Fantasy Football Keeper League Draft

Fantasy Football Keeper League Draft

     This league can be pretty hardcore.  We use a Points Per Reception scoring system so it changes a lot of the rankings for almost every position.  Defencive scoring is based on points and yards given up, you can end up with a negative score if you start a team that has a bad game.  The Keeper part of this league is very interesting.  You can keep 8 players.  Most often, if you have a star player, you hang on to him for dear life!  These types of players will usually stay with one team once they deem themselves worthy.  Only being moved if a huge trade happens or a catastrophic injury.  Some owners have a death grip on the positions that are the hardest to fill, like running backs.  But, what I love about this league, the PPR scoring gives value to more players, making everything more exciting. 

     Like I said, if you end up with a highly valued player on your team, you can keep him.  This season I kept 6.  My last season went well.  I made the playoffs for the first time in this league, that was a big step forward.  While often flying by the seat of my pants and getting lots of luck, I was hoping to improve on my baby steps from last season.  In this draft there were a lot of rookies with potential.  My strategy was to grab a few of them and hope at least one would pan out.  But everyone knows that so many rookies go fast.  This is where a good draft can make or break your season. 

     I'll do a quick run down of my keepers so we both know what I had to work with for this draft.  My draft position was 6th (based on last seasons record) and keeping 6 players would make my first pick in round 7. 

#1 - QB Arron Rodgers.  Not much to say here.  He has been a top QB in the NFL since being named the Packers starter.  Also NFL MVP last season.  He should stay that way for many more years.

#2 - RB Marshawn Lynch.  Things are starting to turn around for the Seahawks.  Lynch really turned it on last year, having a career season.  Very consistent.  I am slightly worried about a suspension that might be looming and his reported case of back spasms (kept him from one game last year and a few preseason games).  The Hawks don't have a home run hitter at QB or WR so they will run early and often.  If Lynch can stay on the field he will produce. 

#3 - WR Greg Jennings.  He is a top target in the high powered Packer offence.  He stays relatively healthy and has league MVP Rodgers looking for him.  Very consistent player.

#4 - WR Jordy Nelson.  Not sure where or when I landed Nelson last season, but wow what a surprise.  15 TDs.  I'm sure he won't have that many this season but he's young, fast and like Jennings, has Rodgers looking for him down the field.  Nelson turned many short passed into huge gains last season.  Sure, I might not start both Green Bay receivers each week, but last season it paid off more often than not.  In a PPR league like this one, Nelson is a keeper.

#5 - WR Wes Welker.  Welker is a PPR beast and he had a career year last season.  I don't think he will match his production from last season but he has the potential to and that's all I need.

#6 - WR Jeremy Maclin.  Had a slow start last year due to a preseason illness and battled a leg injury late in the year.  But even that was enough to overtake the #1 WR spot on the Eagles.  I'm hoping he can stay healthy and put up a career year for me. 

     So that brings me to round 7 in the draft.  We get a draft board a week before the draft and from there you plan.  You can see what the other owners are doing at that point.  Every year there has been at least one owner that goes "all in", meaning he does not keep any players so he can start drafting in the early rounds.  This can pay off big time if you are trying to grab rookies and if other owners are trying to keep their rosters intact.  This year, one owner went all in and had the first 5 rounds all to himself and the second pick in the 6th round.  Good for him, bad if you came to the draft looking to pick up some younger players to hang on to. 

     The top 3 RBs I had on my list for draft day were gone and I kind of thought I might only get one of them, but they all went fast.  I had to switch to plan B and C before I had my first pick.  Not a time to panic.  So I had to reach a little and take what I could.  I took a couple of rookie RBs with my first 2 picks.  The RB position is my weakness.  I know it and the other owners know it.  I had many trade offers for RBs heading into the draft.  Nothing to exciting and I turned them all down.  Knowing that I was "loaded" at the WR spot I was able to focus on RB for most of my early picks.  I'm hoping this pays off once the season starts.  Come to think of it, I only drafted 1 WR this time. 

