Best Draft Position (1 Viewer)

[kraft4a3]

In a league where if you draw the first pick you can choose where you want to pick, then 2nd person gets 2nd choice, and so on.

I let the DD run and draft all 12 teams using my league's setup and then check the team strengths to see which position comes out best overall.

Here is the list from best to worse draft position according to the DD when drafting by ADP:

1

3

2

4

9

5

11

6

12

8

7

10

I found it interesting spot 9 was 5th and spot 10 was 12th.

When you run the DD off of ADP is goes in order from 1 to 12

Is the DD a good representation of which spots are best to pick from or does anyone else have better advice?

Thanks

 

[BassNBrew]

Probably position 3 this year.

I generally like position 3 or and 9 or 10 as I can monitor what the other owners are doing at the turn and sluff a player by a few extra slots.

 

[JimmyD]

I assume you will have the 5-8 choice, otherwise if you land a top 4 pick take a top 4 pick, if you land 9-12 you get whats left.

1. Look over the last few drafts.

2. Run a mock based off of runs and averages of your league in the DD

3. Circle a few teams you would like to have and see if they are all over or bunched together. That should give you a decent idea of what spot you feel the best drafting from that should give you the best shot at drafting the guys you are high on, not guys the DD is high on.

 

[kraft4a3]

I assume you will have the 5-8 choice, otherwise if you land a top 4 pick take a top 4 pick, if you land 9-12 you get whats left.

1. Look over the last few drafts.

2. Run a mock based off of runs and averages of your league in the DD

3. Circle a few teams you would like to have and see if they are all over or bunched together. That should give you a decent idea of what spot you feel the best drafting from that should give you the best shot at drafting the guys you are high on, not guys the DD is high on.

Sorry, I forgot to throw in this wrinkle. The division you are in is determined by draft order. 1-4, 5-8. 9-12 are the divisions and you play teams in your division twice. So pick 4 might be out of the question since I don't want to play teams 1-3 twice.I would take a top 3 pick if given the option. Where to go from there though?

Unfortunaletly I switched computers from last year and forgot to transfer past drafts over to my new laptop. I don't have any previous drafts to look at.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

The search function is your friend

 

[Bankerguy]

Probably position 3 this year.

I generally like position 3 or and 9 or 10 as I can monitor what the other owners are doing at the turn and sluff a player by a few extra slots.

Agree 100%. This would be my first choice hands down.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

The division you are in is determined by draft order. 1-4, 5-8. 9-12 are the divisions and you play teams in your division twice. So pick 4 might be out of the question since I don't want to play teams 1-3 twice.

That is stupid.Why don't you make the divisions fair to begin with.

 

[kraft4a3]

The division you are in is determined by draft order.  1-4, 5-8. 9-12 are the divisions and you play teams in your division twice.  So pick 4 might be out of the question since I don't want to play teams 1-3 twice.

That is stupid.Why don't you make the divisions fair to begin with.

I apologize I am new to the forum and this thread might have been better placed in the Assistant Coach section.However, I don't get what your saying. I would we make the divisions fair to begin with? This was done because we had a lot of people complaining that the top picks were always winning the league, which wasn't always true, but it seemed to satisfy everyone.

I would love to here how we could make the divisions fair to begin with, because I am always looking for better ways to make sure all my owners are happy.

Besides drawing out of a hat or keeping them the same every year, what is a good way to determine divisions in a 12 team league.

Once again I apologize if this is in the wrong forum.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

The division you are in is determined by draft order. 1-4, 5-8. 9-12 are the divisions and you play teams in your division twice. So pick 4 might be out of the question since I don't want to play teams 1-3 twice.

That is stupid.Why don't you make the divisions fair to begin with.

I apologize I am new to the forum and this thread might have been better placed in the Assistant Coach section.However, I don't get what your saying. I would we make the divisions fair to begin with? This was done because we had a lot of people complaining that the top picks were always winning the league, which wasn't always true, but it seemed to satisfy everyone.

I would love to here how we could make the divisions fair to begin with, because I am always looking for better ways to make sure all my owners are happy.

Besides drawing out of a hat or keeping them the same every year, what is a good way to determine divisions in a 12 team league.

Once again I apologize if this is in the wrong forum.

My bad. Too harsh.Your divisions as a whole are unfair. If you assign each draft spot a number based on where they draft, because in a perfect world the #1 pick would be the best and the 12th pick would be the worst, then your setup is unfair.

