First Time FF Player advice & Draft Recap

My wife and a bunch of ladies are getting together tonight to start an all ladies, first timer Fantasy League. They are a little late to the game, as the season started last night. They will start their season in Week 2 - good for them! They asked me for advice. Here's what I told them:

1. You should draft the "core" of your team in the first 6 rounds of your draft (2RBs, 2WRs, 1QB, 1TE), not necessarily in that order.
2. The next rounds (7-9 or so) are for the best players available who you have targeted but didn't draft yet and also addressing bye week issues from your first six picks (usually RBs & WRs since you should have at least two of each by now).
3. The following rounds (10-15) are for depth on your roster by drafting your backup QB, TE, and drafting your starting Defense/Special Teams unit (DST), and RBs & WRs that you are "swinging for the fences" by drafting (aka finding a guy who scores a lot of TDs or is targeted enough to produce a ton of yardage each week who isn't predicted to do so).
4. The last two rounds (16-17) should go one of two ways: Kicker in the 16th, then a DST or sleeper pick in the 17th - or the reverse of that.

5. DO NOT draft your kicker before these rounds and DO NOT draft two kickers - it's a waste of a draft spot that you could use on a position player that really makes a difference. By "sleeper", we mean a player that you like to do well this year that most people don't really know about - a player that comes out of nowhere to have a breakout season due to injury to guys ahead of him, trade to a new team, &/or change in offensive system or scheme.

6. At the end of your draft, you should have 2QBs, at least 5RBs, at least 5WRs, 1TE, 1K, 1DST - that's 15 out of 17, if you're counting. You can use those other 2 spots any way you like: another RB, WR, backup your TE or add a backup DST. If you draft a backup at any position, you should double check that they don't have the same bye week (ie - drafting Tony Romo and Brett Favre is a bad idea - they are both off Week 4).

7. My last piece of advice: don't drink before round 9 during your draft. You'll like your team better the next day.

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Looking at my own drafts this season, maybe I need to follow the blueprint a little more. However, I think that's part of the fun - deviating on the fly based on what's happening in your draft and who's still on the board. I targeted SF 49ers defense in all my drafts, but made the decision not to based on the QB run in one of the leagues. RB was the really tough position to get right this year. We'll see how "right" we all are in a few weeks, though, right??

Draft #1: Buffalo Wild Wings All Stars League - our team, the Maury Conklin Group, that Phil and I drafted in the 8 slot of a 12 team PPR league of bloggers and fantasy experts (by round):

1. WR Randy Moss
2. WR Austin Miles
3. RB Ryan Grant
4. TE Antonio Gates
5. RB Ronnie Brown
6. RB Ahmad Bradshaw
7. QB Eli Manning
8. WR Derrick Mason
9. Jets DST
10. QB Ben Roethlisberger
11. 49ers DEST
12. WR Jerricho Cotchery
13. RB Kareem Huggins
14. WR Lance Moore
15. WR Dexter McCluster
16. RB Rashad Jennings
17. K Matt Prater

There's a previous blog post analyzing this draft more in depth. We're weak at QB but feel good about our other positions, overall. Our depth is developmental and provides for some movement when we need to make some Free Agent moves. We're waiting on Huggy to emerge and take us to the promise land later this season. Jennings and McCluster are our sleepers too.

Draft #2: The Whiplash Fantasy Football League, a ten team dynasty league, we keep 6 at any position each year - this means our first round is really the 7th in other drafts. My team, the Opa Locka Bowlsnappers, is the only three-peat champion in the league's nearly 25 year history. I drafted in the 8th slot due to my 3rd place finish last season. The draft order goes 1-10 each round - no serpentine.

Keepers:
QB Drew Brees
RB Ray Rice
RB Chris "Beanie" Wells
WR Marques Colston
WR Steve Smith (NYG)
WR Mike Wallace

1. RB Justin Forsett
2. RB Ricky Williams
3. WR Santana Moss
4. TE Zach Miller
5. 49ers DST
6. RB LaDainian Tomlinson
7. RB Kareem Huggins
8. QB Ben Roethlisberger
9. WR James Jones
10. RB Willis McGahee
11. WR Danny Amendola
12. Chargers DST
13. K Stephen Gostkowski
14. WR Lance Moore

I don't feel so good about this draft, overall. I'm VERY weak at RB (we start 3 each week) and I kept the wrong player (WR Mike Wallace) thinking that RB Ahmad Bradshaw would fall to me at #8. He was gone at #5 - Wallace would've fallen to 8. I spent a good portion of the rest of the draft trying to fix this issue.

