Yahoo autodraft thread 2007 (1 Viewer)

[Bobcat10]

I like to play one Yahoo autodraft a year just to help take the emotion or more accurately, the heartstrings out of the equation. Following a hybrid of the various threads linked to Doug's initial posting including Todd Conrad's great 2005 article linked by Pasquino I set up my pre-draft for a ten team as follows:1) Top 50 - VBD2) Player #51 begins all RBs not in my top 50 VBD up to 40 total RBs ranked3) After 40 TOTAL RBs ranked begin ranking ALL WRs not in VBD 50 up to 50 TOTAL WRs ranked4) After 50 TOTAL WRs ranked begin ranking ALL QBs not in VDB 50 up to 20 TOTAL QBs ranked - Move all remaining QBs to EXCLUDE list.5) After 20 TOTAL QBs ranked and all remaining QBs are excluded, rank up to TEN total TEs including those in your VBD 50. Move all remaining TEs to EXCLUDE list.6) After 10 TOTAL TEs ranked and all remaining TEs are excluded, rank your top 10 TOTAL PKs and EXCLUDE all remaining PKs.7) After 10 TOTAL PKs ranked and all remaining PKs are excluded, rank your top 10 TOTAL Team DEF/ST and EXCLUDE all remaining Team DEF/STs.Don't overlook the value and/or the extra work invloved in that Exclude function; that seems to be a key to a successful draft. In addition to removing frivolous players from your draft eligibility pool, use it to remove guys you simply don't want to deal with this season. I moved anyone on my personal fringe list to Exclude as well. I.E. I don't want to deal with the Kevin Jones-Tatum Bell situation - GONE; I'm not keen on the Portis-Betts thing - GONE; Fred Taylor in a ten team autodraft? No thanks - GONE. I don't care about CLE QBs - GONE...you get my drift.I set my status to Ready and in about 36 hours returned the following roster:QBs: Roethlisberger, DelhommeRBs: LT2, McGahee, NorwoodWRs: Owens, L. Evans, J. Walk, S. Holmes, HornTEs: V. Davis, D. GrahamPKs: Elam, KasayDEF: DenverThat's about as good a team as one can hope to yoke out of a Yahoo autodraft in my opinion. Certainly one of the better ones I've seen. I got my top to upper ranked players at most positions except QB which I pushed down my list to begin with as I personally like Ben to have a nice season, and with these other skill players I don't need a dominant QB. There is tons of talent left in free agency which I can pound when waivers clear and dump Graham, Horny and Kasay to add a little depth.Notice too that I did not get pinned with a spare DEF, which the autodraft algorithm is supposed to select. By excluding those DEF/STs outside of my top-10, I gave the algorithm no option but to skip over the 2nd Team DEF/ST. I got burned by the algorithm at PK because I selected a PK (likely Kasay) in my top-10 that was not drafted in the top-10 players (min) at the position. I might suggest only ranking 5-7 PKs and obvious ones at that and excluding even more. All in all, a very solid draft and again, the best I've managed in this format.U

I know some of the detail in this thread might only work for total Yahoo auto drafts. Like where you rank by position blocks from the start. But I'm thinking this post might work fine for Yahoo live drafts where the owner would not be able to make it, no matter if all/partial other owners are there or not. Do you agree?

It's not necessarily the **perfect** list for my tastes in a (primarily) non-automated format, but yes, I think that this rankings list could suffice for someone who absolutely had to miss a draft and needed an autodrafter to sit in for them. The only real hangup I could see is the 'blocks' causing a glut at various skill positions, though I think the counter to that is live drafters are going to be scooping into those blocks with far more regularity than would an auto-drafter, so it probably evens out.

I'm thinking those blocks might have to a little bit smaller. Like you said it won't be perfect, but it's definitely something worth trying.

