Continuing the journey of my late season startup, this installment will cover an abridged version of the picks that I made over the next 30 rounds to finish out my team.
Check out the previous installments of this series:
The Format:
- 12 teams, .5 ppr, IDP tackle heavy scoring, 6 pts TD
- 40 man roster
- Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (R/W/T), 1 K, 1 DT, 1 DE, 1 LB, 1 CB, 1 S, 2 IDP Flex
*My selections in green*
My Roster through Round 10
QB Ryan Tannehill
RB CJ Spiller, Knile Davis
WR Mike Evans, Brandin Cooks, Davante Adams, Allen Robinson, Marquess Wilson
TE Rob Gronkowski, ASJ, Eric Ebron
Just as some team owners were starting to lose interest in the long drawn out draft process, Round 11 started late in the day on December 13. I was getting my second wind and knew that late round rookie picks were worth a lot less than these late middle round picks. I’d rather stock my roster with these picks, and have less to cut when the rookie draft came along. The following is an abridged version of only my remaining picks and the moves made to get to my final roster.
11.01 Charles Sims
My RB3 and worth moving up to grab, had him rated as RB22
12.03 Colin Kaepernick
I was torn between him and Tannehill in round 10, now I have both.
This was another spot that I traded up in order to target a player. I traded my 32.03, 40.11 and 2015 5.03 in order to get the 12.12 and 14.03. My target was:
12.12 John Brown WR
Immediately after moving up to make this pick I received an offer for Brown. The offer was pick 40.02 plus his 2015 3.02 for Brown. By accepting this offer it was a sweet immediate profit of moving up from 5.03 to the 3.02 in the rookie draft and gaining the 14.03 in exchange for my 32.03. Even though I like John Brown, this was too much value to pass up, and I still had several WR targets on my board.
Chad’s Take: This trade-up, like a few earlier in the draft came at a good-sized discount from the general market in startup drafts.
I used the 14.03 and a later pick to move up to 13.07 plus a later pick in order to grab Brian Quick, I had him rated ahead of John Brown but due to his injury I figured I could wait. The time to get him was now.
13.07 Brian Quick WR
This was the break point for me, I had the core offense that I wanted and now it was time to spend some picks on IDP before going back on offense for a string. I was finished with the trading of picks for a while, no need to make any moves at this point. As you can see there were some long spans between picks, but I had done my damage in the early and early mid rounds and had faith in my knowledge of the IDP steals that were still on the board.
13.10 Kyle Williams DT
The most shocking pick of the draft was at 14.05 when kicker Cody Parkey was taken, here is the comment the owner made:
“Young kicker, won’t have to worry about kickers for a long time, or until Parkey’s BYE week”
Chad’s Take: Watch Parkey get cut during 2015 for his bye or (gasp) if he is a middling starter in the world of unpredictable kickers.
- 15.10 Jason Pierre Paul DE
- 17.10 Paul Posluszny LB
- 19.10 Jamie Collins LB
- 20.03 Curtis Lofton LB
In our tackle heavy scoring system, the LB is the position that scores the most consistent fantasy points, my goal is to use LB at the IDP flex spot wherever possible.
21.10 Jeff Janis WR
He had slid far enough, I had to jump on him here, huge upside.
22.03 Darren Sproles RB
I can use a veteran pass catching RB while my younger RB develop.
The owner that took a kicker in round 14 grabbed a backup kicker in round 23, unbelievable, but thank you. In fact by this point in the draft there were 3 total kickers off the board.
- 23.10 Dontari Poe DT
- 24.03 Fred Jackson RB
Another pass catching veteran RB that still has some gas in his tank
- 25.10 Albert Wilson WR
- 26.03 Carson Palmer QB
- 26.09 Frank Gore RB
- 27.10 Adrian Clayborn DE
- 29.07 Corey Graham CB
- 30.03 Tyvon Branch S
- 31.10 Jaron Brown WR
- 33.10 Brandon Graham LB
- 34.03 Jimmie Ward S
- 35.10 Kendrick Lewis S
- 36.03 Sam Barrington LB
- 37.04 Nigel Bradham LB
- 37.10 Tyler Gaffney RB
- 38.03 Anthony Hitchens LB
- 39.10 Jason Verrett CB
- 40.02 Fletcher Cox DE
- 40.03 Orleans Darkwa RB
I did make one more post draft trade. I traded WR Marquess Wilson and my 4.03 for WR Bruce Ellington and the 2.08. I have since the draft had trade interest on Gronk, Ebron, and Ellington, but nothing worth accepting.
