***Official Auction and Auction Keeper League Thread*** (1 Viewer)

I first played the auction format in 2010 and one year later, most of the leagues I play are auction leagues. I was tired of being confined to a certain draft slot and constructing a strategy based around who other owners were drafting ahead of me (outside of my control). An auction league enables infinite strategies for owners to execute and no one can take "your guy", all it takes is that extra $1.

Looking forward to taking all things auction in this thread.

Let's get it on!

I will start....

All of the auction leagues I play are $200 cap for a roster of 18 players. Already this year I am seeing some startling trends, for example....

Matt Ryan has moved into the top tier of QBs....in one league he went for more than Peyton Manning. Yep, the hype train is in full swing after he threw to Julio Jones a couple times.

Ingram, Ju.Jones, and AJ Green are going for waaay too much. We are talking about $25+ each, that means they need to finish in the top 15 of their position to validate that salary. I will pass on them everything in that range. Around $15 would be what I would pay.

'fdctrumpet said:

I will start....All of the auction leagues I play are $200 cap for a roster of 18 players. Already this year I am seeing some startling trends, for example....Matt Ryan has moved into the top tier of QBs....in one league he went for more than Peyton Manning. Yep, the hype train is in full swing after he threw to Julio Jones a couple times.Ingram, Ju.Jones, and AJ Green are going for waaay too much. We are talking about $25+ each, that means they need to finish in the top 15 of their position to validate that salary. I will pass on them everything in that range. Around $15 would be what I would pay.

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Those are insane prices. I've done 6 public league auctions so far to start warming up (yeah, it's that addicting), and havn't seen any of those guys go for that much, except Ingram once. But the thing about ESPN public auctions is that people are sheep and often stay near the ESPN prices. Thus J. Jones and AJ Green go for 5$ or less (and frankly in a 10 team redraft that's what they should go for). Matt Ryan seems to be solidly in the Rothlisberger/Freeman tier in my experience.

'aimlessgun said:

'fdctrumpet said:

I will start....All of the auction leagues I play are $200 cap for a roster of 18 players. Already this year I am seeing some startling trends, for example....Matt Ryan has moved into the top tier of QBs....in one league he went for more than Peyton Manning. Yep, the hype train is in full swing after he threw to Julio Jones a couple times.Ingram, Ju.Jones, and AJ Green are going for waaay too much. We are talking about $25+ each, that means they need to finish in the top 15 of their position to validate that salary. I will pass on them everything in that range. Around $15 would be what I would pay.

Click to expand...

Those are insane prices. I've done 6 public league auctions so far to start warming up (yeah, it's that addicting), and havn't seen any of those guys go for that much, except Ingram once. But the thing about ESPN public auctions is that people are sheep and often stay near the ESPN prices. Thus J. Jones and AJ Green go for 5$ or less (and frankly in a 10 team redraft that's what they should go for). Matt Ryan seems to be solidly in the Rothlisberger/Freeman tier in my experience.

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It seems to me that a lot of ESPN mocks actually have most studs/sleepers going for a lot more money than the Yahoo mocks. I'm having a great time mocking, but the problem is that my two auction drafts this year are both strange setups. One is a keeper league with unlimited keepers (most people are keeping ~5 players), and the other is a PPC/1pt per 15 yards passing league/2 QB league... which means my plan is to spend whatever is necessary to get 2 of the top 6 QBs, and fill my roster with whatever moolah I have left.

I have not done an auction for start 2 QB. especially with PPC, that would be crazy. Does the top tier of QBs go for $50 each??

I make a chart that combines AVT numbers and turns VBD into auction values. So no player names, but gives values for QB1, QB2, etc. then I can reference the chart for a player and get a range of where I think they will finish and get a reasonable range to bid. Course you can adjust it up or down some if you are high or low on that player.

What is the best mock auction site??

Participating in my first auction draft this weekend and have a couple of questions. What total percentage of your cap do you typically allocate for your starting QB, RB, and WR?

