Making a draft pick to prevent someone else from getting them? (1 Viewer)

[solorca]

Last night, I was in a situation that I've never really been in before. During the first few rounds of my keeper league draft (keep 2), I had already locked up 3 RBs (Mcfadden, Lynch, and Murray) and 3 WRs (Marshall, Harvin, and Stevie Johnson), so I felt pretty good about my starting RB/WR and flex situation. Five quarterbacks were kept, and I drafted the first one off the board when I picked up Matt Ryan. Over the next eight picks, eight quarterbacks were taken, and when it got back to me, the best player left on my board was Michael Vick, who was still sitting there for some reason. He shares a bye week with Matt Ryan, so at best I would be looking at a QBBC situation with him (or possible trade bait). I ended up taking him though, because the guy picking directly after me was the two time defending champion in my league, and he was the last person without a starting QB. Without Vick, the best QB on the board was either Cutler or Schaub.

Fortunately, the guy that I would have taken instead of Vick (Vernon Davis) ended up falling to me in the next round anyway...but I'm curious about the thoughts of this strategy. Typically I wouldn't make a move like this, but it made sense to me in this specific situation. I should also add that this league has about 4-5 knowledgeable teams, a few decent players, and 3-4 low level players...so I always make the playoffs and am in the championship picture.

For reference, the final team I ended up with as a result of this strategy (12 team PPR, 1/2/2/1/1 flex)...

QB - Ryan, Vick, Fitzpatrick (took him late since there were only three starting QB's on the board. I'll drop/trade one of these three following the Ryan/Vick bye in week 7)

RB - Mcfadden, Lynch, Murray, Jacquizz Rodgers, Felix, Vereen

WR - Marshall, Harvin, Stevie Johnson, Meachem, Cobb

TE - Vernon, Rudolph

 

[pizzatyme]

It happens all the time. I'm surprised you're just coming across it.

 

[Raider Nation]

I prefer Cutler to Vick anyway.

EDIT: I should clarify. If you guarantee me Vick starts 16 games, I'll take him over Cutler. But I see no way that happens.

 

[ponchsox]

Do it and then hold the team with a crappy QB ransom in a trade.

 

[solorca]

It happens all the time. I'm surprised you're just coming across it.

I wouldn't say it's the first time I've come across it, it's just the first time I've personally had a situation where I thought it was a viable strategy at the qb position.

 

[Raider Nation]

It happens all the time. I'm surprised you're just coming across it.

I wouldn't say it's the first time I've come across it, it's just the first time I've personally had a situation where I thought it was a viable strategy at the qb position.

So who did he end up taking?

 

[Eminence]

I did this very same thing in a mock draft and everyone acted as if I was insane. There are not 12 serviceable Fantasy Quarterbacks in this league. If I can force someone to start the 13th best QB, I am going to jump on that opportunity.

 

[coolnerd]

Do it and then hold the team with a crappy QB ransom in a trade.

And good luck bargaining with the guy who at least suspects (if not knows) that you took a 2nd QB just to try force his hand.

 

[Eminence]

Do it and then hold the team with a crappy QB ransom in a trade.

And good luck bargaining with the guy who at least suspects (if not knows) that you took a 2nd QB just to try force his hand.

You wait for him to go 1 - 3 and smile as he hits the panic button.

 

[solorca]

I prefer Cutler to Vick anyway.EDIT: I should clarify. If you guarantee me Vick starts 16 games, I'll take him over Cutler. But I see no way that happens.

He ended up taking Cutler. I do like him quite a bit this year as well.I should say that the Vick pick wasn't completely to block him. I love Ryan this year, but I do have fear that the fantasy breakout I expect from him will not happen. I love Vick when he's healthy, and having someone the quality of Ryan on my team as well allows me to take the risk with Vick.

Do it and then hold the team with a crappy QB ransom in a trade.

And good luck bargaining with the guy who at least suspects (if not knows) that you took a 2nd QB just to try force his hand.

I'm not really the type to hold someone ransom. This particular guy is always willing to work out a fair deal, so I'm not too worried about that. Then again, I'm not desperate to trade him. At least right now, I feel I have enough quality players on my team to hold on to both guys. I have it as a bargaining chip if needed though.

 

[ponchsox]

I prefer Cutler to Vick anyway.EDIT: I should clarify. If you guarantee me Vick starts 16 games, I'll take him over Cutler. But I see no way that happens.

He ended up taking Cutler. I do like him quite a bit this year as well.I should say that the Vick pick wasn't completely to block him. I love Ryan this year, but I do have fear that the fantasy breakout I expect from him will not happen. I love Vick when he's healthy, and having someone the quality of Ryan on my team as well allows me to take the risk with Vick. Plus, I have the option to trade when needed.

