In 2015, I entered 10 MFL10 leagues. I only won one, but that mostly offset all my other losses.
For 2016, I thought my success could increase if I just drafted more teams. And because I would only need to win two leagues to basically break even, I decided to draft 20 MFL10 teams in 2016.
So that means I shelled out $200.
I won four leagues and placed second in another. So that means I’ll walk away with $200 in profits and a $10 credit.
You don’t get anything for third or fourth place. But I was happy 11 out of 20 teams finished between first and fourth.
There were players I drafted more often than others in my 20 drafts, but my winning teams all looked very different.
Of course, I can’t just draft the exact same teams in 2017 MFL10s and hope to be successful. But just liked I reviewed last year with one of my winning teams, I wanted to try and find some common similarities between the teams to see why I was successful.
The first thing I noticed was I did not draft a quarterback before Round 9. I drafted Tom Brady in Round 9 in two of my drafts, but I could have probably drafted him as late as Round 10.
But even though I didn’t draft a quarterback early, I still drafted three quarterbacks who finished in the top 10: Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, and Kirk Cousins.
Brady wasn’t able to play a full 16-game season, but he was a top-five quarterback from Weeks 4-16.
By drafting these strong quarterbacks later, I was able to focus on adding more running backs and wide receivers to my roster in Rounds 1-10.
For my winning MFL10 lineup last year, I drafted Cam Newton at the end of Round 6, and I drafted Jameis Winston at the end of Round 14. So the trend for my winning teams the last two Fantasy Football seasons has been to wait on the quarterback in MFL10s.
In the first lineup I shared, I drafted Antonio Brown, Michael Crabtree, and Demaryius Thomas.
And Thomas and Crabtree were available later than they should have been.
Thomas was available at the start of Round 3, and Crabtree was available at the start of Round 5. I won’t be able to get them that late in 2017 Fantasy Football MFL10s.
Even though they didn’t always have consistent Fantasy performances, Kenny Stills and Cole Beasely helped out my team. Beasely had three performances with 16 or more points and so did Stills.
I drafted Beasely in Round 17 and Stills in Round 18. These are the type of players to target that can help you win your league. I would hate to rely on them in season long leagues, but they can offer you a handful of big performances that will give you an edge in your MFL10 leagues.
And the best part of all was I was able to draft them so late.
Even Tavon Austin helped out my team with five performances of 15 or more Fantasy points.
The only dud I really drafted was James Jones.
For my second winning MFL10 lineup, I drafted Crabtree in Round 5 again. I was also able to draft Doug Baldwin in Round 4. They were each top-10 wide receivers between Weeks 1-16.
I didn’t have elite receivers outside of Baldwin in Crabtree in terms of consistent Fantasy production, but most of the receivers I drafted on this team had their moments.
I drafted Kenny Britt in Round 19, and he was an absolute steal as the 21st-highest scoring receiver. DeSean Jackson came on strong at the end of the year, finishing as the ninth-highest scoring receiver from Weeks 11-16.
Danny Amendola was really the only disappointing receiver I drafted for this team. But, he was also the last pick in my draft.
For the third team, I had the second pick in the draft. I went with Odell Beckham Jr. as my first pick, and I followed that by drafting T.Y. Hilton. As you can tell, I went receiver heavy early in this draft, following my Hilton selection with Golden Tate in Round 3.
DeVante Parker didn’t make quite the leap I was looking for in his second year in the league, and he was a questionable addition to my team in Round 4. I only drafted Robert Woods as a backup if anything happened to Sammy Watkins, but Woods ended up dealing with injuries of his own.
The only major dud for receiver on this team was Rueben Randle.
The stud receiver on my fourth team was Jordy Nelson. You’ll once again see a lot of familiar name here with Britt and Jackson. At the time, Kelvin Benjamin seemed solid as a fourth-round pick.
But Rishard Matthews and Sterling Shepard both were more effective than Benjamin in the 2016 Fantasy Football season.
Reviewing my teams, its kind of funny how things turned out when I drafted receivers from rounds 1-3. Odell, Hilton, and Tate all finished as top-20 receivers. But for the team with Brown, Thomas (drafted him in Round 3) and Crabtree (drafted him in Round 5), they were all top-15 wide receivers.
This just shows there are a lot of ways to win your league. But it also shows you can’t use the same strategy each draft. You have to adjust as things are happening.
I also discussed last year how it’s important to find the guys later in your draft who can have a few big games. That happened once again in 2016 with as I mentioned earlier with players like Stills, Beasely, and Britt.
On three of my teams I drafted DeMarco Murray, and he was a steal. I drafted him in Round 5 in two of my winning leagues, and I was even able to draft him at the end of Round 6 in one of my leagues.
There was also a team where I was able to draft Ezekiel Elliott and Le’Veon Bell, so that was pretty much game over for my opponents as soon as Bell came back from his suspension.
I drafted Doug Martin in Round 3 in one league, Eddie Lacy in Round 3 in one league and Jamaal Charles in Round 2 in one league.
They were disappointing, but I was able to compensate with some of the picks later in my drafts.
I was able to draft Frank Gore and Isaiah Crowell late in most of my drafts. I was also able to draft Spencer Ware as late as Round 14 in one league.
And I loved adding players like Tevin Coleman to my team after Round 10. Coleman is perfect for MFL10s. I wouldn’t want to start him in my season long leagues with Devonta Freeman in the lineup. But Coleman can pop off at anytime, and he had four performances with 19 or more Fantasy points this season.
And if anything happened to Freeman, he would have an even bigger role.
Later in the year, I’ll write an MFL10 ebook that gets into more detail about how to target these type of players at the running back and wide receiver position.
Things went okay at the tight end position. But this is where I’m most critical of my draft picks for the 2016 MFL10 season.
That’s because most of my pairings were very risky.
I’m not sure I can justify drafting Rob Gronkowski in Round 1 next year, and it was risky to back him up with Zach Ertz in one of my leagues. I’m a big an of Ertz, but he still isn’t quite there yet in terms of being a consistent Fantasy producer.
Maybe that will change next season.
Jordan Cameron didn’t work out at all, and pairing him with Martellus Bennett was speculative. I banked too much on Bennett being a sure thing because it appeared the Patriots would run more two-tight end sets.
With the quarterback situation never really being answered in Cleveland at the start of the season, it was risky to pair Ertz with Gary Barnidge.
Drafting Delanie Walker in Round 7 worked out, but backing him up with Vance McDonald did not go as I had planned. I was lucky Walker was able to play in 14 games this year.
If he played in any less, I could have been in real trouble with McDonald as my only backup.
Last year, I said this was a spot where I would consider drafting three players. I didn’t follow that advice for my winning teams, but I’m still going to review it for 2017 MFL10s.
If guys like Lance Kendricks and C.J. Fiedorowicz are available around 15, I might consider adding them.
I don’t really have a game plan for defenses.
I just try not to draft them too early. The earliest defense I drafted was the Carolina Panthers at the end of Round 14. That didn’t work out, but I was able to draft the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings in Round 15.
As we get closer to the season, I’ll have an ebook out that shows everything I’m looking at for 2017 MFL10s. I will also be putting out a ton of MFL10 articles for the 2017 Fantasy Football season.
If you want me to review your MFL10 teams from 2016, feel free to send me an email. Just include your entire rosters, and I’ll tell you where I thought you drafted well and where you can improve.
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