Post-Draft Afterglow

Well, my drafts are complete. Three leagues, and I plan to make the playoffs in all of them again this year. Of course, nothing is guaranteed and there are always surprises. Kurt Warner started out 2008 as a backup and ended up with some very gaudy stats and a trip to the Super Bowl. Each season carries similar surprises. Inevitably, some FF teams that look great today will go down the tubes through injuries and other errata that, come December, will make us look back and wonder, “What was I thinking?”

But right now, it’s Labor Day weekend. A time when we can all love our drafts, chortle over our own steals and our opponents’ drafting miscues. Ah, how I savor this time – the last week before the NFL season!

My Leagues

All three of my leagues are via Yahoo. None use totally standard settings, with a little more emphasis on the QB position and a bit less on the RBs. Also notable is the fact that all return yards count (20yd/pt), which drastically changes the value of certain DBs (J. Wilson, Blackmon) and otherwise marginal offensive players (Ginn, Hester, et al). We have pretty deep benches (22-man rosters typical).

League One – 14 teams, PPR, 5-man IDP, “slow draft”
League Two – 10 teams, PPR, 5-man IDP, “slow draft”
League Three – 10 teams, PPR, 3-man IDP, live draft

I’m kind of excited about League One. With 14 teams, offensive firepower will obviously be at a premium. But what’s really great is that this will be the first league I’ve ever played in with a balanced schedule – a 13-week season and 3-week playoffs. Level playing field, yay! No more losers whining about schedule luck, yay!

[Slight digression] Yes, I play all-IDP, all the time. I’ve never understood the attraction of the D/ST concept. The way it’s implemented, there is no reward for return yards – only turnovers, sacks and TDs. Significant FF rewards for a great defensive game are rare enough in today’s NFL, and even that can be ruined by the offense giving up a pick-6. Crazy.

The Slow Draft

The “slow draft” is a long-term offline draft done through a forum website where the managers hang out. I have no idea how common the slow draft concept is. But the two forum sites I hang out at both do their drafts that way.

Here’s how it works: The draft order (typical serpentine) is established and each manager goes “on the clock” in turn, making one selection on a bulletin board thread and notifying the next in line. These drafts generally run roughly 8am to 10pm daily, with clock time ranging from two to four hours before a BAPAY (Best Available Player At Yahoo) is assigned.

Depending on how things are going, the clock may or may not run on weekends. People who have timing issues (Europeans, work-blocked, family commitments, etc.) are encouraged to leave a priority list for upcoming picks, typically sent as a personal message to another manager.

Yes, it’s a slow process, but it allows everyone to give due consideration to their picks without the need to study up on the entire league in the process. And it provides a lot of insight for those of us participating in live drafts immediately prior to the season.

The slow draft process requires committed managers. It takes about two weeks (sometimes longer) to complete, so we start early – around the time of the NFL Hall of Fame game (August 10). Some find it frustrating, often waiting a day or more between picks. But I see that as an advantage, filling a couple weeks of preseason with positive NFL/FF activity.

Over the past few years, I’ve developed some theories and principles of solid drafting that, time permitting, I will share with the class.