 

[turleyfan]

Would there be a way to incorporate a Mock Draft algorithm into the DD that simulates the way Yahoo goes about things? I have an autopick draft coming up for a strange league... starts 2 QB's, 2 Kickers, 2 Defenses, no TE's, etc... from what I have read on this thread, that sort of upturns traditional drafting logic, and puts a real premium on getting some of the elite players at those scarcer positions. Thing is, I have no idea whether or not I am putting some of those players high enough on my priority list to land what I need in the scarce positions, and make hey in the middle round when players like Thomas Jones would be available simply because the autopick algorithm is screwy.

The rules seem pretty clear, so I would think this would be easy to do.

 

[sirsydney]

Well, I just got a look at our Yahoo settings and things are shaking up. Here is our roster lineup:

QB, RB(2), WR(2), TE, W/T, W/R, K, DST, BN(6)

This year, our QB value has changed (20 yds/1 point, TD/4 pts, INT/-1), and our RB value increased (5 yds/1 pt, TD/6pts), and receiving scoring increased too (10 yds/1 point, TD/6 pts).

How should I weight my draft with this in mind? I would imagine that QBs would be lower overall, but grouped closer (Manning no longer stands out as much).

 

[duckie]

for reference - here is Yahoo's top 50. Significant over ranks are in red, under ranks in blue (for non-PPR). consider this to be your opponents cheat sheet (assuming they did not pre-rank):

1. LaDainian Tomlinson

2. Steven Jackson

3. Larry Johnson

4. Joseph Addai

5. Shaun Alexander

6. Frank Gore

7. Rudi Johnson

8. Laurence Maroney

9. Brian Westbrook

10. Willie Parker

11. Travis Henry

12. Peyton Manning

13. Ronnie Brown

14. Reggie Bush

15. Maurice Jones-Drew

16. Brandon Jacobs

17. Willis McGahee

18. Cedric Benson

19. Steve Smith

20. Marvin Harrison

21. Terrell Owens

22. Torry Holt

23. Chad Johnson

24. Edgerrin James

25. Clinton Portis

26. Carson Palmer

27. Thomas Jones

28. T.J. Houshmandzadeh

29. Reggie Wayne

30. Antonio Gates

31. Larry Fitzgerald

32. Marques Colston

33. Roy Williams

34. Marshawn Lynch

35. Drew Brees

36. Tom Brady

37. Marc Bulger

38. Carnell Williams

39. Deuce McAllister

40. Anquan Boldin

41. Lee Evans

42. Javon Walker

43. Jamal Lewis

44. Jerious Norwood

45. Randy Moss

46. Andre Johnson

47. Donald Driver

48. Marion Barber III

49. Ahman Green

50. Adrian Peterson

I autodraft based on VBD and tiering. Based on data from few days ago, I found some very overvalued/undervalued players in the list as well. Many match the list above...great work Moleculo. Most of the deeper value can be found at RB with Peterson, McAllister, Barber III, Green, Foster, B. Jackson, Jordan, and C. Brown all valued at least a round below their VBD ranking (based on my league settings). Overvalued targets (at least +1 round too early) were mostly TEs and QBs with Gates, Brees, McNabb, Heap, Gonzo, Winslow Jr among others. FWIW...I agree with other observations...the Yahoo rankings are better this year, but they don't take into account changes to league settings, so great value can be had in the delta between yahoo settings and customized leagues there. (i.e. standard yahoo doesn't give return yards, but yours might).

Finally, for subscribers, there was a great article a few days ago on autodrafting. That approach worked well for my "default" list in a live draft the other day for those instances when someone snags the guy you want right in front of you (shark league). Plan to use it for my autodraft league going this week, but I also like some of the position-based tiering that a few have suggested...definitely looking into that. Good topic!

 

[Jason Wood]

Everyone,

Thanks a TON for this thread! My tailgating buddies always insist on a Yahoo! autodraft and it always infuriates me how the system screws up rankings and isn't "smart." This thread gave me some good ideas (I hope) about how to optimize the parameters of Yahoo!'s algorithm. I'll post my team once the draft is over.

