OK, since it is now over, I will make a running diary so to speak about my fantasy draft. Going into the draft, these were my main strategies:
1. Handcuff starting RBs, especially Holmes.
2. You can never have enough RBs
3. There are always WRs you can pick up in waiver wire who will become starters. So only draft 2 WRs. (Paradoxically, this was a reason why I wanted to keep Johnson over Jackson, so I could chase RBs instead of WRs in the draft).
4. Take advantage of having a good guess of what type of position the #9 (Bill) and #10 (Katy) were going to take after you. In other words, draft positions they are lacking in the odd rounds and wait till the even rounds to draft positions they already are packed with.
5. Try to draft for today, don't go overboard drafting for the future. Remember, we only keep 4 spots!
Of course, the draft nearly falls apart for me before it begins. My boss had assigned me to work on a presentation on draft day, so I have to finish the 2nd draft version before I can leave. Fortunately, I was able to send in my early round strategy to Hai, in case I wouldn't be available to make my pick. In any case, I made it in right after my first round pick.
Round 1
I told Hai to pick the highest available RB in this order: 1. Curtis Martin, 2. Mike Anderson, 3. Steven Jackson, 4. JJ Arrington, 5. Cadillac Williams, 6. Kevan Barlow, 7. Deshaun Foster. So I was pretty happy to find out that he picked Mike Anderson for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't so happy to find out Tuna picking Ronnie Brown after me, which meant I didn't need to give up my 5th round pick to move up 1 spot to ensure one of those seven were going to me. It was also very shocking to see Donny pick Cedric Benson with his pick, a bit of a reach given the Chicago situation and Benson's holdout.
Round 2
I was pretty confident that Bill and Katy wouldn't pick my "set" pick here. Had to handcuff Priest with Larry Johnson, and it would be doubtful to see him here in the bottom of round 3, especially with his climb in all the fantasy rankings. I'm now almost set with using a "KC system" starting RB instead of a specific player. Worth it for me, unless they do RBBC (doubtful) or Priest has one of his will-he-play-or-won't-he moments up till gametime.
Round 3
Dang, Donny took my intended pick in round 2 (Witten), and Andrew took my second queued choice in round 3 (Ravens). Donny again screwed me over with his Eagles pick, this time unintentionally when his PC crashed. I wanted to pick them before Katy did, just to deny her the pleasure of rooting for them unconditionally. Also this is a defense that gets to face those amazing NFC East offenses (using that word loosely) 6 times a year! I made some noise about supporting his request for a do-over, but that request was shot down pretty rapidly. I now have to go with best available player. Bennett highest rated WR left, he was top 12 overall (including keepers) on my sheet. Plus, as a good Asian, I was obligated to support Norm Chow in some way. Finally, with this pick, I wouldn't have to pick a WR or QB until much, much later.
Round 4
I knew I had to get a safe pick here, since I wouldn't get another pick until almost 20 picks later. I decided to fill out my starters, even though it was very tempting to pick Kevan Barlow. Yeah, I violated strategy doctrine #2. Then again, Hai last year in a yahoo league attempted to draft nothing but RBs and bombed badly at the start. Since Bill and Katy already drafted Defenses, I could wait till round 6 and beyond. Another WR could have led to violating doctrine #3. So, that leaves the TE position. Dallas Clark was the highest, I picked him. Hopefully, the Manning to Clark connection will happen when I face archrival Katy.
Round 5
No pick here. Tuna picked up Warrick Dunn, who was pretty high on my sheet out of the non-keepers. Oh well, I may have to pick another RB now.
Round 6
If Warrick Dunn goes down, I'll look like a genius picking Duckett after Tuna used my 5th round pick for Dunn. If Duckett sucks this year, he's not really hurting me given my RB depth. An almost can't lose pick here. Some consideration to Panthers and Falcons by placing them on the queue, but there were other defenses still available whom I viewed being not too far behind them.
Round 7
I search the list to see if Charles Rogers is still available. Doh! Donny had picked him. He's starting to piss me off now. At least his RBs look a lot shakier this year. Following doctrine #4, avoided picking Defense since I predicted Bill and Katy wouldn't pick one in rounds 7-8. Went with handcuffing Jamal as well by getting Taylor, Tuna actually somewhat reminded me to do so. Thanks Tuna!
