8 Team Draft - Strategy? (1 Viewer)

I am in an 8 team league for the first time ever this year. Anyone with experience in 8 team leagues have any draft strategy suggestions? Obviously you have more quality players on the teams. This is 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 DST, 1 K and a PPR league. I will use Draft Dominator but since there is so much more depth per team any particular strategy things to do or not to do for small team leagues based on past experiences?

Hope you get the guy that doesn't get hurt and realize that there will be a ton of good players on the waiver wire.

You can/should roster just 1 QB, 1 K and 1 D and be fine, just pickup a bye coverage for the week you need, then drop them for extra depth at RB, WR and TE. I would not plan to draft a backup at any of those positions (but especially K and D) as it's a wasted roster spot that you could use on high upside RB/WR targets, and likely wouldn't necessarily draft a backup TE unless you see one you really want that may be a flex value.

Thanks for the feedback. I have always drafted 2-3 QBs but my other leagues had 10 teams and QBs scored excessively due to scoring rules.   Definitely seems like you want to draft for upside since there will be so many valuable players with potential still around late and even when the draft is over.

I play in an 8 team league. I think the key is to remember that your margins are tighter. Yes, there are more good/great players per team, but the result is that you are essentially more penalized for missing in the draft, because your opponents have a higher chance of hitting.

I would focus on analyzing within your tiers (if you use that structure) so that you have a best of the bunch. Again, a point or two per week could be what you are playing for.

As for the league itself, I would recommend you suggest to the league going to 2 QB next year. It adds an excellent level of chaos and some hilarious starts, plus makes the draft strategy more complex.

rschroeder1 said:

I play in an 8 team league. I think the key is to remember that your margins are tighter. Yes, there are more good/great players per team, but the result is that you are essentially more penalized for missing in the draft, because your opponents have a higher chance of hitting.

I would focus on analyzing within your tiers (if you use that structure) so that you have a best of the bunch. Again, a point or two per week could be what you are playing for.

As for the league itself, I would recommend you suggest to the league going to 2 QB next year. It adds an excellent level of chaos and some hilarious starts, plus makes the draft strategy more complex.

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Thanks. Appreciate the input. I do like the 2 QB idea.

One question I have is once you have filled out a starting position (say RB or WR) is it better to take a stud at a position you have already filled if they unexpectedly drop or do you need to make sure you get the best starters possible at each position. Concerned I could be grabbing great backups but leave one of the positions barren as far as starters. Have no idea how trading might work in this league with the owners. Used to mostly you live with what you draft or add off waivers.

OrganizedChaos said:

One question I have is once you have filled out a starting position (say RB or WR) is it better to take a stud at a position you have already filled if they unexpectedly drop or do you need to make sure you get the best starters possible at each position. Concerned I could be grabbing great backups but leave one of the positions barren as far as starters. Have no idea how trading might work in this league with the owners. Used to mostly you live with what you draft or add off waivers.

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I guess for me, I'm grabbing RBs that fall, just because of the relative scarcity of RBs regardless of league size.  I guess I would point back to the margins argument - in a 12 team league, you can get away with starting a Chase Edmonds because your opponent might be starting Gio Bernard, as an example.  Much tougher in an 8 team league to run with an Edmonds in a pinch when your opponent has a Cook or McCaffrey.

Of course last year I drafted McCaffrey, Chubb and Miles Sanders with this lovely focus.  Last place finish lol.

I haven't played full PPR in a long while, but I would guess there's a wider volume of WR that you could wait on if you stashed an extra RB or two.

As another poster mentioned, with only 8 QBs needing to be started, you could almost stream QBs at that point.  Obviously wouldn't be as efficient as having a Mahomes-type QB, but waiting on QB could allow you to stash that extra quality RB/WR.

8-team leagues are all about grabbing as many difference makers as you can.  Depth is less important than uberstuds, so swing for the fences in the middle rounds.

It also really comes down to managing the team in season.  All teams have studs and bench studs.  The difference week to week will be if you might the right lineup decision.  That is really all that matters.  

ETA:  That being said sometimes you will get caught up with name recognition and play guys too long because NAME GUY X is a stud even though he isn't playing like that this year.  It is a very hard thing to do but you almost need to take names out of it when deciding on lineup decisions and go with the pure stats as the season unfolds.  Names sometimes get in the way.  

