We here at XN Sports are always looking for ways to expand our fantasy football coverage. Our resident experts have already been providing you with some of the best insight on the internet. But we still want to give you more.
Isn’t it nice to know more than just which guys you should pick up and which ones you should drop? While it is great information to have, it doesn’t always help with the dilemmas you are facing while managing your own team. Not every situation is black and white.
And, still, do you ever wonder how fantasy experts manage their own teams? Sure, it’s one thing for an analyst to tell you you should do something, but that’s easy when it’s not their own team. You’re the one who has to deal with the consquences. Not them. Would they make the same moves they would tell you to make?
Well, let us introduce you to the XN Sports League of Champions, where we are bringing you directly into a league featuring our staff experts. Find out how we draft, the waiver wire moves we make, the trades we complete, the players we choose to start, weekly previews and recaps. Everything.
Over the course of the season, we will feature articles about what is happening in the XN League of Champions. In-season strategy and roster management can be overlooked areas of fantasy football analysis. And that is a problem we are solving here.
So to kick off our League of Champions coverage, we present the results of our live draft held on Wednesday night. Each owner has also provided a postmortem on their draft. Starting rosters consist of 2 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 W/R. 1 TE, 1 K, and 1 DST with 6 bench spots. Scoring is pretty standard, with 4 points per passing TD and a 0.5 PPR.
What do you think of the teams? Who are the favorites? What would you have done differently? Leave your comments below and let us know what you have questions about throughout the year. And make sure to visit our League of Champions clubhouse, which is publicly-viewable.
[table id=MakeitWayne /]
I’m not sure how the rest of the guys feel about their teams, but I am hardly thrilled with mine. I think my selection of Demariyus Thomas with the first pick of the third round really screwed me. I wanted to go running back with that pick, but I couldn’t pass up Thomas’ value. I probably should have went with Darren Sproles instead. Now I have to rely on some young guys I had to take a shot on.
Choosing Thomas, though, did give me a great number one receiver. Adding Mike Wallace, Mike Williams, Michael Floyd, and Jacoby Jones later on should give me enough depth and talent at the position to mix-and-match throughout the season.
I couldn’t be more thrilled about my quarterbacks, especially considering I got Tom Brady at the end of the second round. Even after taking Eli Manning in the fifth, I took Matt Schaub in the seventh. I’m a big believer in depth and I knew there was going to be a run on backup QBs soon, and there was.
Overall, I’m happy with my QB and WR depth, but my RBs are going to need some in-season tuning. (Igor Derysh)
(Click here to read Igor’s pick–by-pick breakdown.)
[table id=FourthandGoal /]
I drafted Drew Brees 2nd overall hoping to start a run and cash in on a solid return at the 2nd/3rd turn. Dez Bryant and Steven Jackson, who usually go at the 1st/2nd turn fell and I was off to a great start.
I’m not sure what happened from there, I neglected wideouts, reached for Eddie Lacy, Ahmad Bradshaw, and then Shane Vereen. And, now my secondary Receivers are Golden Tate, Sidney Rice, Justin Blackmon and Greg Little. Lovely.
I got Andrew Luck with Brees and Tannehill to plug and play. Fred Davis will serve as my Tight End and Ryan Williams was my last roster player.
I took 2 DST Units, which is unheard of in these leagues, I think, but I’m happy to throw the Patriots or Bengals in weekly and I used my 3rd and 4th last picks, so I didn’t reach. I knew that my competition would wait and wait, because that is what we tell everyone to do.
However, the logic is that you’ll get a solid defense late, like the Bengals or Patriots and there is no reason to get hasty in the 8th or 9th round, which commonly happens. I got two top-5 defenses late and now I’m set at the position, I might need the bench space, but with everyone else scrambling all the time, I’ll be there to deal if necessary.
I took Dan Bailey as my Kicker, he doesn’t have a Bye until Week 11, so I can plug him in my lineup weekly and not have to worry about it for a long time. I like that feeling.
My wide receivers are garbage, but I have depth elsewhere, I think. Dez Bryant is a beast and I expect a lot out of Golden Tate. Once Blackmon gets back, things will look a lot better, too. I hope.
I’m happy with the final roster. The majority of my players are on good offensive football teams, and don’t overrate what that means in fantasy. (Neil Parker)
[table id=WinterClassics /]
As a 2QB rookie, I nervously approached my first pick determined to buck standard league convention and choose an elite passer. Aaron Rodgers failed to win me a title last season, but in a 2QB league his skill set was impossible to overlook. After I took Rodgers 3rd overall, the wait for the 22nd pick was pure agony as elite running backs steadily disappeared. With Alfred Morris going one pick too early, I had to take a major risk on Maurice Jone-Drew. The MJD gamble set the tone for my squad.
