Today is Don’s draft day for his trophy league. It’s a 16-team hometown league made up of guys who have competed together for many years. This is one of the most important days of the year and one that he always looks forward to. Every year it is the Saturday before Labor Day which also coincides with the Canfield Fair week. You can’t beat fantasy football AND fair food!
Draft day is serious business. All the time spent listening to the Fantasy Sports station on Sirius XM radio, watching reports on ESPN and NFL Network, and reading continuous updates on Twitter and Bleacher Report is about to pay off in a few hours. Spread sheets are printed, the 3-hole punch is on the kitchen table and players are being scrutinized for his final decisions.
I feel that Don has a definite advantage this year from our time spent at the Fantasy Football Experience. We learned how the experts draft their teams and who they expect to be late round values. The experts say it is hard to find a sleeper anymore, so some players are considered to be “late-round values”. In years past, information came from magazines and other print sources. Now, we know within a few minutes when something big has happened. Just this morning we received the alert that Sam Bradford has been traded to the Minnesota Vikings. Anyone with a smart phone or internet access is able to have alerts of players injuries, trades and issues that may affect their draft.
Don won’t know his draft position until he gets to the draft tonight. Today he will do a few mock drafts with different positions to get a feeling of how the draft might flow at each position. By doing different mocks and drafting running backs or wide receivers first, he can see which works out better. We are both following the advice of the experts by using the first 5-6 rounds to draft running backs and wide receivers and holding off on quarterback until later in the draft.
The first few rounds are somewhat obvious – take the best available player. After that is when it gets a little tricky. This is when research and knowledge come into play. Late round values are quarterback Jameis Winston (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), running back Carlos Hyde (San Francisco 49ers), wide receiver Tyler Lockett (Seattle Seahawks). Hall of Famer Warren Moon seems to be a fan of Lockett also!
I think an advantage to holding a draft this weekend is that all the pre-season games are over. Our Pro Football Hall of Fame Fantasy Football Experience draft was last week while the games were still being played. I drafted Tony Romo as a backup quarterback and the next day he broke a bone in his back! While it won’t make a big difference in my team, it does really stink for Tony and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Good luck to everyone who is having Draft Day this weekend! Enjoy the friendly competition, time spent with friends, and good eats while you are building a team that can win the Super Bowl!