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Your league uses a system where the first four rounds go 1-12, 1-12, 1-12, 1-12? That’s ridiculous. It gives way too much of an advantage to the teams selecting at the top of each round. And that difference can’t be corrected by adjusting the order of the remaining rounds. I feel strong enough about that issue that I would decline to participate in such a league. Even the 1-12, 12-1 snake system is flawed. It also tends to favor the teams with the higher draft positions, but not by as much.

Think of it in this way: If I gave you the choice of selecting 1st in the first round or 1st in the 10th round, which would you choose? You would select the first round, because those players are more valuable than the players in the 10th round. With the snake draft, the guy with the No. 1 spot gets first choice in all of the odd-numbered rounds, which by definition are all slightly more valuable than the even-numbered rounds that follow them. According to my stat projections, even with a snake-draft approach, the teams with the top 2 draft spots have a decided advantage over everyone else. While the worst draft spots (at least according to my numbers) are the Nos. 8-12 spots. That project to be about 7 percent behind statistically the five teams directly ahead of them -- and well back from the teams in the top 2 spots.

So what can be done to further improve the drafting process? I propose the following. Draft 1-12 in the first round, then reverse the order permanently – it would then go 12-1 for all remaining rounds. If you look at the projected strength of the teams using this system, you’ll see they’re closer together. The weaker teams all project to be statistically better, and the stronger teams aren’t quite as good – the No. 1 draft spot still comes out as the best, but with significantly fewer points. And the Nos. 2-4 draft spots become middle-of-the-pack teams.

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A:

I’m high on Forte. I think he’ll get more rushing attempts than any of the five running backs selected in the first round – McFadden, Stewart, Jones, Mendenhall and Johnson. He may not be quite as talented as some of those guys, but I think he has an excellent chance to outproduce all of them this season. And while you’re in a dynasty league, there’s something to be said for here and now – this upcoming season is far more valuable than what may or may not occur in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Will your league even exist in 2010? We’ll have to make sure Forte is going to be a full-time player and get a peek at him in August, but I would be tempted to select him before any of those guys. So if you’re going to consider trading him, it should be with the goal of getting something substantial in return. If somebody’s offering a nice package of players or picks, I wouldn’t be opposed to moving Forte. He plays on a lesser team. But I wouldn’t be interested in giving him away.

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I think you’ve got a good outline. I like the rule about being able to protect only players who were purchased at the auction. Otherwise, you’ll tend to see teams protecting players who were picked up for virtually nothing during the season – maybe Ryan Grant from last year, for example. I also like that players can be protected for three years; that should give you a nice balance of teams being able to protect players like LaDainian Tomlinson and Adrian Peterson, but those guys eventually will have to be exposed for the other owners. I would prefer to let teams protect an unlimited number of players, but your system should work just fine. As for a bankroll, I suggest $100. That makes the bidding chunks bigger, and gives more power to the nominating owner. If you go with a bankroll of $1,000, it allows owners to sit back and cherry pick players nominated by other owners – “Oh, Arthur has started the bidding on Pierre Thomas for $1 – I’ll step in and steal him for $2.” With the $100 cap, a whole bunch of players will go for $1, so they’ll go to the team owners who begin the bidding – the second half of the auction becomes more like a draft. That’s the way I like it. The $100 bankroll also should make for a faster auction.

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A:

Sign me up for Marshawn Lynch, Laurence Maroney and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Jamal Lewis is a possibility, but he’s six years older than Maroney and I think he could tail off this season – the Browns have a much harder schedule. Maroney doesn’t catch many passes and might not get many carries at the goal line, but it would be tough to part with the starting running back on the league’s best offense. He scored 7 TDs in his final six games last season. Lynch, in my opinion, is your No. 1 keeper – a young, full-time running back. I don’t see any point in keeping a third running back ahead of Houshmandzadeh. He projects to put up numbers similar to those running backs, and he’s far less likely to get injured. I have some interest in Antonio Gates, but there are so many good tight end options that I wouldn’t want to use one of my keeper slots on him.

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