Thinking about a fantasy draft.

[ddaugherty]

I am thinking about doing a fantasy draft, and was wondering if anyone else has tried this? The reason why i am going to do this is because i want to build my own team and the playbooks i wanna use. I seem to find a few things useless, and wanna make a team to my liking. There is a few questions.

1. Does the computer draft well? Meaning do they draft where they need to and not put 10 RBs for instance on a team.

2. If running a 3-4 defense on this game do you have to have 4 stud LB's to get pressure? i have not had much success running this Defense, but i want to use this one!

3. Should i wait for the patch HAH!

Any comments are appreciated!

[Dianwei32]

1. The computer drafts well. They all get the minimum number of players required for each position, and then take a few extra for CB/WR. There are some rounds that are position themed, for example in round 3, 27 of the 31 CPU controlled teams will take DEs, the ones that don't are the ones that drafted superstar DEs in rounds 1 and 2 (Jared Allen and Mario Williams in round 1, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyora in round 2). So teams that already have a good DE don't waste a round 3 pick on another one and instead go for another position they need (usually a LT).

I would suggest simming an entire fantasy draft first so that you can see who goes where if there are any specific players you want to get. For example, I always pick up TE James Casey as my TE (72 OVR, A potential, beast of a player), so it's useful to know that he goes in round 25, usually around pick 16, so if I have a pick later than 16 in round 25, I know I need to take Casey in round 24 to ensure that I get him.

2. I have personally abandoned running the 3-4. Even with stud LBs, it's next to worthless. I played as the Cowboys, and Ware had virtually no pressure rushing, and the guy who led my team in sacks was Jay Ratliff, the NT who is supposed to be double teamed almost every play. If you really want to get good pressure out of 3-4 OLBs, you'll probably need to run a 4-3 and put them at DE.

I think the main reason that the 3-4 is worthless is that the presence of a blitzing LB puts the CPU QB in "panic mode", so he looks to dump it off fast or throw as he is being hit, despite the fact that there are only 4 rushing. In a 4-3, there are still only 4 rushing, but since there is no blitzing LB, the CPU QB holds onto the ball longer and you can get more pressure.

The 3-4 is fundamentally broken because big 3-4 DTs/DEs don't command double-teams like they should, so it doesn't free up the LBs to make plays, which is the whole point of the 3-4 scheme.

3. If you can wait a few more days, I would go ahead and wait for the patch. I don't think it's that big of a deal, but it's better to be safe than sorry if the patch ends up not applying to in-progress Franchises (although I don't see why it wouldn't).