One of the most popular features at Footballguys.com is the Draft Dominator. Most users absolutely love it as a drafting tool and use it in every league they are in. However, some of our members seem to be a bit overwhelmed by the large number of functions available. To help ease those concerns, we questioned our staff about their use of the program. Here are their answers:
What are your overall thoughts regarding the Draft Dominator?
Jason Wood: I love the Draft Dominator, and it's become a fixture in all my leagues, whether it's a live draft with friends or an online draft against cyber-folk.
Will Grant: I love the draft dominator. I wouldn't draft without it now. The ability to configure any scoring system for any league is really a great feature. I especially like the ability to pull up last year's league, dump the rosters and have the scoring system all in place for this year's draft. The information gives you a huge leg up on the other teams in your league.
Jeff Haseley: I don't draft without it. It's plain and simple. In my opinion, it's THE biggest tool that Footballguys offers. Everyone who is an Insider with Footballguys should be using the Draft Dominator before their draft to prepare, during their draft and afterwards to spot weaknesses on your team.
Andrew Garda: I love the Dominator - frankly it was one of the things which first set FBGs apart from every other site and one of the big reasons I started subscribing. Even though I did my own fantasy analysis every year for various places, I still found it incredibly useful. Every year the tweaks only make it better which is amazing to me because I always figure it HAS to have topped out.
Jeff Pasquino: I find it to be a good tool to use while drafting and it certainly beats pen and paper or lists. I still like to have those sorts of things available but ever since I started using it many years ago I've found drafts to go much simpler and easier by having it there.
Clayton Gray: The Draft Dominator is what other drafting software aspires to be. It makes it very easy to draft an outstanding roster.
David Dodds: I am a huge fan and try and do all of my drafts on it. To me it's the ultimate organization tool. It allows me to mess round with what-if scenarios during the draft and see things unfold in 3 dimensions.
What advantages do you believe it gives you?
Jason Wood: First and foremost, organization. Drafts can get frantic if you're trying to keep track of who's been taken, what your opponents holes and strengths are, runs on positions, etc. The Dominator handles all those things and it's simply a matter of clicking on the player taken every few minutes. I've found that by having my league parameters set up and my projections loaded, I never feel like I'm having to rush a pick or scramble. It also allows me to adjust on the fly if I need to maximize a late round bye pickup or am looking to bolster my late season returns by turning on the SOS weightings.
Will Grant: Ranking players by position and comparing the 'X' values of RB vs. WR and other positions really helps you decide if you should choose a RB or WR at a particular draft position. I also like the ability to easily scan the rosters of other teams. It gives you the ability to anticipate how certain teams will draft in the next few rounds and adjust my draft strategy accordingly.
Jeff Haseley: It encompasses the very simple principle of Value Based Drafting. It provides you with information that you can use to your advantage and tweak to your liking. For starters, you have rankings tailored to your league's scoring format at your fingertips while the draft is underway. It keeps track of everyone's picks and gives you a glimpse of what players might be selected before you pick. It also shows you strength of schedule data as well as a depth chart that conveniently crosses off players that have already been selected. It's basically like Joe and David whispering in your ear what you should do next. Imagine having that capability when you need it most. That's the power of the Draft Dominator.
Andrew Garda: First, I'm not fumbling for available players. The later the draft goes, the more I know what sleepers are left when others are shuffling papers or scrambling through memory. Second, if I set it right, I can pinpoint guys I want so I can grab them before someone remembers they are out there. And if I mock a draft a few times - especially in leagues I've been in a while - I can often figure out about where players will go and know how much risk might be inherent in waiting on a guy I like.
Jeff Pasquino: The first one is organization. Having a list of all the players, projections and who has taken who can really help me as I go through the draft. For example I will use it often to either check bye weeks or to see if the teams that are picking after me (and before my next pick) already have a quarterback - which would then lead me to waiting to pick a QB with the second selection and not the first.
Clayton Gray: Well on the surface, you become the most organized person at your draft. You no longer need a pencil to track rosters, a black marker to cross off other teams' picks from your draft list, and a yellow hi-lighter to denote your selections. Now, one double-click does all of that. Fun times.
Digging deeper, the Draft Dominator should give an advantage to every user from novice to grizzled veteran. If you have never participated in a league and have only a few minutes to get ready, you'll be able to download the Dominator and draft a solid team without changing any of the settings. It can be that basic of a tool. However, if you are a devout user of Dynamic VBD, the Dominator can instantly update VBD after every single pick in the draft. It can be that complex of a tool. And, of course, it is usable for everyone in between.
David Dodds: Mostly organizing data. But it also allows for some powerful number crunching during the draft which would be next to impossible with the aid of a computer. I love the tally and team strengths chart to get a good feel who might draft what before I pick again. I also love messing with the weekly weights to recover from bye / difficult week issues. And in a pinch looking at the depth charts, and strength of schedule info is real nice to have at your fingertips (even without an internet conection). Something as simple as the notes field allows me to set all kinds of reminders to me.
What tweaks do you do to start the draft? Midway? Near the end?
Jason Wood: It really comes down to the type of draft I'm doing. I usually start with all the settings defaulted to the standard, giving every week equal weighting and not worrying about projected strength of schedule. I'll quickly start tweaking the weekly weights though once I've filled out my intended roster, just to get a sense of breaking to tie on some players I might otherwise group into the same tier. It's helpful if you wait on defenses or kickers to use the "Complementary" options - they help me each and every year.
Will Grant: I usually don't mess with the configurations once the draft has started. However, before the draft starts, I like to adjust the weights of the critical weeks such as the weeks that I play division games. I also make sure to configure defenses and kickers to wait a certain number of picks before I draft them.
Jeff Haseley: I generally don't tweak much. I use Joe's Secret Formula and off I go.
Andrew Garda: I usually play with scoring and flag a few guys I like. I usually don't alter it much on the fly after that - I do my alterations in my brain, for good or ill. I always mock through a draft a few times. If I feel particularly energetic I'll run a mock a couple of times and pick a few different teams based on what I know of the owners and their tendencies. It really cuts down on the surprises though never completely. Always some shocks - not even DD can predict everything.
Jeff Pasquino: At the start of the draft I tend to look at who has taken what positions and possibly who might be willing to pass on a player if I wait to grab them (like if they already have a tight end). Towards the middle I look for when the DD starts to suggest taking a defense or a kicker - not to take one myself (I usually wait) but to see when other teams might start looking in that direction. That tells me that the perceived talent pool is starting to thin out and that most fantasy team owners will not know who to pick so they'll just take a defense.
Early on I don't care about bye weeks, but as it gets later in the draft I will start looking for "complimentary players" to cover my bye weeks and weeks where I seem to have a thinner lineup.
Clayton Gray: Except for putting in my league info and importing my projections, I leave the settings alone. Oh, I disable sound.
David Dodds: I am a tinkerer by nature. I start by tweaking 4 sets of projections available via the projections dominator and importing them. I weight Dodds=30%, Henry=25%, Wood=25%, and Tremblay=20% just to give my numbers some differentiation and to eliminate most biases. In PPR leagues, I actually assign PPR = 1.2. This helps create a little more separation for the high reception players which I favor in that format. I increase the weights of the first five weeks (I believe these wins are more important for trades and it's easier getting waiver wire scrubs once a few teams start mailing in the season). I also weight the playoff games higher since I want to have one of the best teams at the end. About halfway through the draft, I like to tweak the weeks again putting more emphasis on the playoff weeks and usually deciding whether to go all-in or punt a week. For example, if it looks like I am going to get crushed in week 8, I am likely just to zero that week and recalc things. Once I draft my QB, I like to use the find complimentary QB option. I will then number these 1-10 and put in the notes field. They serve as additional triggers when I try and get my backup QB.
Do you use the Projections Dominator? If so, what weights?
Jason Wood: I do, but this is somewhat of an unfair question for me since my projections are one of the five available. In order to smooth out my own potential biases, I will given each of my counterparts 5% weighting and keep the rest set for my own. I've always been a guy who does my owner projections, so if I wasn't one of the staff who already had them pre-loaded, I would load my own set up and use those anyway.
Will Grant: No, I don't use the projection dominator. I know that the FBG projections are well thought out and revised multiple times throughout the preseason.
Jeff Haseley: I really don't use the Projections Dominator much.
Andrew Garda: If so, what weights? I use the projections off and on and play with a lot of different weights. I'll throw in a projection based on an even split of the Wood/Dodds/Henry/Tremblay split and then depending on what I'm seeing might weigh in one guy more than the others. Sometimes I'll weigh in 100% Dodds or 100% Wood just to see what it does but I try to keep all the guys included that way I get a good cross-section of opinion.
Jeff Pasquino: I use it, yes. While I like Dodds' projections, it's a bad idea to only go with one opinion. Having the ability to mix four projections gives a nice perspective for the overall talent pool. I know that everyone has their favorites, so to mitigate that and make it a bit more uniform I usually spread the weights evenly - 25% for Dodds, Wood, Tremblay and Henry. If anyone would get a little boost it would be Henry as his numbers often match what I am thinking already.
Clayton Gray: Yes. It's very cool to be able to draft using your own projections. However, I only weigh mine at 80% while giving 5% each to my colleagues.
David Dodds: Yes. I absolutely use this to smooth out my numbers mostly. I weight it 30% me, 25% Henry, 25% Wood and 20% Tremblay. I weight the kickers 60% me and 40% Herman.
Walk us through your predraft preparation.
Jason Wood: I first save a new league under the league name, and usually keep the file in Dropbox (an online service) so I can access the file anywhere. I then go through each tab to make sure the league settings match as tightly as possible. I have my own approach to VBD, and opt to set my own, but certainly any of the VBD options can work if you understand their limitations. I then make sure my projections are up to date, which not only serves me but any of our subscribers who use the Dominator. Once all that is taken care of, it's simply a matter of walking through a number of mock draft scenarios. If I know what my draft pick will be, that's much more valuable. But to be honest, by the time my most competitive drafts come due, I've already done so much work for the site that I'm very comfortable with the tiers, ADP and where I'm going to likely find value.
Will Grant:In my dynasty and keeper leagues, I focus on the key weeks when I play my division rivals and adjust the weights of those weeks to make them more critical in my drafting strategy.
I also like to run a mock draft at least once given the people and drafting positions just to see the typical players that I can expect at each draft position. While the real thing may not play out exactly right, if I come up with a list of 2-3 players to target at each draft position and I look to see if I need to reach a little on some key players that I am targeting.
Jeff Haseley: In one league I can keep up to two players a year for a total of three years. With that comes the task of realizing who each team's keepers will be. Once that is determined, it is easy to remove each keeper from the league's player pool and draft accordingly. It's great for mock drafts, because you can really get a clear understanding of what positions and players will be available at your draft slot. I usually always run a mock draft for each league I use the Draft Dominator for. The import feature from MyFantasyLeague.com is ingenious. I generally use MFL for most of my leagues, which is great. I can simply use the MFL import software to automatically import my league ID, which includes scoring format, teams and even the order. Great, great tool!
Andrew Garda: I use the DD to mock a draft a few times, just to get a feel for it. In a new league I worry less about figuring out who is picking where because I don't know the owners and their tendencies. In familiar leagues, I run mocks with a little more specificity because I know that guy a really likes Aaron Rodgers and always goes early and dude b always goes hard on WRs early. I might jot down some notes on guys I like and put a general plan together but I always leave room for variation - like they say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. If my draft plan is set in stone I'm going to miss value and be too slow to adjust. So I have a plan, just not a very detailed one because I never want to get trapped following it too closely.
Jeff Pasquino: Prior to a draft I want to have the DD set up to match the scoring rules, roster spots, team names, and schedule (if available) so I can have everything that might help me during the draft just right. As for the numbers and players, I will use the Projections Dominator and import the mixed projections so that I have a good idea of roughly when and where players should be going. After that the DD becomes more of a suggestion and guide for my draft so I can easily keep track of everything.
Another option I might do is to run a "My Team Mock" for the first 6-10 rounds so I can get an idea of what will happen if I draft different players in different orders. For example, if I have a later pick in Round 1 and decide to go WR first, how will the RB pool look in Rounds 2 and 3? Running a few different scenarios and then seeing the results in the "Team Strengths" window gives me an idea of what the best approach would be in a very tight (predictable and matching the DD) draft would be. Of course I will remain flexible as the draft evolves but I want to have some idea of my worst case scenario draft plan.
Clayton Gray: I am generally caught up on my information, so the vast majority of my predraft prep simply involves setting up the Dominator (league parameters, scoring system, draft order, and schedule). If I do not know the schedule, I'll have my team play against Avg. Points each week.
David Dodds: Run the Projections Dominator and import data. Set the scoring rules and enter the team names into the draft slot. Adjust the ADP info accordingly (usually to consensus or PPR consensus). I then mess with the baselines by attempting to figure how many of each position will be drafted by 90 picks. If it's a standard format like FFPC or WCOFF, I will count the positions in a draft that I respect. I will enter the schedule if I know it (and usually weight league wins as more important). If I don't know the opponents I set things to average points. I will run the data on just the playoff weeks and enter the top 10 QBs, top 20 RBs, and top 30 WRs in one of the note fields. I usually will do this with the first 5 weeks only too and enter it in note 2. This gives the data a bit more depth to me. I diasable the sound.
How do you handle kickers and defenses?
