Allowing teams to pick draft position? (1 Viewer)

[Rick James]

I have a question about allowing people to pick their starting position. My league is doing that this year, and I'm not sure I like it. To get draft position, we're drawing names out of a hat and whoever's is called first gets to pick where he drafts. And on down the line until the order is complete. FYI: It's a 1 player keeper league. Basically if there's a player on last year's team that you like, you can keep him at the cost of whatever round you drafted him. Pretty bare-bones.

The problem as I see it...you're allowing way too much potential for gaming the system. For example (this is not a "who do I keep" post) I basically only have two options as my keepers (Calvin - 2nd, Gronkowski - 10th). Before the new rules, my decision was pretty easy...Gronkowski. But now, if my name comes out of the hat first, it's pretty tempting to say, "Ok, I'll pick #1 overall thank you. I'll take Rice/Foster/McCoy @ 1.01 and Calvin Johnson @ 2.12".

Now I get that that's totally a possibility even if we didn't pick positions, but at least it would be totally random. This is just allowing people way too much influence over the draft.

Is this a normal set-up? I've never done this before, so I don't know. Would any of you have problems with this?

 

[nittanylion]

To answer this, I'm going to ask you for more info...

Most importantly, prior to this year, how did you do it? Did you just pull out of a hat and whatever # you chose, that was your Draft Position? As in, draw #7, pick #7?

Or did you do it in worst to first, first to worst or some other pre-determined order?

Here's what I'd suggest, given the info you presented: Reward whoever you want in the following manner, I'm assuming a 12-Team League:

If you want to reward last year's winners, give the Owner who finished 1st 12 chances to have his # picked, down to the worst team in the League only getting 1.

If you want to reward last year's losers, give the Owner who finished 12th 12 chances to have his # picked, down to the best team in the League only getting 1.

...or based on the 2011 Round of the Keeper you choose to keep, for example, say the lowest round guy that gets kept was taken at 6.11, that guy gets 12 chances while the guy that kept the highest round guy, 2.06, only gets one chance...

...or, you could go by how the proposed keepers did in 2011, the guy whose keeper scored the least points gets 12 chances, the guy whose keeper scored the most gets one chance...

...in any case, by finding a way to weight the chances, you add an element that, in conjunction with your keeper, makes it more fun and 'fair'...

...just some things to think about...

 

[Addai's Adidas]

We tried this for the winner of the toilet bowl. Turns out they always take the first pick so we just went back to winning the first pick instead of choosing.

 

[lsutigers]

12 team league.

7 teams in real playoffs

5 teams in toilet bowl

Toilet Bowl winner gets 1st selection for draft order

Toilet Bowl runnerup gets 2nd selection for draft order

3, 4, 5, then real playoffs through championship winner selecting spot 12th

Ranked my round went out in and points scored in round went out in

New members come in at the back and everyone moves up.

Has worked great for us for a long time.

 

[acarey50]

You could always just have teams announce theirkeeper before you determine the draft order if you are afraid of this perceived gaming of the system.

IMO, it's not gaming the system at all, it's making an informed strategic decision based on all info available. Even if you had pick 12 and the first pick in the 2nd round, that is great value for Calvin Johnson. Really, strategically speaking, it would be a minor factor in the keeper decision.

As far as the process of having owners pick their spot, I definitely enjoy that process for a redraft league. I think with a 1 keeper league it would work quite well, but you'll likely see what is usually seen in redrafts - the top 3-4 picks are taken first (depends how many perceived sure thing picks there are), then the tail end of the 1st round so owners get the earlier 2nd, and then the middle picks. Not 100% that way, but the large majority of leagues I have been in that did draft order this way saw the picks get selected that way.

 

[matttyl]

If I were in your shoes, I'd likely choose the #3 pick and take one of the big RBs, and choose Gronk in the 10th over Calvin in the 2nd.

Will "keepers" be selected before the draft order is determined?

 

[TJ-Raider]

12 team league.7 teams in real playoffs5 teams in toilet bowlToilet Bowl winner gets 1st selection for draft orderToilet Bowl runnerup gets 2nd selection for draft order3, 4, 5, then real playoffs through championship winner selecting spot 12thRanked my round went out in and points scored in round went out inNew members come in at the back and everyone moves up.Has worked great for us for a long time.

We do something very similiar to this. Started this system 6 years ago, and everyone loves it. We start the selection process at the beginning of August. Give people a few days to select, run some mock drafts, etc.Draft day goes a lot smoother because everyone already has an idea of there initial picks. Saves me time researching. For example, I have the 3rd pick. I don't have to research the pros and cons of Forte vs. Jones-Drew vs. Charles because they will never make it back to me.Kind of a long winded way to say it has worked for us. But the keeper aspect changes it, but only a little.

 

[Rick James]

If I were in your shoes, I'd likely choose the #3 pick and take one of the big RBs, and choose Gronk in the 10th over Calvin in the 2nd.

Will "keepers" be selected before the draft order is determined?

No, keepers will be announced as players make their 1st round selections. Which seems wonky to me...because if someone wants to take Calvin at 1.06, I'd have to speak up and say "nope, I'm keeping him".

 

[matttyl]

If I were in your shoes, I'd likely choose the #3 pick and take one of the big RBs, and choose Gronk in the 10th over Calvin in the 2nd.

Will "keepers" be selected before the draft order is determined?

No, keepers will be announced as players make their 1st round selections. Which seems wonky to me...because if someone wants to take Calvin at 1.06, I'd have to speak up and say "nope, I'm keeping him".

