FSTA Fantasy Football B League 2012 Draft Roster

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) had its summer conference this week in San Francisco.  Overall a decent conference, but unfortunately for those that attended the San Francisco Giants game in the evening of Day 2, they missed Cain's perfect game by 1 day.  Bummer.

One of the standard events is the FSTA Experts League fantasy drafts.  Even though it is June, we had our draft.  It is tougher doing that even before training camp and exhibition games, but the conferences are scheduled well before the football and baseball seasons in order for the various participating companies to get some business done well before they are tied up with servicing YOUR fantasy leagues.

The general rules for the league are as follows:

It's a 12-team league, with three 4-team divisions.  The regular season runs Weeks 1-14, with Weeks 15 & 16 playoff weeks.  Each division winner plus 1 wild card make the playoffs.  We start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 Flex (RB, WR or TE), 1 K and 1 Def/ST.  There are 6 reserve slots.  There are NO trades in this league.  For add/drops there is a $100 bidding budget for the entire season where teams can "silent bid" for free agents.

Scoring is as follows:

Passing

1. 1 point per 30 yards
2. 3 points per TD
3. 2 points per 2-pt conv
4. -1 point per int and/or lost fumble

Rushing

1. 1 point per 10 yards
2. 6 points per TD
3. 2 points per 2-pt conv
4. -1 point per lost fumble

Receiving

1. 1 point per 10 yards
2. 6 points per TD
3. 2 points per 2-pt conv
4. -1 point per lost fumble

Kicking

1. 1 point per PAT
2. 3 points per FG 1-29 yards
3. 4 points per FG 30-39 yards
4. 5 points per FG 40-49 yards
5. 6 points per FG 49+ yards

Defense/Special Teams

1. 1 point per sack
2. 2 points per int and/or opponent's fumble recovery
3. 6 points per TD (int or def fumble return, punt or kickoff return)
4. 2 points per safety
5. 6 points for no points scored by opponent
6. 3 points for 2 to 7 points scored

YouGaming drew the 8th spot in the draft, which was a typical serpentine draft.  Here's who we drafted by round:

1. Rodgers, A. QB GB
2. Lynch, M. RB SEA
3. Nicks, H. WR NYG
4. Colston, M. WR NO
5. Pettigrew, B. TE DET
6. Moore, D. WR OAK
7. Spiller, C.J. RB BUF
8. LaFell, B. WR CAR
9. Floyd, M. WR ARI
10. LeShoure, M. RB DET
11. Palmer, C. QB OAK
12. Gerhart, T. RB MIN
13. Green Bay Packers Def/ST
14. Janikowski, S. K OAK
15. Jeffrey, A. WR CHI
16. Royster, E. RB WAS

During the draft, I basically ignored bye weeks and focused on who was best available with regard to projected fantasy points.  That being said, if a particular position was getting thin or to a point where the talent level dropped off significantly, I'd grab a person even though there may have been a better point producer elsewhere.  I did that with the TE pick in the 5th round.

The scoring system in this league definitely is WR friendly, being a PPR league.  Also, scoring for kickers rewards those with range, so grabbing Janikowski makes a whole lot of sense.  Rodgers was available at 8, so I grabbed him.  He or Brady are really the only rational 1st round QBs given this league's scoring system.  For those who have questions/comments about my draft, feel free to comment and I'll give you a feel for the dynamics of our draft.  As with your leagues, you make your plans, but to an extent, you'll modify your approach based on what your competitors do.