2 QB leagues

[NashvilleNinja]

For those of you who play in 2 QB leagues, what's your strategy for drafting QBs? I'm in a league that just started drafting. I had the 6th pick in the draft. All the usual suspects went before me... Gurley, Bell, Johnson, Elliot, and Barkley. So I was left with Hunt, Kamara, Cook, etc or go with the top QB left on the board, Rodgers. I went with Rodgers.

 

If any of those first 5 RBs had dropped I'd probably have taken them instead, but after those first 5 it seems like the field starts leveling out a bit. Hunt is a potential stud, but he did have a dry stretch last year (rookie wall?) and that off-field stuff has me cooling on him a bit.

 

Even in 2 QB leagues you want to solidify your RB spot at the top, but I figured Rodgers was the better play there. Was I right?

[Jamalisms]

I've seen a lot of variability there.

 

The important thing on QBs is that it depends on your scoring system. The drop-off after top 5 and the difference between 15-32 can be smaller or bigger than similar ranges for RB or WR. And with QBs, you have a pretty good idea of where each guy will fall. It's more predictable. Check history on scoring trends by position and take predictability into account.

[Guest]

I'm not so sure about taking Rodgers. He's definitely by no means a bad pick, and a somewhat safe one, but RB is so top heavy this year. I would have probably gone Kamara. And then maybe gone RB/QB/WR/WR/QB/TE depending on what other guys were taking. You could land guys like Rivers and Mariota and be fine. I would just probably want to come away with 3 solid QBs. With Rodgers though, you can always make a big trade to someone who has bad luck with QBs. 

[9 Nines]

Flacco

[NashvilleNinja]

23 minutes ago, Jamalisms said:

I've seen a lot of variability there.

 

The important thing on QBs is that it depends on your scoring system. The drop-off after top 5 and the difference between 15-32 can be smaller or bigger than similar ranges for RB or WR. And with QBs, you have a pretty good idea of where each guy will fall. It's more predictable. Check history on scoring trends by position and take predictability into account.

Here's the scoring for QBs and RBs in this league:

 

Passing

2 extra points when total Passing Completions is greater than or equal to 25QB, RB, WR, TE, K

1 point for every 20 Passing Yards (0.05 per)QB, RB, WR, TE, K

1 extra point when total Passing Yards is greater than or equal to 300QB, RB, WR, TE, K

6 points for every Passing TDQB, RB, WR, TE, K

2 points for every 2 Pt Conversion PassingQB, RB, WR, TE, K

-4 points for every InterceptionQB, RB, WR, TE, K

 

Rushing

1 point for every 10 Rushing Yards (0.1 per)QB, RB, WR, TE, K

2 points for every 2 Pt Conversion RushingQB, RB, WR, TE, K

6 points for every Rushing TD

 

---

 

Obviously I couldn't go off last year's totals because he was hurt the majority of the year, but the 3 year average for Rodgers in the years prior to last year according the league's scoring rules was 457.5. Also, he Rodgers was hurt in 2013 too where he missed close to half the season. But in 2014 he came back and put up 469 points. Kareem Hunt, by comparison, put up 268 points last year. Todd Gurley, the top back in the draft, put up 348. Of course Gurley wasn't available but for comparison's sake that's what Rodgers looks like compared to the RBs left on the board. I mean, maybe I could have waited on Russell Wilson or someone similar in the 2nd round, but he's only scored over 400 points (according to league rules) twice. His range is around the mid 350s.

 

18 minutes ago, Bink said:

I'm not so sure about taking Rodgers. He's definitely by no means a bad pick, and a somewhat safe one, but RB is so top heavy this year. I would have probably gone Kamara. And then maybe gone RB/QB/WR/WR/QB/TE depending on what other guys were taking. You could land guys like Rivers and Mariota and be fine. I would just probably want to come away with 3 solid QBs. With Rodgers though, you can always make a big trade to someone who has bad luck with QBs. 

Yeah, I partially agree with you which is why I went back and forth over Rodgers or a RB, although I would have preferred Hunt or Cook to Kamara. If it were any other QB I would have waited no problem. But when healthy Rodgers is consistently the highest scoring QB in fantasy, and in this league he averaged about 200 more points than the best RB left on the board. It just made sense to take Rodgers there.