Every team will be packed with studs. Load up on RB/WR. Don't draft a 2nd QB as there will be plenty on the waiver wire and every year 1 or 2 come out of nowhere to have breakout seasons... you can scoop one up as your QB's bye week approaches. More important to weather the injury storm with your RBs/WRs

I've played in an 8 team league for the last 13 years.  There's always someone that takes a backup QB and backup TE because they absolutely can't function without that security blanket on their bench, but for the most part everyone sees RBs and WRs still available in the mid-late rounds that they're not used to being there (in a bigger league) so they just pound those positions.  You can wait waaaaaaay late and still get a top 8-10 QB, same for TE.  Typically no more than 10 get drafted. 

We've tweaked the format of ours over the years, we did superflex for a while but switched back to 1QB last year for some reason.  When teams are stacked, we like to expand starting rosters.  We use 3WRs, and 3flexes.  Superflex is a good option too. 

It's tough to trade in small leagues, unless you can work up a simple "I like your guy and you like mine" type deal, because nobody is going to find themselves deficient at a position when injuries/byes happen unless it's just a catastrophic luck type situation.  Waivers dont get used as much because half the time it goes like this:  I drop A to pick up B, someone else drops C to pick up my A, then D gets dropped to pick up C...because you're usually dropping good players, not just churning waiver fodder over...

Just for grins - my latest 8 team mock and the round I took them in ( ) 
QB - Lamar (9)
RB - CMC (1), CEH (4), Henderson, (6) Gaskin (7), Edmonds (8), RoJo (11)
WR - Diggs (2), Ridley (3), Lamb (5), Fuller (12), Ruggs (13)
TE - Andrews (10)
DST - Rams (15)

Your league is really shallow.  Only 56 starting positions among skill positions.  You want to get as many difference makers and really look at the players in tiers.  If you can't get an elite RB like CMC or Cook, I would look at getting Kelce in Round 1.  He will give you such an advantage at TE, and with the lack of positional scarcity, you won't have a problem filling in good RBs/WRs and a good starting QB. 

When I played in a 8 team league many years ago, we started 2QBs, 2RBs, 3WRs, 1 TE and 2 flexes at RB/WR/TE.  Teams were still stud laden, but there is at least some skill in getting good flexes and getting good depth at QB (which you need in a mandatory start 2QB).

Thanks for all of the feedback. Definitely get the pick only 1 QB and TE. I pick later in first round so hoping Kelce will slide to me but doubt it.

8 team league is fun but you need to up those starters. Get more players active which leads to more fun on Sunday.

2 qb/3 rb/3 wr/1 te/1 wr-te flex

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Enjoy the studs and load up on RB's in case of injury.  Rinse, repeat..

Haven't played in one for awhile but when I did, my patience with players was not rewarded. Every H2H league is a series of one week contests but it's especially true in an 8-team league.

If it’s a short bench league go for the top player at any non K or D position but get that starting roster as stacked as possible. I once went RB and WR too heavy. This was because at one point I just couldn’t draft any more WRs or RBs and I was staring at quality almost as good as rounds ago. So essentially tier your positions and draft from the highest tiered. There will be players dropped and free agents that you want to pick up all year long. Leave room for churning depth. 

habsfan said:

Haven't played in one for awhile but when I did, my patience with players was not rewarded. Every H2H league is a series of one week contests but it's especially true in an 8-team league.

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This is an excellent point and my experience has been similar. "Shark Moves" on draft night usually result in getting to later say, "Yeah, that's why I drafted him, but I couldn't hang on to him" as those players blow up on other teams after they scoop him off waivers.

There will be no weaknesses on the teams you're competing against. Stashing guys that you feel might pay off "down the stretch" (i.e. Michael Thomas) will cost you valuable depth. The injury bug runs crazy the first 3-4 weeks - nagging or worse - and your depth gets tested quickly in a small league were rosters are packed with studs.

In my 8 team league I am always the last to draft a QB.  The scoring gap in my league between 1 & 8 is not that big.  I have had a lot of success doing this.

My only experience was in a kids league I organized with my son and some other family members last year, so not exactly , but my observation was that it's most important to get a stud TE, but not necessarily a stud QB. With only 12 or so QBs drafted, it's super easy to stream the position, but with TE the positional scarcity is much more pronounced. For one thing, if three teams have Kelce/Waller/Kittle, that's more than a third of the league. Plus, because every team is stacked at RB/WR, you're not sacrificing as much by taking them early as you would in a deeper league.

Doing some mocks gotta admit I am hoping Kelce falls to me at #6 (doubt it but possible) but seems like going RB the first two rounds really might be best. Some really good WRs in the 3rd and 4th available but the for sure (seemingly) RBs seem to fizzle out early.   My TEs in larger leagues are usually a crapshoot and every time I have ever gone TE early seems like they get hurt. Of course will let draft come to me but this is definitely a different beast than a 10 or 12 team league.