CommishRx: Use a randomizer to create fantasy draft order

CommishRx: Use a randomizer to create fantasy draft order

When it comes to a fantasy league draft, I’m from the camp that believes commissioners should schedule it as late as possible, preferably at the end of the preseason. How you create the draft order for your fantasy league is just as important. The method you choose should be beyond reproach. A randomizer can help you accomplish that.

Some commissioners come up with entertaining ways to announce their league’s draft order. They embrace the moment and get really creative:

They may combine the process with their love for other sports:

Some will even get Rex Grossman or Krista Allen to announce their league’s draft order:

As we discussed in ‘Tale of a Suspicious Draft‘ no matter what method you choose, transparency is the key to any action you take as fantasy commissioner. That is, just be sure to communicate fully and openly with the members of your league about what you are doing.

Can’t Nobody Tell You Nothin’

That’s where a draft generator comes in. Draft generators can help protect commissioners from accusations of deception or favoritism. They are not all created equally. A good randomizer will not only produce the draft order, but it should also send an official notice via email to every member of your league. The randomizer should also provide a link back to its web site that verifies the results as well.

Once it generates the list, it’s locked in, and the results get sent to the league instantly. You don’t get the opportunity to see the result first, then choose to send it to your league. This feature prevents the shady commissioners among us from re-running it until they get a result that they prefer.

Random Acts of Helpfulness

After we decided to have keepers in my league, I had to start manually assigning the players to their respective teams and draft rounds. Prior to that, our platform would randomly choose the order the moment the draft room opened. I cringe at the thought of that now: not knowing your draft position until draft day.

Alas, you grow with the times, adapt to advances in technology, and you do better if you have the opportunity.

So, when I realized I had to come up with the draft order myself, I looked for a solution that would be both fair and keep my actions above suspicion. The first generator I used was from Fantasy Football Toolbox. Since then, I’ve also used the one at FantasyPros. I like and use them both.

Here’s how to use the one at Fantasy Football Toolbox:

Oh Snap!

Sometimes it’s hard to escape the critical eye, even if you’re doing the right thing.

That’s why having a generator that sends a report along with a site link is important. Take a look at my draft position for the last five years:

• 2018:   8th

• 2017: 12th

• 2016: 2nd

• 2015: 2nd

• 2014: 2nd

See that span from 2014 – 2016? I didn’t like those results for a couple of reasons. First, unlike a lot of folks, I’m not a fan of picking early. I’m actually not happy at all if I’m picking first, or second in those instances.

Next, and more importantly, it looks pretty suspicious for the commissioner of the league to get the 2nd pick three years in a row – especially to those who might covet such an early draw. I didn’t particularly like how it appeared that things might be rigged somehow.

However this is point: I didn’t lose any sleep sitting at 2nd again in 2016, and I didn’t have to deal with any raised eyebrows because while I can confidently say my league trusts me (I started the league 21 years ago), I also had the draft generator report to back up what I had done.

Do What You Want

Everyone has their thing. I’m not about to bob for apples anytime soon, for any reason. Some folks are going to run their leagues straight with no frills.  Soon we’ll hear about a league commissioner dropping ping pong balls from the Empire State Building. Who knows? Enjoy yourself and have fun, but just make sure you’ve covered your backside during the process.

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