Auctions vs. Drafts

The banter that occurs before, during, and after fantasy football season is one of my favorite reasons for why I play the game. The anticipation of arriving at the draft and finding out where you pick and making quick adjustments based on where you landed on the draft board is just another way to show your preparedness and knowledge. The hope and confidence that you feel as you select your players during your draft and the disappointment and feeling of what could have been had a different player been available to you; where you were at the draft. You find yourself muttering, “if only that quarterback run started before I selected instead of after!” Well, there is a way that you can take any player you want, it’s an auction league.

Auction leagues have been called the true way to play and judge someone’s knowledge of fantasy football. In an auction league you forgo a draft and auction off every player in the NFL; which makes every player available to each owner in the league. So here is the way it works: each team is given a budget of around $200 to fill out their roster. Then, teams take turns to nominate an NFL player by placing an initial bid. Teams then begin to bid on a player with the highest bid winning that player onto their team. This continues with all teams bidding until every roster is filled.

Participating in an auction draft is tricky because you are not allowed to go broke without filling out your team. Most auction draft providers, such as Yahoo! And ESPN, give you a maximum draft amount so that you can not overdraft and be left without money to fill out your team. Here is an example, you have drafted 12 out of 15 players and are left with $13 and all of a sudden Terrell Owens comes up for auction. The most you could bid for TO is $11. This cap is in place so that you can fill out the rest of your squad by making $1 bids for your last two players. The key is to spend all your money at the draft, because you really can’t take it with you afterwards, but also not to waste it all early and make sure you have enough for the end.

There are two main strategies to doing auction drafts: the blow-it-all early strategy and the conservative strategy. Both strategies have their pros and cons but most people fit into one of these two strategies. The blow-it-all early strategy is a good strategy because you have a core of talented elite talent on your team. As mentioned earlier, you can’t take the money with you, so by spending it early you ensure that you won’t have left over money. The con to this strategy is that by the end of the draft you will be looking for cheap sleepers to fill your team and that makes your bench very sketchy. Plus, you risk being outbid for sleepers due to a low budget. The other strategy you could go with is the conservative strategy. In this strategy you pick and choose one or two big name guys to over-spend on and then you fill the rest of your roster with third tier guys. Usually, you’ll have more money than most other teams and that will enable you to outbid for most of the middle of the pack talent. Plus when it comes to bidding on big potential guys, like RB C.J. Spiller and WR Dez Bryant, you will be able to overbid for them. The problem with this strategy is that you won’t really be overconfident with your team but you will give yourself a chance to win. Remember, you just need to create a great starting lineup and if ten guys “pan out” then you’ll have struck gold with your auction. However, at the end of the draft you might have too much money and you will feel like you should have done more.

When it comes to auctions here is some advice that I can leave you with. First, don’t be too frugal. You don’t want to have double the money as the next person because then you will be left with less talent and more money, two things you don’t want to have in an auction. Secondly, trust your instincts. If a player is worth a certain amount but a better ranked player already went for cheaper, feel free to keep bidding. The auction market is based on two things, who really wants a player and how many people want him. If the price for a player is going up, then that only validates that you aren’t the only person who thinks that he is up for a big season. Thirdly, get top tier players. If there are eight top tier quarterbacks, then make sure you get one. You don’t want to be left without one because you’ll overpay for a lesser quarterback. Finally, take top players early. You don’t want to fight for the last top tier player at a position. If you still haven’t taken a quarterback and the eighth best one becomes nominated then the five teams without a top QB will drive the price higher than it should be. I’ll give you an example, over the weekend during an auction there were two top quarterbacks left; Matt Schaub and Philip Rivers. Both these players are pretty even as they had similar seasons last year and expectations this year. Schaub was nominated and went for a very modest $14. Then right after Rivers was nominated and a bidding war ensued. The five teams drove up his price and he went for $25! Will Rivers have a better season than Schaub? No one knows. Will his season be worth $11 more than Schaub? Almost definitely not.

Auction leagues are the new wave of fantasy football. Experts agree that it is the best way to determine who really does know the best about the game. So this season turn your standard draft league into an auction and make it rain on your favorite NFL stars. You may never do another draft again.