^

1) Find a new league

_________________________

2) Choose to go after the best WR's and RB's that you can. Forget the TE's unless you can get a stud. Your league is going to be thin as can be, so you'd rather have your eggs in the basket of WR's and RB's as far as I'm concerned. Because of the PPR, you can get points by adding a shockey or olsen late in the draft. They'll get you points just being Cam's outlet.

3) Because of the depth of your league, risks will need to be taken in the draft. Target people like Starks, Tolbert, McGahee, etc in the super late rounds. They area in positions this year where they could be really good if the right situation presents itself.

4) Be the waiver wire king.

5) Don't go crazy dropping and adding in week 1 or 2, all that glitters isn't gold...but if someone isnt performing after that, don't be afraid to cut them. The season is too short, especially in leagues that deep, to hold on to inadequate talent for too long.

Good Luck.

- The Guru

8/6/2011 4:03:33 PM

So, my company is starting an 8 person fantasy league on ESPN and we're drafting on Wednesday. I've never done fantasy football before.

I watch football and follow teams, know the big names of players but outside of highlight reel guys I'm lost as to most WR, RB, TE, etc.

Any good guides to recommend to catch up?

[Edited on August 6, 2011 at 6:24 PM. Reason : lkj]

8/6/2011 6:23:30 PM

research the scoring system.

figure out if a good QB is worth more or a good RB or WR whatever...it will dictate how you draft and what you really need more than others.

8/6/2011 6:30:57 PM

For fun, I just finished live yahoo draft (10 teams public league & had the first overall pick):

QB: Stafford
RB: Foster
RB: Jones-Drew
WR: Jennings
WR: Maclin
WR: Colston
TE: Witten
K: Rackers
DEF: San Diego

Bench: Ingram, Spiller, S. Rice, J. Ford, F. Jones, Bradford

Overall, I am pretty stoked about the outcome. I feel slightly weak with the receivers (may immediately drop Ford for Breaston since I would have drafted him if I saw him on the board), but I like having Maclin, Jennings and Colston as my starters. Love the fact that Jones-Drew dropped that far. With Foster and Jones-Drew, I probably didn't have to draft 3 more RBs, so I might try to trade one of the bench RBs for a good WR. Also, love picking up Bradford as backup for Stafford.

8/6/2011 7:20:53 PM

LeShore out for the season

Jahvid Best's fantasy dick just got a lot bigger

8/8/2011 11:57:04 AM

damn, I thought Leshoure wouldve been a decent little late round flyer this year too

also, this is interesting

Quote :

"ESPN's Tim MacMahon believes that Tashard Choice (calf) is in serious danger of losing his roster spot to Lonyae Miller. Choice is out 2-4 weeks, but MacMahon says his job would have been in jeopardy even if healthy. Miller is a better pass protector and more importantly, plays special teams. Felix Jones' grip on the feature back role is tighter than ever while Choice can likely be had for a late-round pick in the trade market. "

8/8/2011 12:06:34 PM

ok- doing a couple of keeper leagues this year (new territory for me)... one is an existing one that I am joining, so I get a prelim- draft to pick my "keepers" from everyone available. The other one is a league we had our first year last year, so this year is the first year of "keepers"

in the second league I mentioned, the keeper system works in that you get to keep 2 players, and according to the round you drafted them in, they will be "drafted" in the round 2 rounds earlier. Thus, if you had Billy Bob in the 8th round, you could keep him for the 6th round. Thus, no one gets to keep their 1st or 2nd pick. Anyway, I just wanted to post my roster from last year (yucky roster btw) and let me know what you think:

David Garrard
(Jac - QB)
undrafted

Marques Colston
(NO - WR)
Round 3, Pick

Jacoby Jones
(Hou - WR)
Round 10, Pick 1

Jabar Gaffney
(Was - WR)
Round 12, Pick 7

Steven Jackson
(StL - RB)
Round 1, Pick 10

Ryan Torain
(Was - RB)
undrafted

Dustin Keller
(NYJ - TE)
undrafted

Aaron Rodgers
(GB - QB)
Round 2, Pick 1

LaDainian Tomlinson
(NYJ - RB)
Round 13, Pick 10

Vincent Jackson
(SD - WR)
Round 13, Pick 6

Brandon Tate
(NE - WR)
undrafted

Tony Gonzalez
(Atl - TE)
Round 5, Pick 10

Joshua Cribbs
(Cle - WR)
Round 8, Pick 1

Brandon Jackson
(Cle - RB)
undrafted

Robbie Gould
(Chi - K)
undrafted

New Orleans
(NO - DEF)
undrafted

Now obviously I wanna keep Vincent Jackson as my round 11 pick... any one else stand out at you? and this isn't PPR and return yards count

8/8/2011 7:30:49 PM

MAYBE LT or Torain, although I think you just just ride it out and see whats available in the 11th vs keeping LT.