     Last season I had a few RBs that ended up in starting positions because of injuries to starting RBs.  Seems like I'll follow that path at least a little this year as well, it paid off for me last year.  Injuries happen.  If you can grab a #2 RB on a good team and wait it out, it can work.  What do you do when that guy never gets his chance?  You curse the starter, of course.  Of the 6 RBs that I drafted, 1 is a starter, and 3 are rookies.  The rookies have a ton up upside.  If one or more of them pay off, I'll be looking pretty dang good.  Of course, if not, I'll be ready to throw in the towel about the mid way point in the season.  Let's hope not. 

     Here is a quick run down of the players that I drafted.  I did not keep as good of records for this league as trades happen often and draft picks get swapped around a lot.  I'll just make the list and give a short reason why. 

RB Isaiah Pead.  He was my first pick.  The Rams have just about used Steven Jackson up.  Jackson is only 29 but he has more miles on his legs then most RBs over 30.  I'm hoping Pead will get a few chances to start and eventually work his way to a full time starter.  Might not happen this season but if he shows promise and if anything happens to Jackson, I might have struck gold here.

RB Kevin Smith.  The Lions need someone in the back field and when Smith is healthy he can put up big numbers.  He does come with injury risk but I'm taking a chance on him.  He's a starter on a very good offence. 

RB Robert Turbin.  Not knowing 100% what will happen with Lynch (possible suspension) I grabbed this rookie.  I watched him in preseason games and he run hard and pushed the pile.  If Lynch misses any time at all for any reason I feel Turbin can step in and get about the same production.  If the Seahawks turn this into a Running Back By Committee, both of these guys might get a start, I'm crazy like that.

RB Ronnie Hillman.  With the Broncos signing Manning that will take a lot of pressure off the O-line right away.  McGahee is getting older and I believe Hillman will get some good work in this season.  Again, I'm hoping I've landed a rookie that will eventually become the #1.  The Broncos run the ball a lot.  Even with Manning at QB, they might even get a little better at it.

RB Javon Ringer.  I picked up Ringer very late in the draft.  Mainly for depth and if anything happens to Chris Johnson he might be worth a few starts.  Or trade bait.  We'll see.

RB Michael Bush.  I had Bush last year and he paid off big time when McFadden went down.  Bush is again behind a #1 RB in Forte but I think Bush still has value.  I was able to get him in the later rounds of this draft.  He is a strong RB and can produce on 3rd and 4th downs as well as goal line carries.  He might be worth a few starts even at a #2 spot, but again, if anything happens to the starter (and Forte had a big knee injury last year), I could have struck gold again.  Bush should be a starter for any team.

WR Kenny Britt.  The only WR I drafted this year.  Got him late in the draft.  I think many owners were scared off by his off season troubles and knee injuries.  We just learned he will only get a 1 game suspension and that will give his legs more time to heal before starting.  When he does start he can be a great WR and should be a #1 target for the Titans.  Just realized I drafted 4 Titan players.........

K Rob Bironas.  A kicker is a kicker.  But this guy has been really good.  The Titan offence is looking better than the last few seasons and he should get more FGs.  We get points based on how far FGs are.  He should be a good weekly producer.

Seahawk Defence.  I like how they look this year.  They were flying to the ball on every play.  They should be able to hold more teams in check this year while also getting more turn overs and the occasional score. 

QB Jake Locker.  The Titans named Locker their starter so he will get his chance early to show what he can do.  He is in his second year but only played in a few games last year.  He looks good.  He can run and throw.  I (hopefully) will only need him for a bye week.  But I'm also not 100% sold on him.  I've been watching another QB that I might pick up and drop Locker for.  We will see how this pans out. 

     I feel good about how this draft went.  You just never know how things will fall into place once the season starts.  I feel like I am ready to take the next step with this league.  I'm just hoping that step will be forward.  If even just one of my "struck gold" type guys pan out I should do good. 

     With this league, the action never stops, even after the NFL season has ended.  Trades can happen at any time and they happen often.  You have to be smart about it.  The other owners in the league know what they are doing and any miss step can be bad.  Drop the wrong guy at the wrong time and he gets snatched up in a hurry.  One strategy can be to offer draft picks for next season for a player now.  This happens a lot too.  A few owners had a full team several rounds before the end of the draft. 

     With these owners being as good as they are, it feels good to have had a winning team and break into the playoffs last year.  So, here is to having an OK draft, a good up coming season and being the underdog!