Fantasy Football Drafting-Your Drafting Position
At times the question is raised by fantasy football leagues as to which is the best
method of determining draft orders. Should last years finishes influence this years
order of selections? Some of the older leagues prefer to use
the 1-10; 11-20 et al method. They believe, falsely I think, that
utilizing this method allows last years finishers a well deserved advantage over
the more successful teams and newcomers.
Why should '04's money winners be penalized for their superior skills? And,
probably one would find that the winners usually put more effort and time into the draft
and weekly activities than did the losers. Shouldn't the losers have to learn by their empty pocket
books and attempt to emulate their more successful counterparts? Yes, I know, luck plays
a huge role in the game. But shouldn't everyone have the same odds of winning at the beginning
of each season??
To draft in reverse order of finish allows the losing coaches too much
of an undeserved edge over last years winners. Each of the two charts
below illustrates 4 rounds of drafting; old conventional methods vs. the modern
"snake" system. Although the charts show only 4 rounds with 10 teams, the
same mathematical principles apply were I to use 14 rounds with 12 players
per team.
All team captains have some sort of cheat sheet prior to drafting (I hope). Line up your top
40 players in order of value; 1 being the best and 40 lowest. Then add the total value of each team's draft for
each system and divide by 4 (the number of players drafted by each manager is this example).
The result is the average value of each players per team per draft
system; lowest being the best.
When analyzing the results it's easy to see that the snake system allows
every player to get a fair shake, even when drafting dead last while the
conventional method gives an overly generous advantage to last year's losers.
I believe everyone, including newcomers, should be given equal chances prior to the
draft. This can easily be accomplished by having every team draw their respective
draft order randomly and by UTILIZING THE SNAKE SYSTEM.
However, some old time coventional commissioners still want to give some advantage
to last years losers over winners and newcomers. They also say, correctly this time,
that the snake system actually may penalize the number one drafter
because he/she may have to choose between 1 to 5 near equal super studs and not get
another selection until pick number 20; the number five drafter may get an equal player
and gets the 15th choice! What kind of an advantage is that?
It's a good point but easily rebutted. Allow last years last place coach
to select whichever position this year he/she choses; the 2nd to last coach gets 2nd choice,
and so on. Last years losers still get a decided advantage because
they get the top choices of the top studs in the NFL.
If you have any questions or comments regarding this question, please contact
me at BALLHAWKS
.
Also, visit my page regarding preparing your cheet sheets using the
X-Factor.
CONVENTIONAL SYSTEM (NO SNAKE)
No
Snake
|
TM1
|
TM2
|
TM3
|
TM4
|
TM5
|
TM6
|
TM7
|
TM8
|
TM9
|
TM10
|
Rnd 1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
Rnd 2
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
2
0
|
Rnd 3
|
21
|
22
|
23 |
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
Rnd 4
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
34
|
35
|
36
|
37
|
38
|
39
|
40
|
| Tot/4 |
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
SNAKE SYSTEM
Snake
|
TM1
|
TM2
|
TM3
|
TM4
|
TM5
|
TM6
|
TM7
|
TM8
|
TM9
|
TM10
|
|
Rnd 1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
|
Rnd 2
|
20
|
19
|
18
|
17
|
16
|
15
|
14
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
|
Rnd 3
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
|
Rnd 4
|
40
|
39
|
38
|
37
|
36
|
35
|
34
|
33
|
32
|
31
|
| Tl/4 |
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
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