Draft analysis

[seh0872]

Let me be upfront -- this is a MOCK draft.  But I'd like opinions about a strategy I've been trying.

12-team PPR with a 3 WR and a deep bench (8).  The league disallows trading.  I have the 12th pick.

Starting rosters are 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1FLEX, 1DST, and 1PK.

After playing around with various combinations at the 1.12 and 2.01 slots, I'm starting to like the idea of loading up on WRs early, waiting until the 4th round (or later) to grab my first RB.  Not quite Zero RB, but in the same ballpark.  A recent Sleeper mock draft is pretty representative of what I'm seeing. I'm curious if this were my actual team what you would think of it.

Note: I did not run this draft, so the bench is 6 players (vs. 8) and there are no DSTs or PKs drafted.

POS - Player (draft pos)

QB - J. Allen (4.01); M. Ryan (14.01)

RB - J. Jacobs (5.12), C. Edmonds (6.01), D. Harris (8.01), J. Cook (9.12), J. McKissic (11.12)

WR - S. Diggs (1.12), D. Adams (2.01), T. Higgins (3.12), E. Moore (7.12), J. Meyers (12.01), N. Collins (13.12)

TE - Z. Ertz (10.01)

Clearly I'm sacrificing the RB slot, but getting 3 top-12 WRs is a significant advantage over other teams given the 3WR set-up, and I think will offset the disadvantage at the RB position.  I probably could do better focusing on getting more backup RBs with stand-alone value, like Hebert or Pollard, who's just one (likely) injury away from being a true RB1.

I did that in another draft that included 8 bench spots (but still drafting no DSTs or PKs), where the results were as follows:

QB - J. Hurts (8.01), D. Prescott (11.12)

RB - AJ Dillon (5.12), J. Jacobs (6.01), K. Hunt (7.12), N. Hines (12.01), K. Herbert (13.12)

WR - S. Diggs (1.12), D. Adams (2.01), DJ Moore (3.12), M. Williams (4.01), J. Meyers (10.01) W. Robinson (14.01), A. Pierce (16.01)

TE - D. Goedert (9.12), D. Njoku (15.12)

Another draft saw me take 4 WRs in the first 4 rounds (J. Chase, S. Diggs, T. McLaurin and M. Williams) followed by four RBs (C. Edmonds, E. Mitchell, D. Pierce and T. Pollard), with R. Wilson being my QB.  Again there was better focus on stand-alone-value backup RBs, which included Herbert and Jamaal Williams.  A fourth draft yielded similar results, except T. Higgins and DJ Moore in the 3.12 and 4.01 slot and Kyler Murray and AJ Dillon instead of Edmonds and Mitchell.  This team could see as much as a 10-point advantage in the starting WR corps week-to-week.  Not too shabby!

The actual draft is Monday night, and I'm seriously thinking about going this route, leaving the rest of the league to chase WRs in the mid-rounds while I pluck up the uninteresting but serviceable RBs.  Of course, this all blow up if there's a run on WRs in the first round and more than the top 3 go -- if Diggs or Adams is taken, I can still execute with the oter plus CeeDee Lamb or Michael Pittman, but if both go, then I'm probably reverting back to RB/WR and taking the Hero RB that remains (Harris or Mixon, I suspect).

What do you think?

Edited September 4, 2022 by seh0872

[gijoerock]

It's a good strategy until a manager snakes the draft. WR's are pretty deep. I would try and grab a top tier RB and go all out on WR's while building the best players available bench. Good luck.