Draft Strategy

[Devin]

Now that we are about halfway and most of our starting lineups are complete, I am curious what some of your strategies was?


Mine was simple, I knew in the early rounds (bar round 1) I would get older veterans still at the pro-bowl level (i.e Dillon and Harrison) since thier salaries go up next season I wasnt going to have a 10 Mil player, and 2-3 players who were really young that would have high salaries in the future, just not good business. I positioned myself to get 2 first rounders to replace high dollar positions and built around the skill positions with young players.

I knew drafting a 23-25 year old player in the 2nd/3rd round would be a bonehead move. With a franchise player and the cap the way it is it would be difficult in the future to keep 2 high dollar players. So I drafted expendable players, and made sure Id have provisions in place to replace them.

My lines were key I could have gotten better players but I choose youth, I wanted young guys there since I drafted later for OL. I knew there would be plenty of quality available later so I took care of that first.

Overall I think my offense is pretty solid, everyone has stars on thier team so nothing will be easy by D isnt as stout as others but I have a solid DL and a decent secondary. My primary focus was putting myself in contention shape while keeping my cap manageable.

[Forward_Lateral]

To be honest, I don't have a strategy. I basically decide what position(s) I want to focus on in a round, and search for the best available younger talent.

[Sportsuser101]

I wanted to concentrate on my defense and offensive line mostly. I looked at how many RBs and QBs there were and I figured at least a couple of each would be available when I wanted to so I waited til basically the last guy to get a QB and RB to pick 1. WR I wanted to get Boldin and Lelie from the get go. Boldin was my big young WR possession guy and Leliewas my deep threat. I had Chris Brown and Kevin Jones targeted along with a few of the young RBs so I was happy to get both pretty late. I had several of the younger QBs targeted and got 1 who I wanted. Him and Carr were pretty much neck and neck so I waited off a few rounds later and still got Palmer. I was also going with the 34 from the beginning as soon as I got Seymour.

[RetroRaiders81]

To be honest, I don't have a strategy. I basically decide what position(s) I want to focus on in a round, and search for the best available younger talent.
Thats pretty much what I do.

[L.A. Playa]

I wanted to build a relatively young but potent offense and an average defense, wanted my triplets for years to come Culpepper, McGahee and Evans and have alot picks in the 11-32 range with very little picks in the 1-10 range to build solid depth and to also hopefully build a solid starting lineup, im satisfied with the results so far

[Michael82]

Thats pretty much what I do.
And it shows. :snicker:







:jk: :calm:

[RetroRaiders81]

bastard

[parttimeplayer]

i started out wilth a strategy in mind but it went to hell after the first round

[Michael82]

i started out wilth a strategy in mind but it went to hell after the first round
Me too. My strategy actually changed when I noticed the way that certain players flew off the boards.

[Devin]

Yeah Its amazing how many people panick and pull the trigger on a player not worth the value but they fear he will be gone later. Some players went far to early. But thats the nature of the beast I suppose.

[Michael82]

Yeah Its amazing how many people panick and pull the trigger on a player not worth the value but they fear he will be gone later. Some players went far to early. But thats the nature of the beast I suppose.
Says the guy who took Tom Brady and Corey Dillon in the first 2 rounds.

[Devin]

3 time superbowl winner and 1600+ yards last season.

yeah I did horrible there.

[Sportsuser101]

Says the guy who took Tom Brady and Corey Dillon in the first 2 rounds.
Yeah I defintely wouldn't have taken Brady in the 1st and Dillon is questionable the next round too.

[Michael82]

3 time superbowl winner and 1600+ yards last season.

yeah I did horrible there.
You reached for Dillon IMO. The Brady pick made some sense because it is Tom Brady, but the game doesn't know or even care that he's a 3-time Super Bowl winner and besides, the QB is not the sole winner. Tom Brady wouldn't be the 3-time SB winner if he didn't have the help that he has. Plus, Tom Brady is not as great in sim games as he is in the NFL. But I still don't mind that pick, as you as you like paying $10 million for a player that you most likely would have gotten in the 2nd round for $7.5 million.

Here's a question for ya.... If Manning and Culpepper were the only ones gone, would you have still taken Brady? Just curious. I also wonder the same thing about Dillon. 5 RBs were taken before you took Dillon. Did you grab him because you got worried like you say other people did? or did you actually plan on taking him in the 2nd round no matter what? The reason i ask is because he is going to be 31 this year and IMO is not a top 5 back. Basically, if there was only 1 or 2 RBs taken off the board...would you have still drafted Dillon? I doubt it.

That's why I will say that everyone's strategy changed based on the way the draft went. Or almost anyone. if you wanted a top defensive player, and you kept going offense, your defense would have sucked. That's why even though I grabbed offensive players, I also snagged a few top D players before they fell off the board.