In your setup you are pitting the best teams, average teams and worst teams against each other, instead of making it even across the board. Why should the worst teams get the advantage of playing weaker competition? Your teams heading to the playoffs will not be the best teams in the league.

Your setup gives an unfair advantage/disadvantage to certain teams.

Here is our setup for divisions....

There will be 12 teams in the league divided into three, 4-team divisions. Each 3 seasons, the divisions will be chosen based on the draft order. East Division: 1, 6, 9, 10. Central Division: 2, 4, 8, 12. West Division: 3, 5, 7, 11

If you assign each draft spot a strength number, this setup has fair divisions.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

I assume you will have the 5-8 choice, otherwise if you land a top 4 pick take a top 4 pick, if you land 9-12 you get whats left.

1.  Look over the last few drafts.

2.  Run a mock based off of runs and averages of your league in the DD

3.  Circle a few teams you would like to have and see if they are all over or bunched together.  That should give you a decent idea of what spot you feel the best drafting from that should give you the best shot at drafting the guys you are high on, not guys the DD is high on.

Sorry, I forgot to throw in this wrinkle. The division you are in is determined by draft order. 1-4, 5-8. 9-12 are the divisions and you play teams in your division twice. So pick 4 might be out of the question since I don't want to play teams 1-3 twice.I would take a top 3 pick if given the option. Where to go from there though?

Unfortunaletly I switched computers from last year and forgot to transfer past drafts over to my new laptop. I don't have any previous drafts to look at.

My Commish is doing the same GD thing this year...even worse.Teams 1-6 in division A...play each other twice

Teams 7-12 in divison B...play each other twice

3 Interdivision games on top of that so not everyone will square off in the regular season.

However we got a really kick butt toilet bowl with the bottom 6 teams this year. The WINNER of the toilet bowl gets the #1 pick next season which I think is great...this way teams can't tank it too hard.

But I don't like the way the division s are made up...unless of course you draw the #9 or #12 pick...then your happy that you may never go up against LJ, LT2, Shaun, Portis...weird.

 

[w3junky]

I setup my league with three divisions, and every third team is in the same division. Division A: 1,4,7,10 Division B: 2,5,8,11 Division C: 3,6,9,12

 

[QSSGuy]

I think the best/worst draft position sometimes varies from year to year. For example, this year (2006) in my opinion the #4 pick is the worst. The top 3 players (LT, Alexander, LJ) are head and shoulders above the rest. At #4, you get none of them, and of course you are always picking late coming back in the even-numbered rounds.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

I setup my league with three divisions, and every third team is in the same division. Division A: 1,4,7,10 Division B: 2,5,8,11 Division C: 3,6,9,12

Those divisions are also unfair.Division A is the strongest and Division C is the weakest.

If you assign a power rating to each draft spot (i.e. #1 pick = 1 point, #2 pick = 2 points) and the lower the overall number the stronger the division, then this is what you would have.

Division A has a power rating of 22

Division B has a power rating of 26

Division C has a power rating of 30

 

[kraft4a3]

There will be 12 teams in the league divided into three, 4-team divisions. Each 3 seasons, the divisions will be chosen based on the draft order. East Division: 1, 6, 9, 10. Central Division: 2, 4, 8, 12. West Division: 3, 5, 7, 11

If you assign each draft spot a strength number, this setup has fair divisions.

Fair for who though. Just because a guys is unlucky enough to draw the short straw and get the 9th pick he should be in the division with LJ. So you have to pick 9th plus you are stuck in the division with the 1st pick which in recent years the top picks have had a slight advantage because of players available.

Maybe, just thinking out loud here, there could be an incremented payout system using your division setup where the lower you draft the more money it is possible to win. Or people can pay extra if they want a top spot.

I am trying to think of ways to keep my league members happy, keep things fair, and people who are unlucky each year during the lottery excited to be involved.

.

.

.

By the way I agree the 3rd position is problem my first choice, but the tough decision is what if the top 3 spots are already taken. Where do you choose to draft?

 

[H.K.]

Probably position 3 this year.

I generally like position 3 or and 9 or 10 as I can monitor what the other owners are doing at the turn and sluff a player by a few extra slots.

I KNEW IT!!!!

