MFL10 Draft Strategy & Walkthrough by Jason Johnson

Welcome to best-ball fantasy football, where boom/bust players are kings, depth is key, and goose eggs don’t always matter. Your goal, simply, is to end the season with more points than your 11 opponents.

The format allows your best scorers in a given week to be considered the starter after the fact. No more worrying about who to start/sit, who has good matchups, and who might be slumping. There is no roster management required, or allowed. Draft it and stash it, and maybe you’ll win the $100 at the end.

There are 20 roster spots to fill, and much of the strategy involves how you allocate those spots between the 5 positions.

Your weekly starters will be:

1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 DEF, and 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE) with an open bench.

Typically, rosters will have 2-3 QBs, 4-7 RBs, 6-8 WRs, 2-3 TEs, and 1-3 DEF.

Drafting Tips:

Through a snake draft you can build your roster however you like.

The first step is to have a plan, but one that allows you some wiggle room. Using MFL’s own ADP can give you a good idea of how the draft might proceed, but keep in mind, the draft can tilt unexpectedly in favor of a position, leaving you scrambling for value outside of a targeted tier.

Also, ignore ADP for your own team. Go back and look at last year’s articles and read about how excited people were to get Danny Amendola or Cordarrelle Patterson 2 rounds lower than their ADP. Those picks may have looked like you were getting great value, but their ADPs were much higher than they should’ve been. ADP rarely reflects actual value. My point is that you should target players you want beforehand and do not be afraid to reach to get those guys. Don’t alter your plan just because someone is dropping to you.

My plan going into MFL10s this Season:

Load up on 3 RBs. (RD 1-3) Grab one of the top3 TEs or BPA. (RD 4) Get RB4 and WR1 (RD 5-6) Grab 6 mid WRs (RD 7-13) TE1 and TE2 (RD 10-11) or if I landed a top3, TE2 (RD 13) 3 late QBs (RD 14-16) 3 late DEFs (RD 17-19) TE3. (RD 20)

The reason for this is simply that I didn’t want to be scraping RBs together from the middle rounds. The WR pool appears so much deeper than the RB pool, and the mocks were proving that out with the great WR talent still there late.

In this draft, I drew the 2nd pick.

1.2 – Jamaal Charles (RB2)

I’m almost glad LeVeon Bell went first because I didn’t want to have to make that choice with his suspension. Remember, total points is all that matter, so a suspension can hurt quite a bit. Bell was more of a high floor/low ceiling guy until a 3 week stretch late last year, while Charles has been Boom/Bust for a long time. However, Bell was a PPR monster last year, and should be again when he returns.

2.11 – Arian Foster (RB12)

I love Foster this late. He’s been my second round target in quite a few drafts, as I have him as my RB6.

3.2 – Carlos Hyde (RB14)

While I think my top two picks have high ceilings I think Hyde provides a nice floor to balance my RB crew out. While being one of the last available bell-cow backs, I believe he has a chance to out-touch the other two.

4.11 – Travis Kelce (TE3)

I wasn’t sure if Kelce was going to be here or not. If he hadn’t been, I probably would’ve waited quite a while before grabbing three (Hill, Ebron, or Rudolph in RD 10).

5.2 – Sammy Watkins (WR19)

This draft was tilting WR quite a bit, so the guys who I had targeted as my RB4 (Abdullah, McFadden or Blount) I felt would still be there in the 6th. I debated between Sammy and either Golden Tate or Keenan Allen before deciding on the youth’s boom potential.

6.11 – Ameer Abdullah (RB32)

Happy with Ameer here, as I think he will fill the Reggie Bush role (15-20 touches/game) with some boom potential later in the year. Check out Jody Smith & Mike Rigz’s take on Abdullah in their Episode 2’s Fantasy Factor Podcast

7.2 – DeVante Parker (WR32)

Here’s where I really started reaching for young WRs. I took Parker over guys like Roddy White, Charles Johnson, and Torrey Smith. Torrey has always been a nice boom/bust play, but I just love the potential that Parker has in that Miami offense. See Where Gridiron Experts has Parker ranked in our early Rookie Rankings

8.11 – Dorial Green-Beckham (WR43)

DGB is either Calvin-Johnson-size crossed with Randy-Moss-speed or he’s Josh-Gordon-decision-making crossed with Greg-Hardy-morality. Pull the handle.

9.2 – Jaelen Strong (WR45)

Since we’re full-tilt on chasing the elusive rookies, why not? Strong has an excellent shot at starting on the outside.

10.11 – Brandon LaFell (WR53)

I needed some safe WRs to cover all these rookie gambles. I really like where LaFell’s falling in drafts, and I’ve been targeting him late in many.

11.2 – Devin Funchess (WR54)

Another rookie, but another great shot at starting, this time in the slot.

12.11 – Terrence Williams (WR59)

A frequent late target of mine, I feel last year’s expected breakout happens this year, as he improves on his 2 catches per game into something fantasy relevant.

13.2 – Coby Fleener (TE17)

I’m comfortable with him as my TE1 in some leagues, so to have him this late as Kelce’s backup is a blessing.

14-16 – Carson Palmer (QB21), Alex Smith (QB22), Nick Foles (QB28)

The late QBs I was targeting. I would also have been comfortable with Rivers, Flacco, Bradford, or Eli.

17-19 – Lions (D13), Cowboys (D20), Colts (D22)

20 – Mychal Rivera (TE32)

This is a typical roster for me this year. The guys I was targeting all were available when I wanted them. There hasn’t been much variation in the few that I’ve completed. That could be a result of not many rankings being available this early, so most drafters are sticking to the ADP script. If none of the four Rookie WRs pan out, I’m probably done, but I feel even LaFell and Williams could still hold it down. With the number of quality darts I’m throwing at the board, I feel like this is a pretty solid team.

This is a more traditional drafting strategy, but with even more teams going Zero-RB and then chasing the RB scraps in the middle rounds, I think a return to it is warranted. It is usually beneficial to cut against the grain when the crowd is all doing the same thing.