heehawks Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 (edited) I know we have our huddle message board leagues coming up, but lets please ignore that fact for the time being. I play a ton of RTS online best ball leagues (draft and leave it) and am wondering if my kicker strategy is hurting me or giving me an advantage. For those who don't know, you draft 16-24 players in a 8-12 man leagues. You fill out your roster with multiple QBs, RBs, WRs, TEs, Ks, and Def. Each week the highest scoring player/s from each position is used to fill your lineup and ultimately your final score for the week. No lineup changes, computer does all the work. Highest score at the end of 17 weeks takes home the cash. So, most of the time I draft two kickers, especially with a roster of 20 to 24. Most leagues are 10-12 teams. My thought is that I will be getting those extra 2-4 points from the higher scoring kicker per week, or so. And also getting a slight increase in possibility of a big kicker output. The other train of thought is to only draft one kicker and use that spot on a potential sleeper or breakout player in hopes of scoring on their one, two or even three weeks of huge scores (i.e. Alan Hurns last year). Then assuming that score is high enough to use. I would really like to hear what my fellow huddlers think of this situation and which strategy you think gives me the better chance of scoring the highest possible points. I'm sure one way or the other would be more advantageous. Edited August 12, 2015 by heehawks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henry Muto Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Let me tell you a little story about a draft masters league I played long ago....I took 2 of the top 5 kickers thinking I am set then Hartley gets injured in preseason and was out for the year then Keading tears his ACL on opening kickoff and I scored 0 pts from my kicker position for the entire season. My season was over before it ever began so now I always take 3 kickers these are leagues with 26 rosters spots so while I know if your only doing 20 spots then really 2 kickers is your max but you certainly never want to draft 1 kicker what if your only kicker was Suisham then your season would already be over you can't win a league scoring 0 pts for the year so I would never only draft 1 kicker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 I draft 3. All with different bye weeks. That gives me 13 games where 3 kickers are playing best ball and my chances of hitting a big score is significantly higher than others. Barring injuries of course Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BA Baracus Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 Draft them early and often...like 6 kickers between rounds 5 and 15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bud29 Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 This is what I envisioned when I read the title. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zooty Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 You have to have at least 2 IMO. You're potentially leaving too many points on the bench otherwise and it's a total points league so every one helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 My planned strategy is changing a bit this year I think, based on the format of the Huddle Best Ball league. In the last few years with only 16 roster spots, I would just take one kicker, as the other roster spots were just too valuable. I'd rather risk going without a kicker then going without a QB. Now that we are expanding the rosters, I will likely target rostering at least 3 kickers, ideally all with different bye weeks so that barring injury, I always have at least two going. We'll see how the draft plays out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heehawks Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 This is what I envisioned when I read the title. Yes, the best ball-kicker strategy is to just walk up and wail away on the ole family jewels, nothing more to it really. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heehawks Posted August 12, 2015 Author Share Posted August 12, 2015 (edited) So it seems like you guys really don't think rostering another position player instead of another kicker will garner more points. Interesting indeed. I've heard guys on other chat rooms that are adamant about only drafting one kicker and that the other spot should be used on a positional player to get that "blow up" game potential. Still not sure which strategy will get the most points at the end of the season, although I'm still in the multiple kicker camp. I left out a crucial piece of information, my bad. The kickers we pick, are not the named kicker, it is the "team" kicker (i.e. Colts K instead of A.Vinitieri), so if there is an injury you still get their replacement automatically. Don't know if that changes any of your minds on this topic or not, in particular Henry Muto. Otherwise, it is a straight up question about how to get the most points. Edited August 12, 2015 by heehawks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChampSampson Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 It's team kicker this year, drafting 3 is not optimal. You could argue the merit of 2, you could even argue spending $2 for each kicker if you felt it increased your distribution. All I know is that I went with 1 kicker last year in several leagues and took a flyer on OBJ. Maybe never to be repeated again, but the point the same; load up if you see the talent...Markus Wheaton (although changing) Tyler Eifert Austin Sefrian Darren Sproles DMAC Torrey Smith Mariota Winston Kenny Still Andre Williams etc ect will all be there. Load up imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zooty Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 So it seems like you guys really don't think rostering another position player instead of another kicker will garner more points. Interesting indeed. I've heard guys on other chat rooms that are adamant about only drafting one kicker and that the other spot should be used on a positional player to get that "blow up" game potential. Still not sure which strategy will get the most points at the end of the season, although I'm still in the multiple kicker camp. I left out a crucial piece of information, my bad. The kickers we pick, are not the named kicker, it is the "team" kicker (i.e. Colts K instead of A.Vinitieri), so if there is an injury you still get their replacement automatically. Don't know if that changes any of your minds on this topic or not, in particular Henry Muto. Otherwise, it is a straight up question about how to get the most points. yeah minor piece of info there. With team Kicker I would only draft one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 yeah minor piece of info there. With team Kicker I would only draft one I would still be inclined to roster 2, depending on the size of the roster. It will help smooth the production from the kicker spot. Analysis would need to be done, but let's say a kicker in general averages ten points a game, but that is spread between 5 and 15 points over the course of the season. With two rostered kickers, you will (okay, should for you semantics nutjobs) get more of those higher games (unless you happen to pick two kickers that trend the exact same each week all season) as you automatically get the best one for the week, which could lead to several points more per week. While it is possible to find a homerun hit later, it is much less likely that it will garner you an average of 3 or 4 points per week more. For every OBJ that people find, there are 30 other players taken that don't contribute at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 Depending on roster size, I'd still take 3 for the reasons I listed above. Even more so with injuries taken out of the equation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heehawks Posted August 13, 2015 Author Share Posted August 13, 2015 I would still be inclined to roster 2, depending on the size of the roster. It will help smooth the production from the kicker spot. Analysis would need to be done, but let's say a kicker in general averages ten points a game, but that is spread between 5 and 15 points over the course of the season. With two rostered kickers, you will (okay, should for you semantics nutjobs) get more of those higher games (unless you happen to pick two kickers that trend the exact same each week all season) as you automatically get the best one for the week, which could lead to several points more per week. While it is possible to find a homerun hit later, it is much less likely that it will garner you an average of 3 or 4 points per week more. For every OBJ that people find, there are 30 other players taken that don't contribute at all. This is the type of analysis I have been trying to figure out. Thanks BC. Now dont take my kickers in the message league! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Country Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 This is the type of analysis I have been trying to figure out. Thanks BC. Now dont take my kickers in the message league! To be fair, I have not done the actual analysis on it yet, it's just something that "makes sense" when laid out that way. Doing the analysis for the kicker part would be doable albeit difficult... doing the analysis for position players taken late not as doable, so I am content with the spitball approach I took. With the Huddle Message Board league being my only best ball league, I admittedly don't spend a ton of time working on best ball specific strategy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heehawks Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 (edited) To be fair, I have not done the actual analysis on it yet, it's just something that "makes sense" when laid out that way. Doing the analysis for the kicker part would be doable albeit difficult... doing the analysis for position players taken late not as doable, so I am content with the spitball approach I took. With the Huddle Message Board league being my only best ball league, I admittedly don't spend a ton of time working on best ball specific strategy. It was more about getting opinions laid out in a coherent manner. I had the theory running around in my head but couldn't put my finger on just how it works. Your "analysis" just happened to spell it out in a way I could finally wrap my brain around. Actual analysis would be awesome and a potential article for the Huddle guys to kick around. Edited August 14, 2015 by heehawks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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