DLF Dynasty League Draft Breakdown: Part Three

Thus far, I’ve detailed the draft results for eight of the 12 teams in the newly formed DLF Team Dynasty League.  For a breakdown of the first four squads, as well as a short list of league specifications, see Part One.  For an examination of the next four teams, refer to Part Two.  Today, the series concludes with an analysis of the league’s final quartet.

Bucketheads – Ryan McDowell

Pertinent Players:

Other Players:  QB – Kirk Cousins, WSH, Ryan Mallett, NE; RB – Benny Cunningham, STL, Toby Gerhart, MIN, Shonn Greene, TEN, Willis McGahee, DEN; WR – Chris Harper, SEA; TE – Mychal Rivera, OAK, Taylor Thompson, TEN

2014 Draft Picks:  All original picks remaining

Ryan’s Strategy:  I entered the DLF staff dynasty league with the same basic strategy I have used the past several seasons. That includes drafting with a long-term focus and being okay with fielding a struggling team in year one. While that may not sound ideal, it has paid off for me in several other leagues.

With the flexible lineups requiring only one starting running back, I focus my early picks on acquiring young wide receivers with upside. I also had a goal of drafting one of the top three tight ends, but that is often dependent on draft position. With an early pick in every odd round, I was pretty confident I could snag Aaron Hernandez, and did.  Also, the starting quarterback tier really drops off after the top ten (eleven if you include Peyton Manning), so I wanted to be sure I got one of those guys.

Once I hit the middle rounds, like many others I am drafting for upside. Often, I ask myself which player could somehow be worth a first round rookie pick. For example, I chose Ryan Mallett over current starters like Matt Schaub and Alex Smith (who were the next two quarterbacks drafted). What scenario would have to play out for Mallett to be worth a 1st round pick? Simply a Tom Brady injury. We saw that play out with Matt Cassel years ago. What would have to happen for Smith or Schaub to suddenly be worth a first round pick? I don’t see it happening. So, adding as many high upside players as possible is the key to the mid to late rounds.

My Take:  I’ve already provided my viewpoint on abandoning immediate success, but much like with Eric Dickens’ team, Ryan had a plan and he stuck to it.  He built around a strong young group of pass catchers and quarterbacks – the positions with the greatest longevity.  If his young players can match or exceed the hype, Ryan will not only have an extremely strong team, but also a plethora of trade bait.

My biggest issues with Ryan’s team are his running backs, and his trade inactivity.  David Wilson has the hype, but can he match it?  Can Jonathan Stewart ever escape his timeshare?  While it’s true we only have to start one ball carrier, I think it’s a bonus to have the ability to FLEX players with guaranteed and proven workloads.

As to Ryan’s lack of trading, I feel that hurt him due to his draft position, as he always had 22 picks between his pair of back-to-back selections.  This led to him over-drafting a few players (Gordon, Hopkins, Cameron, etc.) when he probably could have moved back and still got them, as well as missing out on guys he liked by not moving up (ex. Randall Cobb).  This is only a minor qualm, but notable nonetheless.

Harahduh2 – Doug Veatch

Pertinent Players:

Other Players:  QB – Joe Flacco, BAL; RB – Michael Hill, SD; WR – Cobi Hamilton, CIN, Leonard Hankerson, WSH, Domenik Hixon, CAR, Nick Toon, NO; TE – Nick Kasa, OAK, Dustin Keller, MIA, Jacob Tamme, DEN

2014 Draft Picks:  Third Round – one; Fourth Round – one

Doug’s Strategy:  I wanted to get as many picks within the top five rounds I possibly can.  My original draft position was 1.03, but with A.J. Green and Calvin Johnson coming off the board before my pick, the move to me was trade back.  I was able to trade 1.03 and my seventh round pick for 1.09 and a third round pick, and still landing Julio Jones. I also traded my 2014 first round pick to snag additional picks in the fifth and eleventh rounds.  I’m always looking to trade away a future first round pick in a startup to draft a proven player.

