Perfect Draft Series: Drafting 1st in a 12 Team League

Aug 18, 2014

Matt Rittle, 4for4 Contributor & Support Expert

I was happy to invest some time with a good friend to check out proper strategy from this position. Maybe you’ve heard of my friend, PC Drafter? She has a web version buddy, golddrafter.com, but I used the good ‘ol PC Drafter program for this project.

Standard leagues tend to favor RBs more than WRs, but I enjoy playing in 3 WR leagues where WRs aren’t completely devalued. For this draft we're starting 1QB, 2RBs, 3WRs, 1TE, 1DEF and 1K. Let’s take a look at this draft together, and see how it turns out.

Here are the complete settings I used for this league:
Passing Touchdowns = 4 Points
Rushing/Receiving/Return Touchdowns = 6 Points
Long Rushing/Receiving Touchdowns = 6 Bonus Points
Passing Yards = 1 Point every 25 Yards
Rushing/Receiving Yards = 1 Point every 10 Yards
Interceptions = -2 Points
Fumbles = -2 Points
2 Point Conversions = 2 Points

The default scoring rules for Team Defenses are:
Defensive/Special Teams Touchdowns = 6 Points
Interceptions/Fumble Recoveries = 2 Points
Sacks = 1 Point
Safeties = 2 Points
Shutouts = 5 Points
1-10 Points Allowed = 7 Points
11-20 Points Allowed = 1 Points
21+ Points Allowed = -4 Points

Pick 1.01: Jamaal Charles
We kick things off with the easiest decision we’ll face the whole draft. The 4for4 standard rankings feature Charles as the number one ranked RB, and by a decent margin. Since 2009 he’s finished as a top 12 RB four out of five times, missing only once due to injury. This history shows Charles’ high floor, and last year shows us his ceiling. With head coach Andy Reid & his offense still in town, we can confidently pick Charles at the top of drafts.

Pick 2.12: Alfred Morris
It’s a long walk until our next chance to draft a RB, so I knew we needed at least one at the 2/3 turn. With 11 RBs off the board I was happy to see Morris still available, as 4for4’s 10th ranked RB. Morris has consistently performed since coming into the league. Only a lack of passing game involvement and higher touchdown totals have kept him from getting more mainstream love. However even in a “down year” last year, he offered up a 276-1,275-7 line to his fantasy owners. In a standard scoring format, don’t sleep on Morris in your drafts.