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

Aug 08, 2014

I remember a time when picking last was a terrible thing in fantasy football.

In a league I run with longtime friends, we draw cards on draft day, and it used to be the person who drew the joker card would instantly start to complain about their terrible luck, how much their life sucks and how they’re really not surprised they got the joker. Maybe it was the fact it was the joker card that made them feel this was a bad thing. Looking back, perhaps a smiley face card or a card with that famous kitten in the tree saying ‘hang in there’ would have given them a better vibe or more positive energy all those years…

But as my league progressed over the years, I noticed my friends getting more fantasy savvy. It was also at that point I noticed they are more open to picking last. In fact, some even WANT to pick at the bottom. I’m happy to say I’ve done my share of picking last in league’s that use reverse draft order from the prior season, and that’s a good thing. Eventually, a comfort level begins to grow. One advantage is you pretty much know who is coming off the board, so you can target some guys based on mock drafts and other articles you’ll read here at 4for4 Fantasy Football, of course.

So this Perfect Draft Series piece, I decided to challenge myself and pick 12^th in a 12-team PPR league. I’m not really big on challenging myself when it comes to a lot of things. How many beers can I drink and still golf or play quoits, how long can I put off fixing something around the house, and fantasy football are my three biggest self-challenges that come to mind. So you get the idea…

For this mock, I’m using a Performance 2 setting in PC Drafter. It’s PPR and QBs get 6 points for throwing TDs. I’ve set a starting lineup of 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 flex (RB, WR, TE), 1 K and one defense. So it’s a pretty deep lineup for a 12-team league. I’ve again limited computer teams to drafting no more than 1 kicker, 1 defense, 2 quarterbacks and 2 tight ends. This seems to keep the draft as realistic as possible for a computer simulation.

Since I’m picking back-to-back all but the last selection, I’m going to mostly write about my picks together. Let’s see how it goes…

Round 1, Pick 12
Round 2, Pick 1

Not a lot of surprises in the first 11 picks other than maybe DeMarco Murray going with pick 1.11. But Murray has been getting a lot of good press lately and the Cowboys are saying they are going to run the ball more in 2014. Team 11, I think, got sucked into the hype… For my picks I went a totally different route than I would normally do, but these Perfect Draft articles I use as a way to prepare myself for my own drafts. It’s all about the challenge. So my picks were Peyton Manning and Antonio Brown (these were PCD’s picks as well). Part of the reason for picking Manning is I’m not going to take a backup QB and as a result I’m going to load up at other positions in this deep of a league, especially WR since I can start up to 4. My reason for picking Brown over Brandon Marshall was that we actually predict Brown to slightly outscore Marshall this year. It was hard for me not to take Gio Bernard here, or any other RB really, because I know he’ll be gone by the time my next picks come around. But I know there will be some good pass-catching backs waiting at the turn.

The picks – Peyton Manning QB and Antonio Brown WR