A
Axe Elf
I've been doing a lot of these "DraftMaster" type leagues this preseason--the ones where you draft your team and then don't have to do anything else--no trades, no waivers, no lineups to set, nothing. Scoring is done on a "best-ball" format, so your optimal lineup is scored each week, and total points scored on the season wins. Rosters are 20 players deep, because of course you have to carry bye week backups at all positions (or take a 0 that week).
I like the ones on MFL--you can do them for $10 or $50 to win $100 or $500, respectively. But they are 12 team leagues, and pretty much winner-takes-all. Second place gets a free entry into a league next year--feh. The other problem is that they are all snake drafts, so even though I've done about 15 of them so far, once I get past the first couple of rounds, I find myself taking pretty much the same players in the same rounds in every draft. Plus they are all slow drafts, so it can take ten days or more to do one. I've pretty much had three going on at the same time at all times for the last month or so.
But then today I discovered that rtsports also has DraftMaster type leagues. The odds aren't as good, as you pay $20 for a chance to win $100 (there are better odds at higher dollar levels--you can pay $50 for the chance to win $300 or $100 for the chance to win $600), but they are only 10-man leagues, and second place pays 2.5x your entry fee as well ($50, $125 and $250)--so you have a 1 in 5 shot at winning something overall.
And the best thing about them is that they offer AUCTION leagues--so you can target whatever players you want--AND even the snake drafts are live, so you don't have to wait two weeks to see what your team will look like!
So I dove into my first $20 DraftMaster auction league tonight, and may have come out with the best DraftMaster team ever. Scoring is pretty much basic PPR scoring, but you get 1 pt per 20 pass yards instead of the standard 1 pt per 25 pass yards. Start 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1Flex, 1K, 1D.
Check this out:
QB: Tony Romo, Carson Palmer, Brandon Weeden
That's a lot of yards there, folks. One of those guys should be posting a 300/3 game for me just about every week--and no bye week problems.
RB: Jamaal Charles, Steven Jackson, Danny Woodhead, Fred Jackson
I'm not in love with my bench, but a lot of the PPR RBs were going for more than I wanted to spend on my backups, so I settled for a couple of guys that should see some touches and receptions just about every week, and could come into a starting job of their own if their fragile RB1s go down. Unless that happens, though, my flex spot probly won't be filled by a RB very often. At least none of them share a bye week.
WR: Dez Bryant, Larry Fitzgerald, Josh Gordon, Anquan Boldin, Justin Blackmon, Vincent Brown
That's pretty phat in PPR scoring--all six are basically their team's WR1. I should get two solid starters and a flex out of this bunch most every week, especially after Gordon and Blackmon serve their suspensions. Note also that my top 3 WRs are the deep threats for each of my three QBs--Romo/Dez, Palmer/Fitzgerald and Weeden/Brown! The DraftMaster format takes advantage of the inconsistent, "boom-or-bust" scoring that having a QB/WR tandem will produce, so again, just about every week I should have a "boom" out of one or two of these tandems. On the downside, Fitz, Boldin and Blackmon all share a Week 9 bye--but at least I'll have all four of my RBs that week in case I need one of them in the flex slot.
TE: Vernon Davis, Dustin Keller, Heath Miller
I'm not sure about having both Vernon and Anquan, but I suppose that one or the other of them should do pretty well most every week. I thought it would be nice to add a third TE to help stabilize the inconsistent scoring typical of the position--especially when the third one is Heath Miller.
K: Randy Bullock, Ryan Succop
Houston has ranked in the top 5 for attempted kicker points for the last two years running--not bad for a notoriously inconsistent position. Ryan Succop should find himself the beneficiary of an improved KC offense.
D: Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs
I like the Cardinals for Patrick Peterson's big play ability on INTs and kick returns, plus they added Tyrann Mathieu and sackmaster John Abraham in the offseason. Kansas City improved their already-strong secondary, and they play the Jaguars, Titans and Bills, plus Oakland and the Chargers twice each.
Hello $100!!!
I like the ones on MFL--you can do them for $10 or $50 to win $100 or $500, respectively. But they are 12 team leagues, and pretty much winner-takes-all. Second place gets a free entry into a league next year--feh. The other problem is that they are all snake drafts, so even though I've done about 15 of them so far, once I get past the first couple of rounds, I find myself taking pretty much the same players in the same rounds in every draft. Plus they are all slow drafts, so it can take ten days or more to do one. I've pretty much had three going on at the same time at all times for the last month or so.
But then today I discovered that rtsports also has DraftMaster type leagues. The odds aren't as good, as you pay $20 for a chance to win $100 (there are better odds at higher dollar levels--you can pay $50 for the chance to win $300 or $100 for the chance to win $600), but they are only 10-man leagues, and second place pays 2.5x your entry fee as well ($50, $125 and $250)--so you have a 1 in 5 shot at winning something overall.
And the best thing about them is that they offer AUCTION leagues--so you can target whatever players you want--AND even the snake drafts are live, so you don't have to wait two weeks to see what your team will look like!
So I dove into my first $20 DraftMaster auction league tonight, and may have come out with the best DraftMaster team ever. Scoring is pretty much basic PPR scoring, but you get 1 pt per 20 pass yards instead of the standard 1 pt per 25 pass yards. Start 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1Flex, 1K, 1D.
Check this out:
QB: Tony Romo, Carson Palmer, Brandon Weeden
That's a lot of yards there, folks. One of those guys should be posting a 300/3 game for me just about every week--and no bye week problems.
RB: Jamaal Charles, Steven Jackson, Danny Woodhead, Fred Jackson
I'm not in love with my bench, but a lot of the PPR RBs were going for more than I wanted to spend on my backups, so I settled for a couple of guys that should see some touches and receptions just about every week, and could come into a starting job of their own if their fragile RB1s go down. Unless that happens, though, my flex spot probly won't be filled by a RB very often. At least none of them share a bye week.
WR: Dez Bryant, Larry Fitzgerald, Josh Gordon, Anquan Boldin, Justin Blackmon, Vincent Brown
That's pretty phat in PPR scoring--all six are basically their team's WR1. I should get two solid starters and a flex out of this bunch most every week, especially after Gordon and Blackmon serve their suspensions. Note also that my top 3 WRs are the deep threats for each of my three QBs--Romo/Dez, Palmer/Fitzgerald and Weeden/Brown! The DraftMaster format takes advantage of the inconsistent, "boom-or-bust" scoring that having a QB/WR tandem will produce, so again, just about every week I should have a "boom" out of one or two of these tandems. On the downside, Fitz, Boldin and Blackmon all share a Week 9 bye--but at least I'll have all four of my RBs that week in case I need one of them in the flex slot.
TE: Vernon Davis, Dustin Keller, Heath Miller
I'm not sure about having both Vernon and Anquan, but I suppose that one or the other of them should do pretty well most every week. I thought it would be nice to add a third TE to help stabilize the inconsistent scoring typical of the position--especially when the third one is Heath Miller.
K: Randy Bullock, Ryan Succop
Houston has ranked in the top 5 for attempted kicker points for the last two years running--not bad for a notoriously inconsistent position. Ryan Succop should find himself the beneficiary of an improved KC offense.
D: Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs
I like the Cardinals for Patrick Peterson's big play ability on INTs and kick returns, plus they added Tyrann Mathieu and sackmaster John Abraham in the offseason. Kansas City improved their already-strong secondary, and they play the Jaguars, Titans and Bills, plus Oakland and the Chargers twice each.
Hello $100!!!
