A:

Eight-team league in 1986. Touchdown-only format (with TDs worth 6 and TD passes worth 4). First four picks were all running backs – Eric Dickerson, Marcus Allen, Roger Craig and Walter Payton. With the 1985 stats in front of me, I selected Dan Marino, who had thrown a league-high 30 TDs the previous season. Then I noticed that San Diego, as a team, had thrown 37 TDs – 6 more than Miami. “Wait, can I change that to Dan Fouts?”. Sure the guys, said. Marino threw 44 TDs that year. Had I stuck with him, I would have won that league walking away. I made some nice picks later, picking up George Rogers and Jerry Rice, who were the top scorers at their positions. In hindsight, I don’t understand why Joe Morris wasn’t a first-round pick in this league. He led the NFL with 21 TDs in 1985, but he lasted until the 9th pick.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

The PPR defense rankings are slightly different. Nothing to do with receptions, of course. But those rankings give the defenses bonuses for shutting down opposing teams. Hold an opponent under 7 points and that's 8 points. Hold an opponent to 8-13 points, and that's 5 points. When you include those bonuses, Buffalo moves ahead of Detroit. The Bills have sunk some money into their defense, and they've also got a favorable schedule (you saw the chart I posted yesterday, right?).

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I would go with Ridley. I’d play for the touchdowns, and should blow away Jackson in that category. In the past five years, the Patriots have scored almost three times as many rushing touchdowns as the Rams – a 94-33 edge in those 80 games. The 94 is a league-high. The 33 is 8 fewer than any other team. Now, the Rams may be on the upswing some this year. I’m not saying they’ll be down around 5-6 TD runs again this year. But the Patriots have a good chance to score twice as many rushing touchdowns.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I would advise you to separate out the 90-100 players that you actually care about. The guys you think are worth more than the $1.00 minimum. Then, the best $1.00 guy at each position. That's your "baseline" guy. Whatever his production is, subtract it from all of the other players at his position. Then, look at the "bang for your buck" production that's left over. That's what you're dividiing up. That's what's for sale. So you can create a "cost per point" for each player. Don't worry about assigning a percentage share to any one position. To make this easier, use the "custom scoring feature" at the website. It will do most of the heavy lifting.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I don’t think it’s crazy at all. That’s a good spot for Jones, in my opinion.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

He’s still basically the same guy. He could be very good. But watching the first preseason game (and I’ll know more after Saturday), I fear he might be a part-time player. On every down, the Broncos will use Manning, a running back, Decker, Thomas and the five offensive linemen. That leaves two spots. Joel Dreessen will be part of that offense. He’s a much better blocker than Tamme. They also will use Brandon Stokley as a slot guy. So is Tamme out there pretty much all the time? Or is he kind of sharing time with Stokley? He should be fine, but there’s a little uncertainty there. (For me, anyway.)

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I wouldn’t want to select Forte or Jones-Drew at No. 6. I would be thinking about that trade up. Normally, the winner in those kind of deals is the guy who trades down, but this could be an exception.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

Yes. He underwent knee surgery and might not be ready an opening day. He also seems to be playing on a lesser team. It doesn’t look like the Browns will get over the hump and be competitive this year. They’re in a division where they’re clearly behind the other three teams. So I have him around 10th among running backs right now.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

There should be an overall list at the bottom of the screen. The position-by-position stuff is up top. Scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see the overall list. To fine-tune the overall list, use the auction value preferences, which are in your scoring profile. If you don’t touch them, they’re set up for a league with 12 teams. Basically looking at 15 QBs, 36 RB, 40 WR, 13 TE, 3 K and 5 Defenses as your key guys. You’ll want to adjust those if that doesn’t fit your league.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I understand those questions are a little technical. They’re a little intimidating. We are discussing ways to simplify and streamline the process. Maybe word them in a different way. What we’re trying to do is to get you to separate the 80-100 guys that you actually care about. You’re in a 10-team league, for example, so those quarterbacks down around 20 – Carson Palmer, Jay Cutler – are guys you don’t care about. They would go for $1.00 in an auction. In typical leagues, you fill your roster by selecting starters and a backup at each spot. So in your league, 20 QB, 40 RB, 80 WR/TE, 20 K and 20 D/ST. That’s the initial draft. Then you figure that you could actually work the waiver wire at kicker and defense a little, so let’s take about four off of those – 16 K and 16 D/ST. We’ll move QBs up to 24. And some guys will want to go after handcuff running backs. So let’s move RBs up to 54 and slide WR/TE down to 70. Those are the kind of numbers you’re looking at. Of those 160 guys, who are the ones you actually care about? Who are the guys who’ll be selected in the first 10 rounds? I would guess about 14 QBs, 30 RB, 45 WR/TE, 3 PK and 4 D/ST.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

Use the custom rankings feature. For best results, click off that you want to see “auction value” (even if you’re drafting rather than using a salary cap). If you’re in a 12-team league, tell it you want to see about 28 QBs go for more than the league minimum (since you’re starting two, rather than one). If a 10-team league, then maybe 24 QBs. I’m not sure how many guys you’re starting at each position. If starting 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE and 2 Flex (RB/WR/TE), then probably 36 RB, 42 WR, 14 TE and 3 PKs. Numbers will be lower if you’ve got only 8 or 10 teams.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

For best results, use the auction tools. They allow you to most accurate mesh your league rules and relative scarcity to our player projections.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

In ballpark terms, I would want to look at what the values look like when there are 14 QBs, 36 RB, 38 WR, 12 TE and 3 PK. That’s about where I would see the values.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I’ve got Rodgers a little higher on my board.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

I've got Julio Jones highest on my board. Green and Graham also would in the mix.

• Comments
• Add Comment

A:

Too much. You might be able to win right now with Megatron in his prime and all dialed in. If you deal for Luck, then you’re more of a 2013 or 2014 and beyond team. Maybe you could counter with Antonio Brown and Locker plus his choice of Bradford or Roethlisberger?

• Comments
• Add Comment