 

The funny thing is that Hunt is still on the board and the 3rd pick of the 2nd round is coming up so there's a possibility he'll make it to my 2nd pick anyway. This is a 10-team vampire league, so really it's a 9 team league with one team acting as the vampire. Idk if you're familiar with those but the basic premise is that the vampire is confined to using nothing but free agents and waiver pick ups. He can draft, but he has to draft players that are either retired or knowingly injured. Then he makes up the team with the draft leftovers. However, if the vampire team beats another team in a regular season matchup the vampire gets to take one of that team's starting players. And on and on it goes. Eventually, when the vampire collects enough starting-caliber players to compete and wins the championship the league ends. Because... well, everyone has been turned into the vampire. lol

 

I'd never heard of vampire leagues before, but it sounds pretty interesting/fun.

[Guest]

Wait, wait, wait. QB TDs are worth 6pts!

 

That makes a huge difference. I would've thought about going QB and QB. 

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, NashvilleNinja said:

Here's the scoring for QBs and RBs in this league:

 

Passing

2 extra points when total Passing Completions is greater than or equal to 25QB, RB, WR, TE, K

1 point for every 20 Passing Yards (0.05 per)QB, RB, WR, TE, K

1 extra point when total Passing Yards is greater than or equal to 300QB, RB, WR, TE, K

6 points for every Passing TDQB, RB, WR, TE, K

2 points for every 2 Pt Conversion PassingQB, RB, WR, TE, K

-4 points for every InterceptionQB, RB, WR, TE, K

 

Rushing

1 point for every 10 Rushing Yards (0.1 per)QB, RB, WR, TE, K

2 points for every 2 Pt Conversion RushingQB, RB, WR, TE, K

6 points for every Rushing TD

 

---

 

Obviously I couldn't go off last year's totals because he was hurt the majority of the year, but the 3 year average for Rodgers in the years prior to last year according the league's scoring rules was 457.5. Also, he Rodgers was hurt in 2013 too where he missed close to half the season. But in 2014 he came back and put up 469 points. Kareem Hunt, by comparison, put up 268 points last year. Todd Gurley, the top back in the draft, put up 348. Of course Gurley wasn't available but for comparison's sake that's what Rodgers looks like compared to the RBs left on the board. I mean, maybe I could have waited on Russell Wilson or someone similar in the 2nd round, but he's only scored over 400 points (according to league rules) twice. His range is around the mid 350s.

 

Yeah, I partially agree with you which is why I went back and forth over Rodgers or a RB, although I would have preferred Hunt or Cook to Kamara. If it were any other QB I would have waited no problem. But when healthy Rodgers is consistently the highest scoring QB in fantasy, and in this league he averaged about 200 more points than the best RB left on the board. It just made sense to take Rodgers there.

 

The funny thing is that Hunt is still on the board and the 3rd pick of the 2nd round is coming up so there's a possibility he'll make it to my 2nd pick anyway. This is a 10-team vampire league, so really it's a 9 team league with one team acting as the vampire. Idk if you're familiar with those but the basic premise is that the vampire is confined to using nothing but free agents and waiver pick ups. He can draft, but he has to draft players that are either retired or knowingly injured. Then he makes up the team with the draft leftovers. However, if the vampire team beats another team in a regular season matchup the vampire gets to take one of that team's starting players. And on and on it goes. Eventually, when the vampire collects enough starting-caliber players to compete and wins the championship the league ends. Because... well, everyone has been turned into the vampire. lol

 

I'd never heard of vampire leagues before, but it sounds pretty interesting/fun.

Really cool. 

[NashvilleNinja]

1 minute ago, Bink said:

Really cool. 

The concept of a vampire league?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, NashvilleNinja said:

The concept of a vampire league?

Yeah. It seems hard as fuck, but really interesting. A long time Vampire dynasty league would be amazing. Draft from the onset with a Vampire. If that person ever wins the league, last place that season becomes the Vampire. 

[NashvilleNinja]

12 minutes ago, Bink said:

Yeah. It seems hard as fuck, but really interesting. A long time Vampire dynasty league would be amazing. Draft from the onset with a Vampire. If that person ever wins the league, last place that season becomes the Vampire. 

Ah... that'd be an interesting way to reboot the league.

[Jamalisms]

It's all about point replacement. If you could get Rodgers at 470 points and it means your RB is 180 ... or you can get a RB at 250 and Stafford at 420 - don't take Rodgers.