Jason Wood: Depends on the league. I certainly laugh each year though when I do a league with David Dodds. Aside from being our boss and one of the most competitive drafters I know, I can always count on him to come away with the top PK and top defense, eschewing the age old adage of waiting on those two positions until the final rounds. One point about kickers, I do believe you can cherry pick a few younger kickers that are in line for big numbers because of the offenses they play behind. My goal is usually to work through two or three of those guys who routinely go outside the Top 10 at their position, that allows me to never panic when a kicker run happens a round or two before I'm ready to take one.
Will Grant:I like to adjust the dominator to ignore defenses until after a certain number of rounds. For Kickers, I configure it the same way, but look to target them at a draft position a round or two before I expect other people to take them. I try to draft only one kicker and defense in the draft, and try to take one on a week that I don't have too many other players off at the same time. I also try not to draft a defense and kicker off on the same week. This way I can use one waiver wire pick for a specific week and then move along to other needs. This allows me to load up on key positions like RB and WR and take a few flyers later in the draft.
Jeff Haseley: I generally wait until 3-5 kickers are selected before I make my move. I like to choose a kicker with a late bye week; therefore I only need to draft one kicker. I can always grab a kicker off the waiver wire before my kicker's bye if need be - there's always a serviceable kicker that comes out of nowhere. As for defenses - I also usually wait until two or three defenses are selected before I consider taking one. I look for a team with a good offense, because that usually means their opponents are behind more often, which leads to more sacks and turnovers.
Andrew Garda: I usually wait. I rarely get the top in either category because I am rarely the first one in and when folks grab defenses early, I start looking for value picks. Good defense are usually good for a while but they do change and last year's Jets can become this year's Lions if things go awry. Kickers are even more fluid - you have guys surge for one year, get grabbed too early and then have their production fall off a cliff. Ultimately I look for a decent kicker late who is on a good offense and has been consistent for several years. I don't often chase the latest Neil Rackers.
Jeff Pasquino: Most of the time I am waiting until a few of them get picked and then I take my favorite option, usually fairly late in a draft. It would be rare to take one early considering that defenses are often hard to predict from year to year. Unless the scoring is quite high for defenses (where a good defense can give you 10-12 points or more a week on average) I am waiting until the last few picks. Kickers can also wait until the last 2-3 rounds, possibly even the last pick. As I mentioned earlier, I do want to see when the DD suggests taking a defense or kicker so that I see about when in a draft they should start to get picked by some other owners.
Clayton Gray: I don't tweak the Dominator for these positions, but I do have a strategy. For kickers, I generally have a set number that I'm willing to draft. Once half of them are gone, I get one from my acceptable list. At defense, I avoid the position as long as there are exciting players still available at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver. Of course this means I rarely select an elite defense. Instead, I'll usually grab two for a great committee. Once I have one, I'll utilize the Complementary Defense tool to get one with a compatible schedule.
David Dodds: I generally ignore this position until round 14+ for defense and week 16+ for kickers. I almost always favor a defense and or kicker that will start hot and is part of a very good team. I will grab the first at these positions if everyone else seems unwilling to. If I get behind a run, I wait until 8-9 of either position gets taken and then grab one.
What windows do you use all the time? What windows do you ignore?
Jason Wood: Again, it depends. If we know the schedule before our draft (rare, but happens or if it's a best ball all play situation), I do toggle the W-L record projections back and forth and will tweak my projected loss weeks to heavier weights in the final rounds to try to bolster myself. But in most leagues, you don't know who you're playing until the commish generates the schedule. My baseline screen shot would include:
Draft Status on top left Player Pool on bottom left Best Value Pick on top middle Team Stats on top right Team Data on bottom right
Will Grant: I configure my dominator to display Draft Status, Team Stats, Weekly Points - Player Pool, Overall Player Pool and Team Data. I use these windows exclusively and flip tabs on the Player Pool windows when I want to look ahead to players I might be targeting with my next pick.
Jeff Haseley: I always have Team Strengths up. It shows me where I am in the pecking order of total projected points among all teams. Along those same lines, the Game by Game window is also good to glance at. It tells me what my expected outcome will be for each week's opponent. It lets me know that say, week nine is an area of weakness. Try to shore up your team to provide more production for week nine. Team Stats shows me how many players from each position have been chosen and to which teams. This is great when determining which player might fall to me in five picks from now. I still have a shot at a TE, because four of the five teams ahead of me already selected their first TE. I will also open up the depth charts window just to see what players are still available that are listed as WR2s or RB2s for their respective teams.
