3 Round Auction at Beginning of Draft (1 Viewer)

[Binky The Doormat]

I have a strategy scenario I would like to get the Pool's thoughts on and am anxious to hear your various approaches to this draft.

First 3 rounds of the draft are auction based (rest of draft is serpentine). We do this to add some strategy into the draft and also ensure that everyone gets a shot at a player they really want vs. that being driven by draft slot. Our guys have repeatedly expressed their vehement disinterest in a total auction draft - so lets not go there for now.

Each of the 12 teams have $100 bucks to get 3 players - however, if a team spends all their money on 2 players they go to the 36th pick/35th pick after and so on. So you don't have to spread your money around. In the old days guys like LT went for $100 and that team got the 35th and 36th pick. Not necessarily a good idea, just using that as an example. It hasn't happened in a long time.

League scoring is fairly typical (4pts passing TD/6pts all else; 0.5PPR; 1pt every 10 yds rush/receiving; 1pt for every 25yds passing; 1 pt bonus for every 20yds on TD)

Below I have estimated what these guys will go for - based on past history of our drafts. Like any estimate, these are likely wrong but it provides a valid expectation.

So what would you do?

Arian Foster RB 1 $70

LeSean McCoy RB 2 $65

Ray Rice RB 3 $65

Ryan Mathews RB 4 $45

Chris Johnson RB 5 $50

Maur Jones-Drew RB 6 $55

Darren McFadden RB 7 $45

Tren Richardson RB 8 $45

Matt Forte RB 9 $35

DeMarco Murray RB 10 $35

Adrian Peterson RB 11 $30

Jamaal Charles RB 12 $20

Darren Sproles RB 13 $30

Marshawn Lynch RB 14 $30

Steven Jackson RB 15 $10

Fred Jackson RB 16 $15

Ahmad Bradshaw RB 17 $10

Doug Martin RB 18

Frank Gore RB 19

Michael Turner RB 20 $5

Reggie Bush RB 21

Roy Helu RB 22

Javid Best RB 23

Shonn Greene RB 24

Jonathn Stewart RB 25

Beanie Wells RB 26

Calvin Johnson WR 1 $45

Lar Fitzgerald WR 2 $30

Wes Welker WR 3 $25

Andre Johnson WR 4 $30

AJ Green WR 5 $25

Julio Jones WR 6 $25

Roddy White WR 7 $25

Greg Jennings WR 8 $25

Victor Cruz WR 9 $15

Hakeem Nicks WR 10 $10

Brand Marshall WR 11

Jordy Nelson WR 12 $10

Mike Wallace WR 13

Dez Bryant WR 14

Percy Harvin WR 15

Aaron Rogers QB 1 $55

Tom Brady QB 2 $50

Cam Newton QB 3 $45

Drew Brees QB 4 $45

Matt Stafford QB 5 $30

Michael Vick QB 6 $-

Eli Manning QB 7

Jimmy Graham TE 1 $20

Rob Gronkowski TE 2 $25

 

[flc735]

i would imaging there would be more guys that go for $1-5, which bumps up the price of the mid and top guys here

i would spend 100 can here. the top 3 picks are more valuable to your team than all of the 4-20th round picks

i think your numbers are off

you can get graham, cruz and nicks for $25 cheaper than foster?

helu, green, turner, best and bradshaw will not be in the top 3 rounds, let alone go for more than a few bucks

fix this before you think about anything else. use mfl's average auction values to help

 

[Binky The Doormat]

i would imaging there would be more guys that go for $1-5, which bumps up the price of the mid and top guys here

i would spend 100 can here. the top 3 picks are more valuable to your team than all of the 4-20th round picks

i think your numbers are off

you can get graham, cruz and nicks for $25 cheaper than foster?

helu, green, turner, best and bradshaw will not be in the top 3 rounds, let alone go for more than a few bucks

fix this before you think about anything else. use mfl's average auction values to help

Not sure I follow the $1 - $5 comment. The $100 is only for the first three rounds. Rounds 4-16 are non-auction traditional serpentine draft. The $20 and $25 estimate I have for the Graham/Gronk may be a bit low, but again its based on a number of years history of this 3 round auction format. That said, if they stay around that value, it may be the way to go.

Thanks for taking a look and I look forward to hearing more if you are still interested.

 

[Captain Hook]

I would pick out two players you really want to have this year and spend $100 on them (or one and on successor) then get essentially the last pick in the third round for free - this is much better than trying to get three $30+ players

Drauctions however are inherently flawed - what happens if the player is nominated low and two people yell $99?

Nominating order become much more important than they should be ........ How are they determined?

 

[Binky The Doormat]

I would pick out two players you really want to have this year and spend $100 on them (or one and on successor) then get essentially the last pick in the third round for free - this is much better than trying to get three $30+ playersDrauctions however are inherently flawed - what happens if the player is nominated low and two people yell $99?Nominating order become much more important than they should be ........ How are they determined?

