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Ian Allan is the winner in the Fanex Analysis Draft experts league – again. He started competing in this league in 2007, and he’s won it in three of six seasons.
He won the league in both 2007 and 2008. He finished 2nd, 5th and 11th in his three seasons competiting.
This is a different competition than a usual fantasy league. Each team drafts 20 guys in June, and that’s it. No waiver moves, trades or starting lineups. Your best lineup is automatically calculated using a “best-ball” format. Whichever teams finishes with the most overall points wins (there are also no head-to-head games). Scoring is on a PPR basis, with a QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, TE, K, Def and one flex (RB-WR-TE).
Ian was fortunate in this draft to draw the No. 1 overall draft pick, which is an advantage in a sine-wave format. He drafted Arian Foster, who came through with 307 points. But he won the competition by 228 points, so it’s not as if Foster carried him to the title.
He followed up the selection of Foster with four wide receivers. Victor Cruz, A.J. Green, Miles Austin and Eric Decker. Cruz was pretty good for a 2.12 pick, Austin was a disappointment but contributed (and didn’t blow out a hamstring), while Green and Decker were outstanding.
Jason Witten was the sixth-round pick. Helped along by Heath Miller and Lance Kendricks, there was solid production at tight end.
Ian addressed the quarterback position in the seventh round with Philip Rivers, and added depth in the 10th with Joe Flacco. Neither guy was outstanding, but they at least stayed healthy for all 16 games, which is key in this kind of format.
The second running back position wasn’t addressed until the 8th round, which is unusually late. But Stevan Ridley was a good value there. In later rounds, Ian bought insurance for that selection with Shane Vereen (11.01) and Joseph Addai (17.01). Addai didn’t even make the New England roster. Ian also handcuffed Foster with Ben Tate and added Pierre Thomas in there for a little depth.
Ian selected kickers earlier than anyone else, picking David Akers and Mason Crosby in the 13th and 16th rounds. But he didn’t get much out of them. They missed a combined 25 field goals. Both were lucky not to be cut during the season.
The defenses selected in the 18th and 19th rounds (Dallas, New England) didn’t factor heavily in the outcome.
Ian used a similar draft strategy in the other Fanex League. That one is the same except uses starting lineups, waivers, trades and whatnot. Ian finished as the highest scorer of the 24 teams in that league (actually, there are two separate 12-team leagues) but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
In the regular Fanex league, Ian’s teams have tended to score well but fall short in the playoff. In the last 10 years, he’s finished 1st in scoring three times and 3rd in scoring three times (that’s out of 24 teams). He won three playoff games in 2008 to win the entire league. But otherwise he’s 1-8 in playoff games in that league the last 10 years.
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