whether you really want to keep them or not. And a week is plenty of time for the commish to hammer out any issues should they arise.

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As I said earlier in the thread, I’m not a big fan of having the ability to make transactions throughout the entire off season up until the week before the fantasy draft. The talent pool in the draft is already going to be incredibly shallow, if you take out all the players who’s stock rises over the off season too, the draft is going to be pretty worthless. Instead those players are going to be going to whoever is watching the real NFL draft, scanning the transactions roster, following injuries, and reading training camp blogs. While I’ll probably be doing those things, I’m not sure I want to take those players away from the draft pool. Which is why I recommended that we stop allowing off season transactions the week after the Super Bowl.

Just a thought.

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Fantasy Football is done for me for the year, the Packer’s game is pretty close to meaningless this week, and I’m done with my seasonal travelling, so I have a bit of time to kill this morning. And, with the New Year, I’m spending some time looking back over the last year, and looking forward to this one.

So, why not take a few minutes and take a look at our Dynasty League?

I’ll go team by team, and post when I get a few done at a time. I hope you enjoy!

Your 2009 Champion:

9 INCH NEILS (Really Not All that Bright)

First things first: Congratulations. A well deserved honor, done with great talent evaluation and able to overcome some injuries rather than just getting lucky. Kudos.

High Point: Winning it All. Can’t ask for more.
Low Point: Drafting Michael Turner before AllDay and trading for Owen Daniels and getting 6 plays out of him before he’s injured for the season (both of which benefitted me, so thanks!) As I said, you did a helluva job in the face of adversity!

Past: An awesome draft and great pickups of players who really emerged into the elite this year. DeSean Jackson, Vincent Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Matt Schaub, and Steve Smith all had amazing years, and you got them on the cheap. Most excellent.

Future: If those guys keep performing (they’re all young and talented), the future is bright. And if Turner, K.Smith, and Carnell Williams get healthy, they’ll help solidify the iffy running back corp. I don’t see a lot on the deep bench (although Finley, Witten, Daniels is a formidable TE crew) that scares me, but you’ll definitely be the team to beat next year. And I will. Beat you that is. Great season.

WE DO HGH (Stringer)

High Point: A six game win streak from Week 8 to Week 13 that got you the divisional lead and the easier foe in Week One of the playoffs. Great run with a very solid team.

Low Point: Poor play from highly drafted players Matt Forte and Marshawn Lynch. But the outstanding picks of Ray Rice and Jamaal Charles in rounds 5 and 10 more than made up for it.

Past: A very solid year. I’m not a huge statistician, but you consistently put up between 105 and 125 points, rarely really busting out huge, but also never dropping below 100. The little fantasy engine that could. As I said, Jamaal Charles’ second half of the year was a huge part of a very good team and Ray Rice’s emergence was outstanding. Those two guys turned an iffy team into a very solid team. Great Second place finish.

Future: Rice and Charles are a great duo, and if Forte or Lynch bounce back next year, this team will have one of the best running back crews in the league. Add in Reggie Automatic Wayne and Marques Colston, and the studs are in place for another run. Favre’s age and Cutler’s suckitude are serious concerns, as is the lack of a strong TE, and both could ruin next year. Although I liked what I saw from Laurent Robinson, the deep bench, and even the flex positions, does need an upgrade. Still, with some minor tweaking, this team will be right up there next year.

CuteWiddleBunnies (Hamlet [that’s me!])

High Point: 202+ points in week 7, 185 in week 14, and 143 in the last round of the playoffs to win 3rd place. A really dominating year, just not quite enough.

Low Point: sigh Bad run of luck in hitting hot teams at the wrong times. Whether loses by tiny margins against high scoring teams or getting a ton of points, just not quite enough for a win, the head to head aspect of fantasy football kicked my ass this year. Still, that bad luck wasn’t fatal, and I got really lucky from an injury standpoint, so we’ll call it a wash.

