NOTE: This guest column is being written by numberFire NFL contributor Tyler Buecher, who won the inaugural We Will Mock You: Reality Sports Online/numberFire Writers league by defeating 12-1 Leo Howell, by a score of 130.0 to 119.5 in the championship. Reality Sports Online’s Matt Goodwin took third place. Tyler, a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan, can be followed on Twitter via
Wow Reality Sports Online, what a product.
RSO has created one of the most all-encompassing, innovative platforms for both fantasy football amateurs and enthusiasts alike. The We Will Mock You: RSO/numberFire Writer league just wrapped up our inaugural season and it was a great experience from start to finish. The league held a three-round rookie draft which was followed by a Free Agency Auction.
RSO’s Free Agency Auction Room was everything you could look for as a fantasy GM. Drafting in an auction format, teams were able to bid on players in both single and multi-year contracts simultaneously. Each team in our league was allotted one 4-year deal, two 3-year deals, and three 2-year deals to use on any particular player with the rest of their rosters on 1-year deals.
Each GM constructed their team by applying these deals and bidding on players with various contract lengths and dollar amounts. Managing both your cap space and your multi-year deals provided a true NFL GM experience, all of which is fully customizable.
The rookie draft that our league held provided my team with some great youth at wide receiver as I was able to pick up Brandin Cooks, Marqise Lee, and Jarvis Landry. Cooks provided me with some quality flex plays before sustaining his season-ending injury, but the future is bright. Unfortunately injuries throughout the season had led me to releasing Landry right before he started carrying the Miami offense, as a move that might be my biggest regret of the season.
The team I wanted to construct through the Free Agency Auction Room was built on two key principles. I wanted to invest my long term 4-year contract on a wide receiver that had the potential of finishing as a top-five receiver each of those years. Julio Jones ended up providing exactly that as he ended this year as the fifth best wide receiver in our scoring format (0.5 PPR) on a 4-year $90 million deal.
Secondly, I wanted my two 3-year deals to be spent on wide receivers or running backs that were either in their prime or were on the cusp of a breakout season. After watching a few of the top running backs fly off the board at exorbitant prices, I nominated Le’Veon Bell and was able to pick him up at three years for $50.5 million. Last year’s leading rusher, LeSean McCoy, was also an ideal candidate after seeing how successful he was in his first year in Chip Kelly’s offense and I was able to pick him up at a more expensive $89 million for three years. Bell ended the year as the second best running back with Shady finishing tenth.
The rest of my roster comprised of both some hits (Jeremy Maclin, Mark Ingram) and some misses (Rueben Randle, Jacquizz Rodgers). I had a trio of quarterbacks I rotated through based on matchups in Russell Wilson, Tony Romo, and Ryan Tannehill. The grouping combined to provide me with a QB6, only a few points behind Drew Brees (QB4) and Ben Roethlisberger (QB5). I streamed defenses throughout the year with mixed success, but none provided me quite the output as the Baltimore defense did in the championship game putting up 22 points.
Overall I ended up with two top-10 running backs in Bell and McCoy, three top-10 wide receivers in Julio, Maclin, and Randall Cobb, and had success streaming quarterbacks and defenses. The core of those five players led to my team accruing the most points in the league this year and I was fortunate enough to claim champion of the 10-team league. This team has a bright future ahead of it with youth at several positions locked up as a key part of my strategy, and I look forward to building on this success in 2015.
For any fantasy football enthusiast looking to enhance their dynasty experience, I highly recommend Reality Sports Online.