:makesmentalnote:

 

[Mungo Burrows]

Your divisions as a whole are unfair. If you assign each draft spot a number based on where they draft, because in a perfect world the #1 pick would be the best and the 12th pick would be the worst, then your setup is unfair.In your setup you are pitting the best teams, average teams and worst teams against each other, instead of making it even across the board. Why should the worst teams get the advantage of playing weaker competition? Your teams heading to the playoffs will not be the best teams in the league.Your setup gives an unfair advantage/disadvantage to certain teams.

[Devil's Advocate]But some might argue that even with a serpentine draft the difference in value between first round picks outweighs the net difference in value in the later rounds so that serpentine by its very nature gives an unfair advantage to the teams drafting first. Your argument that the "best teams" are going to be in the same division basically supports this notion. Putting the teams with that draft-position advantage in a division with teams having a similar advantage could be seen as a way to counter the advantage gained from the serpentine position. This way, you may not have the best TEAM in the playoffs, but you might be closer to identifying the best OWNERS in the playoffs because the advantage from draft position is somewhat negated by the impact of division alignment. Furthermore since the players pick their draft spot and their division at the same time, they are fully aware of the consequences of the pick and can then weigh whether the advantage of draft position is worth playing other players with that same advantage, or whether playing supposedly weaker competition is enough to overcome poor draft position. It is the players choice to make (for those who don't get the last draft selection). If draft position were just randomly assigned I might be a bit more skeptical of the setup.[/Devil's Advocate]

 

[fridayfrenzy]

Your divisions as a whole are unfair. If you assign each draft spot a number based on where they draft, because in a perfect world the #1 pick would be the best and the 12th pick would be the worst, then your setup is unfair.

In your setup you are pitting the best teams, average teams and worst teams against each other, instead of making it even across the board. Why should the worst teams get the advantage of playing weaker competition? Your teams heading to the playoffs will not be the best teams in the league.

Your setup gives an unfair advantage/disadvantage to certain teams.

[Devil's Advocate]But some might argue that even with a serpentine draft the difference in value between first round picks outweighs the net difference in value in the later rounds so that serpentine by its very nature gives an unfair advantage to the teams drafting first. Your argument that the "best teams" are going to be in the same division basically supports this notion. Putting the teams with that draft-position advantage in a division with teams having a similar advantage could be seen as a way to counter the advantage gained from the serpentine position. This way, you may not have the best TEAM in the playoffs, but you might be closer to identifying the best OWNERS in the playoffs because the advantage from draft position is somewhat negated by the impact of division alignment.

Furthermore since the players pick their draft spot and their division at the same time, they are fully aware of the consequences of the pick and can then weigh whether the advantage of draft position is worth playing other players with that same advantage, or whether playing supposedly weaker competition is enough to overcome poor draft position. It is the players choice to make (for those who don't get the last draft selection). If draft position were just randomly assigned I might be a bit more skeptical of the setup.

[/Devil's Advocate]

I think in any type of competition, you want the best of the league to go onto the playoffs. This setup does not allow for that. This setup basically cuts the leagues into three tiers within the league, rather than divisions.

 

[fridayfrenzy]

There will be 12 teams in the league divided into three, 4-team divisions. Each 3 seasons, the divisions will be chosen based on the draft order. East Division: 1, 6, 9, 10. Central Division: 2, 4, 8, 12. West Division: 3, 5, 7, 11

If you assign each draft spot a strength number, this setup has fair divisions.

Fair for who though. Just because a guys is unlucky enough to draw the short straw and get the 9th pick he should be in the division with LJ. So you have to pick 9th plus you are stuck in the division with the 1st pick which in recent years the top picks have had a slight advantage because of players available.

Each team has similar overall opponent strength in their division though.The 9th team has the same competition within their division to the teams who drafted 7th and 8th and their respective divisions.

 

[JimmyD]

No such thing as the best spot to draft from when 12+ humans are involved. I mean if you had a draft with 12 people using the exact DD spreadsheet it still wouldn't fall like the DD mocked.

Throw in different rankings. Throw in homerism. Throw in perceptions from last year. Throw in gut feelings. Throw in I hate that player. Throw in must-haves this year. Throw in injuries. Throw in free agents. Throw in trades. Throw in Beer....

And who knows where the value falls, it changes from round to round.

Really the only fair way to do divisions is to pick names randomly.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I assume you will have the 5-8 choice, otherwise if you land a top 4 pick take a top 4 pick, if you land 9-12 you get whats left.