Past: I had a great draft, and got lucky thanks to RNATB’s letting Peterson fall and getting Marshall. While Steve Smith wasn’t worth a 2nd rounder, players like Phillip Rivers, Ryan Grant, Chad OchoCinco, Percy Harvin, Thomas Jones, Vernon Davis (in the 18th round bitches!), and Brandon Marshall (thanks RNATB!) made my team a frickin’ juggernaut! Great, if a bit unlucky, season. I am pissed I had to settle for 3rd though.

Future: Some concerns with Thomas Jones, Chad OchoCinco, and Steve Smith all getting up there in years. But having Harvin, Collie, Donald Brown, and Forsett developing could really help fill those voids. With the firepower I have though, I’ll be right up there again next year. Beware!

The Gusterroids (Justin Bailey)

High Point: Winning streak in the last four games of the year to snag the final playoff spot. The win to start the streak was by a mere .04, which is just sick. Also 162+ point week 2 was great.

Low Point: Losing by .34 points in week 9 was a kick in the teeth, but it’s hard to feel bad for you when you won by just .04 a couple weeks before.

Past: Another pretty solid team that had a good, competitive year. Frank Gore, Roddy White, McNabb, Tony Gonzo, and Driver all gave this team a solid core of point scorers that kept him in every game. The flex positions, though, didn’t really scare anyone consistently. But he got the production he needed.

Future: Gonzo, Driver, and McNabb are all staring down Father Time and backups like Torry Holt, Bobby Wade, Mushin Muhammed, Willis McGahee, Deion Branch, and Nate Burleson are not long from the pasture. This team needs to reload with some developing talent to stay at the top of the league, but if McNabb, Gore, and White continue to play well, this team will remain competitive.

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On with the show!
Fighting Quakers (furt)

High Point: Two straight wins with 143+ and 157+ points in the playoffs (both high weeks) to seize 5th place. Had he made the championship bracket of the playoffs, he would have won it all. Talk about peaking in the playoffs.

Low Point: The three game losing streak at the end of the regular season to miss the playoffs. The pathetic 81 point effort in the last week to lose to a beatable Gusterroids team. Ouch!

Past: What the hell is this team? Is it the team that scored above 120 in a majority of the games, or the one that put up less than 100 in 3 of the last 4? Losing Ronnie Brown and Anthony Gonzalez certainly hurt, as did losing Jonathon Stewart in a trade. The hot or miss nature of this team cost in the stretch. Taking 5 running backs in the first 6 rounds left him depleted in the WR crew (Hester?), but the emergence of Sidney Rice and Mike Wallace helped a lot.

Future: If Rice and Wallace continue to improve and Sproles gets the #1 RB job in San Diego, this team could be great. MJD was awesome, Mendenhall has the look of a future scorer, and Brown, Anthony Gonzalez, Brandon Pettigrew being healthy will add to a strong team. But there are questions at QB (Warner and Vince Young have issues) and at WR that could make the future tough though. One more great scorer and this team could easily take it all next year.

Warner’s Brothers (dalej42)

High Point: 3 straight games above 125 points that put him in a position to get into the playoffs. 4 games above 130 also helped make this a formidable team all year. Getting Ricky Williams in the 17th round ended up being a huge addition.

Low Point: Two just awful loses while scoring less than 60. That’s just plain ugly.

Past: A perfectly fine year that was just a bit short in depth to really have a great year. Drew Brees and Andre Johnson were the very definition of fantasy football studs, but the poor running back crew (until Ronnie Brown went down, giving Ricky Williams some nice value) just ruined this season. Luckily, RB’s is a place it may be easier to build in the off season.

Future: Beanie Wells’ second half was a nice indication of future success for this team, which is good because he really needs help there. Picking up some RB depth to compliment the Brees/Johnson stud-o-rama will make this a team to fear next year. But it just as easily could be a long year if Wells’ backtracks, Betts doesn’t take over #1 in Washington, and Ronnie Brown comes back. Still, a good year.

VarlosZZZZZ (oddly enough, VarlosZ)

High Point: 3 of the last 5 weeks, this team scored above 134 and looked like a team making a run at the playoffs. Still a great week to get the win for 7th place.