Best,

Woodrow

 

[Jason Wood]

OK...so I used "the method" from this thread and, for the most part, am pleased with the results:

QBs: Tony Romo and Alex Smith

RBs: Reggie Bush, Ahman Green, Adrian Peterson

WRs: Steve Smith, Reggie Wayne, Lee Evans, Bernard Berrian, Isaac Bruce

TE: Kellen Winslow, Bo Scaife

PK: Vinatieri, Mare [this is the odd part, I only ranked 9 PKs in a 10-team league]

DEF: Jacksonville

 

[The_U]

OK...so I used "the method" from this thread and, for the most part, am pleased with the results:QBs: Tony Romo and Alex SmithRBs: Reggie Bush, Ahman Green, Adrian PetersonWRs: Steve Smith, Reggie Wayne, Lee Evans, Bernard Berrian, Isaac BruceTE: Kellen Winslow, Bo ScaifePK: Vinatieri, Mare [this is the odd part, I only ranked 9 PKs in a 10-team league]DEF: Jacksonville

But did you include Mare in those 9 PKs Woodrow? If so, all it takes is one guy to not have Mare in his top-10 and you risk a chance. That's still a helluva lot better team than the average autodraft, is it not? Sweeeet WRs and very good to great RBs depending on taste. I personally think Ahman will rock it out in HOU this season.My guess is you were a little more inclusive of the luxury positions. While I think Scaife is a nice boutique pick this year, he's nowhere near my top-10 (non-excluded) TEs - and again, IF Scaife is in YOUR top-10 TEs, and was ranked as such, that's exactly why you got him - few are gonna put Scaife in their top-10 TEs, and certainly not the average FF'er. FBG'ers might know Scaife has a shot, but again, just like Mare, you likely *told* the system (or the algorithm) "it's OK to pick Scaife". You dig? Good team none the less...

 

[MSULions]

Okay...we had a draft tonight and one guy couldn't make it for the Yahoo draft. He joined just today to help us fill it out and I feel really bad that yahoo screwed him over so bad. It was going better than okay through round 8, then just went crazy!

1. (11) Travis Henry

2. (14) Peyton Manning

3. (35) Larry Fitzgerald

4. (38) Marshawn Lynch

5. (59) Ahman Green

6. (62) Reggie Brown

7. (83) Kellen Winslow

8. (86) Jerricho Cotchery

9. (107) Courtney Anderson

10. (110) Brandon Miree

11. (131) Bradlee Van Pelt

12. (134) Jason Dunn

13. (155) Eric Moulds

14. (158) Bobby Engram

15. (179) ReShard Lee

16. (182) Cleo Lemon

17. (203) Shaud Williams

18. (206) Brian Jones

Bradlee Van Pelt? what the hell is that? There were a number of QBs left that it could have taken instead....i just don't understand why it did this. Some of these guys I couldn't even find in Draft Dominator

As the commish, I think i'm going to allow him to pick from waivers first...it's just really not fair that he got stuck with such garbage. Thoughts or advice on this? what went wrong?

 

[jagerbomb]

First 8 look great. Given that he joined on the day of your draft to fill your last spot, I would cut him some slack and give him first right to an unclaimed player.

That being said, I suspect that he tried to game the autodraft system and screwed it up.

It's strange to me that he got his RB3 (Green) before his WR2 (Brown). I've tried A LOT of yahoo autodrafts trying to figure out how to game the system and I can't think if a way that this would even be possible.

From what I've seen, in order to get your RB3 before another position is filled, the following criteria has to be met:

1) An RB has to be the highest undrafted player on your pre-rank list

2) All players from the other position have to be already drafted or on your do not draft list

Given this, I don't understand how Ahman could be drafted before Reggie Brown. If reggie was on his do not draft list, then he wouldn't have been taken at all, if he wasn't, he should have gone before green.

Perhaps my understanding of how the autodraft works isn't complete. I'd be interested in seeing this guys pre-rank and do-not-draft lists. You could also email Yahoo for an explanation.

