Non-Playoff teams - What went wrong? (1 Viewer)

[Scoresman]

Every year around this time I try to assess what went wrong with my non-playoff teams, with particular focus on the draft.

Using my main auction league for this year, I went in with the following plan this year

1. Get an elite RB with a no history of injury, I succeeded here, but it was Chubb.
2. Willing to go a bit above budget on Kelce. Turns out someone else was willing to go even higher so I dodged a bullet there.
3. Go fo mid-range WRs who have potential to become elite. My main trio through the year was Ridley, Lockett, and Addison.
4. Get an elite running QB. (League gives bonus for running rbs). Got Hurts. Happy with it.

Obviously the Chubb injury hurt, but not as bad because I got Kyren through FA so the replacement player points were mostly there. My main issue was underachieving WRs. None of them really came close to the ceilings I considered and it hurt. I also had Gabe Davis and seemed to start him EVERY week he put up a zero.

Not sure how any of this modifies my plan for next year. May try the elite WR strategy and wait on RB a bit. Kelce has come back down to the pack, so paying a premium for him will no longer be worth it. One thing I will be doing is doing some sort of analysis on player scoring consistency using standard deviations to avoid drafting guys like Gabe Davis and having to deal with being wrong week in week out. One thing all of the playoff teams have in my league are guys who score much more consistently.

 

[Ilov80s]

Keeper team where I had pushed hard to win last year and just didn't have great options. That combined with Cooper Kupp falling to near the end of round 1 right after being cleared from the initial hammy set me up in a bad spot. Ditto for Calvin Ridley sliding and me taking him despite on the drive over to the draft discussing how much I didn't believe in him. So I guess, more than anything, I went for value over my convictions.

 

[Ashem]

Last year I won my main dynasty league. Second highest total points and all play during the regular season. I thought I had a good chance to run it back.

I got hit with a lot of injuries early (Ekeler, Chubb, a bunch of key IDP's) and my WR's were non-existent, but to me, it comes down to 1 key decision. After Week 1, I was deciding between which 2 IDP guys to grab off of waivers. I grabbed Player A and started off 1-9. If I grabbed Player B, I would have started 7-3 and definitely been in the playoffs.

 

[ignatiusjreilly]

12-team PPR redraft. My picks:

R1: Saquon
R2: Davante
R3: AJones
R4: London
R5: Burrow
R6: Javonte
R7: Dotson

Did get Flowers late, and picked up Puka after W1. But the injuries, inconsistent play and bad luck doomed me. Finished 2-12 and in last place for the first time in my 20 years playing fantasy

 

[Gally]

I grabbed Player A and started off 1-9. If I grabbed Player B, I would have started 7-3 and definitely been in the playoffs.

Who were the players? No need to protect them by keeping them anonymous....

 

[rockaction]

Who were the players? No need to protect them by keeping them anonymous...

Exactly what I thought.

 

[rockaction]

My non-playoff team in the FFA scored second in points but had apparently some huge variance going on. It's not even like I had a ton of points against; I just lost too many games. The one that will stick in my craw is not setting my lineup correctly one week and leaving Aaron Jones in over Jakobi Meyers when the teams played each other Sunday or Monday night. Jones never dressed, Meyers scored like twenty points, and I would have won. Cost me a playoff berth. So that was a basic management thing that is totally my fault.

Actually, the drafting and reliance on Aaron Jones probably sunk my team. Games when he wasn't hurt were tough ones as they either managed his workload or he was busy getting hurt again. An albatross in the starting lineup for sure.

 

[Bozeman Bruiser]

Injuries

OCs who don't have my fantasy players best interest in mind when they decide to keep starting awful QBs for my WRs or keep splitting carries with shiny new JAGs for my RBs

Injuries

 

[Chicago Hooligan]

Had McCaffrey → didn't make playoffs → CLOWN MODE ACTIVATED

 

[Scoresman]

My non-playoff team in the FFA scored second in points but had apparently some huge variance going on. It's not even like I had a ton of points against; I just lost too many games. The one that will stick in my craw is not setting my lineup correctly one week and leaving Aaron Jones in over Jakobi Meyers when the teams played each other Sunday or Monday night. Jones never dressed, Meyers scored like twenty points, and I would have won. Cost me a playoff berth. So that was a basic management thing that is totally my fault.

Actually, the drafting and reliance on Aaron Jones probably sunk my team. Games when he wasn't hurt were tough ones as they either managed his workload or he was busy getting hurt again. An albatross in the starting lineup for sure.

One thing I noticed happening in my leagues this year was crazy stuff with records vs. points scored, more so than usual. For example, the points leader in one league went 9-5, while the guy who placed 4th in total points went 14-0. I was 2 games behind the last playoff spot, but only 38 points behind the guy who got it.

 

[zed2283]

What didn't go wrong?

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Drank too much at the draft.

 

[5-ish Finkle]

Bad luck/variance, mostly.

#3 in the league in points, wont be sniffing playoffs. Just about every team in the league has had their best game scoring output against my squad.

