Season Success Not Entirely Based on Draft (1 Viewer)

[MrJimiT]

Seeing some of the other threads going around, I started to think about the players I picked up AFTER my draft day that were instrumental to my team's success. I was actually very surprised at what I discovered:

FJackson, JThomas, KC Chiefs, RJennings, KAllen, ZStacy, MPrater (bye week casualty from another team)

This is not meant to be a brag session thread, but rather a dubious thought process. We (more specifically I) put a tremendous amount of thought and time into the preseason draft. Rightly so...it's one of the most fun parts of the year. But equal time and effort and expectation should be given to the wire and news along the way. For my team became transformed based equally in part due to players acquired (collectively) during the season.

After 17, now 18 years of FF....this is not some new revelation to me, but rather a verification/validation that a draft that didn't quite go as planned....STILL has a real shot at being somewhat successful. Does LUCK come into play? Yes of course. But I believe you can help your LUCK level along the way as well with some keen attention.

If you care, share some of the players you've acquired along the way that ended up being a big part of your team week in and week out.

 

[ImTheScientist]

Luck is a part of it, but it takes skill to have the ability to look over the waiver wire and grab quality.

I think next year in my drafts Im going to just try to pull for sure studs like Graham, Calvin Johnson, Brees/Manning....guys like that instead of wasting my time on a middle of the road RB. Then use the waiver wire to fill in my deficiances at RB. Just seems RB is so largely unpredictable that people would be much better off with an upside down draft and waiting till rounds 5-8 to snag RBs.

 

[Dickies]

The only players still in my lineup from my draft are AJ Green, A.Gates, and Denver DEF. I would have dropped Den except my league has limited add/drops. Playing for the championships this weekend. Granted, my drafted team was good, but injuries have plagued it. Foles and Jeffery have been a great replacement to Matt Ryan and Julio Jones.

 

[jurb26]

Rarely does a team make it through a season and into the playoffs/championship with the majority of players being guys drafted. Doing so requires both some skill and luck. Skill to draft a team that was deep enough to navigate injuries and byes. Lucky enough that that you didn't have too many injuries and you're "shot" picks mostly worked out. I had one such team this year. It's probably the first time in a bout 10 years it's happened though.

 

[fbelange]

I drafted:

Luck
Murray, Gio, Vereen
Gordon, Demaryius, Marshall
Olsen, Gates
Janikowski
Pats D

I'm starting week 16:
Luck
Murray, Gio
Gordon, Demaryius, Marshall
Olsen
Vereen
Tucker
Pats D


Draft matters...more than a lot of waiver wire lovers will like to admit

 

[MattFancy]

I think draft matters. My best team, IMO is mainly made up of guys I drafted:

QB: Rivers (FA), Rodgers (Trade) Originally drafted RG3

RB: Charles (Draft), Gore (Draft), Vereen (Draft), Woodhead (Trade)

WR: Dez (Draft), Garcon (Draft), White (Trade), Allen (FA)

TE: Cameron (Draft)

Yes, there were a bunch of good FA finds like Moreno, JThomas, RJennings, Chiefs D, Panthers D, Allen, etc., but I still think the draft plays an important role in the success of your team. If you draft well, you can take more chances on the FAs IMO. If you don't draft well, you're constantly burning up FAAB money or using that top waiver claim to get someone.

 

[MrJimiT]

I think draft matters...

...If you draft well, you can take more chances on the FAs IMO. If you don't draft well, you're constantly burning up FAAB money or using that top waiver claim to get someone.

Totally agreed with you here. The OP was not to negate the effects of a good draft. Just that in some cases (luck factor) FA's can be good for your team as well. Certainly number of teams, bench size, etc. has much to do with keeping original drafted teams....I get it. Good point about the drafting well....gives you wiggle room to acquire well.

 

[Insein]

Only guys left playing from my draft are Lacy, DJax, Alex Smith and Josh Gordon. The rest are free agents or trades.

 

[Cyclones]

I'm only starting my 1st (Charles) and 4th (Lacy) round picks in my championship game. Rodgers (2nd) and Julio (3rd) fell victim to injuries.

Of the other guys I drafted, I traded Welker, Witten, Blackmon, Tate, and Harvin at various points during the season. Wallace and Andre Brown were waived, and I've been streaming defenses and kickers all year. Now, I did turn Welker, Witten, Blackmon, Tate, and Harvin (and Zac Stacy from WW) into Reggie Bush, Josh Gordon and Jordy Nelson, so I still feel the guys I drafted were important to my success. My starting QB (Cutler,) WR2 (Jeffery,) and TE (Walker) all came off the wire along with my DST and K.

 

[zftcg]

I think it all comes down to Luck ... I drafted him and am in the finals

Seriously, in previous seasons I didn't draft particularly well, but was able to salvage my season on the WW. One year, my roster in the championship game consisted of one player that I drafted and a bunch of WW reclamation projects (of course, that player happened to be Rodgers, but still).

