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Drafting RB: shotgun approach or target a team's run game?

Posted on 7/23/14 at 12:38 pm
Posted by Iona Fan Man
Member since Jan 2006
27462 posts
Posted on 7/23/14 at 12:38 pm
for years we've mostly all been blasting away at RB grabbing any RB that we happen to hit on the draft board

ex: you pick a bunch of RB's hoping to hit gold
1.Montee Ball/Foster/Lacy
2.WR
3. Ellington/Spiller/Bush
4. WR
5. Rashad Jennings/Sankey/Gerhart
6. CJ2k/trich/vereen
7. TE
8. WR
9. MJD/West/Pthomas
10. QB

but you only have to start 2 RBs....why not just target a team's run game and spend picks more efficiently.

like in the above example picks 5,6, & 9 are wasted in that you pass up on actual positions where the player in more important than the position.

what do I mean "player more important than position"?

If Brees goes down, do you expect the same from his back-up?
If Calvin goes down, do you expect the same from his back-up?
If Montee Ball or Lacy go down....would you hesitate to start C.J.Anderson or James Starks?

Brees and Calvin are what makes that pick valuable versus just "whoever starts" for (insert team)

so you grab for your RBs, a team tandem.

instead of 4 RBs evenly distributed in the first half of the draft, go a couple early that are definitive bellcows with definitive back-ups(that you can pick up in the 13-16th rounds)
EX:
Ball-CJAnderson
Stacey-Tre


and then spend the rest of your positions grabbing QB/WR/TE

you will be overweight in WR,but worst case scenario, you can trade that for someone who is an unneeded bust for someone else.(like chris ivory, mendenhall, D.will/Jstew last year, if you need another Rb for a bye week if you can't find a FA RB worth a start)

Posted by Gtothemoney
Da North Shore
Member since Sep 2012
17715 posts
Posted on 7/23/14 at 1:52 pm to
quote:

instead of 4 RBs evenly distributed in the first half of the draft, go a couple early that are definitive bellcows with definitive back-ups(that you can pick up in the 13-16th rounds) EX: Ball-CJAnderson Stacey-Tre


Are you talking about handcuffing? That happens all the time.
Posted by Iona Fan Man
Member since Jan 2006
27462 posts
Posted on 7/23/14 at 1:59 pm to
quote:

Are you talking about handcuffing? That happens all the time.


yeah, but not just for the top tier

target two starters with cheap able body back-ups and then focus on the rest of your team versus fishing for the next big thing
Posted by Gtothemoney
Da North Shore
Member since Sep 2012
17715 posts
Posted on 7/23/14 at 2:10 pm to
I guess with the way the RB situation is now, you're gonna have to.

I can't get into any of the RBS, save about 7 or so.
Posted by My2ndFavCivilNgineer
Member since Jun 2013
586 posts
Posted on 7/25/14 at 11:30 pm to
are you saying start both zach stacey and tre mason the same week??
Posted by geauxscott
Member since Nov 2007
939 posts
Posted on 7/26/14 at 10:10 am to
quote:

are you saying start both zach stacey and tre mason the same week??


No, that's not what he is saying. he's simply saying that most people focus on handcuffs for just the top tier RBs... I believe he is just saying instead of drafting 5-6 random RBs, to focus on 2-3 teams that should have success running the ball no matter who is in backfield and draft the starter and his backup (handcuff). This is done all the time but usually just for the top guys.
This post was edited on 7/26/14 at 10:11 am
Posted by EvrybodysAllAmerican
Member since Apr 2013
11163 posts
Posted on 7/26/14 at 11:09 am to
I get what you're saying, but i prefer a mixture of the 2 strategies in a 10-12 team league. Get your top RB(s) early. and their handcuff late. But still go for the middle round lottery pick RBs like Jennings/Sankey/Gerhart. Those are the guys that can blow up and win your league, or if nothing else, they'll be great trade bait when somebody else's Rb goes down.
Also Rbs seem the most likely to get injured or bust. So a stable of starting RBs is always nice to have. I rarely add more than 1 backup RB before filling out the Wr and QB spots though. Kinda depends on scoring too i guess.
In a bigger league i think your strategy will work better-get the starters and handcuffs later,but secure other postions before they run out.
This post was edited on 7/26/14 at 11:13 am
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