Post Your "Upside Down" Draft Results (1 Viewer)

[Shutout]

Would be nice to see the results of this strategy but I don't think you'll get a good picture. after looking at what a lot of people posted in August, most of those teams looked like they died at RB this year.

I'm guessing the people that will come to post are the ones that found Beanie and FJAX and Sproles (or traded after a poor start), but the majority of people that had bad years have already packed it in and won't bother to add to this thread.

Overall, I think a real simple conclusion on "upside down" drafting is that its best chance to work is when the other positions can avoid an "upside down" year. For instance, when the WR studs are the the ones you would expect, you can survive/flourish with Nicks and AJ and Calvin, etc. But if you load up on those guys and they get hurt or a good number of surprises like a welker, then your team is much less effective.

 

[firstseason1988]

I always use this theory in lower than 12 team leagues. In a 10 team and 8 team league. I drafted Andre Johnson in the 1st. I am in 1st place in both. Got Calvin in 2nd in both and took Stafford late in both, 8 team took VJax in 3rd and 10 team took Harvin in 3rd. I guess I got Harvin in 5th in 8 team league.

After doing it for years, it has been my experience that in less than 12 team leagues, decent RBs are in pretty good supply on the waiver wire, especially when you factor in injuries. Everyone can't handcuff all backups or don't know to, of course this depends on roster size in your league. While most teams you can't really handcuff WRs, it's not a position you can just plug a player into, for the most part.

 

[cubbie5150]

Waiting until the 4th Rd (12 team redraft) to grab my first RB netted me some startable RBs. Unfortunately, it makes for difficult weekly lineup decisions. Other than week 12, I never start the correct guy(s) out of Beanie/Greene/McGahee/DWill. It's like any other position though: having a "stud" makes such decisions easier in most cases. I lead my league by a wide margin in bench points scored. I'm still 3rd in my league in scoring, but sitting at 7-6, needing to win week 14 to get into the playoffs (we play our championship week 17.....yeah, I know.....). The marginalization of Megatron/Steve Smith have really hurt my cause the past few weeks; those guys made up for my bad lineup decisions @ RB....now those mistakes are lethal since my "studs" aren't producing (Brady was pedestrian for a stretch also, coinciding w/ a 3 game losing streak)

 

[Instinctive]

Would be nice to see the results of this strategy but I don't think you'll get a good picture. after looking at what a lot of people posted in August, most of those teams looked like they died at RB this year.I'm guessing the people that will come to post are the ones that found Beanie and FJAX and Sproles (or traded after a poor start), but the majority of people that had bad years have already packed it in and won't bother to add to this thread. Overall, I think a real simple conclusion on "upside down" drafting is that its best chance to work is when the other positions can avoid an "upside down" year. For instance, when the WR studs are the the ones you would expect, you can survive/flourish with Nicks and AJ and Calvin, etc. But if you load up on those guys and they get hurt or a good number of surprises like a welker, then your team is much less effective.

The RBs I have left from the team I drafted are Brandon Jacobs, CJ Spiller, Ben Tate, and Willis McGaheeWhat hurt me the most was picking the wrong QB in Rivers early on as well as Jahvid Best to IR. I have found RB options week to week when my guys went down, like Kevin Smith, Greg Little (flex), Roy Helu (now starts for me), Chris Ogbonnaya (got two games I think) - the strategy worked perfectly for me at the RB position, the problem was that I picked the wrong QB and TEs...One thing I learned the most is that I definitely trust in my ability to find RBs week-to-week, but I need to trust myself more on which specific players I want rather than"value." In most leagues, I have Jimmy Graham. Int my upside down league I took Witten b/c he "fell" to me. Turns out I should have trusted in my Graham-crush.I made the playoffs with my team this year, but my mistakes at QB and TE have hurt me enough to push me to a 4th seed, whereas in previous years I had the right QBs and TEs when I picked them early.

