|
At times the question is raised by fantasy football leagues as to which is the best
method of determining draft orders. Should last years finishes influence this years order of selections? Some of the older
leagues prefer to use the 1-10; 11-20 et al method. They believe, falsely I think, that utilizing this method allows
last years finishers a well deserved advantage over the more successful teams and newcomers.
Why should '02s money
winners be penalized for their superior skills? And, probably one would find that the winners usually put more effort and
time into the draft and weekly activities than did the losers. Shouldn't the losers have to learn by their empty pocket books
and attempt to emulate their more successful counterparts? Yes, I know, luck plays a huge role in the game. But shouldn't
everyone have the same odds of winning at the beginning of each season??
To draft in reverse order of finish allows
the losing coaches too much of an undeserved edge over last years winners. Each of the two charts below illustrates 4 rounds
of drafting; old conventional methods vs. the modern "snake" system. Although the charts show only 4 rounds with 10 teams,
the same mathematical principles apply were I to use 14 rounds with 12 players per team.
All team captains have some
sort of cheat sheet prior to drafting (I hope). Line up your top 40 players in order of value; 1 being the best and 40 lowest.
Then add the total value of each team's draft for each system and divide by 4 (the number of players drafted by each manager
is this example). The result is the average value of each players per team per draft system; lowest being the best.
When
analyzing the results it's easy to see that the snake system allows every player to get a fair shake, even when drafting dead
last while the conventional method gives an overly generous advantage to last year's losers.
I believe everyone,
including newcomers, should be given equal chances prior to the draft. This can easily be accomplished by having every team
draw their respective draft order randomly and by UTILIZING THE SNAKE SYSTEM.
However, some old time coventional commissioners
still want to give some advantage to last years losers over winners and newcomers. They also say, correctly this time, that
the snake system actually may penalize the number one drafter because he/she may have to choose between 1 to 5 near equal
super studs and not get another selection until pick number 20; the number five drafter may get an equal player and gets the
15th choice! What kind of an advantage is that?
It's a good point but easily rebutted. Allow last years last place
coach to select whichever position this year he/she choses; the 2nd to last coach gets 2nd choice, and so on. Last years losers
still get a decided advantage because they get the top choices of the top studs in the NFL.
If you have any questions
or comments regarding this question, please contact me at the "contact me" button on the navigation bar. Also, visit my pages such as utilizing the X-Factor and Statistics on the navigation bar.
CONVENTIONAL
SYSTEM (NO SNAKE)
No Snake
|
TM1
|
TM2
|
TM3
|
TM4
|
TM5
|
TM6
|
TM7
|
TM8
|
TM9
|
TM10
|
Rnd 1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
Rnd 2
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
2 0
|
Rnd 3
|
21
|
22
|
23 |
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
Rnd 4
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
34
|
35
|
36
|
37
|
38
|
39
|
40
|
| Tot/4 |
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
SNAKE SYSTEM
Snake
|
TM1
|
TM2
|
TM3
|
TM4
|
TM5
|
TM6
|
TM7
|
TM8
|
TM9
|
TM10
|
|
Rnd 1
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
|
Rnd 2
|
20
|
19
|
18
|
17
|
16
|
15
|
14
|
13
|
12
|
11
|
|
Rnd 3
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
|
Rnd 4
|
40
|
39
|
38
|
37
|
36
|
35
|
34
|
33
|
32
|
31
|
| Tl/4 |
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
21
|
TOP
|
