Startup Draft Strategy & Results (1 Viewer)

[Flying Elvis]

I recently completed a startup draft for a Superflex IDP. Sharing because... well, why not?

I decided I would go all in on the positions I feel are most difficult to fill and have the biggest drop-off from tier to tier. I also have never ended an auction with the consensus top player so I made it a point to get Josh Allen, which really blasted my budget but added a bit of fun, honestly. So the priority positions after that were QB2, TE, DL, and then RB. I ended up with only 1 LB (Queen) and 1 S (Poyer) and a total of 19 players (40 roster spots) once my auction budget was spent. The remaining 21 players were added via FAAB waiver and then FCFS, which ran last night. I was online waiting to add players for free once waivers processed. 

Players drafted via auction ($300 budget):

Mitchell, Elijah SFO RB   $15.00

Allen, Josh BUF QB           $63.00

Murray, Kyler ARI QB      $43.00

Lamb, CeeDee DAL WR  $37.00

Bosa, Nick SFO DE            $20.00

Akers, Cam LAR RB           $18.00

Kelce, Travis KCC TE         $17.00

Montgomery, David CHI RB          $16.00

Mills, Davis HOU QB        $13.00

Knox, Dawson BUF TE     $12.00

Young, Chase WAS DE    $12.00

Mooney, Darnell CHI WR               $10.00

Joseph-Day, Sebastian LAC DT    $6.00

Claypool, Chase PIT WR $5.00

Poyer, Jordan BUF S        $5.00

Queen, Patrick BAL LB    $3.00

Hardman, Mecole KCC WR           $2.00

Herbert, Khalil CHI RB     $2.00

Moore, Rondale ARI WR                $1.00

Players added via FAAB waivers ($200 budget for entire preseason):

Bush, Devin PIT LB $39.70

Davis, Demario NOS LB $31.30

Duvernay, Devin BAL WR $29.90

Curl, Kamren WAS S $29.80

Gay, Willie KCC LB $21.70

Vander Esch, Leighton DAL LB $20.90

Evans, Rashaan ATL LB $19.10

Ingram, Keaontay ARI RB $5.33

Jarrett, Grady ATL DT $1.10

Phillips, Adrian NEP S $1.10

Players added free (post waiver FCFS):

Lawson, Carl NYJ DE

Turner, Payton NOS DE

Brown, Derrick CAR DT

Phillips, Jaelan MIA LB

Barnes, Derrick DET LB

Al-Shaair, Azeez SFO LB

Tranquill, Drue LAC LB

Perine, Samaje CIN RB

Wilson, Jeffery SFO RB

Holland, Jevon MIA S

Hooker, Amani TEN S

Belton, Dane NYG S

Elliott, DeShon DET S

Marshall, Terrace CAR WR

Anderson, Robby CAR WR

Campbell, Parris IND WR

Final Roster:

Allen, Josh BUF QB

Mills, Davis HOU QB

Murray, Kyler ARI QB

Akers, Cam LAR RB

Herbert, Khalil CHI RB

Mitchell, Elijah SFO RB (Q)

Montgomery, David CHI RB

Perine, Samaje CIN RB

Wilson, Jeffery SFO RB

Anderson, Robby CAR WR

Campbell, Parris IND WR

Claypool, Chase PIT WR

Duvernay, Devin BAL WR

Hardman, Mecole KCC WR (Q)

Lamb, CeeDee DAL WR

Mooney, Darnell CHI WR

Moore, Rondale ARI WR

Kelce, Travis KCC TE

Knox, Dawson BUF TE (Q)

Brown, Derrick CAR DT

Jarrett, Grady ATL DT

Joseph-Day, Sebastian LAC DT

Bosa, Nick SFO DE

Lawson, Carl NYJ DE (Q)

Young, Chase WAS DE (Q)

Al-Shaair, Azeez SFO LB (Q)