I love building dynasty teams around the wide receiver position because of the longevity at the position.  Having a receiving corps of Jones, Michael Crabtree, Hakeem Nicks, Justin Blackmon, T.Y. Hilton, Chris Givens and Aaron Dobson is a strong core for a 10-man league, let alone a 12-man league.  This group should ensure I never have a lack of trade offers coming my way.  Conversely, I waited on the deep tight end position, and still ended up with Brandon Pettigrew, Ladarius Green, Dustin Keller and Jacob Tamme.

For my quarterback, I own Matt Ryan in almost every dynasty league I play in.  He consistently puts up “elite” type numbers on a weekly basis and definitely doesn’t have a lack of talent surrounding him.  Also, having Joe Flacco as your QB2 is never a bad thing considering he’s capable of putting low-end QB1 numbers from week to week.

Finally, once the eighth round was over, it was time to start chasing my rookie targets.  I ended up drafting Christine Michael, Aaron Dobson, Latavius Murray, and Aaron Mellette who I feel all have enormous upside and were all drafted into favorable situations in my eyes.  I pretty much ignored the running back position to this point but Michael and Murray are two guys that I think could be difference makers as soon as the 2014 season.

All in all, I drafted an extremely young team that has a good mixture of proven production, high upside second and third year players and a few of my favorite rookie targets.  Like I said before, this team may not be a juggernaut in year one, but moving forward, I think this is going to be a team that will be tough to beat on a weekly basis.  Only time will tell but I’m excited to see what the future holds.

My Take:  As Doug mentioned, his team is ripe with pass-catching talent, and also features several upside rookies and young players.  Though he’s had, by far, the worst off-season in the league (Blackmon’s suspension and Crabtree’s injury), his starting lineup still boasts plenty of talent.  Much like with Ryan’s team above, Doug should be a contender for the long haul.

My concerns with his team involve his running backs, as well as jumping the gun on some of his targets.  Though Murray is talented, and Bell and Ballard look to have their starting jobs locked up, they only combine to have 536 carries at the NFL level.  Doug made the decision to wait on ball carriers, and as a result is left with fairly unproven entities.

If you’ve read Doug’s articles, or follow him on Twitter, it comes as no surprise that he wound up with Christine Michael,  Latavius Murray and Aaron Mellette (the Killer M’s?).  Unfortunately, he selected each player, on average, about 27 picks earlier than they went according to the May ADP data.  Having conviction in your guys is a necessity in dynasty football, but over-drafting always comes with an opportunity cost of missing out on prospective value elsewhere.

Williamsport Outlaws – Mark Rockwell

Pertinent Players:

Other Players:  QB – Carson Palmer, ARI; RB – LeGarrette Blount, NE, Fred Jackson, BUF, Pierre Thomas, NO, Mike Tolbert, CAR; WR – Julian Edelman, NE, Jeremy Kerley, NYJ, Brandon LaFell, CAR, Santana Moss, WSH

2014 Draft Picks:  First Round – one; Second Round – two; Third Round – one

Mark’s Strategy:  I’ll be honest, I didn’t come in the a plan in mind.  My goal was to have a good balance of young and old players, and to pick whoever presented the best value at that time. I think all in all I stuck to that plan pretty well.  I may have reached a little bit when I took Tyler Eifert, but I think he’s a high upside pick.  After Jimmy Graham, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Kyle Rudolph he’s my next best tight end.  One thing I really like to do is to try to get a stud at each position.  I like CJ Spiller, Randall Cobb and Drew Brees, but failed to lock down a marquee tight end.  All in all, however, I’m happy with how my team turned out, with just a few tweaks to make along the way.

My Take:  First things first:  in this case, flattery will get you nowhere.  You stole Hartline from me, and it’s now my goal to make you understand the gravity of that error each and every time we square off.  You’ve been warned!

With that out of the way, I think Mark nailed exactly what he wanted to do with regards to selecting an age-diverse team with an eye on BPA.  He also has one of the more robust benches in the league, as Jackson, Stacy, Eifert and my man Hartline all have the potential to out-produce their draft statuses.  I think Mark will compete right away, and also has a fairly large window of contention.