1. Look over the last few drafts.

2. Run a mock based off of runs and averages of your league in the DD

3. Circle a few teams you would like to have and see if they are all over or bunched together. That should give you a decent idea of what spot you feel the best drafting from that should give you the best shot at drafting the guys you are high on, not guys the DD is high on.

That's really more for your avatar than your post. But I like your idea of identifying the teams you'd like to have.

 

[Tyranny]

In a serpentine draft ,outside of the first three, I actually like the 12th position and 11th. You can double up your picks and are going to end up with at least two decent rated rb's or a decent rb and great wr, or even two top wr's. With two picks in a row it is also easy to "guide" the draft in the direction you would like it to go. If you feel that a run is going to come up in one position, you can pick two top talents in another position and make some owners panic. Now this has backfired during the draft but worked it's self out trading during the season. Plus after you pick it takes forever to come back around to you so you can pick up on a waitress or if at home you can get something to eat like Cheetos, surf porn get you member orange, freak the doctor out the next day.....

 

[ProdigyofParcells]

In a serpentine draft ,outside of the first three, I actually like the 12th position and 11th. You can double up your picks and are going to end up with at least two decent rated rb's or a decent rb and great wr, or even two top wr's. With two picks in a row it is also easy to "guide" the draft in the direction you would like it to go. If you feel that a run is going to come up in one position, you can pick two top talents in another position and make some owners panic. Now this has backfired during the draft but worked it's self out trading during the season. Plus after you pick it takes forever to come back around to you so you can pick up on a waitress or if at home you can get something to eat like Cheetos, surf porn get you member orange, freak the doctor out the next day.....

My league is 14 teams. The strategy part is that you pick your slot. For example, if I draw out of the hat the 4th slot, I can take 4 or any spot down. My thinking is that after the top 4 backs I have ranked, the rest are grouped in the same tier as the 6th ranked guy on my rb ratings is maybe 10 points better than 12. Throw in the fact that someone will snag a WR and maybe a QB, and its a good 12 backs out of 14. My thinking is pick 11 at this stage so I can be in better position in round 2. Our league also has the option of going 3 wr and 1 rb or 2 and 2 with a mandatory TE.

Any suggestions? Im leading towards snaggin 2 WRs in the first 3 rounds and stocking up on rbs after that.

 

[Mungo Burrows]

Your divisions as a whole are unfair. If you assign each draft spot a number based on where they draft, because in a perfect world the #1 pick would be the best and the 12th pick would be the worst, then your setup is unfair.

In your setup you are pitting the best teams, average teams and worst teams against each other, instead of making it even across the board. Why should the worst teams get the advantage of playing weaker competition? Your teams heading to the playoffs will not be the best teams in the league.

Your setup gives an unfair advantage/disadvantage to certain teams.

[Devil's Advocate]But some might argue that even with a serpentine draft the difference in value between first round picks outweighs the net difference in value in the later rounds so that serpentine by its very nature gives an unfair advantage to the teams drafting first. Your argument that the "best teams" are going to be in the same division basically supports this notion. Putting the teams with that draft-position advantage in a division with teams having a similar advantage could be seen as a way to counter the advantage gained from the serpentine position. This way, you may not have the best TEAM in the playoffs, but you might be closer to identifying the best OWNERS in the playoffs because the advantage from draft position is somewhat negated by the impact of division alignment.

Furthermore since the players pick their draft spot and their division at the same time, they are fully aware of the consequences of the pick and can then weigh whether the advantage of draft position is worth playing other players with that same advantage, or whether playing supposedly weaker competition is enough to overcome poor draft position. It is the players choice to make (for those who don't get the last draft selection). If draft position were just randomly assigned I might be a bit more skeptical of the setup.

[/Devil's Advocate]

I think in any type of competition, you want the best of the league to go onto the playoffs. This setup does not allow for that. This setup basically cuts the leagues into three tiers within the league, rather than divisions.

And FF is a competition between owners, not the players they select. I want the best owners to be rewarded with success, not the ones who randomly drew a #1 out of a hat in August. If the very nature of the draft does create tiers of teams as you claim, this setup lets an owner prove his mettle in any of three tiers against owners with similar circumstances. I don't necessarily like the setup but I certainly am not about to dismiss it as anymore unfair than most league setups.