I feel good about where I got Zach Miller, but I overpaid for the 49ers and Huggins. I like the handcuff of McGahee to Rice - RayRay's my franchise, after all. There will be better options out there in Free Agency than Danny Amendola, so I moved him this week to pick up RB Peyton Hillis. I think he scores a TD or two Week 1 in Tampa Bay.

Draft #3: The Foodstamp League, a 12 team redraft PPR league. My team BigBen'sBathroomPass drafted in the 8th slot. That must be my number this year - I better not finish that way, given the value I was able to find in this draft:

1. RB Maurice Jones-Drew
2. WR Miles Austin
3. QB Tony Romo
4. RB Jahvid Best
5. WR Hakeem Nicks
6. WR Dwayne Bowe
7. WR Santana Moss
8. RB Ahmad Bradshaw
9. RB Jerome Harrison
10. TE Heath Miller
11. WR Dexter McCluster
12. WR Jabar Gaffney
13. RB Leon Washington
14. Chargers DST
15. RB Peyton Hillis
16. K Nick Folk

The biggest surprise I had here was enjoying MJD falling to me in the 8th slot. Here I got one of the big stud RBs normally not around past the 4th pick at a late 1st round price. I then decided to go big on WRs in this draft - we have to start 3 of them AND a flex RB/WR, so having many strong options each week is key to winning this league. There was a big premium early on the elite QBs, so Romo was good value in the 3rd round. I like where I got Heath Miller as Zach Miller went 2 rounds before. I'll look for a Jermaine Gresham or Tony Moeaki to possibly emerge as a starter on the waiver wire - Heath should be good for the foreseeable future as a good outlet for Dixon in PIT. I LOVE where I got Leon Washington and Peyton Hillis - awesome value, if they do what I think they can this year. The Charger DST has the benefit of the easiest strength of schedule in the NFL. I'll pick up another DST if they falter - some team always emerges that no one thinks will do well. I already moved Nick Folk in favor of Adam Vinatieri, who may have more opportunities vs. Houston in Week 1.

Draft #4: The Six Boroughs League, a ten-team PPR keeper league. We keep 3 at any position. This is the inaugural season. Philip and I are both in this league. My team, the Randolph Ruinators, drafted in the 10th slot of our serpentine draft.

1. WR Randy Moss
2. WR Miles Austin
3. RB Jahvid Best
4. QB Peyton Manning
5. RB Matt Forte
6. RB Ronnie Brown
7. TE Zach Miller
8. WR Santana Moss
9. Jets DST
10. 49ers DST
11. RB Leon Washington
12. WR Louis Murphy
13. RB Kareem Huggins
14. RB Peyton Hillis
15. QB Eli Manning
16. TE Todd Heap
17. WR Laurent Robinson
18. WR Lance Moore
19. K Neil Rackers

Ah, the joys of the "sandwich pick" 10th slot. It's really enjoyable to draft in the 1st or 10th slots because you can target 3 or 4 players, then get two at a time. My strategy here was to get keeper quality players in the first 6 rounds, get an elite QB, wait on TE till after the 6th round, grab the best DSTs as a pairing, and then get my sleepers as a pairing. I was able to accomplish ALL that, and then I had what was my favorite value sandwich pick pairing: Eli Manning and Todd Heap in the 14/15th rounds. To have both Mannings appeals to the Saints fan in me, and Todd Heap was so good during the fantasy playoffs last year, it gives me faith that he can fight off the two rookie TEs and beat single coverage more often this year with all the new weapons in the BAL offense. This was, I feel, my most balanced team that I was able to draft this year.

So, what do we learn from all this? Well, there are many ways to skin a cat, and if you know the rules of your league and the players, you've got to be flexible with your draft strategy if circumstances dictate it.