 

Similarly, if you can get a RB at 250, a WR at 35 points over taking one later and then, say, Cam at 390... you do that.

 

You have to play with combinations. how does RB1, WR7, QB11 compare to QB1, RB 8, WR 15? Play the scarcity and point tier game.

[NashvilleNinja]

1 hour ago, Jamalisms said:

It's all about point replacement. If you could get Rodgers at 470 points and it means your RB is 180 ... or you can get a RB at 250 and Stafford at 420 - don't take Rodgers.

 

Similarly, if you can get a RB at 250, a WR at 35 points over taking one later and then, say, Cam at 390... you do that.

 

You have to play with combinations. how does RB1, WR7, QB11 compare to QB1, RB 8, WR 15? Play the scarcity and point tier game.

I agree with what you're saying for the most part, but I think some of those equations have to change when you introduce a 2nd starting QB into the mix. Rodgers is the top QB so to get him before people start snatching up all the next-level-down QBs like Brady, Russell, Brees, etc. seemed important. It's not just about the fact that most the other QBs put up similar stats each year, it's about the fact that you may wind up getting to pair one of them with Rodgers instead of just with each other. In 2016 Rodgers wound up scoring 510 points according to this league's scoring system. I still would have passed him up if Gurly, Johnson, Bell, Elliot, or Barkley had been there at my pick but it's hard for me to see the rest of the RBs matching up to him in potential impact. Hunt was the closest one out of all the guys who were left, but it just seemed worth it to go ahead and take Rodgers...

 

...and it would seem that the gamble on going Rodgers instead may ultimately pay off. The guy before me took Andre Hopkins instead of Hunt, so I got Hunt anyway with my 2nd round pick. I'm still the only one who's drafted a QB so far, but who knows if someone else would have taken him. In the end I got a guy who scored 510 points just the year before last and a guy who scored 268 points in his rookie year last year. Even if Hunt only scores around the same amount of points this year that's still nearly 780 potential points just from my first two picks alone.

 

Anyway, this is how the draft has gone down so far:

 

1. Gurley

2. Elliot

3. Johnson

4. Bell

5. Barkley

6. Rodgers

7. Kamara

8. Gordon

9. Brown

10. Jason Witten (vampire pick)

11. Danny Woodhead (vampire pick)

12. Cook

13. Fournette

14. Hopkins

15. Hunt

 

So if I'd taken Hunt at 5 chances are someone else takes Rodgers after me. Maybe the guy who took Brown with the 9th pick. If all the players taken after my 1st pick got pushed down I'd have been left with Hopkins, or maybe Fournette if 14 still likes Hopkins. Idk about you, but I'd take Rodgers + Hunt all day over Hunt + Fournette/any of the remaining backs. Considering that this league is also only a half point per reception I think I'd take Rodgers + Hunt over Hunt + Beckham/Julio. QBs and RBs are definitely the premium positions in this league.

[NashvilleNinja]

Also... the fact that one guy is making "vampire picks" played a role in my decision to take Rodgers as his non-selection of top prospects helped to push some players down.

 

5 hours ago, Bink said:

Yeah. It seems hard as fuck, but really interesting. A long time Vampire dynasty league would be amazing. Draft from the onset with a Vampire. If that person ever wins the league, last place that season becomes the Vampire. 

Actually, I've thought about this. I don't think the last place team should become the vampire team. I think the team that loses the championship (and the league, effectively) to the vampire is the team that should become the vampire the next season when the league reboots. And if the vampire team makes it to the championship, but loses the game, then the next season it should become a victim of its own vampirism, where it has to give up a starting player to any team that beats it and replace it with a free agent in the starting lineup.

[Guest]

Yeah, in your OP you didn't explain the points. The fact that a QB's TD is the same as a RB or WR? The rest of the guys are fools. 

[NashvilleNinja]

17 hours ago, Bink said:

Yeah, in your OP you didn't explain the points. The fact that a QB's TD is the same as a RB or WR? The rest of the guys are fools. 

I wouldn't say that. I'm sure anyone with Gurley/Johnson/Elliot/Barkley/Bell + Wilson/Brady/Brees would've been fine...

...but the guys after me have continued to pick RBs and WRs. There has only been one other QB drafted so far... Deshaun Watson. Aaaaaaand... it's 3rd round, 5th pick (I'm drafting 6th) and Julio Jones is still on the board. So, maybe (hopefully) you're right about the fools bit.