If i kept anyone, would likely be Torain as he is probably the starter in Washington as long as he is healthy and you aren't losing much. Just have to take a kicker or defense a round earlier.

8/8/2011 9:11:15 PM

Torain and LT were my two guesses... I was leaning towards torain but he is injury prone, and actually just had surgery on his hand (which they say will only keep him out for a week, but still......). I might actually just keep VJackson and see what I can do? I dunno... is torain a good 12th round pick (where undrafted players go)? i mean, the defense and kickers I had are both projected to be middle of the pack, so I can do better than them in the draft, and all the other guys I would want to keep would either be way too high or are not available (colston is not rd 1 and gonzalez is not rd 3 material)

dustin Keller is supposed to be a top 15 TE- is that worth a round 12 pick? blarg- I just don't trust any of them after what they all did to me last season (which was nothing)


oh, and as it turns out we get 3 keepers, and if I have more than one "undrafted keeper" then he they go 10th, 11th, and 12th rounds (with the better ranked player going in the earlier rounds). This makes me only want to keep at most 2 undrafted keepers (and VJax is going 11th)

[Edited on August 8, 2011 at 10:14 PM. Reason : w]

[Edited on August 8, 2011 at 10:15 PM. Reason : veve]

8/8/2011 10:02:31 PM

if Keller is supposed to be top 15, then that answers your question. Only 10 TE's should be drafted, unless someone ridiculously drafts 2 TE's, so you should aim for a top 10 TE within your 15-16 round draft.

I would say VJax definitely, and then a toss up on Torain. I think Torain in Rd. 13 is a decent pickup. He went 10th in my last mock draft, and some of the RB's going in rd 13-14 area were:
Willis McGahee, Roy Helu, Thomas Jones, Montario Hardasty, Mike Goodson, Ronnie Brown.

I would take Torain over all of these above names for this upcoming season.

8/8/2011 10:41:59 PM

If i only kept jackson and torain, they would be my 11th and 12th round picks, respectively... im just worried that torain is a waste- i think brown or hardesty could both have good years and surprsise some folks. Then again, a 12th round running back is usually a gamble anyway...

8/9/2011 6:33:29 AM

I read yesterday that Brandon Jackson is the 2nd string RB for the Browns right now, above Hardesty, and figures to be the 3rd down back behind Hillis. I'd keep an eye on him to see if he keeps that role or if Hardesty leapfrogs him whenever he gets fully healthy. The Browns did spend a decent chunk of money on Jackson this offseason, so I wouldnt be surprised if he stayed as the backup RB behind a pretty good offensive line.

8/9/2011 9:33:15 AM

Chris Johnson is set to be fined $30k per day starting today for not reporting to camp and holding out.

He's dead set on getting a long term deal...if you're draft is soon, it's logical to move him down a bit, despite his huge upside.

8/9/2011 12:10:24 PM

Randy Moss in talks with the Colts???

Likely not going to happen, but man, would that be interesting.

Everyone on Colts offense would take a small hit though from a fantasy perspective.

Stay tuned.

8/10/2011 10:00:46 AM

He will have a contract soon. And the 30k a day is nothing compared to what he is going to make after he signs the most lucrative deal out of any RB.

8/10/2011 12:37:04 PM

holy crap- piddlebug is in the same keeper league that I was talking about, and I just saw who her keepers are: Darren Mcfadden as her 14th round pick, Austin Collie as her 12th, and Knowshon Moreno as her 9th.


I hope everyone else isn't doing this much better than me :-/ haha funny thing is that I told her to take the chance on RunDMC last year in the final round (making him a 14th round keeper for her this year )

[Edited on August 10, 2011 at 8:47 PM. Reason : j]

8/10/2011 8:42:41 PM

you got beat by a girl

8/10/2011 8:46:20 PM

so when I beat yalls asses this year, you will have been beat by guy who was beat by a girl!

ps- when is the prelim draft and junk- I wanna know who I am gonna be able to get... I got my eyes on brady!

[Edited on August 10, 2011 at 8:48 PM. Reason : w]

8/10/2011 8:47:42 PM

we shall see... just bring that check with you

^ soon...probably end of next week, Thursday or Fridayish

[Edited on August 10, 2011 at 9:01 PM. Reason : d]

8/10/2011 8:48:24 PM

cash ok? I already got all my fantasy money's counted and set aside...