It will be the first auction for most of the 14 owners. Do you think that will inflate or deflate prices at the beginning of the draft? I am thinking that many will be cautious at the beginning opening the possibility for some good deals early.

We're in the tenth year of a contract keeper league. We're in the second year of switch to 2 QB starters (really 1 QB and 1 QB/K/D flex). I found that most owners have not yet figured out that QBs should be worth a lot more. Money is still being poured into RBs. I don't know if this is because they're used to the past 8 years of the league, or they are looking at public auction cheat sheets that are set up for 1 QB leagues.

While I don't like 2 QB set up, it's a great way to demonstrate your Shark skills because most owners don't seem to adjust up enough.

Man, I love me some auction. We're in a $100 dynasty salary cap auction league, and it's awesome. Some people fought the transition from serpentine draft to auction format - and I'm glad they lost. This is immensely entertaining stuff.

Footballguys published a column I wrote regarding this topic a few years back.

Blind....

In an auction where most are new it will go one of two ways, over spending or under spending in the beginning. Best to let the first few players go to gauge the value. BE FLEXIBLE

13 year auction vet.

- Nominate guys you DON'T want, to get other people to spend money on them. The only exception to this is listed below.

- Don't sit back and let the studs go by assuming they are all overpriced. You have money, spend it. Missing out on one of these guys can be the equivalent of skipping your first round pick in a serpentine draft. Lots of people are timid in bidding early on and they're the guys overpaying later in the draft for a Knowshon Moreno or a Fred Jackson because they have too much cap left and suddenly realize they've let all the good RBs go by them. It only takes 2 guys like this in a draft to start a bidding war on mediocre players. Happens every year.

- On a similar note, if you have a very early nomination, this is the only time to nominate a guy you DO want. In this case, try and put out a mid-late first round RB ahead of the top 3 studs. Putting out a Rashard Mendenhall or LeSean McCoy before Arian Foster or AP, can often lead to value because many owners are going to want to save their bucks for a top 3 back. Every freakin' year I get value at RB position this way. If the first few RBs to be nominated are not in the top 3-4, they always go for a bargain price. Putting out a top WR in this scenario can work similarly too.

- I still like to have ADP values handy during auctions. They give you a good gauge of how you're doing. You want to make sure at the very least you're getting relatively equivalent picks ADP-wise as you would in a serpentine draft, ie: 1 first round ADP player, 1 second round ADP player, and so on. A good indicator that you're having a good auction draft is if you can at least come close to filling out your starters with guys with ADPs in the first 4-5 rounds. It's tough, but definitely possible.

- When it comes down to the end and you're down to your last few bucks to try and get a backup or a kicker you really like, know exactly how much you have left to spend and bid strategically to maximize the amount you can put out for him. For example, if you have $3 left, dont be the guy to bid $2 on the player. Wait for someone else to bid that amount and then bid $3. If you jump in to bid $2 first, you're screwed if someone comes in with a $3 bid.

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I should also say that I've never once set budgets by position in preparation for a draft. It may work for some, but not for me. Too much can happen during an auction draft that can completely turn any numbers you come up with completely upside down.

I think it's much more valuable to learn how to stategize on the fly and spot value when it presents itself.

'butcher boy said:

I should also say that I've never once set budgets by position in preparation for a draft. It may work for some, but not for me. Too much can happen during an auction draft that can completely turn any numbers you come up with completely upside down. I think it's much more valuable to learn how to stategize on the fly and spot value when it presents itself.

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I agree, although a budget helps with my strategy even if I don't stick to it exclusively. For example, if I know I want one of the big five QBs, I know it'll be harder to afford one of the big five TEs or RBs. I see positional budgets as a road map for strategy more than a real fixed price.

Here is a link to a good thread on auctions.1st time auction advice

All good advice - that's what I was looking to have when starting the thread.

I agree completely about having a basic road map or plan going in, but thinking on the fly is vital. I do a lot of slow auctions, so it is easier to change your strategy along the way as it moves slower, but a live auction speeds that process up.

