Survivor Draft strategy musings…
Last night, we conducted our first of several planned drafts in conjunction with the site. They will be released in full detail in the coming weeks along with detailed analysis and commentary from each of the participants. For now, I just wanted to share some broader reactions to the events that unfolded last night in our ever popular Survivor Draft:
What is a Survivor Draft?
There are two primary differences between a Survivor-style draft and a typical fantasy redraft league. One, there are no transactions after the draft. The team you draft is the team you get. Yes, that means if Larry Johnson breaks his leg in a few weeks, that team who rostered him is a man down, with no hope of replacing his production. Two, you don’t compete head-to-head but rather the goal is to avoid being the lowest-scoring team in a given week. If you are the lowest scoring team, you get eliminated (hence, SURVIVOR). Here are the draft particulars for our league:
- 12 teams, 24 rounds, Serpentine
- Performance Scoring:
- 1 point per 10 yards rush/rec
- 1 point per 20 yards passing
- 4 points per pass TD
- 6 points per rush/rec TD
- -1 per INT
- 1 point per reception
- Kickers = 3 points per FG plus 0.1 per yard beyond
- Defense = 1 point per sack, 2 pts per INT/FumRec/Safety, bonuses for points allowed but not yard
- Survivor Style:
- Rosters are fixed (no free agency, no trading…this team is what you have for the entire season)
- You don’t set lineups
- Your top scoring QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, 1 Flex (TE/WR/RB), 1 Def, 1 Kicker count
- Low score each week (1-4) gets eliminated, bi-weekly eliminations through week 12
- Immunity to high score in weeks 1-4 for the following week
Drafting in a Survivor league is a ton of fun because the strategy you have to employ differs greatly from traditional redrafts.
- Bye weeks become a major factor — In a redraft, bye weeks are an afterthought because you’re not going to pass up a better player in most cases simply because he may have the same bye week as another player on your roster. But in Survivor, with elimination being a possibility virtually every week, you can’t find yourself down two or three solid players in any given week without really putting yourself at risk.
- No transactions = Risk aversion — In a redraft league, it might make some sense to roll the dice on Kevin Jones or Warrick Dunn or Kellen Winslow or Donovan McNabb; because you can always waive them or acquire someone via trade if they don’t recover from injury. But in Survivor format, players with question marks fall at least a few rounds lower than ADP; and some don’t get drafted at all.
- Positional considerations can separate the wheat from the chaff — With 24 roster spots, you may think you’re well covered against any contingencies. But the truth is, every roster spot counts because injuries (and byes) will leave you critically short on contributors a few weeks a season, it’s inevitable. Going into a Survivor, you have to decide whether you’re going to grab that extra tight end or, instead, take another QB. It sounds easy, but each position you allocate some extra depth toward means you are taking depth away from others.
- Handcuffing can make or break you – A lot of Survivor participants like to handcuff players to effectively lock up productivity. For example, if you draft Marc Bulger you may seriously consider taking Gus Frerotte late in the draft; knowing that you will end up having the Rams QB locked up. But not all handcuffs are created equal. What happens if you draft Jerious Norwood and Warrick Dunn only to see the Falcons sign Corey Dillon in free agency?
Next up: A few tidbits from the actual draft results…
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