 

[Gally]

In my long time league we don't have playoffs. We play straight 18 and it's a 14 team league. Because of that our schedule is to play every team one time (13 games) and then have 5 position weeks. A position week is where 1v2, 3v4, etc......

The team in first place has 2 losses. I have six losses. Three of those losses are against the first place team. A good score in the league is in the 90's. In those three games he is averaging 110 pts against me. Against the rest of the league he is averaging 80 pts per game. Three of my six losses are against him. That is what went wrong this season...Ugh

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

1/6 leagues I missed the playoffs.

What went wrong? Let's see - took Eke at 1.05, 1st time I've ever rostered him What a joy that was. 1 great week then high ankle sprain.
Adams 2.07 - JimmyG was a nightmare, Adams was inconsistent and mediiocre.
3.07 - Tee Higgins, nuff said.

It was a 12-team IDP PPR 1QB league, and amusingly the power rankings on CBS say I'm the 5th best team. I also faced the highest scoring team in the league 4 different weeks, and the timing of BYEs + injuries was just awful. I don't think I had my drafted starting lineup on the field one time after week 1.

So what went wrong? Pretty much everything that could go wrong. I like my chances in the Loser Bowl though.

 

[TampaMike19]

I drafted the wrong players and everyone else drafted the right players.

If you draft 2 to 3 busts to adp, you’re taking 2 to 3 busts away from your league mates. It’s just a huge domino effect during a draft in what is totally a zero sum game.

 

[jm192]

My main $$ league with friends: I've finished 2nd 3 years in a row. I told everyone this was the year. The draft went I thought really well.

1st round: Justin Jefferson
2nd round: Jonathan Taylor
3rd round: DK Metcalf
4th round: Jeudy--just knew he was going to blow up this year
5th round: Justin Fields
6th round: Waller
7th: Pacheco

A few weeks into the season I managed to trade Gabe Davis and Jahan Dotson for Breece Hall.

Jefferson missed a huge chunk of the season. Taylor missed the first 4 weeks. Fields missed time. Waller missesd a ton of time. I was just horrifically wrong on Jeudy. At some point someone on a podcast offered up the idea "Is it THAT crazy that Sutton could be the one? And he's going so much later." In hindsight, that was sage advice.

 

[jobarules]

3 of my first 5 picks were complete and utter busts (JJ, Mahomes, Akers)

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Everything that could go wrong, did. After 4 weeks, I was 2-2 and was leading the league by about 80 points scored. Then it all went to hell. Mike Williams went down for the year, Jefferson got hurt. Henry & Mixon were wildly inconsistent. The Raiders imploded, nuking Adams' value. I made some horrific last-minute lineup changes that cost me 3 wins. Every time it looked like Goff was getting set to go on a roll, he'd throw up a 10 point week. My points-against are almost 200 more than any other team. Having to start guys like Josh Downs & Romeo Dobbs does not a good season make.

 

[davidwb]

1) Joe Burrow injuries -- and it turned out that the other 13 teams in my 14-team league all drafted two QBs to start the season, so not much left over. I've been fortunate in seasons past to draft QBs that didn't have serious injuries -- I'll have to reconsider for next year.
2) Arthur Smith (Bijan owner).

 

[Gold Fox]

12 Team redraft Superflex PPR auction

Finished 9th with 6-8 record

1. Goose was cooked when Chubb and Barkley both got injured in Week 2. Those two players represented 35% of my team’s total value. It was an uphill battle the rest of the season. I immediately lost the next two games against divisional opponents. Barkley eventually came back from injury, but not at the same level.

2. My auction draft selections at WR were poor. Toney, Burks, Pickens, and Godwin all underperformed simultaneously. These were busts.

3. I overloaded on what turned out to be bad teams: NYG, PIT. Daniel Jones and Kenny Pickett were my 2nd and 3rd QBs. Also had Waller at TE. A little more diversification would have helped.

 

[Ray Barboni]

Only missed the playoffs in 1 of 4 leagues. That one was due to injuries.

Started without JT. Lost Chubb, Mike Williams, and Mark Andrews. Then Rhamondre, and then JT (again).

Nothing much I could do about anything after all of that.

 

[Deamon]

Heads, and Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

 

[madmatg]

Dynasty league 16 teams:
2nd most points scored and 1st most points against. Had CMC and Purdy.

I was band-aiding at WR with Thielen as my wr2
It seemed genus for the first half of the season then it got bumpy at the end. If he had kept rolling I might have still made the playoffs

 

[travdogg]

Not leading the league in points every week. Every week I didn't I played the team that did.

Its funny, I have 5 teams, and the one that missed the playoffs, was BY FAR the best one. Naturally, that was also the highest stakes league.

 

[Desert_Power]

In a Keep 4 standard league, I was getting 125 average points against in the first 4 weeks. Still an absurd lead in points against combined with a middle of the road squad. Some killer early draft picks (Wilson, Akers, Dionte Johnson, and Gibson) didn't help. At least I moved AJ Brown (for Chubb and a first) to help secure the 1st pick next year.