I think Mark’s problems are at the quarterback position, as well as a lack of upside on the back-end of his team.  Brees is an obvious stud, but Palmer may be nothing more than a stopgap solution in Arizona, and Glennon may never get the chance to start.  Brees has had a relatively healthy career, but injuries are always impossible to predict.  It might’ve been prudent to get some more proven, younger talent here.

As far as the bottom part of Mark’s roster, I just don’t think guys like Blount, Tolbert, LaFell, Edelman and Moss carry any discernible upside.  I understand that in a competitive 12-man league with 300 players being selected, options dry up quickly.  However, this would’ve been the perfect place to start drafting project players instead of underwhelming veterans.

Fishy McBites – Eric Hardter

Pertinent Players:

Other Players:  QB – Nick Foles, PHI, Matt Schaub, HOU; RB – Brandon Bolden, NE, Mike Goodson, NYJ, Knowshon Moreno, DEN; WR – Juron Criner, OAK, Dexter McCluster, KC, Devon Wylie, KC; TE – Marcedes Lewis, JAX

2014 Draft Picks:  Third Round – one; Fourth Round – one

My Strategy:  My main strategy centered around collecting as many running backs and receivers as I could in the early stages of the draft.  I like to FLEX out running backs whenever I get the chance, so obtaining a strong ball carrier corps was a necessity.  I wanted to use my picks in the first three rounds on younger players who receive a high volume of targets, and then gradually shift to a strategy with no age bias.  This also meant that I would wait on the quarterback and tight end positions, believing they possess depth that the others don’t.  As it turned out, I was the second-to-last team to select a signal caller, and didn’t grab my first tight end until the late 11^th round.

I also planned on taking a somewhat cavalier approach towards rookie players.  In my opinion, rookies always get drafted too high in startups, and I didn’t want to get into a bidding war to acquire their services.  I didn’t take my first rookie, Marquess Wilson, until the 16^th round!  I also traded out of the first two rounds in the 2014 rookie draft, as I always value proven talent more highly than the unknown.

I am also a firm believer that trading is a key aspect of startup drafts.  To that end, I made a whopping nine trades, usually in an attempt to move up and grab guys I really wanted.  I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes get a little nervous when it involves missing out on players, but I’d much rather overspend now than regret not getting a player later.

Finally, I wanted to stock the back-end of my roster with a combination of upside players, as well as those who may soon see a change in scenery.  A perfect example is Knowshon Moreno, who has proven an ability to function as a RB2, and will likely find his way out of Denver as soon as this year.  I’m always willing to take a chance on proven players whose values are at an all-time low.

My Take:  I’m obviously a fan of my team, as I’m the one who picked it.  However, I still need to put bias aside and give an honest critique.  I think I have one of the better sets of receivers in the league, and believe Wes Welker and Stevie Johnson were steals in round seven.  I also obtained the services of my overall dynasty RB1, Trent Richardson, and as a whole believe my top-end running backs possess elite upside.  I also think I have a fairly strong bench, giving me decent lineup flexibility on a week-to-week basis.

My biggest trouble spots involve the injury-prone nature of my ball carriers, as well as the schizophrenic nature of my tight ends.  Richardson, McFadden and Ivory are a formidable top three, but each has been bitten by the injury bug far too often for my liking.  Ryan Williams may also struggle to come back from a torn patella tendon.  For me to compete, health is a factor.

I knew I would be waiting on tight ends, but was hoping to wind up with a player like Greg Olsen or Jared Cook instead of Finley and Davis.  C’est la vie!  Outside of the top players, tight ends see the greatest yearly turnover, but this is still an unenviable proposition.  Swinging a trade to upgrade the position is not out of the realm of possibility.

Now that we’ve covered every team in the league, which one did you like best?  What decisions would you have made differently and which squads do you see as the contenders for 2013, as well as the future? Comment below and we’ll continue the premium only discussion.

Follow me on Twitter @EDH_27

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Eric Hardter

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Eric is a Boston College chemistry grad school survivor with a minor in dynasty football. He prefers to utilize both statistics and sarcasm whenever possible, believes in process over results and thinks "Hot Takes" are the scourge of the fantasy landscape.

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