It is almost time for the new season of Fantasy Football! My love for fantasy football has become overwhelming. Don't get me wrong the NFL in general is a fantastic thing - but I am not playing in the NFL. I am not the one running into the end zone or the one catching the pass across the middle or the one that just got destroyed trying to run a slant - thank goodness! However, I am the one that is managing my fantasy team. I am the one contact owner and asking about trades or sitting players on the bench because their matchup is not in the favor. I am the one calling the shots - and that is why, this year, I am not just ready for the NFL - I am ready for FANTASY FOOTBALL!!
This year our league did something a little different. This year we set the draft order ahead of time and then allowed for draft pick trading to take place. Let me be the first to say - it is a blessing and a curse - and I as the commissioner of the league take full responsibility. The blessing: it allows you, the team owner, to think about fantasy football for an extra two weeks. It allows you to be active on the trade block and feel good about a trade that you have made even though we are only in pre-season week 2. The curse: half of your league will be the tried and true traditionalist and will not trade their draft picks. That same half will also extremely dislike the trading that is taking place - and most of the curmudgeons will let you know of their dislike.
Oh well............
So let's get to some the action we have seen thus far.
First our draft order:
1. Hoosier Daddy
2. The J-Bones
3. Dirty Mike and the Boyz
4. White Condomints
5. BringBack Harbs
6. Waco Kids (defending champ - he should be kissing Gurley's feet right about now)
7. Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood
8. Team Dez Nuts
9. Mike McCarthy is Gay
10. Fantasy Doctor
11. Sagging TD's
12. LA Xtreme
13. Certified "G"
14. Prible is my B**ch
In our league we do a snake draft. If you don't know what that means (why are you even reading this?) the first round goes in this order, the second round goes in reverse order. So, essentially P is my B will have the last pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round. The rest of the draft just continues to go back and forth between this order and the reverse order.
Once our league found out the order - it became similar to Wall Street. Pick are stocks and owners are the brokers. I envision it to look something like Wolf of Wallstreet - minus the candle wax. I am fairly positive that by myself I have offered at least 50 or so trades - and it has been less that one week since the order has been established.
With so many trades floating around - let's breakdown some of the deals that have been finalized....
Trade 1:
White Condomints receives:
9th overall
48th overall
93rd overall
MM is Gay receives:
25th overall
32nd overall
53rd overall
The important part of this deal lies in the top picks. White Condomints has made a play to acquire two first round picks (his own and MMisG). In doing so, he had to give up his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th - but he also received a better 4th round for his efforts.
Factor #1: Know where the drop-off exists
The drop-off is a term that refers to when a specific position has a significant drop in production. Certain players are considered "top tier" studs - at the running back position their are 4 - Bell, Gurley, D. Johnson, Elliott. The argument can be made that other players are extremely close to their production: Kamara, Barkley (not Charles), Gordon, Hunt, maybe Fournette. These guys would be considered "tier 2" running backs. At this point, the running back position experiences a drop-off. There is still good production to be had - but the remainder of the players are all vulnerable to a specific match-up. The drop-off for running backs is after the 9th player.
Factor #2: Know your league
This is extremely crucial when deciding whether to trade up or down. In my league, wide receivers are valuable. They are also a position where a WR2 can still score a decent amount of points (PPR scoring). Many commissioners will be looking to take many wide receivers in their 1st, 2nd, and possibly 3rd round. White Condomints has made a play that gives up his 2nd and 3rd round picks for chance to land two extremely good running backs. This may be a high price to pay - but there is always some rolling of the dice in fantasy football. The idea is to try and roll dice that are loaded - and grabbing two really good running backs equal two loaded dice.
On the flip side, MM is G has now solidified his ability to fill many holes (especially the Front Hole) with this trade. He has successfully now grabbed two 2nd round, two 3 round, and a 4th round pick. Which means he will have draft 4 players while some teams only have two players (after he makes his second 3rd round pick) and he will have 5 players while some teams only have 3 players (in the middle of the 4th round). His risk is not being able to pick until the middle of the second round - his dice is not loaded - he is just rolling them multiple times!
Winner of the trade: Coin flip - would you rather have two studs or would you rather have depth
Trade 2:
WC receives:
8th overall
36th overall
92nd overall
Dez Nuts receives:
4th overall
48th overall
88th overall
This is an interesting trade. You would have thought that White Condomints (WC) would have been done after acquiring his 2nd first round pick - but obviously you have not seen the movie Draft Day. He then decides to take his original 4th overall pick and attempt to trade down in the first round to move up in a few others.
Factor #3: Know who you are trading with
There are a few commissioners in this league that seem to never trade. They either send out trades that are extremely slanted or they always decline (and never counter). Now, that is not to say that all trades that are sent out are not slanted - but there is an art to sending a slanted trade. When you send a trade you want it to be in your favor (obviously) but not too over the top that it shuts down the opposing owner. It would be like offering a $100,000 to the owner of a $250,000 home - clearly you are going to halt the negotiations.
Dez and WC are two owners that actively pursue trades. There will be a "battle" back and forth about which picks to give and which picks are wanted. Eventually, the two found a common ground....
Factor #4: The Irving Effect
In every trade, there is the Irving Effect. If you follow the NBA you know exactly what I am talking about. The trade that sent Kyrie Irving to the Celtics also involved a slew of decent players. The difficult part for the Cavs (KI's original team) was that Irving had already said he wanted to be traded. As an owner of a fantasy football team - you should never make yourself appear as if you need to make the trade.
In this trade, WC has offered up Kyrie Irving (4th overall pick). The pick that will essentially turn into either Antonio Brown or one of the top 4 Running Backs. Dez clearly feels that his team could benefit from this pick - to be fair, any team could benefit from this pick. However, just like in the first trade - there is a price to pay. Dez must trade his 1st round pick (8th overall) and his 3rd round pick (36th overall) while getting the WC's 4th round pick (48th overall) in return.
Dez has now locked up a spot to secure one of the top players in the league - was the price worth it? In doing this trade, WC has now locked up two 1st round picks (8th and 9th) and also has regained back a 3rd round pick.
However, the question still remains - would you rather have Kyrie Irving or multiple good players?
Winner of the trade: Coinflip - slightly favoring White Condomints, due to prior trade and needs
And with that, I encourage all of you to check your fantasy teams - because I have just sent every single owner a trade offer and I will be hoping for, at the bare minimum, an acceptable counter offer.
MWAH
No comments:
Post a Comment