The Format:
- 12 teams, .5 ppr, IDP tackle heavy scoring, 6 pts passing TD
- 40 man roster
- Start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (R/W/T), 1 K, 1 DT, 1 DE, 1 LB, 1 CB, 1 S, 2 IDP Flex
Final Post-Draft Roster including 2015 Draft Picks
QB Ryan Tannehill, Colin Kaepernick, Carson Palmer
RB CJ Spiller, Knile Davis, Charles Sims, Darren Sproles, Fred Jackson, Frank Gore, Orleans Darkwa, Tyler Gaffney
WR Mike Evans, Brandin Cooks, Davante Adams, Allen Robinson, Brian Quick, Jaron Brown, Albert Wilson, Jeff Janis, Bruce Ellington
TE Rob Gronkowski, Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Eric Ebron
DT Kyle Williams, Dontari Poe
DE Jason Pierre Paul, Adrian Clayborn, Fletcher Cox
LB Paul Posluszny, Curtis Lofton, Anthony Hitchens, Jamie Collins, Brandon Graham, Sam Barrington, Nigel Bradham, Anthony Hitchens
CB Corey Graham, Jason Verrett
S Tyvon Branch, Jimmie Ward, Kendrick Lewis
2015 Picks 1.03, 2.03, 2.08, 3.02, and 3.03
As you can see I didn’t draft a kicker, I’ll pick one up the day before the season starts. I consolidated my rookie picks from seven down to five more valuable picks, much easier to make roster cuts before the rookie draft. By getting the extra second and third round picks, I have more fire power to package up. I only need to start two RB and having the steady veterans, though they may not be sexy picks, they were great value for depth and will bridge the gap between the start of the season and when my rookie and younger RBs start to take off.
Drafting the UTH way I never doubted for a second that I would look at my team at the end of the draft and feel nothing but optimism for its success. I never wavered from my strategy of building the strongest and deepest offense first, and looking at my defensive players, I am happy with the solid core.
The key is to have a plan, be patient, and work the plan. This is only my second startup dynasty draft. All of my other dynasty teams have been orphans. In my first draft I made out fairly well, though I didn’t do a whole lot of trading up or down. Over the two-week period that this draft took, I made over 40 trade offers and executed 11 of them. It was so nice to be able to have Chad as my sounding board and to bounce strategic ideas back and forth. I am excited about the future of this dynasty team!
Chad’s Take: There are so many nuggets in these final three paragraphs. First, it does not take 5-10 startup drafts to have a plan and execute. Preparation, whether your first or 50th startup draft remains the same. It started with having a long-range plan in selecting a draft position. All the little decisions add up to the final product. Unlike a shallow redraft league where in-season management accounts for a good bit of a team’s success or failure, the initial draft in a dynasty league is paramount to a team’s outlook. The addition of IDP (outside of very heavy IDP scoring and starting requirements) actually works to the benefit of the UTH way and going offense-heavy. The turnover at IDP dwarfs that of the offensive positions and the allure of filling those starting lineup spots in the mid-rounds creates additional value for high-upside offensive-minded drafters. Another key point made in the summary is the volume of activity: 40(!) trade offers, which resulted in 11 deals. Both are outstanding figures even in a 40-round draft. That level of interest and activity by an owner shows tracking their personal draft board, monitoring value remaining, moving within positional tiers, seeking future value, and giving other owner’s an opportunity to make player selections that do not align with yours. Thanks to Katie for documenting and sharing her startup story. Who’s ready to build a dynasty?
