What Is Best Draft Position?

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:59 am

I asked this on the NFFC site, but I'll give our baseball guys a chance to answer this on either site. Here's the post:

I know it's too early to talk about fantasy football draft strategy, but in a 14-team fantasy contest, what would be the best draft position to have?

Would having the first pick but waiting until the 28th pick in the second round be the best alternative? Would having the 14th and 15th picks be the best position? Or does it matter at all since QBs earn six points per TD pass in the NFFC and some teams might be willing to take a QB in the first or second round?

I know it's early, but if you had your choice of draft picks in the NFFC, which one would be best for you and why? I'm interested to hear your responses. Personally, I think I could win from any position, but last year I really liked picking at the end and getting Ahman Green and another back (okay, so Tiki Barber wasn't a great pick) on the swing. I probably wouldn't mind that again, but that's just me.

Let's get the strategy talk going, so weigh in on this matter.

Leaderboard Sports · Post by **Leaderboard Sports** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:32 pm

I still think picks 1 thru 4 would be a great advantage. I get a Priest Holmes type RB and at 28 and 29, because there are more high scoring QB's than RB's, I could get a top 5 QB and a top 10 WR

Dyv · Post by **Dyv** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:17 pm

Give me pick #5 or #6 - I'll take whatever stud falls to me each of the first 3 rounds at whatever position and I'll fill in gaps later.

D

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:28 am

I don't get to compete in the NFFC, but I'll be in enough drafts this summer to weigh in on this issue. I'd love to have a Top 5 pick as I think the stud running backs are there and you should be able to get two more solid picks in the second and third rounds. I'd rather be at the back of the draft than in the middle, if I had my choice. Last year I was bummed when I had the 12th pick and I wound up loving the back-to-back selections. In a 14-team league, however, waiting for the 42nd pick would probably be harder than waiting for the 14th pick.

It should be an interesting fantasy football season, that's for sure. I guess the NFL Draft just got my football juices flowing last weekend.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 3:53 am

Since I'm a strong advocate of the RB-RB theory, I've always been partial to a middle-of-the-first round pick. That way you ensure getting a quality RB with your first pick and, at worst, a solid RB coming back. The problem with picking at the top of the round (especially in a 14-team league) is that while you are going to get a premier fantasy player (well except for those who got burned by Ricky Williams last season) you have to wait so long for the pick to get back to you that a host of quality RBs are off the board and you're left with a problem at a vital postion - even if you have the No. 1 player there.

If I'm not in the middle, being toward the end of the round isn't a bad place to be at the start of a draft if you follow the RB-RB theory since you should be able to get two quality RBs with your first two picks. For example, in an ESPN Expert League I was in last year, I picked last in a 12-team league and got Ahman Green and Stephen Davis back-to-back. That turned out to be a pretty good 1-2 punch during the season.

My preference, though, would be in the middle of the first round since that should afford me being able to pick from an area of strength with each position and with each selection.

Fantasy Jungle · Post by **Fantasy Jungle** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:57 am

Because of the RB factor, I think the best position is either 3 or 4. You are still going to get one of the superstars and then you have the luxury of sitting back and seeing where the draft is going before you make your 2nd pick. Most often, someone will fall to you and the guys who tend to be drafted too high because they had a good minicamp or are starting for the first time are already out of the way so you dont have to worry about making a reach pick too early. Lastly, you have another pick coming up shortly (Round 3) so you really have an advantage getting a superstar, plus 2 more of the top 32 players.

Picking late, which gives you back to back picks isnt bad, however you arent going to get a surefire superstar so you may end up with 2 good backs and if they have underperforming years (Tiki Barber, Travis Henry, etc..) you are in trouble so you have to be really precise. At least with your Holmes, Tomlinson, Portis, you have got solid consistent point production.

The 14 team leagues makes it a litle more diffucult to gauge but I think impacts the team picking later, especially in the 3rd round.

Tom Kessenich · Post by **Tom Kessenich** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:51 am

One thing to factor into the equation is that this year, in my opinion, will feature one of the deepest group of RBs I can ever remember in recent fantasy history. It's way early I realize (but hey we're already hard at work getting our first fantasy football magazine done so it can't be too early now can it?

), but I think this year's RB group is going to be at least 20 strong and with a few more definitely worth drafting into the early 20s. Last year, the cutoff point was around 15-17 and after that you were going to have trouble getting a solid No. 2 RB. I think there will be more choices this year and that will definitely impact Draft Day strategy. I'm really looking forward to seeing some mock drafts to see how the RB situation sorts itself out this year.