Late Friday afternoon, I registered for my first autodraft. I pre-ranked several players and made sure to move Domanick Davis to the "do not draft" list, and, to quote Ron Popeil, "I set it and forget it!"
After a 3-hours-one-way daytrip to Rhode Island on Saturday, I returned to Westchester to find I was without power.
As a result I forgot about the autodraft. Never mind, the email notification from Yahoo! is shunted to my bulk folder with Yahoo!!
Any how here is my team:
Rd 1 RB R. Brown
Rd 2 RB C. Williams
Rd 3 WR R. Wayne
Rd 4 WR D. Jackson
Rd 5 WR J. Galloway
Rd 6 QB D. Culpepper
Rd 7 TE R. McMichael
Rd 8 DEF Pittsburgh
Rd 9 K J. Brown
Rd 10 RB C. Taylor
Rd 11 QB J. Plummer
Rd 12 WR J. Porter
Rd 13 TE B. Troupe
Rd 14 WR B. Edwards
Rd 15 DEF Dallas
Full draft results and/or csv file
A few observations and tips for autodrafting with Yahoo!. (It is late to provide these but who doesn't do one more draft after the first week with Yahoo!?) I mentioned the most important tip in the first paragraph - move injured players to the "do not draft" list. As clear an example as possible - Domanick Davis was taken in the 3rd round because the ranking for Yahoo! are set once and left that way. Because of this, Davis is highly ranked and was taken at that pre-IR ranking.
The second tip is to remember that the autodraft will fill all nine starting positions before filling the reserve spots. The very real result of this is you will have a K, DEF and TE drafted in the first nine rounds. (I guess a TE isn't so much a reach in the 9th, but many those 400-550 yds receivers are available in the last three rounds where Ks and DEF's are typically taken.)
To get the most balanced team - two legitimate RBs and 2 top WRs - then you must rank a group of nine RBs to guarantee one is taken in the first round and nine WR to get one in the second and 9 RBs for the third round and 9 WRs for the fourth. After that pre-rank your top QBs, DEFs. Ks and TEs. They are going to be drafted regardless of how you would fill those positions at a live draft.
With ten teams per league, you can count on the Top 18 Yahoo!-ranked RBs being taken and the Top 27 WRs along with the Top 9 QBs, Ks, TEs and DEFs. Plan accordingly with your sleepers who, all things being equal, you'd rank #19+ for RBs, #28+ for WRs and #10+ for the QBs, Ks, TEs and DEFs.
Using this methodology, you should receive very close to a team made-up of your top choices at QB, K, DEF, and TE along with good RBs and WRS and a good reserve list.
And even if you do not, the pool of available players is always deep in Yahoo!!