I need Auto Draft HELP!

[MN Rube]

This is my first year playing FF on NFL.com ... and I've never had to do an Auto Draft before ... I need some advise!

Some people have suggested going with RB in first 3 rounds and then hoping to trade one later for a good WR ... is that smart?

Are any good QB's gonna be left after the 3rd round?

What do you suggest for my draft order?

Is there any way to know what number pick I get? How do they decide that on NFL.com? I'm in a private league!

ANY help would be greatly appreciated!

[trentvaughn]

I found that everyone in my league except for one chose to pick a QB in the first round. So I had the second to last pick and got Ahman Green and then Curtis Martin in the second. I would pick two RBs, QB, two WRs, backup RB, backup QB, backup WR, DEF, TE, backup WR, K.

If you know the people in your group, try to get a feel for what kind of players they are. I'm a big believer that two solid RBs will win you a league. It's the only position where you start two players every week and there are only a maximum of 32 descent players. No team has a #2 back worth drafting not as a backup. Remember to take backups for injury prone players (Stacey Mack if you plan on trying to get Fred Taylor) in the later rounds instead of another backup. Good luck. My draft turned out great, but it's all about luck and what happens.

Trentvaughn

P.S. My draft had a random draft order, but the commissioner sets the style.

[Ned]

look for a post by DraftDodger that I am about to reply to, he gives some good advice for drafting in an NFL.com stlye autodraft and I am going to post my results after following his advice. (I think I did pretty well)

[Ned]

that post is in the Article Discussions forum, by the way...

[MN Rube]

I'm almost positive that one of the guys in my league will use his first 3 rounds to grab RB's... I'm also pretty sure that some of the people in the league will take a WR in the first round in hope of getting Randy Moss because we're all from MN...which also mean that Bennett will probably be ranked higher than he should be...

does that changes anyones advise?

as of right now i'm planning on...

RB
RB
WR
WR
QB
RB
WR
TE
D
K
QB
TE
D
K

does that look about right?

thanks again guys!

[Guest]

I've been playing nfl.com's FF for four years and find it is imperative to be able to start two solid RBs on a weekly basis. If you draft RB in the first 2 rounds you will end up with 2 top 10-15 RBs, also draft your back up RB early because it really hurts to lose a starter and this is the toughest position to replace once the season begins. You can usually let the QB position slide a little because the drop off in level of prodution isn't as steep as RB and as stated in an earier post you only have to have 1 QB and 2 RB. WR is very deep and you will usually see some bargains slide into the later rounds. But if you want one of the big names you will have to take one by the third or fourth round. I do advise this because WR aren't as consistant but there are a few who are very consistant as far as WR go. Don't worry about K and Def until the last few rounds. You can usually get a decent K off free agents and Def is to close and there are usually a couple of them that slide. As far as drafting back ups to players (Mack for Taylor, ect...) I don't advise this stratagy because in an auto draft you have know control once the draft starts so you may get the reserve but not the starter. Besides that you can most likely pick him up after the draft. Also back to QBs, If you do let that position slide a little late in the draft I find that drafting them back-to-back is benificial. With that said here are a couple of stratagies I would consider, one letting the QB slide (which is normally the way that I draft) and one taking a QB early. After the draft I suggest that you only carry one K, TE, & DEF unless you end up with to very highly rated players. At these positions you will be better off picking up more depth at the skill positions especally RB. If you end up with an abundance of RBs they are great trade bait because there will alwys be someone in your league that needs an upgrade or has to compensate for an injury. As far as taking care of K, TE, & DEF bye weeks just wait until thier bye week and get the best possible free agent and release your least valuable reserve.

QB slides-RB,RB,WR,RB,WR,QB,QB,WR,TE,DEF,DEF,TE,K,K

QB early-RB,RB,QB,WR,RB,WR,QB,WR,TE,DEF,DEF,TE,K,K
I hope this helps.
Doug

[MN Rube]

Thanks for the great advise! I forgot that i didn't have to carry 2 K's, TE's, and D's for the entire season! That'll free up a lot of room for some great waiver player that i could use as back-ups or for trades!

i still have one question though...it apears to me that there are only about 4-6 consistant WR's available...the position IS very deep, but it seems like all the WR's are gonna be a toss-up after the first couple big names...if that is true, do you think I will be able to get a WR in the 4th round (or even 3rd) that will be THAT much better than a WR i could get in the 6th round?!?!

Also...should I try to grab a TE up around the 5th round? How many good TE's are there that I can count on every week?

THANKS!