The Zero-RB Strategy: Still on board? (1 Viewer)

[Leonidas]

In my primary league we only have to start 1 RB , but we can start 2 or 3 (12 team standard, redraft). I took:

4th - Reggie Bush

8th - Ben Tate

9th - Ray Rice

12th - Darren Sproles

14th -Khiry Robinson

I dropped Robinson before Ivory got injured and only started Sproles week 3 when he scored like 2 points.

I'm 3rd in points, but 7th overall at 2-2 (played Peyton/Julius owner week 1 ugh)

Biggest problem (has been resolved, at a cost): Took Brady as my only QB

 

[Tau837]

I am in two redraft leagues.

In one 10 team PPR league, I drafted 8th and started out: Demaryius, AJ Green, Gronk, Cobb.

That start allowed me to ignore WR/TE essentially the rest of the draft. I ended up with R. Jennings, Mathews, Sproles, Vereen, and Ridley at RB and Foles and Rivers at QB. That team is 3-1.

I had the 2nd pick in the other draft (8 team PPR league) and took McCoy/Ball to open. That team is 0-4.

I don't think it proves anything, but I generally favor drafting RB late, and this is an example of why.

 

[Adam Harstad]

I am in two redraft leagues.

In one 10 team PPR league, I drafted 8th and started out: Demaryius, AJ Green, Gronk, Cobb.

That start allowed me to ignore WR/TE essentially the rest of the draft. I ended up with R. Jennings, Mathews, Sproles, Vereen, and Ridley at RB and Foles and Rivers at QB. That team is 3-1.

I had the 2nd pick in the other draft (8 team PPR league) and took McCoy/Ball to open. That team is 0-4.

I don't think it proves anything, but I generally favor drafting RB late, and this is an example of why.

You can definitely get away with ignoring RBs a lot more in smaller leagues, because the scarcity just isn't there as much.

 

[flapgreen]

In a season where WRs are putting up huge numbers, it's become just as important to have one of the few stud rbs.

 

[flapgreen]

In my primary league we only have to start 1 RB , but we can start 2 or 3 (12 team standard, redraft). I took:

4th - Reggie Bush

8th - Ben Tate

9th - Ray Rice

12th - Darren Sproles

14th -Khiry Robinson

I dropped Robinson before Ivory got injured and only started Sproles week 3 when he scored like 2 points.

I'm 3rd in points, but 7th overall at 2-2 (played Peyton/Julius owner week 1 ugh)

Biggest problem (has been resolved, at a cost): Took Brady as my only QB

Rough bunch there

 

[flapgreen]

As always, picking the right players can make any strategy look good or bad. If you went RB/RB and started with Lacy/Foster you're off to a pretty slow start, as is the guy that avoided RBs and started with Demaryius/Marshall.

The gyst of the argument for avoiding RBs is that the bust risk is lower in other positions, but what's ignored is that the ceiling is lower as well. I went Dez/Green in one league, and even though those were probably two of the better non-RB picks early on I feel like my team is pretty middling and they're not really making a huge difference to my RB deficiencies. Compare that to someone that went Lynch/Murray to start and they're at a MUCH bigger advantage than I am. Someone that went Lynch/Murray/Bell to start could probably have left the rest of their lineup empty and be sitting at 4-0 right now.

This is in reference to non-ppr, generally, but while it may be easier to "hit" on a non-RB, doing so doesn't provide you nearly the advantage that hitting on a RB does. Bottom line, even though I picked the "right" WRs at the end of the first round going WR/WR, my team has not been strong. If I'd picked the right RBs there, even though it's harder to do, I can't imagine I'd be saying that.

Ended up being very accurate

 

[General Tso]

Not sure there is any hard and fast rule here, but I'll share my experience this year. I went RB heavy in my main league. My first 3 picks were all RB:

1. Jamaal Charles

2. DeMarco Murray

3. Doug Martin

I'm currently 7th in my 12 team league, despite making some good in-season moves. A little unlucky I guess, but you'd think if you hit on the two best RB's you'd pretty much be a shoe-in for the playoffs. Not the case.