I’ve got a third team in action for the 2014 season. Earlier I did an auction for the magazine, and last week I completed the Fanex Analysis Draft. Now I picked one at a fantasy football trade show in San Francisco.
Both of the other leagues are hands-off, best-ball leagues – what you pick is what you get. This one, selected Tuesday at the Marriott in San Francisco will include waivers and lineups throughout the year, with bidding on free agents.
The Fantasy Sports Trade Association has two 14-team leagues. You have to win the B league to get up into the top group, so I’m starting in the bottom group. Turnover isn’t high (only one team goes up each year, and only one team goes down), which isn’t how I would set it up. I would have three teams going up each year, with the low three going down. With the current setup, even a really good team might need 4-5 years (or more) before it got promoted, and likewise with the poor teams getting knocked down. But whatever.
This is a PPR league. Starting lineups include 3 WRs and a flex (RB-TE-WR). Fourteen teams playing each other once each in a regular season, followed by some kind of postseason.
Draft was held in a crowded banquet room, next to maybe a hundred people talking, so I couldn’t hear anything. Just saw the names being placed on the board. Didn’t try to keep track of other rosters; just jotted down my own picks on a scrap of paper (and the order gets a little fuzzy in the last six rounds).
While not with 14 teams, I have played in this kind of format many times (with 3 starting receivers and a flex in a PPR format). The general format that works is to select wide receivers who’ll catch 90-plus passes while most of the other league is fighting over the running backs. That was my thinking going in, and that’s how it played out.
This was an unusual draft in that only about half of the guys were what you might call fantasy experts. About half were guys who work for companies connected to the fantasy industry, but not guys in the content/rankings business – maybe they run leagues or make draftboards or whatever. And not guys I know, so I was flying blind, not really knowing how much guys knew or where players would be selected.
1.11 (11) WR A.J. Green The highest PPR player left on my board was Julian Edelman, but I was sure he’d be available at 2.03, so moved down to Green. Not the guy I wanted to select in the first round, but it’s a draft, and there were 14 teams.
2.03 (17) WR Randall Cobb Edelman still the highest rated player on my board, of course. In the Fanex league, it caused an uproar when I selected him 27th, which was identified by many as the reach of the draft. In the experts poll, none of the 20 experts even put Edelman in their top 20 wide receivers. So with this group, my thinking is there’s a chance I can slip him down to pick No. 33. The idea of getting Edelman at 3.11 I find very appealing – would give me a butt-kicking trio of pass catchers in this PPR league.
3.11 (39) RB Shane Vereen The guys at Front Row Sports selected Edelman. So a shift in strategy. The running back position is really picked over, so let’s take Vereen here. Last year he caught about 47 passes in half of a season. I think he’s a top-15 running back in this format.
4.03 (45) WR Roddy White With the flex position and others focused on running backs, I expect I’ll be starting four wide receivers most weeks. White is my third at that position. Was hurt for most of last year, but he’s healthy now. Probably will catch 90-plus balls, making him a top-12 type receiver in this format.
5.11 (67) QB Tom Brady In a 14-team league, you can’t count on finding good quarterbacking on the waiver wire. So let me go with one of the last second-tier quarterbacks. After Manning-Rodgers-Brees, I think Brady is as good as anybody, and there aren’t many of these quarterbacks left (I think Brady might have been the last of the top-10 quarterbacks chosen).
6.03 (73) RB Lamar Miller Everybody else has been choosing running backs. About 30 have been chosen, and I have only one. So I’m taking Miller here, not sure how he’s valued by the other guys. I hear the Dolphins think Moreno is no Marino, and that Miller probably will be their starter. If Miller hits, I’ll be set up nicely, having been choosing wide receivers while most of the others were fighting over running backs.
7.11 (95) TE Kyle Rudolph About the last of the good tight ends. I think he’s a top-6 kind of guy. Moves are allowed in this league, so I can potentially patch/improve this position later, if necessary, when some unknown, undrafted tight end emerges.
8.03 (101) WR Brandin Cooks It’s my belief that Cooks will be the Darren Sproles type guy in the New Orleans offense. So if they can get Cooks comfortable and coached up in the offense, we could be looking at a 70-80 reception guy who’s a steal here. With the flex, I’m looking to start four wide receivers every week.
9.11 (123) WR DeAndre Hopkins I already have four wide receivers, but I need to use four each week, and this is about the last good (I think) receiver left on the board. Maybe Andre Johnson doesn’t show up and Hopkins is even their main guy. With five good wide receivers, I won’t need to carry six on my roster.
10.03 (129) RB Khiry Robinson Running back is a need position for me. (What if Miller isn’t Miami’s starter?) Robinson looked very good late last year for the Saints. Pierre Thomas is an older guy; if he breaks down, Robinson could really kick butt.
11.11 (151) QB Andy Dalton In a 14-team league with no trades, I think two functional quarterbacks are mandatory. Otherwise, I could be sunk by an injury to Tom Brady (or maybe he just doesn’t bounce back the way I think he will). Dalton is the last good quarterback left – about the No. 13 guy on my board.
12.03 (157) RB Mark Ingram I don’t like Ingram. I don’t think he fits that offense. And there are about a half dozen running backs ranked higher on my board. But if I select Ingram, it gives me two of the three New Orleans backs, enhancing the probability that I might have a viable player between the two of them.
13.11 (179) PK Stephen Gostkowski Time for the kickers to start coming off the board. Some other guy just selected Matt Prater. So let me get Gostkowski while I can.
14.03 (185) RB Tre Mason A couple of other running backs are higher on my board, including Brandon Bolden (who doesn’t even get drafted), but I like Mason’s upside. Maybe he beats out Zac Stacy, or maybe Stacy gets hurt. And then Mason could be something special.
15.11 (207) RB Bryce Brown Brown wasn’t selected in the Mock Draft in the magazine. He wasn’t selected in the Fanex Analysis Draft last week. I don’t get it. Buffalo ranked 2nd in rushing last year, and with the number of plays it runs, there are room for two backs there. Neither of their other two look particularly durable (C.J. Spiller and 33-year-old Fred Jackson).
16.03 (213) ST New Orleans I left defense until the end, so please to get the Saints, which are a top-5 unit on my board.
I can’t promise I’m going to win this league. It’s a 14-team league with the luck factor of playing a head-to-head schedule. I didn’t have a particularly favorable draft slot. But we’ll play it out. I imagine I’ll finish in the top 4 in scoring, hopefully I’ll get the hot hand in the postseason.
When these rosters get loaded onto the web, I will post them and you can see what the other guys chose. As I recall, the first six picks in this draft were Charles, Forte, Manning, McCoy, Peterson and Demaryius Thomas.
—Ian Allan