I-5 Sports
When drafting a team, whether it is Fantasy Football or Baseball, the first rule is to understand the specific settings of your league. In such a deep league, like Round 4 (14 teams), it becomes even more important as the level of talent on everyone’s team is a lot lower than in a standard 10 team league. There are two major differences in Round 4 from standard leagues. First, is the addition of 0.5 points per reception which means every time a player on your team catches a pass they receive an extra 0.5 points. This may not seem like much but added up throughout the season makes a huge difference. Next is the addition of 1 point for every 5 completions for Quarterbacks. This increases the value of top tier quarterbacks in pass happy offenses, while diminishing the value of teams who tend to focus on the run. I am lucky to have been in the same league with the same settings for the last 3 years and have learned from my mistakes in past seasons.
*Check back Thursday for "Start 'em Sit 'em" and next Tuesday for a Maple Bars update!
Maple Bars (My Team)
 |
| Ray Rice RB Baltimore Ravens |
When drafting a team, whether it is Fantasy Football or Baseball, the first rule is to understand the specific settings of your league. In such a deep league, like Round 4 (14 teams), it becomes even more important as the level of talent on everyone’s team is a lot lower than in a standard 10 team league. There are two major differences in Round 4 from standard leagues. First, is the addition of 0.5 points per reception which means every time a player on your team catches a pass they receive an extra 0.5 points. This may not seem like much but added up throughout the season makes a huge difference. Next is the addition of 1 point for every 5 completions for Quarterbacks. This increases the value of top tier quarterbacks in pass happy offenses, while diminishing the value of teams who tend to focus on the run. I am lucky to have been in the same league with the same settings for the last 3 years and have learned from my mistakes in past seasons.
Through the first two weeks of the season my team (Maple Bars) is 2-0 and has scored the most points of any of the 14 teams. Sure I have been lucky, Matt Forte scoring 33.5 pts for me the first week, but I have also had bad luck with my first round pick (2nd overall) Ray Rice, 6 and 13 points respectively. My first goal was to take advantage of the league settings, drafting pass catching running backs and possession receivers. Both Ray Rice and Matt Forte are big in the passing game and can beat you in a lot of different ways which is very important in the NFL today. Whether the Ravens or Bears are winning or losing both running backs are still going to be a big part of each team’s offense. This will allow for Rice and Forte to accumulate fantasy points over the course of the entire game while running backs like Michael Turner (5 catches last season) need their teams to be ahead as they are a non-factor in the passing game.
In Round 4, just as important as running backs are wide receivers. In a standard league the old draft strategy is to take running backs with your first two picks. With the addition of 0.5 points per reception or ppr as it is called, it becomes very important to take a top tier receiver with one of your first 2 picks. With my 2nd round pick I took Roddy White, a top wide receiver who catches close to 90 balls a season. With 8 receivers taken in the first two rounds I was fortunate to see White fall to me. I was also surprised to see Wes Welker (123 receptions last season) still around in the 4th round and drafted him immediately, not at all worried about his off-season surgery as he had been playing all pre-season. Vincent Jackson is a risk but WHEN he does play this season he will give my team a boost down the stretch.
In Round 4, just as important as running backs are wide receivers. In a standard league the old draft strategy is to take running backs with your first two picks. With the addition of 0.5 points per reception or ppr as it is called, it becomes very important to take a top tier receiver with one of your first 2 picks. With my 2nd round pick I took Roddy White, a top wide receiver who catches close to 90 balls a season. With 8 receivers taken in the first two rounds I was fortunate to see White fall to me. I was also surprised to see Wes Welker (123 receptions last season) still around in the 4th round and drafted him immediately, not at all worried about his off-season surgery as he had been playing all pre-season. Vincent Jackson is a risk but WHEN he does play this season he will give my team a boost down the stretch.
With offensive coordinator Mike Martz, Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears offense is much improved already this season. Martz is known to many as an offensive genius and so far this year he is living up to that title. Cutler, as many other quarterbacks coached by Martz, has seen increases in all of his numbers from a season ago. Completion percentage up 8%, average completion up 4 yards and quarterback rating up nearly 50 points! Although the sample size is small at only 2 games I expect this level of performance to continue and for Cutler to anchor my already strong team.
My team does have a weakness and that is the lack of depth at running back. If Rice or Forte were to get injured it could be a tough rest of the season, but as it stands now Maple Bars has the tools to win the Round 4 championship, what do you think?
My team does have a weakness and that is the lack of depth at running back. If Rice or Forte were to get injured it could be a tough rest of the season, but as it stands now Maple Bars has the tools to win the Round 4 championship, what do you think?
*Check back Thursday for "Start 'em Sit 'em" and next Tuesday for a Maple Bars update!
Maple Bars (My Team)
QB | Jay Cutler, Chi QB |
RB | Ray Rice, Bal RB |
RB | Matt Forte, Chi RB |
RB/WR | Steve Breaston, Ari WR |
WR | Roddy White, Atl WR |
WR | Wes Welker, NE WR |
TE | Kellen Winslow, TB TE |
D/ST | Vikings D/ST, Min D/ST |
K | Mason Crosby, GB K |
Bench | Vincent Jackson, SD WR |
Bench | Matt Ryan, Atl QB |
Bench | Laurent Robinson, StL WR |
Bench | Tashard Choice, Dal RB |
Bench | Laurence Maroney*, Den RB |
Bench | Cardinals D/ST, Ari D/ST |
Bench | Evan Moore, Cle TE |
Email questions or comments to ifivesports@gmail.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment