Finally a Champ after 8 years...the story of the process I went through to build a winner
Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2017 4:47 pm
I have been playing redraft since about 2001, so I come from the old skool times of Priest Holmes, LT, Shaun Alexander, and the Peyton Manning hey day.
So in 2010 I was invited to do a Dynasty League (Zo Nasty)for the first time, I came with old skool mentality and on top of that it was my first auction which added another layer of strategy I wasn't familiar with. I drafted very top RB heavy and my corner stones I drafted were Drew Brees, MJD, Chris Johnson, Thomas Jones and virtually no WRs besides M Colston.
Needless to say my team did not have have a lot of staying power. I reached the playoffs twice but was not able to really make much noise... Every year I'd get a little offseason hype that would make me feel like both my RBs would be able put it together at the same time and have a championship run, but it never happened. I would get great offers for my aging studs and I would laugh them off and say that needed to come with more to get an RB of this caliber. Also my whole league hoarded RB's, so I felt like if I let one go, it would be difficult to get another one to replace them. I actually had 2 good offers on the table getting back McCoy the year he had concussions in a deal for MJD and another getting Bell right when they said he had a jones fracture his rookie year for CJ2k. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time those deals were risky...
So during the 3rd season which was the 2012 season. I saw my team wasn't going anywhere and I made the beginnings of "my process", I sold off M Colston for a 1st + Wheaton. I sold off MJD for 1st and 2014 2nd. I started to work the waiver wire and picked up Eric Decker during the Tebow year and picked up guys like Zac Stacy and Tate who people were viewing as RB work horses( Tate was the going into a Free agency) And then came the best break ever...Julio jones got injured and the back to back champ was trying stay in the race and he was loaded at WR so we traded Stacy, Tate and Decker and swapped a few picks. He was new my new corner stone.
Those picks ended up becoming...K Allen, Hopkins, B Cooks, M Evans, E Ebron, among others but those are noteworthy ones. I was really discipline and built from the wideouts as my foundation of my team. I specifically stayed away from guys like Lacy, Montee Ball, Bell, Gio, Sankey and Hyde to name a few and figured to overload on WRs some were bound to hit. I don't want you to think I only made hits, I also drafted S Hill, Sanu(he's better now with ATL), M Lee, J hunter, Ty Montgomery, Treadwell, J Ross.
So at the end of the day i endured 3 terrible seasons... Picking in the top 3 each year. I got one huge break and one dumb trade to get me to the place I am now. In 2015 I was the 2nd pick in the draft. The consensus top pick was was Gurley, but some had Cooper or Gordon up there too. To everyone's surprise Abdullah was picked first and I took Gurley in the 1st round and David Johnson in the 2nd!!
I ended up trading DJ and Cooks for Rodgers and an injured Jordy, before they both became who they are now, but at the time I was happy with the trade. I also targeted decent lower end RBs with upside..Ajayi, Ware, Gio, AP...I have now been the top scorer for the last 3 years but have never been able to put a run through the playoffs.
This year after all the losing I had to endure and few tough breaks in the playoffs, I was able to put a few games together finally, thanks to Gurley and my wideouts, newly acquired Kelce. I am now a Dynasty Champ.
The best part is that my team feels like it has real staying power. I had to choose between the best 3 of JuJu, Julio, Hopkins, K Allen, M Evans and Doctson every week. All of them are under 26 except Julio. Gurley looks like he's going into the Bell, DJ stratosphere. I obviously always need to hit the wire and do some tweaks, but I think I can compete for 3 years minimum, hopefully more.
The moral of the story is....build through wideouts, draft them regardless of your strengths. They are all lottery tickets, one will eventually hit. Recognize if you are a contender or a pretender. If you are a pretender...bottom out. Target injured studs (DJ, OBJ, Rodgers, Meredith, D Cook, Enuwa were all great targets this year) and recognize what other team's needs are and if they are willing go for it...worry about RBs last and just look for upside....there are always stop gaps that can get you through. Also was try to bump up a round by adding a player...I sent Andre Elington + a 3rd to get another 2nd. I did the same with others. I am a big fan of 2nd rounders...lots of people reach in the 1st and let quality players fall through...Another tip would be to not be scared of going young and shipping established Vets that still have years left. Guys like D Henry and Perine straight up for McCoy may seem crazy to some people, but guys who have shown flashes are worth sending proven talent, because as consistent as he's been, he's not far away from being the guy that people are holding on the end of their bench and feel bad about dropping because they are sentimental about it. Also last thing is I put too much weight into QB's I drafted Brees and traded expensively for Rodgers...I ended up winning with Keenum. The final 4 consisted of Foles, Garrapolo Keenum and Bortles...QB's aren't going to make or break your team.