Personally, I think you should determine keepers BEFORE draft order. I mean, if Calvin and Rodgers and all 3 big RBs are being kept and your team gets the pick where to draft from, picking 12 seems alright to me! I think it would simplify things greatly. I mean, you're planning on keeping Calvin no matter what with your 2nd, do you care if it's the 2.01 or the 2.12?

 

[Jojo the circus boy]

I think you should push for keepers to be announced well prior to the draft (1 week+). We don't allow any players to be kept prior to the 4th round, but it sounds like it is too late for your league to implement something like that.

 

[Wyld Stallyns]

This is a normal setup. Strategizing over which keeper pick you'll lose and how that affects your draft position choice is part of the fun. Instead of drawing out of a hat though, the last place team or toilet bowl winner from last season should pick first.

 

[beavers]

We use auction waivers with a starting budget of 1k (play money). Each owner uses that amount to blind bid on draft spots and bidding on free agents throughout the season ($0 bids are allowed for FAs).

The highest draft spot bidder gets to select their draft position first and so on...

 

[habsfan]

We've done this in straight up redraft for awhile. In a keeper scenario I'd want to know who's being kept where in order to make an informed choice on my slot.

 

[Jojo the circus boy]

It seems silly to alter the draft order when taking keepers into consideration, should always go worst to first since the better teams from last season are usually the teams that got the best value picks. In my 12-team I am keeping Gronk for a 9th and Murray for a 13th round pick, if I also lucked out in your league and got an early draft position it would put me at a severe advantage to the rest of your owners. Now granted you are only keeping 1 player in your scenario so maybe it is not that crazy, but still seems like some of your owners with better keepers could be in a great spot depending on the luck of the hat draw.

 

[meatwad1]

I have a question about allowing people to pick their starting position. My league is doing that this year, and I'm not sure I like it. To get draft position, we're drawing names out of a hat and whoever's is called first gets to pick where he drafts. And on down the line until the order is complete. FYI: It's a 1 player keeper league. Basically if there's a player on last year's team that you like, you can keep him at the cost of whatever round you drafted him. Pretty bare-bones.

The problem as I see it...you're allowing way too much potential for gaming the system. For example (this is not a "who do I keep" post) I basically only have two options as my keepers (Calvin - 2nd, Gronkowski - 10th). Before the new rules, my decision was pretty easy...Gronkowski. But now, if my name comes out of the hat first, it's pretty tempting to say, "Ok, I'll pick #1 overall thank you. I'll take Rice/Foster/McCoy @ 1.01 and Calvin Johnson @ 2.12".

Now I get that that's totally a possibility even if we didn't pick positions, but at least it would be totally random. This is just allowing people way too much influence over the draft.

Is this a normal set-up? I've never done this before, so I don't know. Would any of you have problems with this?

Nothing wrong with that....you'd be an idiot to not keep Gronk for a 10th rounder no matter what your pick is. You can still get a great player at 2.12, not many people are going to get a stud in the 10th round with the exception of the people who drafted Graham, Sproiles, or Newton last year.

 

[hotdogcollars]

My main league started this last year and kept it in this year as well. I don't really like it, find it rather annoying and nothing but an inconvenience. But i get how it adds one more element of strategy to the game, and some may find it enjoyable.

FTR, We have a 2 keeper league with keepers announced after the draft order selection, but 2 weeks before the draft. Last year i got first choice of draft spot, this year i was last so got the leftover pick. i don't find either one more interesting or enjoyable

 

[footballnerd]

Personally i think u keep gronk no matter what. Value diff is tremendous compared to where u keep CJ.

I also believe people learn their draft pos before submitting keepers, and then submit keepers prior to draft. Then everyone has a complete draft strategy come draft time...bring the a game!

 

[BlueDredSo]

We've always drawn from a hat to decide where you want to draft. It keeps things interesting and exciting because you have no idea where you're going to be drafting right up until it starts. Mine is not a keeper league however. I don't think it makes a huge difference though. If you're keeping Calvin in the 2nd round why does it matter what spot you're drafting? He's still gone for everyone else. <BR><BR>In another league we do have a keeper system where you get a salary of $150. To keep 1st rd guys costs $50. 2nd rd guys cost $40. 3rd are $30, then it goes down in increments of $5 every 3 rounds, or something like that. It rewards you for drafting sleepers late, but also doesn't create too much of an advantage because you have a salary cap.<BR><BR>I think your league's system is fine if you're just keeping 1 player. If you could keep a few more players then things could get dicey with a few teams having great late rd picks and other teams having none.

 

[chiefs2929]

Uh?? Keep Gronk. Get a 1st and 2nd round pick + Gronk. Simple decision

 

[snogger]

We tried this for the winner of the toilet bowl. Turns out they always take the first pick so we just went back to winning the first pick instead of choosing.

We have found just the opposite.. We give the Bowl winner First choice, then the 2nd place bowl owner 2nd choice, etc.. The winner of the league getting #10.We've done this the past 6 years and I'd say only one year did the first guy select #1.. Most times they drop to #2 or #3Right now I know that both the #1 chooser and the #2 chooser are thinking of going #3 as most don't see much of a difference between the top 3 picks.

 

[Wild Young Billy]

For the last 3 years we created a random order then draft our draft positions. The #1 and 12 slots are always the last chosen.

 

[Rick James]

Personally i think u keep gronk no matter what. Value diff is tremendous compared to where u keep CJ.

I also believe people learn their draft pos before submitting keepers, and then submit keepers prior to draft. Then everyone has a complete draft strategy come draft time...bring the a game!

Well, we're doing all of this on draft day. I guess it's to keep everyone on their toes. This is all new for our league, which has been around for about ~10 years. We just instituted PPR and a flex option last year.