This year, however, I drafted particularly well. In my 14-team league, where I finished in first but got Foles-ified in the semifinals, I drafted Stafford, Lacy, Moreno, Marshall, Gordon and Cameron, while my only significant WW contributions have come from Vereen, Andre Brown and Blackmon. In another, where I had the highest points and am playing for the championship, I drafted Luck, Charles, Bush (and JBell) and VJax, with WW contributions from Allen and Blackmon. It's also helped that both teams have stayed relatively healthy, with only Gronk (who I traded for) suffering a season ender (plus Blackmon's suspension).

I'd say the biggest difference that drafting well has made is that my regular season records were much better than they've been in previous years. However, by the time you get to the playoffs, I think it's not nearly as big of an impact. If you play the WW right and sniff out opportunities, you can construct a playoff roster that is just as strong as a well-drafted one.

 

[zamboni]

I drafted:

Luck

Murray, Gio, Vereen

Gordon, Demaryius, Marshall

Olsen, Gates

Janikowski

Pats D

I'm starting week 16:

Luck

Murray, Gio

Gordon, Demaryius, Marshall

Olsen

Vereen

Tucker

Pats D

Draft matters...more than a lot of waiver wire lovers will like to admit

Draft absolutely matters in setting one's team core, but you also very fortunate to not have experienced big injuries there outside of Vereen.

 

[Shutout]

Even in my dyansty leagues where the rosters are largely set coming in, I can almost always measure the success fo the team by my efforts/results in the waiver wire. Teams change year to year. Players do too. Even if you went in with Julio, Cruz, David Martin, etc, you find that each season requires tweaking as you go.

 

[DirtyCashDylan]

I wont post my lineup since I already did in the other thread but im the guy with no one but Steven Jackson left and still playing for the chip in a 12 teamer. Draft matters but having a bunch of early busts is an advantage in a league with resetting waiver priority and unlimited adds. I was able to preemptively pick up guys like Alshon, Jennings and KC while the guys with talented rosters waited.

 

[snogger]

Will probably finish 2nd this year( combined two weeks for championship).. I'm down 62 points thanks to my opponent having both Jamaal and Alex Smith playing last week.

Went back and looked at my draft and think the preparation I had for my draft helped set the core of my almost championship team..

Waiver moves and, as some mentioned, luck in the case of few injuries helped the rest..

Biggest bust, in terms of where I drafted him.. C.J. Spiller.. Drafted him as my 1st pick ( 8th overall)..

My next two picks made up for it.. McCoy and Reggie Bush

My next two picks did not pan out Nicks & Coulston..

Drafted Stafford in 6th, Antonio Brown in the 7th & Vernon Davis in the 8th..

Got lucky enough ( or skilled enough if you want to say) to pickup Moreno(9/18), Keenan Allen(10/9) & Foles(10/20) off waivers.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

I'll just throw some notes out there, I didn't get all of these guys...:

Keenan Allen emerged in a game in which he missed out on a TD, if he makes the TD he has a big day and people go nuts on the WW for him. Without it it's a quiet but effective day and it was apparent he was about to emerge. People doubted on the numbers, but the situation was there and so was the talent.

Julius Thomas - I would love to look back at the Julius thread and see what was the moment people knew he was going to get his chances ahead of Dreesen and Tamme. That discussion had been going on for a while and he could never see daylight. When was that moment? Because the only way you could be sure you could get him was if you drafted him. I passed, I regretted it because in one league I have had somewhere around 15 TEs this year.

Josh Gordon - you had to see him last year, see some of the long plays, see him score, and then know what Norv Turner would bring to the table.

Zach Stacy - They were benching Richardson, but that first weekend when it happened, who would get the start? Cunningham? Pead? Was the move from Richardson one of those mirages? There were really four RBs to choose from and a lot of the local news resources were turning up confused notes that didn't really point to Stacy.

Foles, DJax - I don't know about you but I knew I wanted every piece of the Eagles offense from week 1, and even before the draft it was said that Kelly would be awesome for Vick, DJax and Maclin (and supposedly the TEs, but apparently not any one specific TE, oh well). I traded for Vick when he got hurt (that seemed like madness) and I picked up Foles off the WW and traded away Wilson, one way or another I was going to get the Eagles QB. I had Foles last year too based on his play in college, but needless to say that did not work out like this.

Vereen - I worked on this one, trying to figure out who would replace the Hernandez/Lloyd/Welker numbers. I basically went after everyone in the Pats offense in a 52-pickup manner, and Vereen was the guy who stuck. Pats watchers called this one, and you just had to look at the Jets and Texans games last year to see what might happen. I hope this continues on and didn't get stuck last week with Gronk going down and the Phins gameplan. Drafted him, never cut him.

LeVeon Bell - all the talk was all Lacy all the time, Bell has gotten a ton of usage in an offense that needs him.

Andre Brown - he had a great 3 game or so streak that got me over the hump. Added him early in the season and waited.

Others I wish I had gotten: Rivers, Antonio Brown.

Didn't pan out: Sanders.

 

[habsfan]

What I would add is that there's an interplay between the draft and mining the wire, in that I only mine the wire to the extent that I need to. If I draft well at RB and stay healthy, I'm likely to pass on Bobby Rainey (for instance) even though he may well prove to be better than what I have simply because I don't need him. If I draft poorly and or have poor health/luck, I am working the wire way more aggressively.

