EDITOR’S NOTE: This week’s column is being written by Leo Howell, who is 8-0 in the Reality Sports Online/numberFire Writer’s League. Leo is an NFL and fantasy football writer for RotoGrinders, numberFire and Bucs Nation. He has played fantasy football for as long as he can remember, and has been playing daily fantasy sports since 2012. This is his first year playing in a Reality Sports Online league. He can be found on Twitter at @LeoHowell8
Here is his undefeated team:
Starters
| SLOT |
PLAYER |
POS |
Salary |
PRK |
START % |
| QB |
Bridgewater, Teddy MIN |
QB |
$1,103,912 |
31 |
7.7 |
| RB |
Charles, Jamaal KC |
RB |
$31,850,000 |
13 |
87.2 |
| RB |
Murray, DeMarco DAL |
RB |
$16,660,000 |
1 |
89.7 |
| WR |
Brown, Antonio PIT |
WR |
$15,666,667 |
1 |
87.2 |
| WR |
Baldwin, Doug SEA |
WR |
$312,500 |
50 |
41.8 |
| TE |
Harbor, Clay JAC |
TE |
$312,500 |
22 |
10.6 |
| PK |
Tucker, Justin BAL |
PK |
$1,000,000 |
2 |
70.3 |
| DST |
Team Defense, DET |
DST |
$406,250 |
2 |
41.4 |
| FLEX |
Bell, Joique DET |
RB |
$9,000,000 |
27 |
71.4 |
| FLEX |
Hopkins, DeAndre HOU |
WR |
$11,000,000 |
17 |
58.2 |
Bench
| SLOT |
PLAYER |
POS |
Salary |
PRK |
START % |
| QB |
Cutler, Jay CHI |
QB |
$5,000,000 |
5 |
46.5 |
| QB |
Stafford, Matthew DET |
QB |
$4,900,000 |
11 |
60.1 |
| RB |
Ivory, Chris NYJ |
RB |
$3,000,000 |
12 |
50.9 |
| RB |
Vereen, Shane NE |
RB |
$9,400,000 |
17 |
67.0 |
| WR |
Robinson, Allen JAC |
WR |
$804,659 |
31 |
24.2 |
| WR |
Wright, Kendall TEN |
WR |
$6,000,000 |
29 |
46.2 |
| WR |
Evans, Mike TB |
WR |
$5,453,058 |
53 |
27.8 |
| TE |
Rudolph, Kyle MIN |
TE |
$1,760,000 |
44 |
5.1 |
| PK |
Hauschka, Steven SEA |
PK |
$500,000 |
17 |
44.7 |
| DST |
Team Defense, ARI |
DST |
$1,000,000 |
11 |
37.0 |
I’ve always sucked at auction drafts.
I love the idea of being able to pick any possible combination of players, and not being bound to rounds or any other set picking order. But I always wind up making a huge mistake or getting impatient during an auction draft, and it burns me.
This isn’t something I’m proud of admitting, but it’s true. But even after making a pretty big mistake in the numberFire Reality Sports Online auction draft, I’m sitting pretty atop the league as the lone undefeated.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. On draft day, I overspent at the quarterback position. I’m a pretty firm believer in the “Late Round QB” method for drafting, and feel as though QB is a very deep and replaceable position. But when Matthew Stafford went as cheap as he did, I had to pick him up.
However, I said the same thing about Jay Cutler, and wound up with both NFC North quarterbacks on my roster. Combined with Teddy Bridgewater, who I got via the rookie draft, I now had more QB assets than I could ever need in a league with only 10 teams.
Now for the good news: I was able to follow my strategy for this league perfectly on auction day, apart from the error at quarterback. My plan was to invest my multi-year contracts on players that are likely to maintain value over the long-haul, while using two-year deals to soften the cap blow for my big ticket players.
The two-year deals given to DeMarco Murray and Jamaal Charles allowed me to roster both of these “first-round” backs at reasonable costs, while long-term deals with Shane Vereen and Antonio Brown provide volume in the passing game at two positions over the next three years.
My four-year contract went to Kyle Rudolph at an obscenely low price, but Clay Harbor has been filling in for the Vikings tight end due to injury.
Cheap pickups like Chris Ivory and free agents like Doug Baldwin have also played a role in my rise to the top of this league, but building a solid foundation of backs and receivers (who I have locked up for the next year, at least) was the plan all along.
It feels weird to even discuss my strategy for this league as if it’s a blueprint for success, because had my running back money gone to Adrian Peterson instead of DeMarco Murray, or my wide receiver money gone to A.J. Green instead of Antonio Brown, I wouldn’t be undefeated right now.
The real path to success, especially in a league that ties you to your players with a contract mechanic like Reality Sports Online, is to have a combination of luck and planning. Lay out a plan to get out of bad decisions, and hope for the best when investing heavily in a great player.
My decision to sign Rudolph long-term was based on my reluctance to use a four-year deal on any player I’d have to pay a good chunk of my cap to. I was protecting myself from myself by going with youth and upside with a longer contract. I could have signed Charles to a three or four year deal for less money, but that would lock me into a contract with a running back with an injury history.
Even if you think you’re going to make all the right moves, take a moment to consider how you could get out of those decisions if everything falls apart. Plan for the future, play devil’s advocate with your own picks, and get a little lucky… that’s how you can wind up at the top of a Reality Sports Online league against a bunch of your nerdy, fantasy football loving friends.