 

[jagerbomb]

Did another test to see how this works. It seems like the autodraft has another level of logic. It won't take your second backup at a position, for example, RB4 until it has backups for positions that it can draft for. Which is why it took Roethlisberger, Holmes and Berrian as backups in the draft below before it took RB4 even though I had several other RBs ranked higher that were available.

Here's an example of a draft I just got:

Sjax

Steve Smith

CJ

Chicago

Burress

Edj

Romo

Portis

Roethlisberger

Santonio Holmes

Berrian

Foster

Curry

Jacoby

Chester

I'd say this is a pretty good team overall, the one mistake I made was ranking the chicago def too high but I'd say all my picks in rounds 6 to 11 represent really good value, especially edj in the 6th and portis in the 8th. If I did it again I'd move the Chi defense further down my board.

The difficult thing seems to be that it wants to take WR5 and QB2 before RB4. The only way around this that I can think of is to cut down the number of WR and QB that aren't on the do-not-draft list down to say 20 WR and 10 QB, but this runs the risk that you won't get backup WR or QB... maybe not a bad thing.

Here's another draft I got that turned out well:

Parker

Westbrook

Roy Williams

Fitz

Coles

Young

Portis

New England

Berrian

Holmes

Roethlisberger

Bruce

Foster

Chester

Alex Smith

 

[Jeff Haseley]

I implemented this strategy for my family league that insists on an autodraft. Here's the results 10-team league. I had 9th pick. I'll roll the dice with Kitna as my QB, but all in all, not a bad team. Definitely some strong depth for trading.

I only ranked 9 kickers and 9 defenses and moved the rest to exclude. It still drafted 2 kickers, but only 1 defense.

1. (9) Willie Parker

2. (12) Reggie Bush

3. (29) Chad Johnson

4. (32) Reggie Wayne

5. (49) Javon Walker

6. (52) Jon Kitna

7. (69) Alge Crumpler

8. (72) Shayne Graham

9. (89) Green Bay

10. (92) Ahman Green

11. (109) Jerricho Cotchery

12. (112) Vincent Jackson

13. (129) Isaac Bruce

14. (132) Wes Welker

15. (149) Jake Delhomme

16. (152) Owen Daniels

17. (169) Stephen Gostkowski

18. (172) Arnaz Battle

 

[Mike Noyes]

Results:

1. (8) Willie Parker RB

2. (13) Travis Henry RB

3. (28) Roy Williams WR

4. (33) Anquan Boldin WR

5. (48) Calvin Johnson WR

6. (53) Tony Romo QB

7. (68) Cedric Benson RB

8. (73) Vincent Jackson WR

9. (88) Bernard Berrian WR

10. (93) Philip Rivers QB

11. (108) Tatum Bell RB

12. (113) LaMont Jordan RB

13. (128) Brandon Jones WR

14. (133) Brandon Marshall WR

15. (148) Matt Schaub QB

 

[houston]

.........

 

[Enderdog]

The results of a PPR autopick where only a few (less than I thought) paid attention to ranking the IDPs.

I excluded all kickers, and all but about 4 TEs, and didn't get either position filled.

Positions 1-12 are starters, 13-20 bench.

Obviously I ranked the IDPs too high in this instance.

1. (1) LaDainian Tomlinson RB

2. (24) Marvin Harrison WR

3. (25) Terrell Owens WR

4. (48) DeMeco Ryans DL

5. (49) Adrian Wilson DB

6. (72) Adrian Peterson RB

7. (73) Keith Bulluck DL

8. (96) Will Witherspoon DL

9. (97) Chris Hope DB

10. (120) Ronde Barber DB

11. (121) Chris Chambers WR

12. (144) Ben Roethlisberger QB

13. (145) Carnell Williams RB

14. (168) Ray Lewis DL

15. (169) Antoine Winfield DB

16. (192) Ronald Curry WR

17. (193) Alex Smith QB

18. (216) Antonio Pierce DL

19. (217) Lance Briggs DL

20. (240) LaMont Jordan RB

 

[Sweetness_34]

There is no excuse to miss the draft....

