Drafting strategy - The zero RB hybrid

I have usually been traditional in my approach to a fantasy draft in that you target RB's early with your premium picks, and target other position players later on in the draft. In today's NFL, the shift towards high powered passing attacks has shifted drafting strategy to target WR's early and often even in non-ppr leagues. I play in 2 standard scoring 12 team drafts, and I am contemplating a shift in my philosophy towards a top heavy WR draft. In the following article from Rotoworld http://www.rotoworld.com/articles/nfl/6 ... o:nfl:gnav

The numbers state that a significantly higher percentage of WR's drafted in the 1st few rounds produce better overall finishes than RBs drafted in the same range. This can be attributed to RB's suffering more injuries, the trend towards RBBC with most teams.

My approach will depend on what draft slot I am picking from; but a strategy called the zero rb hybrid approach would usually target the following positions by round.

Round 1: WR
Round 2: WR
Round 3: WR
Round 4: RB
Round 5: RB
Round 6:RB or WR or TE
Round 7: RB or WR or TE
Round 8: RB or WR or TE
Round 9: QB or WR or RB
Round 10: QB or WR or RB
Round 11-15: TE, RB/WR, DEF, K

I keep going back and forth about what I want to do, and a strategy is a guideline to go by, but for those that have drafted for a while, sometimes the players fly off the board in an unexpected manner causing you to have to adjust on the fly.

This year in particular, I am concerned about QB and TE. For QB's, the 1st tier of QB's is really small with Newton, Rodgers Wilson and perhaps Luck. I really hate using any pick before the 4th round on a QB, so if none are there in the 4th or 5th, I will settle for an Eli Manning or a Philip Rivers in the 9-10 round.

For TE, I am avoiding Gronk in the 1st round due to Brady's suspension, and i always feel that ai team in unbalanced when I take him in the 1st in Mock's. Other than Gronk, you have Olsen, Reed and Kelce that I am willing to draft in rounds 5-6, and after that, lots of question marks. Do you trust Fleener in N-O, Ladarius Green in Pitt, Julius Thomas in Jacksonville, if I miss out on the top 4, i will prob gamble with two TE's on my roster with Antonio Gates, Dwayne Allen or Marcellus Bennet in Late rounds and hope for the best.

I've gone RB, WR, WR, RB, WR for the last couple years in standard during 12 team leagues the last couple years and have made it pretty far, including losing in the championship that would've won me a back to back years. I like this strategy. I'd love to get Bortles or Carr anywhere from 6-8. I'd also be happy with Ladarius Green or Julius Thomas in those rounds as well. The one TE I'm keeping my eye on in 13-15 is Clive Walford. I'm hoping to nab him in every league. In the last 3 years I've got Julius Thomas, Kelce, and Eifert at that spot. It's a great spot to get a huge TE sleeper if you do your research.

I've used the zero RB approach a few times and its worked very well. I'm starting to wonder though if this year the top 3-5 RB's should be targeted because they are almost another position to all others rb's because so few carry a team any more with the committee approach. I haven't looked into the numbers enough to see if they warrant targeting over Brown, Jones and Beckham but as of now I think they slide in after those guys but before the Greens, Bryant etc. of the world. My best strategy last year was one elite bell cow guy who doesn't share carries as your anchor and then load up on WR's to fill the flex.

I haven't done a snake draft in several years, but your logistics seem solid for executing this kind of a draft. What I have to say heavily relies on your draft position and positional availability obviously, but I would highly consider an early RB.

The assessment of RBs in this thread so far is very accurate. The very top of the RB board this year feels extremely scarce to me, especially since I am not enough of a believer in Ezekiel and D. Johnson to spend the kind of draft capital it would take to acquire them where they're currently projected. Add in the looming Bell suspension and I'm left with Gurley, AP and Miller as the big money RBs. I have a hard time imagining myself not coming away with one of those, but since I only do auction drafts its easier for me to say that. Even the next tier of RBs (Charles, D. Johnson, Martin, Ingram, Lacy, Freeman, CJA, Hyde) all have question marks of their own. Going even deeper into the field and there can be some nice value pick ups but none that I would personally feel very comfortable with as anchoring RB starters on my team.

WR on the other hand has a really deep class, in my opinion. There are guys in the $10-25 range (based on ADP seem to be between 5th and 11th rounders) that I would be comfortable with as WR2/3's. That feels like the best way to maximize value out of the draft board to me, but ultimately it comes down to what you're comfortable with.

I'm a believer in zigging when others zag. I did zero RB a lot 3-4 years ago when everyone was preaching RB-RB. Now everyone is preaching WR-WR and I'm hoping for a RB-RB start.

The best drafts are the ones where you find the values and hidden gems. Sometimes trends can bump players at certain positions a little too high if they fit in with that trend and vice-versa. If you are just looking for value and don't care how you get it, that will usually mean going against the popular trend of the day.

I'll put it this way. If you were starting the NFL's 33rd franchise, and 20 NFL teams ran the 4-3 and 12 teams ran the 3-4, which defense would you rather build through the draft? The 3-4 one, because there's far less competition for those players. It goes against the grain, but it also allows you to get good players cheaper.

Another analogy. Say you are a QB needy team in the 2011 draft. There are lots of other QB needy teams too. A bunch of QBs get snatched up really quickly. You have the 11th overall pick. Do you take the best available QB like all the other QB needy teams ahead of you did- selecting Christian Ponder? Or do you take that unheralded TE convert out of Wisconsin- JJ Watt?

Similarly, if everyone in your fantasy draft is snatching up WRs super early, and everyone believes that going WR early is the recipe for winning, it's going to drive up the price of WRs in the early rounds. Second round pick WRs become first round picks and third round pick WRs become second round picks. If everyone is avoiding RBs early, that's going to make the RBs slide a bit. I don't really care if I draft a TE or even a QB in the first round, if I feel it is a player who slid a while to get to me, I'm taking him.