8/10/2011 8:49:01 PM

cash money is always welcome

8/10/2011 9:01:18 PM

Dear P. Riv.... dont get hurt please

8/11/2011 8:07:51 PM

Quote :

"holy crap- piddlebug is in the same keeper league that I was talking about, and I just saw who her keepers are: Darren Mcfadden as her 14th round pick, Austin Collie as her 12th, and Knowshon Moreno as her 9th."

those are alright, I like my Michael Vick 13th round, Legarrette Blount 12th round and Lesean McCoy 8th round as my keepers better though

[Edited on August 11, 2011 at 8:32 PM. Reason : dagdfs]

8/11/2011 8:31:40 PM

your league is full of dumbshits if you somehow got McCoy in the 10th last year

8/11/2011 8:32:33 PM

I think he was hurt last year or something, I couldnt believe he fell that far when I went and re-checked the draft results. I actually acquired him in a trade last year midseason

8/11/2011 8:34:10 PM

Pick 2 keepers:

Vick
J. Charles
D. Jackson
D. Bryant
MJD


Vick and Charles? Vick and Jackson? Jackson and Charles? MJD and Charles? Help?

8/15/2011 10:54:53 AM

Vick and Charles

8/15/2011 12:18:34 PM

I had live drafts Saturday and Sunday. In the first, Vick went No. 2 overall. In the second, he went No. 1 overall. (That guy also took a kicker in the eighth round, and another guy in the league drafted four [FOUR!!] tight ends.)

8/15/2011 3:21:14 PM

well if you listen to Matthew Berry (ESPN's fantasy guru) he is advocating Vick going #1 overall

8/15/2011 5:29:39 PM

Berry is way off IMO. Even the first round is too early. The top 6 QB's are so good (and the next 10 pretty reasonable) you just can't expect the separation you need for a top pick.

8/15/2011 6:18:23 PM

Just drafted in a standard 12 team league (Michael Vick went #1 overall), and I had the 6th pick. Came away with the following players:

QB
Peyton Manning
Mark Sanchez

RB
Jamal Charles
Ryan Matthews
Jonathan Stewart
Tim Hightower
CJ Spiller

WR
Greg Jennings
Brandon Marshall
Dez Bryant
Johnny Knox
Steve Smith (car)

TE
Greg Olsen

D/ST
Atlanta Falcons

K
Josh Brown

I wish I was a little bit deeper at RB, but overall I don't think it is a horrible team.

[Edited on August 15, 2011 at 9:32 PM. Reason : .]

8/15/2011 9:32:07 PM

In the league I won last year when I picked #3 overall (16-team PPR money league), I now get to pick #16

8/16/2011 9:06:11 AM

My recent draft results (12team, $225 auction), it started off pretty crazy with the top players going for $10+ more than the recommended, but I think I did alright. Any thoughts?

Eli Manning, NYG QB $1
Steven Jackson, StL RB $50
Jahvid Best, Det RB $22
Knowshon Moreno, Den RB $31 -- (RB/WR spot)
Dez Bryant, Dal WR $26
Jeremy Maclin, Phi WR $20
Dallas Clark, Ind TE $16
Cardinals D/ST D/ST $1
Alex Henery, Phi K $1
--------
Matt Cassel, KC QB $2
Felix Jones, Dal RB $17
Daniel Thomas, Mia RB $13
Pierre Thomas, NO RB $4
Kenny Britt, Ten WR $9
Sidney Rice, Sea WR $4
Austin Collie, Ind WR $8

8/16/2011 10:34:54 AM

taking the place of someone in a very long running league (11th year i believe). they are in the process of doing away with keepers, and i had a not so attractive pool of players to choose from, comparatively speaking. here's what i am thinking for my keepers...

dez bryant as my 3rd round pick
cedric benson 9th round
mike tolbert 10th round

any thoughts on whether it will be torain or hightower who eventually gets the bulk of carries, if either do?

8/16/2011 2:21:56 PM

^ I've heard that Hightower might be the feature back there before Torain. Those are kinda weak keeper though haha.

Did a mock from the 12th spot cause I suck drafting at that spot. QBs ran early and TE slow could have gotten Clark in the 6th instead of gates in the fourth. Any suggestion for drafting from the last spot in a snake.

Here's the team. Critique away

QB
Flacco (7)

RB
MJD (2)
Knowshon (3)
Benson (5)
Spiller (10)
Ricky Williams (11)
Danny Woodhead (13)

WR
Roddy (1)
Brandon Marshall (6)
Stee Smiff (8)
Roy Williams (9)
Derrick Mason (12)
Emmanuel Sanders (14)

TE
Gates (4)

8/16/2011 2:50:43 PM

definitely shouldn't have went gates at 4...that would have been a good time to get a qb since it was gonna be 22 picks before your turn again.

look at it this way, the point gap between gates and some 2nd or 3rd tier TE is going to be much, much smaller than the point gap between flacco and a top tier QB available in the 4th (rivers, romo etc...)

8/16/2011 3:34:54 PM

Didn't have any good QBs left that were significantly different than Flacco. QB has always been an irrelevant position to me unless you get Vick, Rodgers, Brady, Manning, Brees, Rivers.