Round 8
OK, might as well pick defense here to complete starters. Tampa it is.
Round 9
Bill and Katy already have 2 QBs. So won't pick backup QB yet. No WRs really stand out for me. Was tempted to go 7 RBs with Bettis. Very tempted. Found out Chris Cooley was only ranked 1 below Dallas Clark on my sheet, went with best value.
Round 10
OK, good time to draft my backup QB, who will probably only start in Peyton's bye week. Griese still available. Serves as proxy for my man-crush on Michael Clayton. The fact that Griese led Michigan to its most recent national championship had no bearing on my pick, none at all I tell ya!
Round 11
Entering sleeper territory. Brandon Lloyd is a #1 WR, worth a flyer. Besides, he was somewhat decent last season until San Fran imploded coachwise. Drafted for his upside, and keeping consistent with rule #3.
Round 12
I get 2 picks here. Of course, 1 of them is the requisite kicker pick, my 2 research sites had Graham in top 6, so that was a no-brainer. As for Ben Watson, it looks pretty bad to have 3 TEs in a roster, but I didn't need a QB or RB. I think I did pretty well in 2003 carrying only 3 WRs for most of that season. My #2 defenses seem to be always ditched by week 3 in past seasons, so why pick one now? Draft a 2nd kicker? Yeah right. Watson has sleeper potential, this was a free pick for me anyway. By week 4, I can use the #16 roster spot as a pseudo-injury reserve (legal of course).
Basically, my only regrets were not being able to pick a stud defense in round 3 or 4, and not being able to get Jason Elam as a good luck charm. With my handcuffs, I've been able to draft running systems, instead of individuals. For the most part, I was able to keep to my strategy. We'll see how this pans out over the course of the season. I admit I'll be active in the waiver wire again, hopefully less than last year, however.
1. Handcuff starting RBs, especially Holmes.
2. You can never have enough RBs
3. There are always WRs you can pick up in waiver wire who will become starters. So only draft 2 WRs. (Paradoxically, this was a reason why I wanted to keep Johnson over Jackson, so I could chase RBs instead of WRs in the draft).
4. Take advantage of having a good guess of what type of position the #9 (Bill) and #10 (Katy) were going to take after you. In other words, draft positions they are lacking in the odd rounds and wait till the even rounds to draft positions they already are packed with.
5. Try to draft for today, don't go overboard drafting for the future. Remember, we only keep 4 spots!
Of course, the draft nearly falls apart for me before it begins. My boss had assigned me to work on a presentation on draft day, so I have to finish the 2nd draft version before I can leave. Fortunately, I was able to send in my early round strategy to Hai, in case I wouldn't be available to make my pick. In any case, I made it in right after my first round pick.
Round 1
I told Hai to pick the highest available RB in this order: 1. Curtis Martin, 2. Mike Anderson, 3. Steven Jackson, 4. JJ Arrington, 5. Cadillac Williams, 6. Kevan Barlow, 7. Deshaun Foster. So I was pretty happy to find out that he picked Mike Anderson for me. Unfortunately, I wasn't so happy to find out Tuna picking Ronnie Brown after me, which meant I didn't need to give up my 5th round pick to move up 1 spot to ensure one of those seven were going to me. It was also very shocking to see Donny pick Cedric Benson with his pick, a bit of a reach given the Chicago situation and Benson's holdout.
Round 2
I was pretty confident that Bill and Katy wouldn't pick my "set" pick here. Had to handcuff Priest with Larry Johnson, and it would be doubtful to see him here in the bottom of round 3, especially with his climb in all the fantasy rankings. I'm now almost set with using a "KC system" starting RB instead of a specific player. Worth it for me, unless they do RBBC (doubtful) or Priest has one of his will-he-play-or-won't-he moments up till gametime.
