Auto drafting on Yahoo (1 Viewer)

[Sweet Love]

Unfortunately, I am going to be on a plane when one of my main leagues drafts next week and we use Yahoo as our database. I am going to have to autodraft (I may have someone able to step in for me, but maybe not). If I am forced to autodraft, I am wondering whether anyone knows whether I can set priorities on how to draft. Something like, "fill out my starting RBs and WRs, before drafting a QB". I know the situation is not ideal, but I want to avoid drafting 4 TEs or something like that. I can set my draft list, but was wondering whether i can make it more dynamic.

Any feedback/help/suggestions or even wisecracks would be much appreciated!

 

[Stompin' Tom Connors]

I believe that if you are looking to just fill out your starting RBs and WRs before selecting another slot, you could adjust your pre-rankings to give higher priorities to the top RBs and WRs you think will be drafted to fill those starting spots.That is, if you are in a 12-team league that starts 2 RBs and 3 WRs, I *think* you will want to rank the top 24 RBs and 36 Wrs in their order of VBD before ranking other positions.The reason for this is that I believe Yahoo fills out all starting positions first, based on either their default prerankings, or your own rankings. This is from the site:

"The autopick system first selects the highest-rated available player (based first on your pre-rankings and then our default rankings) that can fill one of the open starting positions on your roster.After all of your starting positions are filled, the system determines a list of bench positions based on the number of starters at a position vs. the overall roster size. The system then selects the highest-rated available player (based first on your pre-rankings and then our default rankings) that can play one of the bench positions.Given this system, it's important to remember that all starting positions are filled before any bench players are chosen. Additionally, keep in mind that the system will determine a maximum number of players to draft per position (starters plus bench) so that no roster ends up with an inordinate number of players at any single position (e.g., five quarterbacks in a league that has a single starting quarterback)."

If you were looking to fill out RB and WR bench spots before going K, however, you are likely SOL.I was forced to do an autodraft last night thanks to a lame mandatory attendance company picnic. I created a VBD cheatsheet based on my leagues parameters, and pretty much used the top 100 or so straight by their VBD -- this included players who I deemed were good FF starting QBs and TEs and one or two Ds who I thought I may have considered within the first 10 rounds of a 14 round draft. I entered these as my pre-rankings.I then resorted the remaining ranked QBs, TEs, Ks and Ds, based on their relative point values in my system, and started filling them in order of preference after the people on my initial list.In a 14 team standard scoring start 1QB 3WR 2RB 1TE 1D 1K, I ended up with the following team from the 3 spot:1. (3) Michael Turner 2. (26) Greg Jennings 3. (31) Anquan Boldin 4. (54) Braylon Edwards 5. (59) Ben Roethlisberger 6. (82) Cedric Benson 7. (87) Chris Cooley 8. (110) San Diego 9. (115) Mason Crosby 10. (138) Earnest Graham 11. (143) Josh Morgan 12. (166) Chris Henry 13. (171) Neil Rackers 14. (194) Seattle 15. (199) JaMarcus Russell 16. (222) Billy Miller Certainly not as good as if I had drafted myself, but not too terrible. Weak at RB, but nothing too outlandish given that RBs can get scarce on either ends of a 14-team league draft. In retrospect, may have ranked a good decent tier of TEs, Ks and QBs after around spot 100 or so, and then go back to RBs and Wrs of lower VBD before filling out the rest of my list with the remaining TEs, Ks and QBs -- this would likely have resulted in my team not having two kickers and two TEs -- I would rather have solid depth at the skill positions.I supplemented this team by dropping the extra K and TE and picking up any remaining upside RBs on the wire -- Michael Bush and Caddilac Williams.You will likely want to adjust this strategy so that instead of listing the top 100 by VBD stright, you prioritize your top startable RBs and WRs before any other position, and then go by relative VBD for the rest of your prerankings.I am sure that if you search, there are other threads with better and likely more mathematically-based methods about how to leverage the rankings to get a great draft. Thought I'd share my recent experience, though.

 

[Bobcat10]

Good posting Stompin'.

Take a read thru THIS YAHOO THREAD as I think you'll find some good info that is still appropriate today. Yahoo has not really altered their structure as far as I can tell.

 

[Sweet Love]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the good info. Stompin' great breakdown and your drfat is exactly what i thought I would see...fine starters and crummy bench (sans Henry). I will do what you said with ranking only WRs and RBs in the top 60 or so, and see what happens if I leave all 32 kickers and Ds for the last 64 picks...my guess is that Yahoo fills the starting roster first (I have been on the boards long enough to know you do not covet Crosby in round 9). I was hoping there was a way you could "command the system to wait for specific rounds to take certain positions. Even if I could draft only WRs and RBs for the first 12 rounds or so and just trade for viable QBs and TEs it would be better than nothing, but we will see how it goes.

 

[a_troll00]

Hey guys,Thanks for the good info. Stompin' great breakdown and your drfat is exactly what i thought I would see...fine starters and crummy bench (sans Henry). I will do what you said with ranking only WRs and RBs in the top 60 or so, and see what happens if I leave all 32 kickers and Ds for the last 64 picks...my guess is that Yahoo fills the starting roster first (I have been on the boards long enough to know you do not covet Crosby in round 9). I was hoping there was a way you could "command the system to wait for specific rounds to take certain positions. Even if I could draft only WRs and RBs for the first 12 rounds or so and just trade for viable QBs and TEs it would be better than nothing, but we will see how it goes.

When autodrafting, Yahoo will always fill all starter roles before drafting bench players. There's just no way around this.

 

[sinatravolta]

To me the big key is excluding K's and if you are a little bolder, D's. But if you're not going to go after a top D anyway - I think it's worth taking out the D's too. Basically when you set up your pre-rankings - there's an "exclude" list on the left side. If you move all K's and D's there - then in the 8th round and 9th round when everyone else is getting a D and a K to fill their starting lineup, you are getting your RB3 and WR4. And since autodrafts often have some poor drafters - your RB3 and WR4 are often quite good.

I would also exclude all TEs below a certain point - like maybe 15 guys. There are maybe a few you'd be happy to have as backups - but otherwise - you'd again rather get more RBs/WRs than a TE you're likely to drop anyway. Same would go for QBs - maybe you stop at 18 or 20 if you want to try to make sure you don't get 3 and avoid getting certain guys on your roster. It doesn't matter how low you drop them in your rankings - Yahoo will think you want a backup TE if you still have a guy included on your list.

 

[sinatravolta]

Hey guys,Thanks for the good info. Stompin' great breakdown and your drfat is exactly what i thought I would see...fine starters and crummy bench (sans Henry). I will do what you said with ranking only WRs and RBs in the top 60 or so, and see what happens if I leave all 32 kickers and Ds for the last 64 picks...my guess is that Yahoo fills the starting roster first (I have been on the boards long enough to know you do not covet Crosby in round 9). I was hoping there was a way you could "command the system to wait for specific rounds to take certain positions. Even if I could draft only WRs and RBs for the first 12 rounds or so and just trade for viable QBs and TEs it would be better than nothing, but we will see how it goes.

When autodrafting, Yahoo will always fill all starter roles before drafting bench players. There's just no way around this.

Um - yes there is. Exclude all K's and consider doing the same for D's - and it won't draft you any K or any D. You will be picking bench players while everyone else is filling out their starters at positions with little differentiation/predictability.

 

[Jeff Pasquino]

Bump to add this very good article on this subject.

Perfect Autopick Draft