[ryjam282]

The Super Deuces were solely based on the front 7 of the D and had to have servicable corners....I got my 4 solid LB's (Spikes, Farrior, K. Bell, and Colvin) and a very big front 3, (Rod Coleman, S. Payne, and D. Walker) so it will be real tough to run against my D IMO. My 2 corners are Springs and Winfield. My O is decent with Eli in there for a few years and Randy Moss as well. If Priest can stay healthy for 2-3 seasons and then pass the torch to Tatum Bell I think I will do fine. But, I was definitely thinking strong D at the beginning of this.

[Ebenezer]

I had no intentions of drafting anybody more expensive than $5mil and that went to hell with everybody picking in the first round...I changed to "go for the win this year" and I'll start my real strategy next year.

[R. Rich]

My team sucks. It's just a bunch of lowly ranked young players who haven't done anything. Oh yeah, I made the boneheaded move of drafting some core players early who were in the 23-25 year old range.

[The King]

I had a good idea of what I wanted to do from the begining.

- Was going to take a QB late after the 15th. Thought Farve would be there.
- Wanted a solid force at the Safety position.
- Wanted Steven Jackson.
- Wanted a big tough DLine.
- Wanted top 5 LB both inside and out.

I did pretty well, I did want Farve and my intent was to draft Jason Campbell in the 2nd round of the rookie draft as his successor. When he went early I thought Carr or Palmer the whole way. I see Carr being more developed and fitting with my offense better which is why I took him over Palmer. I like Jackson a lot and even though he split time last year and will share time this year the SIM doesnt care this isnt fantasy.

With Hines Ward on the board late TO became very expendable. I dont like TO much and I was able to gain Hines Ward, Eugene Wilson and 2 mill in cap space for him. My strategy the rest of the way is cap management and best available.

[Devin]

My team sucks. It's just a bunch of lowly ranked young players who haven't done anything. Oh yeah, I made the boneheaded move of drafting some core players early who were in the 23-25 year old range.

fair enough. but they are young like you said, future years should be interesting.

Corey Dillon was just a 1 year option for me, and with 1600+ yards and a dozen TD's not a bad one. I dont think Brady was a reach but I do think a 10 Mil DL was......but as I have said a hundred times thats the beauty of being the owner you can do as you like.

In my strategy I knew that young players in the 1-2-3 range would (for me anyway) be a bad idea because with the salary increase it didnt make sense. Obviously if you draft young that early you plan on keeping the player yes? Well if you already have a 10 Mil pick it just doesnt seem economical. SO I drafted expendable players. Simple as that.

I didnt start this thread to criticize anyones strategy, as I dont think anyone has had a bad one. Had I known a couple of you would have been touchy......actually I dont care.

[Michael82]

It's all part of the game. I'm not touchy, I just felt that some of your comments were little :lolpoint:'s at our teams. Kinda like, hahaha, my team is better than your because i drafted older, expendable players early and didn't reach. Each person has a different point of view. That's normal. This thread started out as a good thread...but then this quote just got on my nerves a bit, and apparently a couple others too....


Yeah Its amazing how many people panick and pull the trigger on a player not worth the value but they fear he will be gone later. Some players went far to early. But thats the nature of the beast I suppose.

[R. Rich]

fair enough. but they are young like you said, future years should be interesting.

Corey Dillon was just a 1 year option for me, and with 1600+ yards and a dozen TD's not a bad one. I dont think Brady was a reach but I do think a 10 Mil DL was......but as I have said a hundred times thats the beauty of being the owner you can do as you like.

In my strategy I knew that young players in the 1-2-3 range would (for me anyway) be a bad idea because with the salary increase it didnt make sense. Obviously if you draft young that early you plan on keeping the player yes? Well if you already have a 10 Mil pick it just doesnt seem economical. SO I drafted expendable players. Simple as that.

I didnt start this thread to criticize anyones strategy, as I dont think anyone has had a bad one. Had I known a couple of you would have been touchy......actually I dont care.


Relax, Devin. I am not "touchy" about it at all. I'm laughing w/ you.

Hey, everybody is following a different strategy, which will make things interesting. I've said numersous times that I'm more concerned w/ putting my core in place for the long haul, and I feel I've done that. What if I lose a lot early on? Big deal. If my team goes 2-14 this year, I really won't give a damn. Now, if my team is 4-12 in another 3 seasons or so...

[Michael82]

Relax, Devin. I am not "touchy" about it at all. I'm laughing w/ you.

Hey, everybody is following a different strategy, which will make things interesting. I've said numersous times that I'm more concerned w/ putting my core in place for the long haul, and I feel I've done that. What if I lose a lot early on? Big deal. If my team goes 2-14 this year, I really won't give a damn. Now, if my team is 4-12 in another 3 seasons or so...
What if you team goes 5 years without making the playoffs? Then will you fire yourself? :funny: