Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

[bigbrandor]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

QB- Cam Newton, Matt Hasselbeck, Ryan Fitzpatrick
RB- Maurice Jones-Drew, Andre Ellington, Joe McKnight
FB- John Conner
WR- Jordy Nelson, Greg Little, Brandon Gibson, Josh Morgan, Mohamed Sanu, Nathan Palmer
TE- Dustin Keller, Delanie Walker, Donald Lee
LT- Ryan Clady, Thomas Welch
LG-Zane Beadles, Jeff Baca
C- Dominic Raiola, Jason Slowey
RG-Kraig Urbik, J.C. Tretter
RT- Anthony Davis, Jeremy Parnell

LE- Tyson Jackson, Tyrone Crawford
RE- Greg Hardy, Billy Winn
DT- Paul Soliai, Frank Kearse, Jordan Miller
LOLB- Junior Galette, Ty Powell
MLB- D'Qwell Jackson, Mason Foster, Nathan Stupar
ROLB- Whitney Mercilus, Dontay Moch
CB- Champ Bailey, Janoris Jenkins, Christopher Owens, Davon House, Terrence McGee, Dominique Franks
FS- Patrick Chung, Siloh Keo
SS- Antoine Bethea, Duron Harmon

K- Shayne Graham
P- Shane Lechler
KR- Joe McKnight
PR- Joe McKnight

[Herbn]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

Thanks! At first I thought getting those players would be unlikely and only happened because I did a draft with other people. But I did one offline and I got even more talent! Not sure why haha.

My offense is pretty much carried by the 3-headed monster of Dez, Green, and Fleener. All 3 have over 1000 yards receiving. It's been really nice having such huge receiving threats for Barkley.

Oh I guess I forgot to say that Bruce Irvin actually got hurt in like Week 12 or so. It was rough because he definitely is one of the fastest linebackers/edge rushers in the game. He was having a solid season cleaning up when I whiffed on sacks with Lavonte David. I agree that the combo of Barron and David is amazing. I was hesitant in picking David because I rarely ever ask my 3-4 OLBs to play coverage, which is what David excels at since he plays in the 4-3, but David's run-stopping skills paired with an improved pass rush skillset is turning out to be a great pick. He's just so athletic!

Honey Badger is my punt returner and man he is electric! He is just so quick. I can't say that I've scored on more than 2 or so since he lacks elite top speed, but he consistently gets me 20 yards on every return.

Yeah, that's a great trio to have for a rookie QB. Madden Fleener is 100x > Fleener IRL.

Switch to LaMichael James for your returner. Honey Badger got injured for 2 weeks, so I turned to James as my returner and haven't looked back since. He was so successful that I decided to make him the #1 option even after HB returned.

[Herbn]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

Did a fantasy draft for the first time last night. Think my team is pretty solid but can be improved particularly @ QB. At first I thought picking Julio was a wasted pick but he's the only reciever with consistency. The corps has potential though.
Running the Pats playbook to get Eifert and Cameron on the field together as much as possible.

Looks like a solid, well-balanced team here. Barkley has superstar development, so I think your QB situation will end up turning out better than you think.

You couldn't have been more wrong about Julio. The guy is a freak of nature, and Megatron would probably be the only other receiver I'd draft over him.

You're going to love Cameron; he's a beast in Madden. I switch PBs every year, and you definitely made the right choice with the Pats PB. That PB was a lot of fun to use.

[josefrees]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

For me it is really dependent on what type of team I want coupled with positions that don't develop fast/ require huge point sinks to get ideal (like QB which could cost 50,000 just to get their intangibles right. So offensive skill positions are what I aim for to begin. For some reason I can never get cam in fantasy drafts though... I am also a sucker for athletic types so I will always take speed/strength/accel/AGILITY and youth so most of my teams are pretty rough around the edges.

Also, in the case of nearly every position you are best off having your positional types as "balanced" as it gives you a less scheme dependent understanding of a player. The only positions I don't really do this with is the dline and olbs as they are defense dependent. It is a nice safeguard against drafting niche players who may have nice traits that fit specific schemes but aren't versatile.

Also, if you are running 4-3 take a look at the LBs when looking for pass rushers. You can great really good value with average pass rushing OLBs that become fantastic DEs and you can get them rounds later. Mingo as a speed rushing DE is an absolute monster. There are a few low seventies olbs that, while you can't switch them to DL until the next offseason you can start them there. I do the same thing with CBs to Safety.

Also, in the 3-4 most of the DT's responsibility is to multiple gaps and pull double teams to let the second level run free. That is what makes players like Vince Wilfork so important at least irl idk how badly madden translates that

[josefrees]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

Oh and when it comes to the OL I tend to wait. I have a core group of oline man that are easy to get and extremely athletic. This is the group I tend to base even my non fantasy lines around. Even if you are just looking for solid back ups. They are mostly interior lineman but they can moved around. Sadly, some of their hidden skills are unknown to me but from a purely athletic standpoint they are pretty darn good and are either rookies or one or two year pros and rated generally in the low 70s to high 60's but after even an average year be in the 80s
LG: Menkins--60s SPD, 95 Str (texans base team)
C: schweinke (I think) good speed high strength (titans base team) also quick development.
Slowey 70 speed 91 Str FA
Bartholomew 68 SPD 90 Str FA
Samuda 60s speed 89 Str FA
Molk 68 speed 98 Str FA
RG: Brooks (texans base team I think)
Robert Griffin FA (only one with no face in this list =( )
RT: Bruce Campbell 70 SPD 89

There are more I am sure but these are the ones I use the most and in fantasy drafts being able to wait a while for good players makes your team much better overall not to mention they aren't that good and thus you can get them on 2 million dollar a year contracts for 5 or 6 years pretty easily and have a lot of extra money. They take some development off course but it doesn't take long for them to become quite capable.

[Cos_]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

I always try to get EJ Manuel. He has good speed and accuracy.

[ThatKidNamedTae]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

Had the 22nd pick.

QB: Matt Schaub/ Ryan Fitzpatrick/ Kyle Orton

RB: Darren McFadden/ Giovani Bernard/ Joe McKnight

FB: Tommy Bohanon

WR: Julio Jones/ Tavon Austin/ Michael Jenkins/ Brandon Gibson/ Kenny Britt/ Devon Wylie

TE: Brandon Pettigrew/ Taylor Thompson/ Craig Stevens

LT: Russell Okung/ Tom Compton

LG: Dallas Thomas/ A.Q Shipley

C: Brian Schwenke/ Trevor Robinson

RG: Chris Chester/ Cody Wallace

RT: Tyson Clabo/ Bruce Campbell

LE: Tyson Alualu/ Ziggy Hood

RE: Vaughn Martin/ Tyrunn Walker/ Wallace Gilberry

DT: Geno Atkins/ Josh Brent/ Chris Neild

LOLB: Dont'a Hightower/ Pernell McPhee

MLB: Paul Posluszny/ Larry Foote/ Jamari Lattimore

ROLB: Lavonte David/ Dezman Moses

CB: Richard Sherman/ Darrelle Revis/ Robert McClain/ Jeremy Lane/ Richard Marshall

FS: Harrison Smith/ Shawn Williams/ Chris Prosinski

SS: Antoine Bethea/ Jim Leonhard

K: Phil Dawson

P: Michael Koenen

[NewNapkin]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

Thought I'd try my hand at the Matt Barkley/Eddy Lacy draft style.

QB - Matt Barkley/Kellen Moore
HB - Eddie Lacy/LaMichael James/Marcus Lattimore
FB - Charles Clay
WR - Randall Cobb/T.Y. Hilton/Justin Blackmon/Trindon Holliday
TE - Rob Gronkowski/Zach Ertz
LT - Brian Bulaga/Ed Wang
LG - Jonathan Cooper/Brian Winters
C - Stefen Winiewski/Brian Schwenke
RG - Louis Vasquez/Brandon Mosely
RT - Lane Johnson/Menelik Watson


LE - Jarvis Jenkins/Lawrence Guy
RE - Ndamukong Suh/Allen Bailey/Drake Nevis
DT - Chris Baker/John Jenkins/Torell Troupe
LOLB - Melvin Ingram/Darius Fleming
MLB - Bobby Wagner/Jerrell Freeman
ROLB - Dion Jordan/Corey Lemonier/Jarvis Jones
CB - Richard Sherman/Stephon Gilmore/Bradley Fletcher
FS - Eric Reid/Chris Sentef
SS - Kenny Vaccaro/Matthew Daniels
K - Alex Henery
P - Spencer Lanning


There were definitely places I could have done better, but I think it'll develop to a nice team.

[LaceyJ33]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

i dont waste my time with pass rushers...I go DT, CB on defense and RB, QB on offense

[quiksilverly]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

I try to pre plan all the draft positions of all the Star dev players that are not yet studs....for instance. CB: S.Gillmore(Fast dev), M. Claiborne(star dev), J Jenkins(star dev) are all rated at like 82 OVR but will reach the 90's in the first year. I always take QB first because the ones left after the first will take you to long to develope. You can always get like low ovr strong arm like Mallack and upgrade his dev later but it take forever. So go get the QB first (Cam, Stafford, are the only ones i will take because I want to Bomb it down the field.)

After QB I get the youngest, then best dev, then best starting OVR in that order of priority. I go almost all defense for most of the draft as this is the hardest to be good at. I currently have Marcel Darius, Dion Jordon, Ziggy Ansa, Barkevious Mingo, Bobby Wagner, Brockers, The 3 CB mentioned above and FS Earl Thomas. I found SS Mark Barron in the later rounds and he is 90+ by the end of year one.

I play alot of nickle/ nickle strong so I really only needed two stud linebackers/ 3 CB's. I think if you can get decent D line with fast dev you can put all the exp points into block shed and they will get free in 2 seconds. without out help.

On offense i find that you can still find good overall 1 dev and 2 dev players for your o-line. Try to stay with young players you can develop. HB's and WR's just go get Kendall hunter late (star dev) and get the fastest WR's you can and upgrade their dev later. Alshon Jeffries goes late...go get t.Austin, Holliday(for KR etc) get J. Ford for speed on the other side. Cameron Jordan goes late too and has good dev. It's really all about how fast you can grow as a team in the first year. I'm at my 13th week and offense is 91 defense is 89. If you learn a few tricks you can run your offense with a good QB and weak supporting skills players that are "one trick ponies" (speed, Strength, catch, etc.) find the plays that work for your group and stick with 3-4 formations and build their attributes around that game plan. Example: I want to go deep often so I upgrade jacoby fords release and catch rating and don't bother with his carry or awareness ratings to start. All my DL and LB get Block shed for many weeks in a row, CB's mcv and zcv and press over and over. Just cut out the pork. You will see a plateau on the overall, then go back and start putting in the awareness upgrades and the overall will skyrocket.

Anyways, that's my strategy and how it relates to who I pick. Value(youth, dev, speed, QB)

[GOheels2627]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

My Picks [most of the time]
1. QB
2. CB
3. HB
4. OL
5. OL

[Grid iron Assassin]

Re: Fantasy Draft - what positions do you pick in the first few rounds?

Had the 18th overall pick..Waited on QB, RB, and OLine and am very happy with what I came out with.
QB- EJ Manuel/Jack Klein/Tyler Bray
RB- David Wilson/Eddy Lacy/Joe McKnight
FB- Derrick Coleman/Antony Sherman/(I use Eddy Lacy at FB sometimes too)
WR- Julio Jones/Tavon Austin/Marquise Goodwin/DeAndre Hopkins/Lavelle Hawkins/AJ Jenkins
TE- Tyler Eifert/Zach Ertz
LT- Mike Adams
LG- LG- James Carpenter
C- Brian Schwenke
RG- David Arkin
RT-Menelik Watson


LE- Ezekiel Ansah/Derrick Morgan
RE- Dion Jordan/Derrick Morgan
DT-Ndamukong Suh/Star Lotulelei/Johnathan Hankins
LOLB-Jon Bostic
MLB-Bobby Wagner/James-Michael Johnson
ROLB-Jelani Jenkins
CB-Patrick Peterson/Morris Claiborne/Dre Kirkpatrick/Robert McClain
FS-Tryann Mathieu/Brandon Hardin
SS-Eric Berry/TJ McDonald
K-Greg Zuerlein
P-Drew Butler