Tony Romo 254
Matt Schaub 250
Ben Roethlisberger 249
Josh Freeman 247
Matt Ryan 242
Eli Manning 233
Joe Flacco 231

I've always tried to look for big gaps when I draft

Gates 13.4 (10 games)
Dallas Clark: 8.5 points per game (in six games).
Owen Daniels: 9.5 points per game (final four games only, once fully healthy).
Jermichael Finley: 8.5 points per game in only four games.
Jason Witten: 8.3 points per game
Jacob Tamme: 8.2 points per game)
Vernon Davis: 8.1 points per game

That's a huge gap for TE. Gates is projected at 164 then Clark 150 and Witten 136

Gotta give credit to Berry for the TE numbers. His draft day manifesto is pretty good too.
http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/football/ffl/story?page=NFLDK2K11_TMRManifesto

Thanks for the advice. I'll try to wait on Clark if I can in the real draft and grab one of the 6 QBs listed above. Those are the only ones I consider elite this year.

8/16/2011 4:07:04 PM

you gotta think vincent jackson being back full time will hurt some of gate's numbers... sure I still think he is a top TE, but I don't think you should draft him early as a superstar... then again, that's just me.

8/16/2011 4:11:33 PM

Quote :

"Didn't have any good QBs left that were significantly different than Flacco"

i won my league starting flacco in all but about 2 games last year. i'm a fan.

Quote :

"^ I've heard that Hightower might be the feature back there before Torain. Those are kinda weak keeper though haha."

yeah i didn't have much to work with. but, benson is going in the 5th round in most leagues and tolbert in the 8th according to ffc. bryant seemed like a small reach but i wanted him. hightower would have been my 6th rounder so i don't know if i can justify that.

8/16/2011 5:07:27 PM

Keeper league and I'm able to keep two guys. I'm selecting from these four:

Chris Johnson
Greg Jennings
Michael Turner
Michael Vick

The stats are as follows (standard six points for a TD): .5 per completion, 20 passing yards per point, 10 rushing yards per point, 1 point per reception, 15 reception yards per point

8/16/2011 7:37:04 PM

I'd go Vick and CJ. Having Vick on your team is essentially like having two players in one spot. I know that the argument against him is that he won't play 16 games because of injury. Well fantasy is not calculated over a season, it's week to week. Plus a fill in backup QB will still get you enough points to compete for the week. When he does play you'll be the favorite in every matchup with him and CJ

[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 7:56 PM. Reason : .]

8/16/2011 7:54:36 PM

Yeah, I originally thought of keeping those two, but I'm still battling this decision. I also have the #3 overall pick. If I drop Vick, I think I could get him back. If I drop Turner, I'm thinking that he's gone for good. Anyone else with a thought?

8/16/2011 8:08:34 PM

in a PPR you keep 2 of the vick, cj, and jennings group and the one you don't keep is the one you're most likely to get back at the 3 spot depending on who else is being kept. Probably Jennings

8/16/2011 8:12:49 PM

Who would you keep in a PPR league?

MJD or LeSean McCoy?

8/16/2011 9:26:30 PM

McCoy.. MJD's knee scares me and McCoy did a lot of work in the receiving game when Vick took over.

8/16/2011 9:29:50 PM

McCoy in PPR

8/16/2011 9:30:05 PM

I am in a PPR Keeper League in which I can keep 2 of players from last year's roster at the cost of 2 rounds + the round the player was drafted in (ie: i want to keep my 4th round pick from last year i have to give up my 2nd round pick this year to keep him).

I know I am going to keep Payton Hillis because he went undrafted last year and hence only cost me my 14th round pick. Something I very comfortable with considering I have no real faith in the Browns.

However, I don't know who to keep as my second keeper.

I have DeSean Jackson that would cost my 2nd round pick, Greg Jennings would take my 1st pick (something I am very much not a fan of), and Jamaal Charles which would take my 2nd round pick.

I am thinking Jackson is the better pick, but I don't believe that wholeheartedly

[Edited on August 16, 2011 at 11:02 PM. Reason : Just found out that if I kept Jackson and Charles it would collectively cost my 2nd and 3rd rounds]

8/16/2011 10:56:59 PM

I might go with Charles. I've seen plenty of rankings with him in the top 3-5 picks of the entire draft. If you can get him for a second-round pick, that's not bad value.

8/16/2011 11:00:48 PM

I like charles too. should get a ton of carries as long as he's healthy

8/16/2011 11:01:47 PM

The more I've thought about it the more I think I would take Jackson and Charles as my keepers, but somehow I don't feel all fuzzy about the move. I mean, I would get 1st pick and then use my second and third round pick on Jackson and Charles and then finally take my 4th pick. I feel like there might be too much that can happen between my 1st and 4th pick that could leave me at a disadvantage.

Does that make sense or am I over thinking this?

8/17/2011 8:52:43 AM