Are you using draft dominator?

 

[Quint]

not sure if there's a huge advantage in this situation with Vick, considering he's got the same bye week as Ryan and you took a large risk on not getting "the guy wanted" in VD.

if this is a league that does a lot of trading, then i can see where this strategy might be more viable, but to do it just to try and screw the guy behind you doesn't outweigh the risk.

 

[JamesTheScot]

not sure if there's a huge advantage in this situation with Vick, considering he's got the same bye week as Ryan and you took a large risk on not getting "the guy wanted" in VD.

if this is a league that does a lot of trading, then i can see where this strategy might be more viable, but to do it just to try and screw the guy behind you doesn't outweigh the risk.

I wouldn't hurt my team to block someone else, but I don't know that you hurt yourself, so what you did is fine. At some point in the draft a second QB helps your team rather than taking first choice from among a tier of players you have grouped together.

In a closed system like a fantasy league, keeping good players off your opponent's roster clearly helps your team. Nothing unethical about doing that.

 

[solorca]

I prefer Cutler to Vick anyway.

EDIT: I should clarify. If you guarantee me Vick starts 16 games, I'll take him over Cutler. But I see no way that happens.

He ended up taking Cutler. I do like him quite a bit this year as well.I should say that the Vick pick wasn't completely to block him. I love Ryan this year, but I do have fear that the fantasy breakout I expect from him will not happen. I love Vick when he's healthy, and having someone the quality of Ryan on my team as well allows me to take the risk with Vick. Plus, I have the option to trade when needed.

Are you using draft dominator?

No, I ran the fandraft software for the league on my laptop this year, so I used another app on my ipad, where I input my own rankings.

not sure if there's a huge advantage in this situation with Vick, considering he's got the same bye week as Ryan and you took a large risk on not getting "the guy wanted" in VD.

if this is a league that does a lot of trading, then i can see where this strategy might be more viable, but to do it just to try and screw the guy behind you doesn't outweigh the risk.

I agree with this to an extent, and I wouldn't have passed up Vernon if he was a guy I loved. He was my favorite player on the board at the time, but I would have been just as happy grabbing Greg Olsen 3-4 rounds later, who I had ranked only a couple spots behind Vernon (Olsen ended up going really early, so this would have backfired on me...but I would have never expected that to happen, since I never saw him go close to that early in mocks).There is a lot of trading in this league though.

not sure if there's a huge advantage in this situation with Vick, considering he's got the same bye week as Ryan and you took a large risk on not getting "the guy wanted" in VD.

if this is a league that does a lot of trading, then i can see where this strategy might be more viable, but to do it just to try and screw the guy behind you doesn't outweigh the risk.

I wouldn't hurt my team to block someone else, but I don't know that you hurt yourself, so what you did is fine. At some point in the draft a second QB helps your team rather than taking first choice from among a tier of players you have grouped together.

In a closed system like a fantasy league, keeping good players off your opponent's roster clearly helps your team. Nothing unethical about doing that.

This was my thought at the time. The top players on my board when I took Vick were Titus Young, Pierre Garcon, Vernon Davis, and Willis Mcgahee...none of which I was in love with at that spot.

 

[Warrior]

So you allowed him to pick up a good player while you drafted a QB who probably won't help your team at all this season? Good luck choosing between Ryan and Vick each week and ending up without any more points than you would have had with only Ryan each week...yikes.

 

[death of the cool]

I really do this all the time, however I am always looking at value....but it is also nice to stick it to someone. It mostly happens with TE's and QB's, but I will also do it to teams that load up on one position early.

The other thing that I have noticed is that after I have done this a few years and a few others started it, people take notice and it sends a message. You don't see people in our draft trying to load up on one positions and expecting to snag QB's and TE's late.

People sometimes get upset, but they need to realize that the draft is a chess game, and if I can hurt a team while still adding value to my team I'm going to do it.

 

[solorca]

So you allowed him to pick up a good player while you drafted a QB who probably won't help your team at all this season? Good luck choosing between Ryan and Vick each week and ending up without any more points than you would have had with only Ryan each week...yikes.

He took Titus Young, who was 45 spots below Vick in my personal rankings, and I ended up getting the player I would have taken anyway (Vernon). This was a 2 player keeper and was in the 6th round...so I essentially grabbed Ryan/Vick as my 7th/8th round picks.Not that I read too much into the FBG's rate my team app, but according to their rankings, I still ended up with the best team in the league (with the dancing playoff lock)...so at least in this specific situation, I don't think that my strategy hurt my team. Obviously it COULD have backfired though, and with Olsen going off the board so early, the potential backfire was closer than I suspected.I appreciate the responses. This was my first time trying this strategy with a QB and I liked the outcome, but this could also be one of those situations where I just got lucky and things ended up working out.

