Perfect Draft Series: Drafting 5th in a 12 Team PPR League

Aug 07, 2013

I have to admit, my first Perfect Draft Series article, picking first in a 10-team league, went pretty smoothly. This piece, picking fifth in a 12-team PPR league, was a little more difficult.

I’ve you read my first story, I ended up going with TE Jimmy Graham in round two and then QB Peyton Manning in round three. It pretty much went against any draft prep and mocks I had done to that point. TE and QB are two positions everyone is saying you can wait on in drafts and address in middle rounds, and I’m in total agreement with that. But it was easier said than done when you see the above names on the board falling.

So as I began to prep for this perfect draft, I was pretty determined to wait on both positions and see how things shook out. This league is set up as a PPR using the "Performance 2" points setting on PC Drafter. The starting lineup I based my draft on is 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 flex, 1 TE, 1 K and 1 defense.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but one of the reasons I look forward to these articles is because I love using the PC Drafter program. Without repeating myself too much from my first article, it’s really the only tool I use on draft day, be it a live draft, online draft or email draft. When I first got these assignments under Greg Alan, 4for4.com’s founder, he told me to do a mock using PC Drafter, and I honestly wasn’t looking forward to joining the modern world in my fantasy football prep and throwing away my hand-written papers. I wasn’t sure how a program like this could even exist, but I’ve been hooked ever since and believe the program can help you as well.

So let’s jump in and see how things went:

Round 1, Pick 5

Before this draft began, I already figured the top-four consensus picks would likely be off the board with Adrian Peterson, Arian Foster, Doug Martin and Jamaal Charles. While this is not a bad spot to take WR Calvin Johnson, I wanted to stick to my plan and go with a running back. If C.J. Spiller is considered 1A to the above names, I’ll take that. We project him for a pretty big year, over 1,300 yards and 50-plus catches. It was hard not to take Marshawn Lynch, and in fact, you can probably throw names like Ray Rice and LeSean McCoy in there, too. But I like Spiller’s potential and fresh legs.

The Pick – C.J. Spiller,RB