My Fantasy Football Auction Draft Overview

Last Sunday I did my first draft for the season. The last 2 years I’ve played two 10 player leagues an Auction and a Snake. They both have a super flex which makes starting 2 QBs each week by far the most optimal. Both leagues are raw points. This puts an emphasis on every decision throughout the season since maximizing points is of the upmost importance. The scoring system is listed below:

Personally I find auction drafts much more enjoyable. The approach you take has to change in real time and you have the option to go after players you want. For this particular league we are allotted a salary of $230 for bidding. I go into auction drafts with a rough tier chart for each position. It is impossible to know who will be overpriced, on par, or underpriced. For this reason I try to stay quiet with my bidding unless you have the opportunity to get a steal on a player. As the draft develops I see what players went for and I’m able to predict prices for players who have yet to be drafted. When I see a player I classify as value because of comparable previously drafted players I jump in on the bidding wars.

My early nomination strategy revolves around getting a feel for the market. I decided I don’t really care for A.J. Green but have him projected similarly to Jordy Nelson and Mike Evans. In the first round, I nominate A.J. Green with the intent of not taking him. This allows me to predict the market and figure out what I am willing to pay for Nelson and Evans, both of whom I would like when the time comes.

Another nomination strategy I like early on is nominating a good kicker or defense. Most people are unwilling to spend more than $1 or $2 for these positions so you can generally get a steal if you are the one nominating.

My tip is to know your salary and what players are left. The biggest mistake someone can make in an auction draft is leaving money on the table when there aren’t any good players left in the pool to bid on. It doesn’t matter if a player is overpriced if you don’t have anyone else to spend your money on.

Okay now onto my draft…

During the draft I thought the tier one players were going much higher than they should. When I saw this I knew there would be value with tier 2 and 3 players. I much prefer to draft a balanced roster since football is such a volatile sport so I was glad to see this.

I was happy with how my draft ended up. I felt I got some steals at RB (especially if Ezekiel Elliot’s suspension gets reduced or pushed to next year). Zeke is a tier one/two RB that is suspended for *6 weeks. He will be active for 62.5% of the 16 week fantasy season and he went for a little less than 38% of Le’Veon Bell’s cost. Quarterbacks might have been my downfall but it is really tough to get value at the position in two QB leagues.

Here are the prices for all players drafted by position.

In my opinion the biggest steals in the draft were: Odell Beckham Jr. ($54), T.Y. Hilton ($14), Ezekiel Elliot ($26), and Carlos Hyde ($6). I have to give the most overpriced player to Michael Thomas ($58). I still can’t believe that price tag.

Thanks for reading. I hope everyone crushes their fantasy leagues.