I was happy to add four high-upside wideouts in Danny Amendola, Dwayne Bowe, Steve Smith and rookie Tavon Austin. However, each of the four has a red flag on his resume, namely injuries, inconsistency, age and inexperience. I had a brutal time trying to add depth to my roster, especially at QB. Andrew Luck and Ben Roethlisberger narrowly escaped my clutches at different times, forcing me to settle on Andy Dalton as my number two and the woeful Blaine Gabbert as my emergency arm. If injuries strike, I’ll have to rely on deep-sleepers like Quinton Patton to bail me out. At least I snagged the top-ranked Seahawks defense and the booming leg of Blair Walsh!
The Winter Classics starting lineup can go toe-to-toe with any team in the league, just so long as it’s nobody’s bye week and everyone stays healthy. I’m sure it’ll work out. (Chris Blanchard)
[table id=DerwoodDegenerates /]
(Note: C.D. was delayed in getting to the draft, resulting in an auto-picked first few selections)
Despite selecting in the top half of the first round (fourth overall), Derwood #Degenerates looks a little soft on paper. They’re projected to finish 10th in XN Sports League of Champions League with a record of 5-9-0 (1,631 points). Derwood #Degenerates jumped on ballcarriers early and often, using their first three selections to grab RBs Doug Martin (4th overall), Alfred Morris (21st), and Chris Johnson (28th). They ended up with the worst tandem of QBs in the league, as they picked up Jay Cutler and Terrelle Pryor for their fantasy stable. (Yahoo!)
[table id=Studfeldsville /]
Going into the XN Sports League of Champions 2-QB draft last night my plan was to secure at least one QB1, and build a strong team, while not getting all of my picks sniped by fellow XN Sports fantasy football writers C.D. Carter and Rich Hribar, who I happened to be sandwiched in between.
Half of that was accomplished, as I wound up with Russell Wilson as my QB1. The other part of my plan didn’t work out too well, as a number of my targets were pick-pocketed right in front me, such as Jamaal Charles, Pierre Garçon, Cecil Shorts and Josh Gordon. But, you go on, and do the best you can.
I’m pretty flexible when it comes to the quarterback position, and that played a big part of being able to stock up on running backs early, as I was able to land Wilson in the 4th round, after going Spiller/Forte/Sproles with my first three picks.
Even in 2-QB leagues, there’s value on waiting to draft your first quarterback, as long as you’re not in a crazy QB-heavy drafting league. If you’re okay with taking one of the last remaining QB1s, that will give you a chance to load up at RB/WR, and create a balanced team. Every 2-QB league is different though, so keep that in mind when drafting in your 2-QB league. (Salvatore Stefanile)
[table id=FantasyFoundation /]
I play in a ton of fantasy leagues, too many (almost) in fact. I was hesitant to join the XN staff league because of this, as I didn’t want to neglect this in favor of my prize leagues.
Then my 8-year-old son asked me if he could get his very first fantasy team with me. This “free” league was a perfect opportunity to get him acclimated to world that engulfs his father for four months every year.
Brayden’s (my son) favorite player is Victor Cruz. After we snagged Trent Richardson at number six overall, it was hard for me to convince him that Cruz would be available later than our second round selection.
He took my advice and we paired TRich with Jamaal Charles, giving us a RB duo hammer to swing weekly. In round four we snagged Cruz much to his jubilation.
Our final roster is more than serviceable as our backs and quarterbacks should be strong.
The involvement with my son and his new excitement to be doing this team with me will likely manifest itself into one of my favorite leagues. (Rich Hribar)
[table id=BryknoRhinos /]
Oh boy, here we go. My strategy was to not get stuck with Mark Sanchez as my second quarterback, and at least I accomplished that. E.J. Manuel, Josh Freeman, and Jake Locker may not put fear in most people’s hearts, but hey, at least they’re all the quarterbacks of record, and likely to keep their jobs. While others were battling for Aaron Rodgers, though, I decided to get strong at one position — receiver. With Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones, and Reggie Wayne, I have enough strength at the position to deal someone, if deals need be made. (Bryan Knowles)
[table id=BlurredGoalLines /]
I don’t like to have hard-and-fast rules when drafting because drafts are unpredictable, and sticking to a preset formula can be dangerous. In 2-QB leagues, though, I always make sure to take a quarterback within my first two picks. Even still, I was thisclose to not doing that this time. After taking LeSean McCoy eighth overall, I had a chance to get Jamaal Charles or Marshawn Lynch in the second round. I almost did, but opted for Colin Kaeprnick, instead.
That set the stage for me taking the best values going from there. I feel like my starting lineup should be strong week in and week out. It may take a couple weeks before my RB2 really takes shape because I believe Giovani Bernard is the answer in Cincinnati, but maybe not right away. With Rashard Mendenhall at my flex spot, I at least have a starting RB there, as iffy as he may be.