 

[zftcg]

What I would add is that there's an interplay between the draft and mining the wire, in that I only mine the wire to the extent that I need to. If I draft well at RB and stay healthy, I'm likely to pass on Bobby Rainey (for instance) even though he may well prove to be better than what I have simply because I don't need him. If I draft poorly and or have poor health/luck, I am working the wire way more aggressively.

I find that tends to be more true at positions like QB and TE. When it comes to RB/WR, I'm always looking to pick people up because you can never have too much depth. I thought I was set when Brown and Vereen came off short-term IR, but I picked them up anyway and ended up starting both for multiple weeks. On the other hand, there have been plenty of seasons where a strong WW QB emerged (Foles this year, Newton in his rookie year) and I didn't bother picking him up because I was set at that position.

 

[Warrior]

Luck is a part of it, but it takes skill to have the ability to look over the waiver wire and grab quality.

I think next year in my drafts Im going to just try to pull for sure studs like Graham, Calvin Johnson, Brees/Manning....guys like that instead of wasting my time on a middle of the road RB. Then use the waiver wire to fill in my deficiances at RB. Just seems RB is so largely unpredictable that people would be much better off with an upside down draft and waiting till rounds 5-8 to snag RBs.

Yeah, taking JC in the first round really hurt me this season...don't know what I was thinking.

 

[MoveToSkypager]

Even in my dyansty leagues where the rosters are largely set coming in, I can almost always measure the success fo the team by my efforts/results in the waiver wire. Teams change year to year. Players do too. Even if you went in with Julio, Cruz, David Martin, etc, you find that each season requires tweaking as you go.

David Martin hasn't been on an active roster in 2 years dude.

 

[Judge Smails]

I'll just throw some notes out there, I didn't get all of these guys...:

Keenan Allen emerged in a game in which he missed out on a TD, if he makes the TD he has a big day and people go nuts on the WW for him. Without it it's a quiet but effective day and it was apparent he was about to emerge. People doubted on the numbers, but the situation was there and so was the talent.

Julius Thomas - I would love to look back at the Julius thread and see what was the moment people knew he was going to get his chances ahead of Dreesen and Tamme. That discussion had been going on for a while and he could never see daylight. When was that moment? Because the only way you could be sure you could get him was if you drafted him. I passed, I regretted it because in one league I have had somewhere around 15 TEs this year.

Josh Gordon - you had to see him last year, see some of the long plays, see him score, and then know what Norv Turner would bring to the table.

Zach Stacy - They were benching Richardson, but that first weekend when it happened, who would get the start? Cunningham? Pead? Was the move from Richardson one of those mirages? There were really four RBs to choose from and a lot of the local news resources were turning up confused notes that didn't really point to Stacy.

Foles, DJax - I don't know about you but I knew I wanted every piece of the Eagles offense from week 1, and even before the draft it was said that Kelly would be awesome for Vick, DJax and Maclin (and supposedly the TEs, but apparently not any one specific TE, oh well). I traded for Vick when he got hurt (that seemed like madness) and I picked up Foles off the WW and traded away Wilson, one way or another I was going to get the Eagles QB. I had Foles last year too based on his play in college, but needless to say that did not work out like this.

Vereen - I worked on this one, trying to figure out who would replace the Hernandez/Lloyd/Welker numbers. I basically went after everyone in the Pats offense in a 52-pickup manner, and Vereen was the guy who stuck. Pats watchers called this one, and you just had to look at the Jets and Texans games last year to see what might happen. I hope this continues on and didn't get stuck last week with Gronk going down and the Phins gameplan. Drafted him, never cut him.

LeVeon Bell - all the talk was all Lacy all the time, Bell has gotten a ton of usage in an offense that needs him.

Andre Brown - he had a great 3 game or so streak that got me over the hump. Added him early in the season and waited.

Others I wish I had gotten: Rivers, Antonio Brown.

Didn't pan out: Sanders.

Good posting here. I drafted phenomenally well. Steals like Antonio Brown, Knowshon. Studs like AJ Green performed as expected. Stafford was #3/#4 most of the year until the Lions inevitable tank job. Andre Brown late, Julius Thomas, etc. I went after Blackmon more than Gordon because he was cheaper in the draft. Still thought it would have worked out but I missed on reaching for Gordon. But I didn't do a great job with FA. Many times I was held captive with short benches in FA weeks. I had cut Brown after drafting him then had a hellish bye week so couldn't pick him back up. Missed on Stacy. Owned McFadden (I know) but had been burned so many times by Jennings that I didn't trust him. Cost me. Didn't get Rainey or Allen. Hard to bat 1,000 in FAAB, and the bottom line with the weeks Stafford, Moreno, Morris, Julius etc had I was going to lose in the semi's anyway - which I did. Still, I'm going to take some lessons learned into next year.

 

[TheAssassin]

Made it to the superbowl with only one player I drafted starting last week (AP/Gronk/Rodgers/Wayne) and that was Garcon. My opponent only had 2 players that he didn't draft in his lineup and one was his defense.