Bush, Devin PIT LB

Davis, Demario NOS LB

Evans, Rashaan ATL LB

Gay, Willie KCC LB

Jewell, Josey DEN LB

Queen, Patrick BAL LB

Tranquill, Drue LAC LB

Vander Esch, Leighton DAL LB

Curl, Kamren WAS S (Q)

Elliott, DeShon DET S

Holland, Jevon MIA S

Hooker, Amani TEN S

Phillips, Adrian NEP S

Poyer, Jordan BUF S

TAXI SQUAD

Ingram, Keaontay ARI RB (R)

Marshall, Terrace CAR WR

Turner, Payton NOS DE (Q)

Barnes, Derrick DET LB

Phillips, Jaelan MIA LB

Belton, Dane NYG S (R)

Ultimately, I'm happy with the end result. I love the QB duo for SF. I love the fact that I finally have Nick Bosa somewhere since nobody, anywhere, across all my leagues would trade him. The young RB group is solid. I love having a stud at the top of each of those key positions and feel like the weakness at LB and DB can easily be improved in-season via waivers. The trade off of buying studs and ignoring LB and DB seems worth it with some of the players I was able to add post-draft. 

League link for any that care or are curious... https://www48.myfantasyleague.com/2022/home/18597#0

 

[Gally]

Ultimately, I'm happy with the end result. I love the QB duo for SF. I love the fact that I finally have Nick Bosa somewhere since nobody, anywhere, across all my leagues would trade him. The young RB group is solid. I love having a stud at the top of each of those key positions and feel like the weakness at LB and DB can easily be improved in-season via waivers. The trade off of buying studs and ignoring LB and DB seems worth it with some of the players I was able to add post-draft. 

League link for any that care or are curious... https://www48.myfantasyleague.com/2022/home/18597#0

I think this would be very scoring system dependent.  There are many scoring systems that make DL irrelevant and LB a requirement.  Hopefully this league isn't one of those.  

Overall I think you did well.  You have some LB potential but you need some to hit otherwise you could have issues.  

 

[MAC_32]

5 things:

*I'd have approached this startup very similarly. The last 10% of the budget would have been allocated differently, but that's picking nits. 

*I agree with your general approach to LB - I don't want to buy the top of the tier at market rate. I want to get as many of the bottom of the startable tier as I can then take a volume approach angled towards youth with my bench. If I miss on my youth then trade for a 30+ yr old vet at the bottom of the startable tier then throw more darts at young LB's. If I hit then trade my 30+ yr old vets in-season to those that develop holes. The market rate is at a different level, but I approach WR similarly. As my team is being built I have no qualms having relatively old WR's knowing if I accumulate sufficient depth to move them I won't get much because the WR market gets flooded with new talent every year. 

*DL is league scoring specific, but generally I agree with you that I want at least one share in the young elite tier. If my team is strong enough to justify going to get a 2nd one then do it. Like with LB/WR above, market rates obviously vary widely, but I'm an advocate of approaching RB (and TE) similarly. Get one then take a volume approach with the rest then once the team is strong enough if you can get a 2nd premium RB then go get them. 

*Allocating resources to DB has its place in some formats, but not in the startup. Once your IDP depth chart is able to absorb some blows elsewhere then I think a premium S can be worth a modest investment.

*I'm always trimming the edges of my roster (both lineup and bench), accumulating better future picks and as a result building a stronger bench. I'll never have the best team, but if managed properly I'll consistently have a top 3-5 team. Since navigating December is heavily tilted towards luck I think this is the optimal approach, but the intention is to enhance flexibility to go get a QB if a hole develops. I have the resources available to pool them together and go plug that leak without impacting future iterations of my team too much. As long as my QB's remain intact then I can slowly build a better team than my contemporaries though.

 

[Tick]

How did you come up with your bid values for the FAs? $1.10 makes sense to sneak in front of the $1 bidders, but where does $29.90 come from?

