Ultimate Team By Committee

Photo: Andrew Richardson, USA Today Sports

WHEN THE BRITISH naturalist George Shaw received a weird specimen from Australia in 1799 - one with a mole's fur, a duck's bill and spurs on its rear legs - he did what any skeptical scientist would do: He looked for the stitching and glue that would reveal it to be a hoax. "It was impossible not to entertain some distant doubts as to the genuine nature of the animal," Shaw wrote of the seemingly built-by-committee creature, which he eventually named "platypus".

Over the past few years, there have been two very popular articles written by our very own Chase Stuart that look at an interesting approach to building a fantasy team with late value picks. Based upon the theory of using both Strength of Schedule ("SOS") and taking two players as a combination to build one very good player, he has discussed both Team Defense by Committee ("TDBC") and Quarterback by Committee ("QBBC") as a general fantasy league strategy. In general I think that this is a wise move because very early on in fantasy drafts there are a ton of RB and WR prospects to go after to build a great team. While there are a few studs at QB and also a few choice defenses, I do not see a huge need in leagues to pursue either too hard in the beginning stages of a fantasy draft.

So with this in mind, I started to think about what else can be done with the committee approach. Tight end? Perhaps. Wide receiver? A possibility, but it might be better to look at third WR options than any other option. What about running back? Hmmm, that might work. What if I could put together all of this and make a total team using committees? Would that even be possible?

Yes, Virginia, there is a Team Platypus.

With all of these concepts discussed here:

• QBBC - Quarterback By Committee (Chase Stuart)
• RB2BC (non-PPR) - Running Back #2 By Committee (non-PPR) (Jeff Pasquino)
• WR3BC (non-PPR) - Wide Receiver #3 By Committee (non-PPR) (Jeff Pasquino)
• TEBC (non-PPR) - Tight End By Committee (non-PPR) (Jeff Pasquino)
• DTBC - Defensive Team By Committee (Chase Stuart)

I've taken a good shot at putting together an Ultimate Team By Committee (UTBC). For the Mike Hermans of the world, I hope you don't mind that I will pass on the kicker by committee. Leave that one for some else to think about.

Let's address what we need here in Rounds 5-12. We want to get RB2BC, WR3BC, TEBC and QBBC established. Looking back at the articles highlighted above we can now modify our earlier RB2BC and WR3BC recommendations if necessary in order to secure all the committee duos we want to roster.

If It Walks Like a Duck.....

So using the suggestions in the articles and some tweaks based on current ADP, here are the suggestions to build your very own version of Team Platypus:

Table 1: The Ultimate Team By Committee (UTBC) Blueprint

Some of you may notice that there's a bit of inconsistency in Rounds 5 through 12. That's a good observation, and I can explain. Based on the combinations of QB, WR, RB and TE committees I had to tweak the selections to fit everyone onto the roster. I'll go over these tweaks, position by position, including the comments.

• Running Back - (RB2BC): For RB2BC I took the first running back I wanted – Eddie Lacy.  Then I changed a little, moving from Shane Vereen in Round 6 to Andre Brown or Mark Ingram in Round 7.  That frees up Round 6 to pick a Top 10 quarterback (Tony Romo most likely).  The penalty of skipping Shane Vereen and going with Andre Brown or Mark Ingram is very small.  The projected point differences of Lacy / Vereen (163.7 combined points as RB2BC), Lacy / Brown (156.7) and Lacy / Ingram (155.3) is half of a point or less per week – hardly worth worrying about.  The ability to get a Top 12 QB by waiting an extra round for the second half of the RB2BC is well worth it.  Of course, if Shane Vereen falls to Round 7 – snap him up without hesitation.
• Quarterback - (QBBC): For QBBC the good news is that Chase Stuart identified a ton of options. I am a fan of the “Get the last Top 12 guy” strategy this year, and that screams Tony Romo based on the ADP lists.  Romo is likely to be there in Round 6 given his ADP of 74, so take him and do not look back. Andy Dalton should easily fall to Round 8 (ADP of 104) so grab him as your second quarterback for a very formidable committee.
• Wide Receiver - (WR3BC): For WR3BC the original plan holds true – Emmanuel Sanders and Justin Blackmon are still the recommended best pair.  Give some consideration as to who you want here if you have an early ninth round pick and think about flipping the order (taking Justin Blackmon first).  Blackmon dominates the WR3BC approach this year, so securing him affords you multiple choices for your second wide receiver.  If you have consecutive (or close) picks at the 9/10 turn, take Sanders and Blackmon with ease.
• Tight End - (TEBC): The tight end story is pretty straightforward and according to the original script – except you have to act a little faster.  Jordan Cameron is still the key for TEBC, so snap him up in either Round 11 or Round 12.  He should drop to Round 12, but if you wait all the way to pick 144, someone may jump ahead of you.  Cameron’s current ADP is 167 so he should fall to you, but be careful as sleepers tend to get nabbed a little early – and I have seen Cameron go in Round 11 before.  Securing Cameron is key, and then take the next best pair from the TEBC article that falls to Round 14 (usually either Dustin Keller, the second half of the original TEBC, or Coby Fleener).
• Team Defense - (DTBC): The team defense duo is still Cleveland and Buffalo, and the good news is that all of the desired committee players are available above Round 14 - so taking Buffalo and Cleveland in the final three rounds (along with a kicker) are still a strong option.  Cleveland has an ADP of 222, so Round 17 or 18 is the place to take them.  Buffalo is even deeper (ADP over 264, likely undrafted in most leagues), so they can be Round 19 or 20.  That all said, the example I give in Table 1 is for 18 rounds or fewer – and here I would just take the best defense that I like in Round 13 and be done with it.  Pittsburgh’s ADP is 160 in non-PPR, so a Round 13 selection is warranted.  With only 18 roster spots, one defense makes more sense – and given that Pittsburgh is part of three of the four best duos from the DTBC article (BUF-PIT is #1, MIA-PIT #2, CLE-PIT #4) I would take Pittsburgh and either use Miami (ADP over 264, likely undrafted), Buffalo or even Cleveland off of the waiver wire when I needed them.

The good news is that we can get three of the four original skill player committees and the defensive team (or pair) we wanted, plus we have viable backup plans for our RB2BC in case Shane Vereen does not get to Round 6. The running  back pairing had to change, but the downgrade from Shane Vereen to either Andre Brown or Mark Ingram only costs 7-8 fantasy points - a small price to pay to get all the rest of the committees assembled.

No plan is infallible, so that is why we have so many alternate backup scenarios planned out before the draft. Eliminate surprises and plan for contingencies. That's what we do - we adapt. Darwin would be proud.

Best of luck this year.

As always, questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.