Fantasy Football... Help Needed.

So, I'm a football fan, love the NLF and College football. The season is upon us and I'm excited.

I've joined my first Fantasy League this year. It's a bunch of co-workers who've all played FF for years. I've never played before.

I participated in my first Mock Draft last night... I'm so confused... lol.

Here's my draft result :

1. Le'Veon Bell (Pit - RB)
2. Randall Cobb (GB - WR)
3. Ben Roethlisberger (Pit - QB)
4. Sammy Watkins (Buf - WR)
5. Giovani Bernard (Cin - RB)
6. Larry Fitzgerald (Ari - WR)
7. Jason Witten (Dal - TE)
8. Tom Brady (NE - QB)
9. Adam Vinatieri (Ind - K)
10. Danny Woodhead (SD - RB)
11. Reggie Wayne (Ind - WR)
12. Green Bay (GB - DEF)
13. Ahmad Bradshaw (Ind - RB)
14. Chicago (Chi - DEF)
15. Mike Nugent (Cin - K)

Am I mistaken in that I need at least 2 Kickers, TE's, QB's and DEFs to cover bye weeks.

Thoughts and help appreciated.

a reply to: elevatedone

Know your rookies.

Bargain greenhorns pays for themselves. It gives you the option to trade them out for a better scoring player towards the end of the season.

Paying attention to the stats works as well- a player who makes more yardage might not be as valuable as someone who busts tackles or makes line breaks. You want constant scorers as well as the go to WR that are guaranteed a touchdown in every game.

Hope that helps.

It's all how your league is setup, most standard leagues are...

1 - qb
1 - rb
1 - te
1 - wr
3 - flex (rb, te, wr)
1 - defence
1 - kicker

...plus 2 or 3 bench spots.

I've played over 6 years in a very active and competitive 16 team league, I consider myself an expert...

Mocks are pretty useless, get as much info about your leagues settings as you can and then visit this site, it'll give you a good idea of the players that'll be available for your position in each round ...I try to flag at least 4 or 5 players for each round, grade and prioritize in conjunction with other rounds... create your self a lot of scenarios.

You only need, 1 QB... take him early, if not the first round, go after a top 5 qb.

Even more so with RB's this year, take 1 early, maybe first round. If you don't have a top 5 RB this year, you'll be hurting, most teams have gone to a time share approach at the position... it's always a good strategy to grab your rb's backup in the later rounds, save a bench spot for them.

Grab a top TE, early no later than 4th or 5th round... try to combo your te with your qb (same team) for a good risk/reward bonus.

Same with WR, if not done with a TE, try to combo a WR with your QB. WR's are pretty deep, you can wait till the later rounds and still grab some good ones. (do not combo more than one position player with your QB, too risky)

You can usually grab a top defense around 7 or 8 maybe later depending on the size of your league, wait until you see at least 1 go, then grab a remaining top defense just after.

you do not, or will ever need 2 kickers, don't draft them until close to the last round, draft every other position then go after S. Gostkowski (NE) ...if he's there.

Stay active, know your waiver postion every week, visit rotoworld.com everyday and watch the free agent pool like a hawk.

goodluck!

Some scattered thoughts that may help

QB and RB are the most important positions.
There's about 10 elite QBs. Try to get one early. It sucks trying to figure out if RG3 is gonna have a better week than Ryan Fitzpatrick.
There's less than 10 elite RBs. Teams are moving to RB by committee. Try to land an RB that gets the most carries. For your 2nd RB, look at bruisers that get the ball near the goaline.

WRs: Randall Cobb is a terrible second pick. Catches get spread around for Green Bay. Unless it's Calvin Johnson, secure your Qb and RB and build a well rounded recieving core.

TEs: there's only a few productive TEs. If u can't get a Jimmy Graham type guy in 3rd -6th round. Build your team elsewhere and play your TEs based on weekly matchups.

Don't waste picks on kickers until your position players are solid. Look at the team as much as the kicker. Teams with inconsistent offenses tend to kick more field goals cuz they can't put it in the end zone.

a reply to: rexsblues

You posted while I was writing my response,
We make very similar points.
Good post

a reply to: elevatedone

You never needs 2 kickers. Unless you have the Patriots kicker just drop who you have on his bye week and pick up a new one. Same for others on byes. Have a player that just isn't doing anything, drop and waiver wire for the bye.

originally posted by: HighFive
a reply to: rexsblues

You posted while I was writing my response,
We make very similar points.
Good post

ha, I noticed that... veteran minds, think alike.

a reply to: elevatedone

Also, took a kicker waay to early.

12/13 is the earliest and that is to get S. Gostkowski.
www.nfl.com...

This is a pretty good foundation, and then you can enter in your gut feelings or your own personal beliefs into it.
Not a bad over all draft, I agree 2 was early for cobb and Bernard was a reach at 5 unless he was just the best available but that is hard to imagine at 5.

a reply to: elevatedone

2 of your players are not on a nfl team . reggie wayne and ahmad bradshaw

It looks good accept maybe you want to dump the bears defense

a reply to: elevatedone

Let me help you out.. Im a multi time FF Champion and currently play in a $1000 league (with the big boys)

Looking at your draft strategy here there are a few things you need to take note of..

1) Never draft a QB high, that is unless you are going for one of the top 3 fantasy QBs (Rodgers, Luck, Wilson) and even then dont bite on one in the first, if you must take one of the 3 try in the second or later.

Now what I mean by "high" is.. the first 5 rounds, the first 5 rounds you want to use to lay your foundation.. 2 RB's and 3 WR's, or 2 RB's, 2 WR's and a Flex.

2) As a general rule of thumb you want to stay away from freshman and sophmore players in the first 5 picks as well, "sophmore slump" is a real thing and you want to make sure you get as close as you can to "guranteed" points with your first 5 picks, you can take risks from that point forth.

3) NO... only draft 1 kicker and 1 defense. By the time a bye week comes, you will already know who is and isnt reliable on your roster and you can easily play waivers for these positions at that time and dump your picks that didnt work out. You want to stock up on skill positions.

4) Youre current strategy looks like you are trying to mix the SUPER young with the SUPER old.. bring it back on both ends a little bit.

For RB's... you want #1: RB's that get primary, majority, or all the touches in their situation #2. Backs with a proven track record and talent, or have performed at one point.. minimize risk.

For WR's, you want either the PRIMARY pass catchers (#1 WR's) but a #2 guy is acceptable on a pass happy team.

If you want an example.. heres what Im shooting for to be my lineup this year in my 12 team league...

QB: Matt Ryan
WR: Dez Bryant
WR: Julio Jones
WR: Andre Johnson
RB: Carlos Hyde
RB: Todd Gurley
TE: Jordan Cameron
K: Dan Bailey
DEF: Browns

Backups
RB: Doug Martin
QB: Tony Romo
etc.


This is a fairly risky lineup Im going with here due to my RB's, but we are a .5 ppr league

But as you can see, I try to max out my ceiling as high as possible, while maintaining a high floor