The biggest concern I have is the bye weeks. Both of my starting QBs are off week 9 and my top two RBs are sitting in week 12. It’s not ideal, but I picked the players I thought would give me the best chance to win every week, regardless of byes. I’ll deal with the consequences later. But I still have two months to figure it all out, so a lot can happen between now and then. All in all, though, as long as I don’t get cursed by injury, I think I should contend for a playoff spot. (Tony Consiglio)
[table id=KeepinHeadsRingin /]
I was tempted to go QB/QB with my first two picks, coming out of the 9-spot, but after seeing only five QBs go (including my own with Cam Newton at 1.09) before my second round pick at 2.04, I knew I’d probably be safe getting my first running back. Arian Foster almost fell to me, but I was really happy to take David Wilson.
The next rung of quarterbacks stayed on the board for a while, which allowed me to grab my second RB in DeMarco Murray and my first WR in Andre Johnson. Had RG3 fallen to me at 4.04, I would have taken him there, but he went off the board at 3.10 so for me, there wasn’t much point in chasing Russell Wilson, Eli Manning or Mike Vick. I rounded out my top-5 with Carson Palmer as my second QB. I didn’t really love this pick at this point, but I didn’t see much left on the draft board (Nicks, Miller, DMC) that I wanted as a cornerstone of my team so I was fine to take my second QB who I think has a legit shot at being a top-12 QB this year.
This was the first league I drafted Le’Veon Bell because I generally wait to draft my teams, so he was injured before I ever got to a draft table. This is probably my difference-maker in this draft, because if he can come back and perform as we expect him to in a couple weeks, he’s my flex play most weeks which is a good place to be. If he can’t rebound from his injury, I’m not sure my team rebounds from spending the seventh round pick on him. It’s a gamble, but certainly one that can pay off huge.
I like my team a lot but my success hinges on the health of my running backs; Bell is already hurt and Murray has a recent injury history. If those two guys stay healthy and produce like I think they can, I like my chances for playoffs. If not, it’s going to be a long season. (Michael Clifford)
[table id=CoconutPete /]
This was my first ever 2QB fantasy draft so I did a bunch of mock drafts and the results were always mixed. I feel the same about my team now. I’m happy I have Robert Griffin III and Ben Roethlisberger as my starters and have Arian Foster and Ray Rice as my running backs – especially being a PPR league. I think I’m going to regret my bench and my flex as the season goes on. My wide receivers are really hit or miss and I think I took Larry Fitzgerald too early at pick 39 as I neglected to grab a QB to put on my bench. I took Patrick Edwards in round 16 as a pure potential pick and I’m hoping his speed keeps him on the field in Detroit. (Tom Fitzgerald)
[table id=FiftyShadesofCats /]
I’ve never been part of a 2-QB league before so I didn’t know what to expect. One thing I did know was that I wanted to live and die with Matt Ryan this season. All of the best QBs are either aging pocket passers or streaky, running QBs. So I figured I get a young pocket passer with lots of weapons on his team.
After picking Ryan with my first pick, I wanted to draft a RB, but I didn’t like the options available at the time. So I went with Brandon Marshall because he seems to always be Jay Cutler’s first, second, third, and sometimes fourth read on the Bears’ offense.
At first I didn’t like my collection of RBs, but they’re beginning to grow on me. They all have durability issues, but what running back doesn’t these days? I love Darren McFadden as my third running back and handcuffed him with Marcel Reece. I’m not sure how having six RBs will fare in a 2-QB, PPR league, but that’s the price you pay for waiting until the third round to pick your RB.
Antonio Gates is my backup TE. That’s pretty cool! DeSean Jackson is my third WR. I might be naive in saying this, but I think I have a major steal here.
I definitely will need to trade for a third QB by week 5. I wasn’t planning on only drafting two QBs, but that’s the way it goes. I will also have to find a way to acquire a more dependable fourth WR, and I hope that Joe Flacco doesn’t offset the monster year I expect from Ryan this season. (Felipe Melecio)
[table id=MyBuddyandMe /]
I can point to three picks that directly hurt my team. Jimmy Graham (36th overall) was the highest I have ever taken a tight end. And although he remains the undisputed best option at his position, I would have felt a lot better taking Tony Gonzalez in round 5 or 6. Taking T.Y. Hilton (84) and Greg Jennings (85) were strong picks, but not ideal for a team already starting Roddy White and A.J. Green. If I could go back, I’d have taken Andrew Luck at 36, Rashard Mendenhall at 84 and Chris Ivory at 85. That’s not a guaranteed championship, but that would be one step up for what’s currently a lopsided team in need of trade help. (Dave Major)
Our final roster is more than serviceable as our backs and quarterbacks should be strong.