 

[Gally]

How did you come up with your bid values for the FAs? $1.10 makes sense to sneak in front of the $1 bidders, but where does $29.90 come from?

or $5.33 ........................Lucky number?

 

[Flying Elvis]

Appreciate the feedback. Definitely agree with Gally & MAC that scoring system matters. This is more an exercise of general strategy and the wide range of perceived value of WR / LB / DB. 

I love that the bids were noticed. My bids were all over the map because I don't know any of my league mates. This league was a Frankenstein of 3 other leagues that were dissolving due to a commish calling it a career. 4 of the owners are from the league I was in but I was only in that league for 2 seasons. I had no clue what kind of bids I'd see so I went full-on scattershot.

 

[Flying Elvis]

I wanted to revisit this with a year-end report, as it’s the first time I’ve done something like this for a startup. I hadn’t done an auction in a long time and this was really fun for me.

I paid premium prices for Allen, Kelce, Lamb, and Nick Bosa and they did not disappoint. I paid medium-to-low prices for other RBs and WRs and they were all basically trash. (Shout out to Cam Akers for his end-of-season resurgence.) I paid very little for LB & S and largely filled those spots off the waiver wire post-draft and in-season.

DT/DE:
Bosa finished 12th overall.
I added Grover Stewart after week 1 but dropped him after week 3. He finished 8th overall and was added by a different team after 2 weeks on the wire. I added Jarrett Grady post-auction and he finished 16th overall and started all but 4 weeks. I added Davon Hamilton late in the season and he finished strong and landed at 31 overall. Granderson & Okoronkwo are now on my roster as post-season moves.

LB:
I added Drue Tranquill (6th overall) and Josie Jewell (20th overall) for free off the wire post-auction. I used FAAB post-auction to get Rashann Evans (12th overall). Free off the wire for Anzalone (24th overall) and Demario Davis (28th overall), as well.

S:
Julian Love was a FA for the first two weeks then spent the majority of the next 15 in my starting lineup, finishing 5th overall. Hufanga only lasted one week on the wire and started most games for me from there, finishing 9th overall. Meanwhile, Jordan Poyer was purchased in the auction and was good… when not injured.

Obviously, there’s risk involved with this strategy both in the need for “high cost” studs to produce AND in getting the right players at the right time off the wire.

Final result: runner-up in the Championship game. A result I’m certainly happy with, as my team kind of limped in with a mediocre head-to-head record but earned the #4 seed due to Victory Points. Side note: I conceded the championship game with the Bills/Bengals cancellation. I was facing a 50 point deficit with Josh Allen vs. Matt Milano & BJ Hill. Allen’s best game of the season was 48.40 while Milano and Hill were both ~14 points per game on average. I felt the chances to win were well outside any realistic range and didn’t want to be “that guy” with such an odd situation.

 

[Gally]

Obviously, there’s risk involved with this strategy both in the need for “high cost” studs to produce AND in getting the right players at the right time off the wire.

You are correct but I would say the IDP side of things is where you can shine with this approach as you definitely showed with your DB and LB efforts. Since IDP info is hard to come by and most of it is tailored to tackle heavy formats if you are in a big play scoring system you can really exploit those differences by knowing your IDP stuff which will allow you to spend more on the offensive side where everything is much more even.

I find the best value is to let other guys spend on the name IDP guys and then you can go to the bargain bin for no name guys that will put up similar numbers. This of course, depends on the type of people in your leagues but in general I find most don't really prepare well on IDP stuff. Even experienced FF players.

 

[Flying Elvis]

Shameless bump for recruiting purposes.

This league has a few openings. 4 members dropped out with 1 replaced so far. It'll be a 4 team dispersal draft once we find 3 more. Thread in Looking for Leagues https://forums.footballguys.com/thr...raft-12-team-75-idp-sf-mfl-leaguesafe.811960/

Come take a run at the guy who finished second last year and first this year.