Three Miami Dolphins who have great fantasy football draft value

Miami Dolphins D/ST 171 ADP (12th D/ST) – Recently there’s been a movement to eliminate defenses and kickers from custom fantasy leagues, due to their arbitrary nature and large year-to-year variance. However, they’re still included in most standard platforms. Within leagues that include defenses, there are two schools of thought: reach for one, or stream (use defenses off the waiver wire).

Of the defenses that have been picked high the past five years, most have severely underperformed the following season…see New England, Jacksonville, Chicago, and Denver. This makes sense, as roughly half of defensive fantasy points come from turnovers/TDs. These stats are fluky and impossible to accurately predict.

The tried-and-true strategy is to grab a flier in the last round. If it hits, great! If not, there are plenty of matchup-based options to stream on waivers. Taking the Dolphins as your last-round snag fits in perfectly with this strategy. You don’t need to reach, and you get a well-coached defense with a solid floor.

Reading too deep into the sabermetrics is a fool’s errand, but there is something interesting to note in Miami. They face nine rookie QBs/QBs starting for new teams this season. The Dolphins allowed just 12 points per game and were 5-1 in such games last season. Remember that Flores apprenticed under Bill Belichick who has a long history of tormenting inexperienced QBs.

As the saying goes in poker, “play the person, not the cards”. Fantasy football can be similar in some cases. If you are in a league with several other Dolphin fans, ADP for Dolphin players might not matter. By the time ADP suggests you take Will Fuller, you find out that Cousin Ricky took him three rounds ago when you were in the bathroom. You do have my endorsement to “reach” for Gesicki, however. Either way, it is a smart move to familiarize yourself with ADP. It should give you an advantage during your draft. Good luck and fins up!