I have been telling many of you that I will unveil my personal draft room strategies in action. Here is the first in a series I will be running called  Draft Room Audibles. 

 

 

 

 

I just drafted my first personal money team this year. It was a standard PPR setup 1QB 2RB 2WR 1Te 1Flex 1K 1 Def - $30 to enter and 1st place prize = $250

I think I did good since it was against some really good money players from voldemort sports aka a site we shall not name.

1st --I am hoping to bring some of those players from that draft into some drafts here

2nd-- Let's get right to my team and the strategy in action:

first note I drafted no kicker or defense instead used those slots for depth and this was a key part of the strategy  I used in this draft

I did not enter the draft with any mapped out strategy, in fact I rarely enter any draft with a real strategy as I prefer to remain versatile until the time comes when I have to decide what type of team each team will be. I called a play and made a move during round 6 of this draft. The play I called is :The RB Blitz

The strategy revolves around getting some key pieces in place early at QB RB1 TE and WR1 WR2 then hammering away at the draft board drafting unproven young rb after unproven young RB. The only way to truly maximize your value here is to draft no other QBs or TEs after your starters and do not take a kicker or a defense to free up roster spots for this buy em in bulk hunt for a break out RB2.

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FAQ: What type of RBs Do I target?

For those who play video games , the players to target are the ones in Madden who would have a rating of 65-70 to start the year , but will be up around 75 by week 8 and then 85 in the next year or two. 

The guys you can see being key parts of the next generation of fantasy runningbacks.

The young guys who you can see would or could have the potential to be 3rd  through 7th round fantasy football backs within the next 2-3 years if they realize their potential or if they get their shot sooner than later. Then you draft them in bulk and get the one who breaks out early. You follow those picks up with some risky , unproven but talented breakout WR candidates that you are NOT married to because you will have to make some cuts eventually in order to add a Defense and Kicker before the season.

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 Now let's see it in action:

Round 1 - Ray Rice - the stalwart at RB - can carry the position and I know what to expect in PPR from him

Round 2 - AJ Green - The Upside young WR who broke out last year and is going to be a top tier WR for years to come

Round 3 - Roddy White - The safe WR2 as I studied my drafts from last year I took too many chances in round 3 - time to take the money in the bank this year and take a chance later

Round 4 - Stafford -- The beginning of the strategy , the seed was planted and getting prepped for the round 6 draft room play call

Round 5 - Dem Thomas- 4 Solid picks that all mesh together in upside , breakouts , big week potential and safety - time to take a shot to win the league - Dem Thomas could be a 2nd rounder next year and If I miss , it doesn't hurt me a ton because of what I did with picks 1-4

Round 6 - Witten - And it was HERE that I made the call to cut bait on every other position except RB2 and WRs late

Rounds 7-13 The Blitz - Stewart , Tate , Ingram , Royster , Vereen , Hunter , Rodgers (in that order)

Round 14-16 The Cuttable Upside - Cobb , Vincent Brown , Jon Baldwin (in that order)

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For me this strategy started with Stafford falling to me at a feasible pick to solidify my QB spot and became official when Witten made it to me at the back of round 6 - Once he made it to me I could cut bait with backing up TE and QB since they offered me safety.I could now purely concentrate on The Blitz and some Late WRs with cuttable upside and just pound my competitors into submission at the RB2 spot and later on at the WR 4 5 6 spot.

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FAQ: What is cuttable upside?

Someone who could break out , but is risky enough that you can cut him without thinking twice when you need the spot. Never keep borderline players on your roster - cut and move and make moves early and aggressively.

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MAKE SURE when running this play call that you have the type of talent at QB and TE that you can afford to draft nothing but RBs in the middle rounds - also make sure in the draft room you get 2-3 WRs that fall into that risky but cuttable upside type player because we already noted you don't want to cut the RBs since their value is in bulk so when it comes time to add the Kicker and Defense before week 1 you should have enough WRs to cut off your roster that haven't panned out yet to make your decision easier. 

Disclaimer - If by the grace of allah all of those late WR picks look like they are about to dominate , use common sense and cut the RBs you acquired during The Blitz that may look like dead weight. As always use common sense people!!

Coming into that portion of the draft where the strategy changed for me I had 1 and only 1 RB on my roster, Ray Rice -- by the end of the draft the competitors didn't know what hit them and they made some comments about how many RBs I had on my roster by calling me  a RB Hoarder and a RB Pig so that's how I know what I did worked.

Lets look at the individual players an their prospects this season

 

QB 1 - Matt Stafford -- picked up a top 5 tier 1A QB for a bargain price of a bottom round 4 selection. Great pick and in this format with smaller starting lineups and 1 less WR than we use here on iCon.

RB 1 Ray Rice -- Safe PPR pick -- expecting a regression albeit small from last years monster numbers - perfect RB1 for what I want to accomplish later on.

RB 2 and potential flex stockpile  

Stewart -- one of these years we keep saying! Could be this year.

Tate - the guy in front of me had Foster - Tate was that no bs let's knock this guys teeth in selection. Money on the line , no time to be courteous.

Ingram - Knee scoped  , didn't matter just another body with youth and upside as part of this Blitz

Vereen - Ridley Vereen , Vereen Ridley , noone knows and add him to the stable and he is the kind of guy I wanted.

Royster - Helu could get hurt , Shanny could use both and he has big upside if he gets on the field - Everyone knows I am calling my shot on Royster in rounds 10-13. Just a good guy to own , especially if you have Helu.

Kendall Hunter - Gore slowing down , Lamichael a pass catcher , Hunter more versatile - He is a Gore injury away from 15 touches  a week.

J Rodgers - A good bet for 55 plus catches this year on turf with defenses keying on Roddy and Julio and Tony G - Expect him to exceed his draft position value by 4 rounds at least this year and he was a huge key for me to end my RB blitz. Sproles lite? Either way he is the EIGHTH Rb I have on my roster.

 I have 7 guys with breakout potential fighting for 1 spot - I will take my chances that ONE of them ends up becoming a worthwhile weekly start.

WR

WR1 AJ Green - Youth plus elite talent and a team that will target him down the field , in the redzone and all over the field with an up and coming QB. Weekly scoring safety and weekly explosion potential for this guy.

 WR2 Roddy - was the perfect WR for me because he will score each week , add him to AJ and he is the perfect complement to  my WR1 and I am assured points here while I swing for the fences later.

WR3 Dem Thom - Perfect guy for me , swung for the fence here , noone knows if Decker or Dem will be the man in Denver - I think Dem has higher upside in the redzone and in PPR while Decker will be the burner making big plays. Even if he doesn't pan out I have AJ and Roddy ahead of him on the depth chart - no harm no foul.

Cuttable upside - Randall Cobb , Vincent Brown , Jonathan Baldwin

All 3 have bright or potentially bright futures , maybe this year , maybe next year we just don't know - so I draft all 3 with the idea I will cut 2 of them to add a Kicker and Def before the season.

TE1 - Witten  -  this was where I made the move and called the audible - Had I passed on Witten I knew I could get Fred Davis a full round later - but if I did that I would then have to back Fred Davis up and change my complete strategy up - If I pass on Witten I prob end up with Law Firm or Hillis in that spot then focus more on an even team from top to bottom and less on the RB stockpile - it was coming up to this pick when I decided what type of team this would be.

 

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As we go through the summer I will unveil my other draft room strategies in $action$.

 

Let me know what you think - what kind of strategies do you use in your money drafts??

 

Hope this helps!