I hope you guys enjoyed my rebuild story. When you are losing money and investing time into a loser remember that those are growing pains to eventually have a strong teams, just be patient and trust the process.
So in 2010 I was invited to do a Dynasty League (Zo Nasty)for the first time, I came with old skool mentality and on top of that it was my first auction which added another layer of strategy I wasn't familiar with. I drafted very top RB heavy and my corner stones I drafted were Drew Brees, MJD, Chris Johnson, Thomas Jones and virtually no WRs besides M Colston.
Needless to say my team did not have have a lot of staying power. I reached the playoffs twice but was not able to really make much noise... Every year I'd get a little offseason hype that would make me feel like both my RBs would be able put it together at the same time and have a championship run, but it never happened. I would get great offers for my aging studs and I would laugh them off and say that needed to come with more to get an RB of this caliber. Also my whole league hoarded RB's, so I felt like if I let one go, it would be difficult to get another one to replace them. I actually had 2 good offers on the table getting back McCoy the year he had concussions in a deal for MJD and another getting Bell right when they said he had a jones fracture his rookie year for CJ2k. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time those deals were risky...
So during the 3rd season which was the 2012 season. I saw my team wasn't going anywhere and I made the beginnings of "my process", I sold off M Colston for a 1st + Wheaton. I sold off MJD for 1st and 2014 2nd. I started to work the waiver wire and picked up Eric Decker during the Tebow year and picked up guys like Zac Stacy and Tate who people were viewing as RB work horses( Tate was the going into a Free agency) And then came the best break ever...Julio jones got injured and the back to back champ was trying stay in the race and he was loaded at WR so we traded Stacy, Tate and Decker and swapped a few picks. He was new my new corner stone.
Those picks ended up becoming...K Allen, Hopkins, B Cooks, M Evans, E Ebron, among others but those are noteworthy ones. I was really discipline and built from the wideouts as my foundation of my team. I specifically stayed away from guys like Lacy, Montee Ball, Bell, Gio, Sankey and Hyde to name a few and figured to overload on WRs some were bound to hit. I don't want you to think I only made hits, I also drafted S Hill, Sanu(he's better now with ATL), M Lee, J hunter, Ty Montgomery, Treadwell, J Ross.
So at the end of the day i endured 3 terrible seasons... Picking in the top 3 each year. I got one huge break and one dumb trade to get me to the place I am now. In 2015 I was the 2nd pick in the draft. The consensus top pick was was Gurley, but some had Cooper or Gordon up there too. To everyone's surprise Abdullah was picked first and I took Gurley in the 1st round and David Johnson in the 2nd!!
I ended up trading DJ and Cooks for Rodgers and an injured Jordy, before they both became who they are now, but at the time I was happy with the trade. I also targeted decent lower end RBs with upside..Ajayi, Ware, Gio, AP...I have now been the top scorer for the last 3 years but have never been able to put a run through the playoffs.
This year after all the losing I had to endure and few tough breaks in the playoffs, I was able to put a few games together finally, thanks to Gurley and my wideouts, newly acquired Kelce. I am now a Dynasty Champ.
The best part is that my team feels like it has real staying power. I had to choose between the best 3 of JuJu, Julio, Hopkins, K Allen, M Evans and Doctson every week. All of them are under 26 except Julio. Gurley looks like he's going into the Bell, DJ stratosphere. I obviously always need to hit the wire and do some tweaks, but I think I can compete for 3 years minimum, hopefully more.
The moral of the story is....build through wideouts, draft them regardless of your strengths. They are all lottery tickets, one will eventually hit. Recognize if you are a contender or a pretender. If you are a pretender...bottom out. Target injured studs (DJ, OBJ, Rodgers, Meredith, D Cook, Enuwa were all great targets this year) and recognize what other team's needs are and if they are willing go for it...worry about RBs last and just look for upside....there are always stop gaps that can get you through. Also was try to bump up a round by adding a player...I sent Andre Elington + a 3rd to get another 2nd. I did the same with others. I am a big fan of 2nd rounders...lots of people reach in the 1st and let quality players fall through...Another tip would be to not be scared of going young and shipping established Vets that still have years left. Guys like D Henry and Perine straight up for McCoy may seem crazy to some people, but guys who have shown flashes are worth sending proven talent, because as consistent as he's been, he's not far away from being the guy that people are holding on the end of their bench and feel bad about dropping because they are sentimental about it. Also last thing is I put too much weight into QB's I drafted Brees and traded expensively for Rodgers...I ended up winning with Keenum. The final 4 consisted of Foles, Garrapolo Keenum and Bortles...QB's aren't going to make or break your team.
I hope you guys enjoyed my rebuild story. When you are losing money and investing time into a loser remember that those are growing pains to eventually have a strong teams, just be patient and trust the process.
