My 3 Teams

By: Andy Wheeler

So my drafts are over. 2 snake drafts and 1 very chaotic auction draft. Auctions are always chaos but I find them to be the most fun. However I wanted to share all 3 of my teams for you to be able to see how and why I made certain picks, so then maybe it can help you.

Let's start with my first draft.

Team 1
Type of Draft: Snake
Pick: 7th

The Plan: The plan was to grab McCoy first because I felt he'd be there and then grab RG3 at some point between the 3rd and 5th rounds. I wanted to take Dwayne Bowe and DeSean Jackson in the 5th to 6th round range. I wanted to end up with Jared Cook, Cardinals Defense and Greg Zuerlein somewhere later in the draft to fill out my other positions. Most importantly I wanted depth at running back. A plan going into every draft is essential. I like to call my original plan "Plan A". Almost as important to "Plan A" is having a "Plan B", "Plan C", "Plan D" and "Plan E". You've heard the saying, "Man makes plans and God Laughs". In fantasy if you make a plan and you don't have back up plans, you're friends laugh. A lot.

Rds
1st: LeSean McCoy
2nd: Maurice Jones-Drew
3rd: Robert Griffin 3rd
4th: Reggie Bush
5th: DeSean Jackson
6th: James Jones
7th: Daryl Richardson
8th: Eli Manning
9th: Kenny Britt
10th: Jared Cook
11th: Brandon Pettigrew
12th: Justin Blackmon
13th: Isaac Redman
14th: Andre Roberts
15th: Rod Streater
16th: Cardinals D
17th: Greg Zuerlein

What happened:

It was my first draft and you can definitely see that some mistakes were made. I should have gone with RG3 in the 4th or 5th round and maybe upgraded on my 3rd running back or added a receiver earlier. However I think Reggie Bush should be great so I'm not that upset. I took DeSean Jackson a little early too. I was hoping to snag Dwayne Bowe in the 5th round but somebody grabbed him the pick before me. My plan of adding Cook, Cards D and Zuerlein was successful. I really have great feelings about them this season. You'll see in my following drafts that their names are a theme through out.

Draft Grade: B-

I got a decent back up to RG3, and have some lottery tickets with upside in Kenny Britt and Justin Blackmon. I even got a decent option as a 4th RB in Richardson. This team should be competitive but I'll have to work on it throughout the season on the waiver wire.

My second draft was an auction and tons of fun. Here were the results.

Team 2
Type of Draft: Auction
Budget: $200
The Plan:

First I have to explain our keeper policy. Anybody you draft or someone else drafts for $10 and under can be kept the following season for a 100% mark up. However they have to remain on your team or have been traded from another team to be eligible to be kept. I got to keep C.J. Spiller for $12

My co-owner and I, (I'm like Bill Belichick, he's like a Greek Robert Kraft) had many discussions going into the draft about my approach while drafting and fitting what we wanted into our budget. We wanted 3 strong RB's to start.

Plan A: Adrian Peterson, MJD and Spiller.
We thought Peterson would be super expensive and that MJD would be affordable. With Spiller it made a lot of things possible due to his price.

Plan B: LeSean McCoy, Trent Richardson and Spiller.
This seemed like both of our favorite plans. I was worried it was going to cost us way too much and effect the rest of the team though.

Plan C: Trent Richardson, MJD, Spiller
This was more for if the price on Shady and AP were out of control. This plan would have allowed us to go after a Green or Jones at WR as well.

Plan D: Richardson, Forte, Spiller
This was our last plan and not one I was actively going to pursue…it was more like a "Well if everything goes wrong then this will have to be our plan."

Auction drafts in general are chaos. However they are the best way to draft in my opinion because you have to show skill, malice towards others, knowledge and some budgeting ability. Some of you are saying, "wait, malice towards others? What do you mean?"

Quite simply you are trying to make people pay more for somebody than they have to. They are doing the same thing to you. So you are mean to them. You see that they want somebody and you bid them up. However you can also get stuck with said player…so be careful who you are being mean to. I personally "bid-up" at least 12 different players and didn't get stuck with somebody once…that's a first.

C.J. Spiller $12
Greg Zuerlein $1
LeSean McCoy $62
Trent Richardson $50

I'll stop right here…at this point in the draft after I had these 4 guys I was thinking "YES!!!!". Why, you ask? Do the math! $125 TOTAL for 4 players. That means I have $75 left for 12 roster spots and that's a ton of money in an auction. This is especially true after locking down my starting running backs. It gave me the opportunity to do the following.

Andrew Luck $14
Wes Welker $25
Victor Cruz $19
Russell Wilson $4
Jared Cook $2
Cardinals Defense $1
Jonathan Dwyer $2
Johnathan Franklin $1
Jordan Cameron $1
Ruben Randle $1
Michael Floyd $2
Rod Streater $1

What Happened:

I had the greatest Auction draft of my life that's what happened! I had to pass on RG3 when he started to get too expensive. Mostly it was another player in my league bidding him up to get back at me for bidding up a few of his players. I got out of the way and he had to keep him. Luck was the last of the top 12 guys I would have drafted left so it was a marriage of convenience. Welker and Cruz wouldn't have been possible if I'd have drafted Adrian Peterson, so I'm thrilled with how it turned out. Plus I have some decent keeper options. Can you tell I think Cook, the Cards Defense and Zuerlein are going to have good years?

Draft Grade:
A++. If this were a scale of 1 to 10, it's an 11. I couldn't be happier with how things turned out. I have a little bit of depth everywhere. If this team stays healthy I'm going to crush some folks this year. However you never know how things turn out.

Now to my final draft

Team 3
Type of Draft: Snake
Pick: 1st
The plan:

Well it's a new league with new people so there was no way you can predict who's going to take who. You also have no idea to what level the people are prepared. I somehow ended up with the first pick randomly so I knew a few weeks ago Adrian Peterson would be the pick. I had my eyes on specific people so I just let the draft unfold and decided beyond the 5th or 6th round it would be best player available because I couldn't plot out what everybody would do.

Rds
1st Adrian Peterson
2nd Chris Johnson
3rd Maurice Jones-Drew
4th Robert Griffin 3rd
5th Dwayne Bowe
6th Lamar Miller
7th Daryl Richardson
8th Miles Austin
9th Andy Dalton
10th Jared Cook
11th Zach Sudfeld
12th Justin Blackmon
13th Cordarrelle Patterson
14th Cardinals Defense
15th Greg Zuerlein
16th Joique Bell

What happened:

I'm not entirely sure. For some reason guys in this league didn't want to take running backs. Now I know it's a PPR league (the only one I'm in) but I can't imagine how some guys are going to field competitive teams without RBs. As it is right now I have 5 starting RB's. I just couldn't help myself. Receiver was barren which is why I had to draft my only Cowboy this year Miles Austin, who I hope to get rid of at some point. I don't draft or own Cowboys.

Draft Grade: A

I have 2 good options at QB, 5 options for RB and Flex, I need Bowe and Austin to stay healthy and productive but I think at some point I'll have to trade some of my depth for another WR. Either way this will be a fun team to tinker with.

Now I am officially ready for some football. I can't believe I have to wait 10 days for a game! Good luck everyone!

Follow me on twitter @TheAndyWheeler