 

[Mello]

10 team league - 1QB, 3WR, 2RB, 1W/T, 1PK, 1D, 4/pass TD, no PPR. Picked from the 10 spot.1. (10) Andre Johnson (Hou - WR)2. (11) Calvin Johnson (Det - WR)3. (30) Vincent Jackson (SD - WR)4. (31) Steven Jackson (StL - RB)5. (50) Jahvid Best (Det - RB)6. (51) Mario Manningham (NYG - WR)7. (70) Matt Schaub (Hou - QB)8. (71) New York (NYJ - DEF)9. (90) Ryan Mathews (SD - RB)10. (91) Felix Jones (Dal - RB)11. (110) Mike Thomas (Jac - WR)12. (111) Josh Freeman (TB - QB)13. (130) Lance Moore (NO - WR)14. (131) Lee Evans (Bal - WR)15. (150) Alex Henery (Phi - K)

Well, going to end up 2nd in this league. 3rd in points. Was in 1st most of the time but I'm limping into the playoffs. Tebow's my QB now, got Murray to help my RBs, but from what I thought would be a dominating WR corp Manningham was crap and having him made me reluctant to jump on Cruz, VJ inconsistent, AJ injured, and CJ was awesome but is trailing off in recent weeks. I've been having to start guys like Decker, Baldwin, and Damian Williams. My RBs have been good enough. Best and Matthews carried me early on, SJax and Murray have been good later on. Can't say I'm confident for the playoffs though.

 

[cvnpoka]

10 team league - 1QB, 3WR, 2RB, 1W/T, 1PK, 1D, 4/pass TD, no PPR. Picked from the 10 spot.1. (10) Andre Johnson (Hou - WR)2. (11) Calvin Johnson (Det - WR)3. (30) Vincent Jackson (SD - WR)4. (31) Steven Jackson (StL - RB)5. (50) Jahvid Best (Det - RB)6. (51) Mario Manningham (NYG - WR)7. (70) Matt Schaub (Hou - QB)8. (71) New York (NYJ - DEF)9. (90) Ryan Mathews (SD - RB)10. (91) Felix Jones (Dal - RB)11. (110) Mike Thomas (Jac - WR)12. (111) Josh Freeman (TB - QB)13. (130) Lance Moore (NO - WR)14. (131) Lee Evans (Bal - WR)15. (150) Alex Henery (Phi - K)

Well, going to end up 2nd in this league. 3rd in points. Was in 1st most of the time but I'm limping into the playoffs. Tebow's my QB now, got Murray to help my RBs, but from what I thought would be a dominating WR corp Manningham was crap and having him made me reluctant to jump on Cruz, VJ inconsistent, AJ injured, and CJ was awesome but is trailing off in recent weeks. I've been having to start guys like Decker, Baldwin, and Damian Williams. My RBs have been good enough. Best and Matthews carried me early on, SJax and Murray have been good later on. Can't say I'm confident for the playoffs though.

mathews in the 9th is unreal. the jets in the 8th is really bad pick.

 

[FF Ninja]

mathews in the 9th is unreal. the jets in the 8th is really bad pick.

First thing I thought when I saw that, too. I never saw Mathews fall that far, possibly because I could never let him fall past the 5th even if I was set at RB.

 

[Major]

1.8 Megatron

2.4 Jennings

3.8 Brady

4.4 Matthews

5.8 Beanie

6.4 Steve Smith

*Arian was a 7th round keeper

 

[verratti]

5 Andre Johnson, Hou WR

20 Calvin Johnson, Det WR

29 Hakeem Nicks, NYG WR

44 Felix Jones, Dal RB

53 Ben Roethlisberger, Pit QB

68 Mark Ingram, NO RB

77 Cedric Benson, Cin RB

92 Reggie Bush, Mia RB

101 Matthew Stafford, Det QB

116 Jacoby Ford, Oak WR

125 Patriots D/ST D/ST

140 Rob Gronkowski, NE TE

149 Bernard Scott, Cin RB

164 Jason Hanson, Det K

Traded Andre for Aquin Boldin when AJ got hurt...and Gronkowski has been a godsend... playoffs start this week and I'm 4th seed in a 12 team league...Wish I hadn't dropped Reggie Bush and Mark Ingram as I'm looking at starting 2 of the following: Benson/Gerhart/DonaldBrown/MoMorris at this point..