When does your league have rookie draft?

[joeya2001]

we do Memorial Day

[sloth8u]

Having the draft earlier forces you make a decision based more off of what you see or think about a player before he is on an nfl field. You don't have all the training camp talk, preseason tape analysis. It makes it more challenging and interesting.

I don't think it's more interesting at all. In general, i can chalk every pick within a spot or 2 through the top 15 or so in early drafts. Outside of draft pedigree....things just dont change much until camp starts.

Maybe "something to do in your league" interests you, but in terms of finding the "better players" to draft in terms of an interesting draft..its much better to wait.

It works both ways imo. Back in the day i took obj @ 1.3 in an early draft, then late 2nd when he slipped do to camp injuries in a late draft. I could go on and on about similar scenarios. I'd be careful to assume an early draft makes for a "better" draft. The more time the owners in your league have.....the better off your league is. And that typically will favor the better owners as the draft gets deeper.

[chubnubbin]

Already finished mine.

[IWantToDieNasty]

We do ours in Mid August, usually a couple weeks into the preseason. We thought about moving it up, but decided we like it where it is because it promotes trade activity. Negotiating trades and finding out trades happened is the most fun part of the league for us, so having the long period for people to try wheel and deal using rookie draft picks where they can envision who they'd use the picks on really gets people making moves. Our offseasons are a ton of fun.

[Ruggenater]

Deadlines spur action. I see the most trade activity across all my leagues when the draft is in progress (regardless of when the draft takes place). My main league holds its draft in May, the others are mostly early June.

[murphysxm]

As early as possible. I am currently 7 picks into my first one and I have been trying to trade up since pick 5 to get Jeudy, to no avail.....

[maxhyde]

I am in 15 leagues and over 50% are already over

[CGW]

Mine seem to be shortly after the NFL draft. In previous years, I liked it during the summer as it gave me a chance to get a big advantage keeping track of team camps. I was able to land a couple guys that no1 in my leagues even had on the radar before the season even started, like Slayton and Andrews.

This year, my leagues are overly excited to get started with rookie drafts as most of us are bored with no sports. I would almost prefer to wait until closer to the start of the season to get an idea of what is going to happen with off season activities and even the season.

[DynastyGuy]

I feel quite strongly that it is a mistake having your draft before the NFL's supplemental draft. Most years this is not really an issue as an overwhelming majority of draftable players enter through the regular NFL draft; but this year could be a huge issue with college football facing an uncertain season and the potential for a flood of supplemental draft applicants.

The problem is that there's no way to "put the genie back in the bottle" if your league has already done their rookie draft. I have heard a series of options for handling such a situation but all of them have problems, and none are as clean as your league just drafting after both real-life drafts are complete. Which means you probably shouldn't draft until at least July with this in mind.

[Bronco Billy]

I don't think it's more interesting at all. In general, i can chalk every pick within a spot or 2 through the top 15 or so in early drafts. Outside of draft pedigree....things just dont change much until camp starts.

Bold statement leaning towards dismissive.

Our league starts 7 on O, 11 on D, a K and a P. 1 QB, max 2 RBs, max 2 TEs. Incremental ppr. Top D players carry roughly WR2 value. 14 teams.

The draft started late Friday night after Rds 2/3 of the NFL draft were over. Go ahead, chalk the top 15 picks this year.

[DLF3000]

You need another voting option: staggered, post-draft.

We've been doing four rounds, one round/month starting in May for over a decade and I love it.
Keeps rookie interest high all summer!

Round 1's Friday - look forward to it!

[Sriracha]

Most are a little after the draft, in May.

But the early drafts are by far the most fun for me; really puts some excitement into the NFL draft as you see your rookies either get screwed by bad landing spots or see a massive jump in value as they are selected in the first round to KC.

[Cameron Giles]

I've done leagues where the rookie draft has been a few weeks after the NFL Draft and some when the rookie draft is held a month or two after.

Fantasy football is mostly luck-driven, so it's always more fun when you can find ways to add a little bit of art/skill into it. That's why I think the earlier the rookie draft, the better. It rewards people who do their homework on the draft and makes it easier for them to acquire players that nobody else is thinking hard about or to avoid overhyped players.

Whereas, if you do it when rookie camps and training camps are happening, it allows everyone to read Rotoworld articles about players "tearing it up" and "turning heads" and "being ready for a major role." It practically does the work for them.

[gmoftheyear]

Like I said earlier. Our league all gets together opening day and does our rookie draft which takes a couple of hours with trade talks and such. There have been times we've gone right up until kickoff until we finish. It gives a sense of urgency to the whole day. Any picks or trades you make will all play out in the matter of hours so that makes it special. It makes for an awesome day really.

[DLF3000]

Like I said earlier. Our league all gets together opening day and does our rookie draft which takes a couple of hours with trade talks and such. There have been times we've gone right up until kickoff until we finish. It gives a sense of urgency to the whole day. Any picks or trades you make will all play out in the matter of hours so that makes it special. It makes for an awesome day really.

While I love our one round per month approach starting in May, this one is also really cool! Would definitely try it - easy to see how awesome that opening TNF get-together and game would be.