Low Point: The other 2 games of the last 5 weeks, this team scored less than 88 and looked like a team falling apart. And the loss in the first round of the playoffs by 1.35 points can feel like a kick in the crotch.

Past: Quantity of young Qbs (Alex Smith, Matt Leinart, Matt Ryan, Chad Henne, and Brady Quinn) could not make up for quality. With the gaping hole at QB, VarlosZ relied on a very talented and deep WR crew to try and make it all work, but the decline of Marion Barber and the not yet arrival of Knowshon Moreno didn’t give this team enough firepower. It wasn’t until Jonathon Stewart showed up that you saw what could have been for this team. A good team that was lacking in a couple positions for most of the season which hurt.

Future: This WR crew is loaded for bear. Studs Fitzy and Megatron lead the way, with Holmes backing them up and young guns like Kenny Britt and Pierre Garcon and Jordy Nelson (and maybe, not not really likely Heyward Bey) emerging, this team is stacked. But at only one position. Unless DeAngelo Williams is done forever, Moreno can get above 4 ypc, Ryan Grant breaks a leg, and the young QB crew emerge, it might be a long dynasty season. But there is certainly enough firepower at WR to make some noise. Has some potential, but it needs to emerge.

Isotopes (Petey)

High Point: Had a 4 game winning streak with scores mostly in the 120’s. And Peyton Manning.

Low Point: I found a kindred spirit in shitty loses. Score 142+, lose by less than 2 points. Score 95, lose by less than 4. Score 123 and lose by .34. Yes, by 34 one hundredths of a point. Then, in the first round of the playoffs score 134+ and lose by less than 10. Rough year.

Past: Some tough breaks (and poor choices) led to a lot of disappointing players. LT wasn’t even close to the LT of yore, Roy Williams was a bust, Dwayne Bowe got suspended, Darren McFadden was injured and not good, Berrian and White were replaced by better and younger players, and nobody any good played TE. No team can overcome that much disappointment. Not even the great Peyton Manning, who all but singlehandedly won games for Petey, can do it. Although there is certainly some talent emerging on this team (Fred Jackson I’m looking at you!), it wasn’t enough this year.

Future: Manning will remain a stud, and Fred Jackson and/or Ahmad Bradshaw and/or Darren McFadden could really emerge as scorers if given the chance. But unless that happens, the disappointments on this team may continue.

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And, to finish this puppy off:

RetroVertigo (guess who)

High Point: Some pretty good scoring, with scores above 100 in 8 out of the last 9 games. A couple really nice games in Weeks 4 and 10. Chris Johnson claimed the mantle as the top scoring FF player this year.

Low Point: Pretty good scoring wasn’t enough. This team couldn’t get enough firepower to win the big games.

Past: With Tom Brady and Chris Johnson, this team could compete each and every game. But a slow start and the decline of Greg Jennings/TJ Housh made it hard to finish games. Sims Walker was a great pick, as was getting Miles Austin. Shitty play by TE and K didn’t really help much. There is a lot of young talent on this team, though, but unfortunately, not much of it helped this year.

Future: With Chris Johnson joining the elite ranks, and Tom Brady another year removed from surgery, this team could be a force. Especially with Sims Walker and Miles Austin coming on strong this year. Add in some young potential like Shonn Greene, Felix Jones/Tashard Choice, Michael Bush, and maybe Malcolm Kelly, and I like this team to seriously improve next year. Watch out for this team.

Deliverance (Mad Hermit)

High Point: One of only two teams to beat both the Champ and me and had 3 games above 129 points, this team had some nice firepower. The 4th higher scorer in the league.

Low Point: An 0-4 start and an 0-3 ending crushed any hopes this team had. Losing Portis, a second round pick, and DeAngelo down the stretch didn’t help much.

Past: This team had the best TE, a top 5 WR, a top 10 QB, two top 15 Rbs and put up the 5th most points of any team this year… and didn’t make the playoffs. Some tough breaks along the way didn’t help. But it was the lack of attention (only one transaction the whole year) and a lack of depth that hurt the most. T.O. was a disappointment, and none of the other draftees (Mark Clayton, BenJarvius Green, Nate Washington, Kevin Curtis… The list goes on and on) amounted to anything and weren’t replaced.

