Excellent article about online draft boards (1 Viewer)

[ppierce]

I have been paying attention to this for years but this is the first time i've ever seen an article written about it. Matter of fact, i just entered my leagues draft room yesterday to check the rankings out.

Kudos to the writer for being original.

http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/38636/71/abusing-the-pre-draft-rankings

 

[glong989]

Thanks for that. I've never participated in an online draft but will be coming up soon.

The league also should be about 50% people that will fall into this category of using the list as a crutch so I will definitely take this into account when mapping out how I want to attack this.

What are some of everyone's experiences with online drafts that provide rankings combined with guys that aren't as prepared who end up taking one of the top few guys according to the sites ranks/ADP? Obviously I should be mindful of the rankings when looking ahead and pick guys I like accordingly if they would be projected to be gone.

 

[DoubleG]

Thanks for that. I've never participated in an online draft but will be coming up soon.

Actually, you can "take advantage" of that knowledge even if you don't do an online draft. Many "less serious" FF players will simply print rankings from one of the websites listed and bring it to the live draft (often from the site the league is hosted by). If you have copies of the various rankings, you will quickly know what rankings that person(s) is using and can draft accordingly. It is a very good article but with one minor flaw - what if different people are using different rankings...or what if one or two aren't "following the sheet"? Even in a 10 team league, you only need 1 or 2 other semi-serious players to mess up that type of assumed knowledge draft practice. But hey, any edge is an edge and every little bit helps.

 

[glong989]

Thanks for that. I've never participated in an online draft but will be coming up soon.

Actually, you can "take advantage" of that knowledge even if you don't do an online draft. Many "less serious" FF players will simply print rankings from one of the websites listed and bring it to the live draft (often from the site the league is hosted by). If you have copies of the various rankings, you will quickly know what rankings that person(s) is using and can draft accordingly. It is a very good article but with one minor flaw - what if different people are using different rankings...or what if one or two aren't "following the sheet"? Even in a 10 team league, you only need 1 or 2 other semi-serious players to mess up that type of assumed knowledge draft practice. But hey, any edge is an edge and every little bit helps.

I don't necessarily think you can tell about the rankings a guy is using just by his draft choices in a live setting. They can get caught up in other things and talking to people while it's a different situation if they are by themselves in front of a computer with a list in their face.

In an online setting the list is right there so less serious guys are going to rely on that after the first couple rounds and maybe sooner. However, I wouldn't simply assume the rest of the league was using the sites ADP/rankings as scripture because I know some guys follow this closely and use different places for information. I know my league mates well and who is good and who is not come draft day. I'll be able to look ahead and see who has a picks before my next one and draft accordingly when projecting if a player I may want should be gone before I get to him.

 

[ppierce]

Thanks for that. I've never participated in an online draft but will be coming up soon.

Actually, you can "take advantage" of that knowledge even if you don't do an online draft. Many "less serious" FF players will simply print rankings from one of the websites listed and bring it to the live draft (often from the site the league is hosted by). If you have copies of the various rankings, you will quickly know what rankings that person(s) is using and can draft accordingly. It is a very good article but with one minor flaw - what if different people are using different rankings...or what if one or two aren't "following the sheet"? Even in a 10 team league, you only need 1 or 2 other semi-serious players to mess up that type of assumed knowledge draft practice. But hey, any edge is an edge and every little bit helps.

I don't think the writter intended on using that as gospel. Just another tool to use. I use it more for my sleepers. Its true that if you skip over a lot of guys on the list you get riddiculed in your draft. I did it last year with H. Nicks. Jumped a lot of WR's to draft him and was right.

 

[JadeRaven]

Ha! Wish I had seen this article earlier, but just last night I had a draft on ESPN and of those guys they list I ended up with a ton of those guys listed.

Players listed lower overall than expected:

23. Larry Fitzgerald

65. Shonn Greene

66. Brandon Marshall

70. Mark Ingram

92. Reggie Bush

107. Matthew Stafford

112. Julio Jones

Who to scroll down for:

144. Mike Sims-Walker

161. Rashad Jennings

165. Ben Tate

186. Danny Amendola

187. Jared Cook

193. Emmanuel Sanders

198. Aaron Hernandez

288. Denarius Moore

291. Lance Kendricks

Granted, it was a 10-team, no money league, where I think only about half really had a clue. I went in and immediately realized that folks were going off the top of the rankings (and we have 3 of 10 who autopicked), and was able to take all those guys much later than their ADP would have suggested simply because I knew none of the other guys were considering them being farther down the list.

 

[FDC]

What are some of everyone's experiences with online drafts that provide rankings combined with guys that aren't as prepared who end up taking one of the top few guys according to the sites ranks/ADP? Obviously I should be mindful of the rankings when looking ahead and pick guys I like accordingly if they would be projected to be gone.

I'm convinced it is a big deal even in leagues with smart guys. So much so I build a strategy through mocks for each league site. In ESPN this year especially... you can (hope) to get a Greene, Ingram, Marshall 2-3 rounds later than usual. It makes reaching for a TE or QB early so much easier when you know you are likely to get a Green, Ingram, Marshall. And if they don't fall? Reggie Bush is 92nd. It pays to know the outliers in EVERY league IMO.

 

[DoubleG]

Thanks for that. I've never participated in an online draft but will be coming up soon.

Actually, you can "take advantage" of that knowledge even if you don't do an online draft. Many "less serious" FF players will simply print rankings from one of the websites listed and bring it to the live draft (often from the site the league is hosted by). If you have copies of the various rankings, you will quickly know what rankings that person(s) is using and can draft accordingly. It is a very good article but with one minor flaw - what if different people are using different rankings...or what if one or two aren't "following the sheet"? Even in a 10 team league, you only need 1 or 2 other semi-serious players to mess up that type of assumed knowledge draft practice. But hey, any edge is an edge and every little bit helps.

I don't necessarily think you can tell about the rankings a guy is using just by his draft choices in a live setting. They can get caught up in other things and talking to people while it's a different situation if they are by themselves in front of a computer with a list in their face.

Sure you can. Walk over by him to get a (chip/pretzel/wing/nacho/donut) and look down.

 

[Jason Wood]

I think the article speaks to an interesting angle, but having just completed the inaugural draft of a new league put together by my fishing club, where half the guys had little to no experience, I can tell you that access to draft boards and cheat sheets is far more annoying to the experience players than a possible advantage to use against them. Realistically you can't do anything about the fact that you still have X picks in between your own, and guys are going to fly off the board.

In the old days, when newbs were drafting on gut, there was a lot greater chance you would see those jaw-dropping picks that just screamed absurdity. But not today. I had guys taking people like Denarius Moore and Delone Carter and Andre Roberts last night even though they literally had no idea who they were. Frustrating.