Andrew Garda: I tend to use Player Pool, Draft status (for live drafts) and team stats the most. Player pool to track who is hanging around at what position, and team stats so I can guess where guys might go with their next picks. I keep an eye on value pick but it's not bible for me - still you never know when it's going to remind you someone is sitting there when he shouldn't be so you have to keep an eye on it. Draft Summary and Team Data I don't look at often - although I do look it over post draft. During a live draft though, it's something I only look at occasionally to see if a guy grabbing late WRs is just getting deep or is desperately trying to fix a weak group. But I don't pay much attention to those two.
Jeff Pasquino:I like the default view with the "Player Pick" and "Player Pool" available, but the windows I look to often during a draft are the "Best Value Pick" to see not just who is suggested but also what position is suggested to take. The player the DD suggests may not be who I want but the software is usually right in saying that I need a WR or a RB next.
I also like "Team Stats" quite a bit as it tells me who has what at which positions. For example I would really like to know what each team has between two of my next picks so I can decide to take a quarterback at the next spot or wait a round if those teams already have one. "Team Strengths" gives me a nice overall view of how well I am doing and which positions I need to address for more value / strength (since I can click each position and see how I rank), based both on total team strength and on starters.
The only other window I tend to use a good amount is the Strength of Schedule ("SOS") to give the schedules and likely good matchups for each position. Again, this matters more when I am choosing backups. I tend not to worry about the weekly point windows that much unless I know my schedule and have one or two games I really want to win such as a local league against 1-2 other owners that I know are always good players year over year.
Clayton Gray: These are the windows I generally use:
Draft Status is in the top left Player Pool is just under Draft Status Best Value Pick is to the right of Draft Status Draft Summary is to the right of Player Pool Game By Game Projections is to the right of Best Value Pick Team Data is to the right of Draft Summary
David Dodds: I always have these windows open
Draft Status (top left) Player Pool (lower left) Team Strengths (top middle) Game by Game (bottom middle) Team Stats (upper right) Team Data (lower right)
I then will open other windows when I want to see them.
Do you use the Weekly Weights section of the Game By Game window? If so, what values do you use here?
Jason Wood: As I mentioned earlier, yes I do. Usually I'll double weeks that I want to strategically overweight and that's dynamic based on how the draft is progressing. I am considering employing a strategy this year that Dodds espoused in his "New Math" article that would overweight the early weeks with the idea of maximizing the value of your team and giving you the best chits to trade value for future value.
Will Grant: I love the game by game screen. In my keeper leagues, I examine my schedule and weight the weeks of my division rivals twice as high the other weeks. In leagues that only run a few weeks before throwing out the rosters and re-drafting like the ultimate survivor contest, I configure the important weeks to be three times higher than the other weeks because they are so critical to survival.
Jeff Haseley: I don't use this feature often at all.
Andrew Garda: I don't use it too much so I really don't have a preference on the values.
Jeff Pasquino:I use that quite a bit later in the draft. I learned this trick several years ago and I find it to be of great value. Under "Game by Game" you can select at the bottom a Complimentary Player and then the DD will re-sort all of the available players based on whoever is already on your team to find the best option for your team as a backup. This works great in a committee approach to a position like quarterback or defense and it can really elevate a player who is not expected to be drafted for a few rounds and put him in your sights to go and get as soon as possible, making your team much stronger.
As far as the Weekly Weights in general, I will leave them all at "1" unless I am gearing up for a team that I am confident will be a playoff team. At that point I might bump up the playoff weeks to 1.5 so I can get more value toward players who should be delivering bigger numbers against easier competition in December.
Clayton Gray: Yes, this is an excellent feature of the Dominator. About eight rounds in, I'll check this window and look for games where I am not winning. If I'm losing, I'll weigh that week at 3. If the outcome is uncertain, I'll weigh it at 2. I'll also periodically check for complementary players. I'll make note of these players and attempt to acquire as many as possible.
David Dodds: I live in this window. When I am losing games, I will decide to try harder in that week (or punt it away) by adjusting the weights. I like to run the first 5 and the last 3 games just to see how players values change. I use the find complimentary players to get backups that can help.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Jeff Haseley: I don't have much else to say, except try the Draft Dominator. You will love it and you won't want to draft without it again. Be sure to update it. To get the latest version, go to File - get latest projection. You can also download the latest version and it will automatically provide you the most recent data. You can even do it mid-draft provided you save your league first. Update the version, open the file you saved and you now have the latest version without losing your draft process.
Clayton Gray: An often-overlooked use of the Draft Dominator is post-draft analysis. Just a glance at the Team Strengths window will allow you to see which teams have a surplus or deficit at each position. It is super easy to identify potential trading partners.