 

[coolnerd]

Do it and then hold the team with a crappy QB ransom in a trade.

And good luck bargaining with the guy who at least suspects (if not knows) that you took a 2nd QB just to try force his hand.

You wait for him to go 1 - 3 and smile as he hits the panic button.

Of course, because we all know that the only place to get a QB who finishes in the top 10 is based on pre-season lists.signed Aaron rodgers, Mike vick and Cam newton

 

[Dentist]

I've had this done to me.

same stituation.. QB.. dude took a backup QB that he didn't need in any way to deny me a starter.

It worked.. my season was marred with terrible QB play and he didn't really miss out on any special he could've taken with that pick.

And when I tried to trade him for that QB he of course wanted me to dearly overpay.

I learned a lesson

 

[Kenny Powers]

not sure if there's a huge advantage in this situation with Vick, considering he's got the same bye week as Ryan and you took a large risk on not getting "the guy wanted" in VD.

if this is a league that does a lot of trading, then i can see where this strategy might be more viable, but to do it just to try and screw the guy behind you doesn't outweigh the risk.

I wouldn't hurt my team to block someone else, but I don't know that you hurt yourself, so what you did is fine. At some point in the draft a second QB helps your team rather than taking first choice from among a tier of players you have grouped together.

In a closed system like a fantasy league, keeping good players off your opponent's roster clearly helps your team. Nothing unethical about doing that.

This was my thought at the time. The top players on my board when I took Vick were Titus Young, Pierre Garcon, Vernon Davis, and Willis Mcgahee...none of which I was in love with at that spot.

In this situation, I think it greatly helped that you still got Davis, otherwise, this doesnt look like a smart move. I dont see all that big of a difference between Vick and Cutler in all honesty, and if Im the other guy Im probably happy I was able to get Cutler a round or 2 later. As someone said earlier, good luck figuring out which week to start each week with Ryan vs Vick. If Ryan starts hot it shouldnt be too hard to leave him in, but its not like he's going to outscore Vick every week and wont start to make you think about it more.Not to get too far off point, but without seeing the other TE's on the board, I actually think I wouldve taken McGahee with this pick. His numbers last year should be making him a 3rd-4th rounder, and now he is in a better offense with Peyton, should get more GL looks, has a backup (Hillman) who is more of a 3DRB. Yes, he's a year older but didnt have many touches in his prime. That alongside you having 2 of your top 3 RBs coming off major injuries, Id have gone that route.

 

[DoubleG]

I've had this done to me.same stituation.. QB.. dude took a backup QB that he didn't need in any way to deny me a starter.It worked.. my season was marred with terrible QB play and he didn't really miss out on any special he could've taken with that pick.And when I tried to trade him for that QB he of course wanted me to dearly overpay.I learned a lesson

- you're so full of ####.

 

[Shutout]

if it helps your team, take the player.

Of course, the guy you take out of his selections available may actually HELP him (removing Vick and steering him toward Cutler may be a boon for him in the end).

You never know, but if it helps your team (and who can argue that Vick on your team doesn't help?), then go for it.

 

[bagger]

ask the fbg staff how the "qb squeeze" worked out for them some years back against us message boarders.

 

[solorca]

Sort of update on my situation - I have a verbal acceptance of Hakeem Nicks for Vick and Meachem.

Nicks went in the third, I took vick in the 6th and Meachem in the 9th

 

[death of the cool]

Sort of update on my situation - I have a verbal acceptance of Hakeem Nicks for Vick and Meachem.Nicks went in the third, I took vick in the 6th and Meachem in the 9th

...and that is also a reason to do it. The team that you stick it to may just panic and offer you a nice trade.

 

[solorca]

Sort of update on my situation - I have a verbal acceptance of Hakeem Nicks for Vick and Meachem.Nicks went in the third, I took vick in the 6th and Meachem in the 9th

...and that is also a reason to do it. The team that you stick it to may just panic and offer you a nice trade.

Interesting thing is that it was another team than the one I was trying to block. He was just a casualty in the whole thing, as he ended up with Schaub as his qb1.

 

[Jake22]

Not exactly the same as what you did in your draft, but, I have the 9th pick in an upcoming draft and I'm thinking about going RB RB first two rounds just because I know there are gonna be at least 3 teams who went QB early first round that are going to be looking to draft a RB second round. I know those guys would not like to see RB's fly off the board before they could pick again, and it doesn't hurt my team since I'm still getting two good RB's to start with.

 

[bucksoh]

Shark move would have been to take Cutler and have him settle for Vick.