"You will get who we give you"

 

[Disco Stu]

The exclude kicker thing worked like a charm.

I'm still not sure how it accounts for the flex position. This league starts 2RB/2WR/1Flex. In the 4th, it could have filled that spot but instead filled WR2 despite higher ranked RBs being available. But one team was given 3 WRs before its first RB and another went RB-RB-RB in the first three rounds.

Here's how my draft went (12 team league)...

1. (2) Steven Jackson RB

2. (23) Cedric Benson RB

3. (26) Reggie Wayne WR

4. (47) Plaxico Burress WR (not sure why I didn't get Deuce or Ahman here)

5. (50) Todd Heap TE

6. (71) Baltimore DEF (since it was going to force me to pick a defense no later than the 8th, figured I might as well move the top 2 up and get a good one)

7. (74) Tony Romo QB

8. (95) Santonio Holmes WR

9. (98) Jamal Lewis RB (nearly everyone else was taking Def and K in the 8th and 9th)

10. (119) LaMont Jordan RB

11. (122) Chris Chambers WR

12. (143) Jeff Garcia QB (moved ahead of other QB2s mostly because his bye week was unlikely to conflict with whoever I got as my QB1)

13. (146) Green Bay DEF (listed 11 Def, should have gone with fewer to keep from getting two... dropped to pick up Stover)

14. (167) Leon Washington RB

15. (170) Chris Brown RB

 

[rick6668]

Just wanted to bump this thread and say thanks.

Family league first year 12 teams, autodraft only and I used the suggestions in this thread.

1. (5) Brian Westbrook RB

2. (20) Chad Johnson WR

3. (29) Reggie Wayne WR

4. (44) Andre Johnson WR

5. (53) Adrian Peterson RB

6. (68) Jerricho Cotchery WR

7. (77) Tony Romo QB

8. (92) Benjamin Watson TE

9. (101) Adam Vinatieri K

10. (116) Minnesota DEF

11. (125) Tatum Bell RB

12. (140) Derrick Mason WR

13. (149) Eddie Kennison WR

14. (164) Bobby Wade WR

15. (173) Matt Schaub QB

16. (188) Matt Stover K

17. (197) Stephen Gostkowski K

18. (212) Anthony Thomas RB

19. (221) Michael Pittman RB

Don't pre rank too many kickers. I got 3 good kickers.....

Key was getting Real good WR's while everone else was getting QB/RB

Made some trades and WW pickups and I'm now 6-0 with this current roster:

QB Tony Romo

QB Matt Schaub

WR Chad Johnson

WR Andre Johnson

WR Reggie Wayne

WR Braylon Edwards

WR Greg Jennings

WR Derrick Mason

RB Brian Westbrook

RB Adrian Peterson

RB Brandon Jacobs

RB Derrick Ward

RB Chris Brown

RB Kevin Jones

RB Kenny Watson

TE Antonio Gates

TE Eric Johnson

K Adam Vinatieri

DEF Minnesota

 

[turleyfan]

6-0 so far using this strategy. (Reviewing: Since Yahoo fills out your starting roster first, picking Kickers, D's, and TE's earlier than you probably would otherwise, you load up with premiere players at positions like QB, WR, even TE while other other teams are picking up less valuable RB2 type players like Cadillac Williams, Thomas Jones, and Cedric Benson. That still nets you the same value RB / WR players you would otherwise have ended up with, just in a much later round.)

In my case, I upgraded QB (league starts 2) to make sure I always won that battle. Ended up with Tom Brady and Marc Buler, who has since become Jason Campbell. But the real win was in landing LaMont Jordan and Adrian Peterson as RB2 and RB3, to accompany FWP. So although I punted RB's (meaning, I skipped out on the traditional consensus RB2 and RB3 types), I ended up with a RB corps as strong as anyone's.

 

[rick6668]

Bump,

Managed to win my autodraft league. Good info in this thread.

 

[rick6668]

Bump for 2008. This is good info.