One thing to add is to have a couple different lists ready to go for the auction (if you aren't using DD or another program to track things). One list is for cheap flyer guys that you like for the end of the auction ($5 and below players). Another list is for your target players that you are willing to spend a couple extra bucks to get if it comes to that. Remember that this is the true capitalist way to build a team, so not having a player on your team is no one's fault from your own. Have a limit in mind and don't be fiscally crazy, but it is better to spend an extra $1 or 2 for the guy you really want as opposed to seeing him on another team's roster all year when you realize at the end of the auction that the $1 wasn't a big deal. Just food for thought.

I'm in an auction for the first time this year, and I'm completely clueless about what to be doing. I have the settings in DD set, so I'm going to feel my way through it using the numbers on there as a general baseline.

We'll see how it goes.

'Blind Tiger said:

Participating in my first auction draft this weekend and have a couple of questions. What total percentage of your cap do you typically allocate for your starting QB, RB, and WR? It will be the first auction for most of the 14 owners. Do you think that will inflate or deflate prices at the beginning of the draft? I am thinking that many will be cautious at the beginning opening the possibility for some good deals early.

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The beginning of an auction is always interesting because the market hasn't been set yet. There can be value early but the key is getting the right player nominated.Also, as the draft progresses, notice that certain drafters have a ceiling they won't go over for a WR or RB. If you are bidding with them, take advantage.

Just a heads up, I wrote an article on auction strategy that can be found in the subscriber area here.

'Greg Russell said:

Just a heads up, I wrote an article on auction strategy that can be found in the subscriber area here.

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How does moving from a 12 team league to a 14 team impact $ values? All of the Average Auction Values I've seen are only for 12 team leagues.

'ActionHero said:

'Greg Russell said:

Just a heads up, I wrote an article on auction strategy that can be found in the subscriber area here.

Click to expand...

How does moving from a 12 team league to a 14 team impact $ values? All of the Average Auction Values I've seen are only for 12 team leagues.

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Tough question. Going to think about true prices first and then come back to the AAV prices.It's pretty hard to predict whether the actual true prices they are worth will go up or down because there are conflicting factors at work. There's 1/6 more discretionary money to be spent which would increase prices. But there are also more VBD value points as the baseline player is further down the positional curve. Those won't necessarily go up by enough to keep the cost per fantasy point of value the same as it was before. And then we have things like MT's method including a factor based on the fact you don't tend to start the RB20 every fantasy game, but you probably do start the RB1 close to it.

It's really hard to say which of those factors wins out. I tried changing league size in Draft Dominator and as I increased from 8 to 10 to 12 to 14, the prices sometimes went up and sometimes went down.

So back to the AVV. If it's hard to tell what the real price should do, then it's tougher to predict what people will spend, most of whom don't go through the process of figuring out the right costs.

I would go out on a limb though that RBs will go for more expensive than in a 12 team because of more demand without increasing supply of worthwhile starters. Which might mean that the other positions would go for a little cheaper.

Yep, the biggest mistake I've seen and made myself is being too cautious early and ending up with too much money early. You're never going to run the league out of money early and the goal is to get good players, not save money.

-From my experience, the very best values tend to be the "near studs". The top 2-3 RBs aren't going to generally be great value (though they may be worth every penny). You also don't want to end up bidding on the last of anything. The last very good RB or WR, or last whatever, just before the pickens' get slim.

By that point, you'll be bidding against desperate people with money who are probably kicking themselves for not spending a few bucks more on a player earlier.

You'll want to make sure to grab that RB1 or whatever before that happens, if that makes sense.

-Also, if you there's a player you were planning on trying to get a value on and you happen to notice that he's been hanging out around awhile, not getting nominated, start making other plans. He's probably the very player I described in the above paragraph. When it becomes obvious that nobody in the league wants to nominate this guy, there's about to be a massive bidding war.

-When you get down to the last few roster spots, there's a big difference between having $2 or $3 per spot vs. $1. In general, I always try to avoid only having $1 per spot. You can be leaned on pretty easily. I just make sure the player I get that puts me down to $1/spot is a player I feel like I must have.