Future: Portis could be done, Welker just went out with serious knee injuries, T.O. could easily be over the hill fantasy wise, Ward is on the downside of his career, and there is a big black hole of mediocrity on the deep bench. While DeAngelo, Dallas Clark, Rothlisberger, and Addai are a good core, there isn’t much else there to make me afraid of this team and there is no talent sitting on the bench to develop. Some changes need to be made before this team will challenge.

New York Fanboys (Ellis Dee)

High Point: Was there one? No transactions all year, lowest scoring team all year, and wayyy to many Jets and Giants meant for a bad year. Funny (to everybody except furt), this team put up 154 points one week, to beat furt which helped keep him out of the championship bracket which he would have won. Those are the joys of fantasy football.

Low point: Westbrook’s injury, the regression of Pierre Thomas, Dustin Keller, and Antonio Bryant, made this a tough season for Ellis. 4 of the last 5 games this team scored less than 100.

Past: Reaching for some players (and defenses) at the draft, as well as putting a lot of eggs in the Brian Westbrook basket, were big gambles. Gambles that didn’t pay off in the least. While some of the bench flashed some talent (Manningham, Kevin Boss) a majority of it was dead weight. Not a good season at all and the lack of trying to better it during the year doomed this team to a horrid year.

Future: Stephen Jackson is a beast on a crappy team,and could be a nice foundation. Romo and Gates can be great complimentary players. But beyond them is a vast chasm of mediocrity. This team needs a major overhaul, or an apocalyptic event that destroys all non NY teams, to have any chance.

Exploding Pancakes (Senor Beef)

High Point: Ekeing out a win by .54 points in week 12 to avoid losing 8 games in a row. That and putting up his season high to beat me.

Low Point: When he said: “There is no way way that I have the 10th best roster in this league. Not even close”. When he said that, he meant he had BETTER than the 10th, but, oddly enough, he finished in 12th. Slaton’s suckitude and injuries was also a bad start.

Past: Aaron Rodgers, Randy Moss and Jerome Harrison were very good draft picks. The other 22… not so much. Steve Slaton, Braylon Edwards, Eddie Royal, Leon Washington, James Davis, Ginn, Henry and on and on. The list of crappy players led this team to have to rely on fill ins and weekly wonders to try and piece together a winning season. That was too tough to do.

Future: Finishing 12th in a 12 team league is never easy, but there is hope out there. Rodgers is a stud QB, Moss is still a viable #1 WR, and Jerome Harrison may become a stud RB. The building blocks are there. Add in some potential in Johnny Knox, Zach Miller, LeSean McCoy and Joshua Cribbs, and this team has a chance at … hitting .500 next season. This team was drafted, traded, and waivered to be the team of the future, so we’ll see if that pans out.

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In my defense – though this is more of an indictment than defense – I slept through the first six rounds of the draft. As I planned on being at the draft I didn’t prerank anyone, so my first six picks were default yahoo picks. So while the fuckup was totally my responsibility, I blame yahoo for putting all my eggs in the Westbrook basket.

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Oh well. At least they probably made a delicious omelette.

Nice rundown, Hamlet. I think next season turns on one big question for me - will the Cedric Benson be the same guy he was in the first half of this season? Where Cadillac winds up is also a factor - he’s an unrestricted free agent I think, and I don’t see the Bucs ponying up the dough to keep him.

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Whilst perusing and changing my bookmarks, I was reminded of this league. I was wondering if it was decided whether or not we can do off season acquisitions. I tried to pick up my top secret super sleeper to round out my roster, but the rosters were closed. I’m fine waiting for him, but with free agency looming, I was wondering if transactions are open. I’m actually in favor of them being closed until the draft next year, but if they’re open, I’d use them.

Thanks, and Happy Offseasons everyone.

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Seems a bit cheaty. How would priority be decided?

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I think it’d be best if we just kept everything locked and then open the draft to all available players, not just rookies. I wouldn’t object to offseason trades though.