RUNNING BACKS AND WIDE RECEIVERS
In my last post I talked about were to draft QB's and talked little about the TE position. Today I want to focus more on RB's and WR's. I will be talking about the Top 54 Flex from last year. That is the top 54 fantasy players in are league last year that were not a QB, Defense or Kicker.
200 Point Standard
Did you know that last season we had 54 players score 200 points or more. Why is that number important you may ask. Because over a 16 game schedule, a player who scores 200 would average you 12.5 a game and we could probably all agree that we would take 12.5 a game from are flex every week and be happy. So with that said. These next numbers show you how many players at a position finished in that top 54.
WR = 28
RB = 23
TE = 3
So we can see that the WR slot has several more then the RBs. But we all know that a good RB is hard to get and a great one is even harder to get. Same can almost go for the WR slot but there are so many more to choose from that picking too many WR's early can really put a damper on your team. But in 2014 Todd went against all odds and drafted QB first (Manning) and then back to back WR's (Antonio Brown and D.Thomas). Todd finished 2nd that year while also drafting Trent Richardson and Jouique Bell with his 4th and 5th picks.
Podium Winners from Last 3 Years
I went back and looked at everyone's top 5 draft picks who finished in top 3 the last three seasons. Just to see if I could notice any similarity's. And what I found out was this. Every team that won the championship had drafted 3 RB's with there first 4 picks. That's right! None of them drafted a RB with there 5th pick. Every one of them had 3 RB's by the time it was there turn to take there 5th player off the board. Is that just a crazy coincidence or is there something to taking RB's that early? I will also tell you that the 3 guys who had the worst records the last 3 years never drafted 3 RB's with there top 4 picks. But instead 2 of them drafted a QB with there 5th pick and the other drafted 3 WR's with his first 3 picks. So i would say stay away from drafting too many WR's too early and watch out drafting QB with your 5th pick.
RB Domination
Did you know that out of the top 54 players last year. The top 6 was RB's, actually 12 of the top 18 players were RB's. This makes drafting RB's early a must. I mean Brown, Julio and Beckam will all go first round but cant we make the argument that they are the only 3 WR's that should go first round? Here is a list of top 15 RB's. And then I will show you top 15 WR's and were they are all projected to be drafted in are league. These draft projections dont have are keepers in the draft pool. So this should be the number you see them at on draft day.
1. LeVeon Bell --1
2. David Johnson--2
3. LeSean McCoy--9
4. Devonta Freeman--11
5. DeMarco Murray--13
6. Leonard Fournette--19
7. Lamar Miller--20
8. Ezeke Elliott--22
9. Todd Gurley--23
10. Marshawn Lynch--26
11. Carlos Hyde--31
12. Christian McCaffrey--33
13. Bla Powell--36
14. Joe Mixon--42
15. Mark Ingram--44
1. Antonio Brown--3
2. Julio Jones--4
3. Odell Beckam--5
4. Mike Evans--6
5. AJ Green--7
6. Jordy Nelson--8
7. T.Y. Hilton--10
8. Dez Bryant--12
9. Doug Baldwin--14
10. Gronkowski--15
11. Amari Cooper--16
12. Demaryius Thomas--17
13. Alshon Jeffery--18
14. Hopkins--21
15. Brandon Cooks--24
Don't you find it strange that there 12 WR's projected to go ahead of the 6th best RB in the league in Fournette? WR will slip down and RB will go ahead of were there listed. When I am doing my mock drafts lately I find it hard to let Fournette slide past pick 13. I see 6 RBs going in top 13 picks.
LAST YEARS FIRST ROUND DRAFT
Leaving QBs out of the equation, here is our first round last year and how they finished. Once again, with QBs out of the equation.
1. Antonio Brown---7
2. Julio Jones---17
3. Todd Gurley---24
4. Odell Beckam---11
5. Adrian Peterson---Over 100
6. Jamal Charles---Over 100
7. Gronk---Over 100
8. AJ Green---59
9. Ezekiel Elliott---2
10. LeVeon Bell---3
11. Lamar Miller---21
12. DeAndre Hopkins---53
It is hit and miss with the RBs but if you find a young one, it looks like they stay healthier then guys like AP or Charles.
Final Thoughts
You can make the top 3 by not drafting 3 RB's in first 4 picks but you might not win the championship. Lets take Scott for example. He finished 2nd last year, his keeper was Jordy Nelson. Here was his first 5 picks in the draft.
1. Elliott
2. Lacy
3. Maclin
4. Matt Jones
5. Decker
We all know Elliott was a rock star last year and Decker wasn't all that bad. But his other 3 picks were pretty much bust I believe. So let this motivate all the fantasy owners who think you have to have kick ass draft to do well in your league. If you draft bad then just think of Scott and the way he got 2nd place. And if you keep doing bad in your league and start out 0-4 then try and remember back in 2014 when Chris(me) won the Championship while also starting out 0-4. I understand that people think fantasy football is a marathon that last 16 weeks. But it is really a week to week game were you need to try and win each week. Dont tell yourself that its ok to take a loss this week because you might be facing someone like Eric. Tell yourself that you will win this week, stay positive and if that team looks like he will beat you. Then browse around the league and see if there is a trade that could help you out. So many people just ride there team after draft day in hopes to make a good pick up or use there waiver at the right moment. Sometime its as easy as just talking to other owners and trying to see if they have something you need and perhaps you have something that could help them.