Round 3
Dang, Donny took my intended pick in round 2 (Witten), and Andrew took my second queued choice in round 3 (Ravens). Donny again screwed me over with his Eagles pick, this time unintentionally when his PC crashed. I wanted to pick them before Katy did, just to deny her the pleasure of rooting for them unconditionally. Also this is a defense that gets to face those amazing NFC East offenses (using that word loosely) 6 times a year! I made some noise about supporting his request for a do-over, but that request was shot down pretty rapidly. I now have to go with best available player. Bennett highest rated WR left, he was top 12 overall (including keepers) on my sheet. Plus, as a good Asian, I was obligated to support Norm Chow in some way. Finally, with this pick, I wouldn't have to pick a WR or QB until much, much later.
Round 4
I knew I had to get a safe pick here, since I wouldn't get another pick until almost 20 picks later. I decided to fill out my starters, even though it was very tempting to pick Kevan Barlow. Yeah, I violated strategy doctrine #2. Then again, Hai last year in a yahoo league attempted to draft nothing but RBs and bombed badly at the start. Since Bill and Katy already drafted Defenses, I could wait till round 6 and beyond. Another WR could have led to violating doctrine #3. So, that leaves the TE position. Dallas Clark was the highest, I picked him. Hopefully, the Manning to Clark connection will happen when I face archrival Katy.
Round 5
No pick here. Tuna picked up Warrick Dunn, who was pretty high on my sheet out of the non-keepers. Oh well, I may have to pick another RB now.
Round 6
If Warrick Dunn goes down, I'll look like a genius picking Duckett after Tuna used my 5th round pick for Dunn. If Duckett sucks this year, he's not really hurting me given my RB depth. An almost can't lose pick here. Some consideration to Panthers and Falcons by placing them on the queue, but there were other defenses still available whom I viewed being not too far behind them.
Round 7
I search the list to see if Charles Rogers is still available. Doh! Donny had picked him. He's starting to piss me off now. At least his RBs look a lot shakier this year. Following doctrine #4, avoided picking Defense since I predicted Bill and Katy wouldn't pick one in rounds 7-8. Went with handcuffing Jamal as well by getting Taylor, Tuna actually somewhat reminded me to do so. Thanks Tuna!
Round 8
OK, might as well pick defense here to complete starters. Tampa it is.
Round 9
Bill and Katy already have 2 QBs. So won't pick backup QB yet. No WRs really stand out for me. Was tempted to go 7 RBs with Bettis. Very tempted. Found out Chris Cooley was only ranked 1 below Dallas Clark on my sheet, went with best value.
Round 10
OK, good time to draft my backup QB, who will probably only start in Peyton's bye week. Griese still available. Serves as proxy for my man-crush on Michael Clayton. The fact that Griese led Michigan to its most recent national championship had no bearing on my pick, none at all I tell ya!
Round 11
Entering sleeper territory. Brandon Lloyd is a #1 WR, worth a flyer. Besides, he was somewhat decent last season until San Fran imploded coachwise. Drafted for his upside, and keeping consistent with rule #3.
Round 12
I get 2 picks here. Of course, 1 of them is the requisite kicker pick, my 2 research sites had Graham in top 6, so that was a no-brainer. As for Ben Watson, it looks pretty bad to have 3 TEs in a roster, but I didn't need a QB or RB. I think I did pretty well in 2003 carrying only 3 WRs for most of that season. My #2 defenses seem to be always ditched by week 3 in past seasons, so why pick one now? Draft a 2nd kicker? Yeah right. Watson has sleeper potential, this was a free pick for me anyway. By week 4, I can use the #16 roster spot as a pseudo-injury reserve (legal of course).
Basically, my only regrets were not being able to pick a stud defense in round 3 or 4, and not being able to get Jason Elam as a good luck charm. With my handcuffs, I've been able to draft running systems, instead of individuals. For the most part, I was able to keep to my strategy. We'll see how this pans out over the course of the season. I admit I'll be active in the waiver wire again, hopefully less than last year, however.
Comments
I have a question. In my other League I realized M. Anderson is a free agent, you should have a copy of my team. Who would you drop if anyone to pick him up? (note i dropped E. Johnson and picked up Isaac Bruce, I have bye week problem week 3 and wont have enough wrs to play if I drop Bruce).