I generally go the way you suggested - and inevitably so do another 3-4 guys. However it is nice to save a little so you don't do all the way to the bottom. The mid-3rd talent pool seems a bit more attractive. Bidding has to be in $5 increments. The only way you can match an existing bid is if that is the last of your money. (Example: you have a $20 left - guy is out there for $20 ...instead of having to go $25, you can go $20 and make the guy bid up to $25 or the both of you can draw cards for the guy at the $20 price).Players are nominated by the teams in reverse order of the draft selections. So the team with the 12th pick nominates first. The team with the 11th pick nominates 2nd and so on. The nominating team must also provide an intro bid amount. That way they can't throw trash out there because they will get stuck with them.

 

[bengalbuck]

I'd go big and spend the $70for Foster, grab one of the top 2 TEs if you can get them for $20 or $25. And then save $5 or $10 so you can grab one of the better 3rd round options (someone like SJax, Marshall, Wallace, Harvin, etc.).

I might lean towards a guy like SJax or Sproles with your small bid since you should be able to get 2 very good WRs in the 4th/5th.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

I'd go big and spend the $70for Foster, grab one of the top 2 TEs if you can get them for $20 or $25. And then save $5 or $10 so you can grab one of the better 3rd round options (someone like SJax, Marshall, Wallace, Harvin, etc.). I might lean towards a guy like SJax or Sproles with your small bid since you should be able to get 2 very good WRs in the 4th/5th.

I think that is a strong approach. Going that way to me really get down to a couple of things. Who of the top 3 do I really want and can I get one of those 2 TEs at $25 or less. If that doesn't work, notice that I am stuck with hoping one of the good RBs drop to me for $30 or $25 which isn't looking good.

 

[the next level]

I would pick out two players you really want to have this year and spend $100 on them (or one and on successor) then get essentially the last pick in the third round for free - this is much better than trying to get three $30+ playersDrauctions however are inherently flawed - what happens if the player is nominated low and two people yell $99?Nominating order become much more important than they should be ........ How are they determined?

My league does a blended auction/serpentine and solved this very problem by decreeing that you can't win a player just by yelling the max bid first. Instead everyone in the room gets an opportunity to match that max bid if they so desire. And then the auction continues among those participants . . . . but with REAL money. Whatever additional funds that are collected via this process get added to the Champ's pot at season's end. But in four years of using this format we've never had to resort to this provision.

 

[Binky The Doormat]

I would pick out two players you really want to have this year and spend $100 on them (or one and on successor) then get essentially the last pick in the third round for free - this is much better than trying to get three $30+ playersDrauctions however are inherently flawed - what happens if the player is nominated low and two people yell $99?Nominating order become much more important than they should be ........ How are they determined?

My league does a blended auction/serpentine and solved this very problem by decreeing that you can't win a player just by yelling the max bid first. Instead everyone in the room gets an opportunity to match that max bid if they so desire. And then the auction continues among those participants . . . . but with REAL money. Whatever additional funds that are collected via this process get added to the Champ's pot at season's end. But in four years of using this format we've never had to resort to this provision.

Is there any limit to the amount of money the teams can bid?

 

[gebz306]

Top 3 rb, $10-$20 rb, $10-$15 wr

 

[WampusCat43]

Thanks for posting this, Binky. My league does the same kind of thing for the first 5 rounds, with a $200 limit. I'm trying to figure out way to use the various projections I've seen for full auctions. My thought was to see what the average team spends on its first five picks and take the remainder and spread over what my targets costs look like, relatively. Does that make sense (assuming I can find this data) or is there a better way to do it?

 

[heathbar]

What's the logic behind this drafting system? Why not do auction from start to finish?

I'd go big on one of the top3 RBs, just because there are so many question marks on the other top20 RBs.

 

[WampusCat43]

What's the logic behind this drafting system? Why not do auction from start to finish?I'd go big on one of the top3 RBs, just because there are so many question marks on the other top20 RBs.

In our case, we just started this three years ago as an experiment. While it's popular, we're...ahem...older and they don't want to spend the extra two hours auctioning off lower-impact players.It's also a basic scoring league, which is aggravating, but I'm working on that. The league has an average mix of good, bad, and guppy players.

 

[RCon]

What's the logic behind this drafting system? Why not do auction from start to finish?I'd go big on one of the top3 RBs, just because there are so many question marks on the other top20 RBs.

In our case, we just started this three years ago as an experiment. While it's popular, we're...ahem...older and they don't want to spend the extra two hours auctioning off lower-impact players.It's also a basic scoring league, which is aggravating, but I'm working on that. The league has an average mix of good, bad, and guppy players.

Personally, I find an auction draft finishes quicker than a serpentine draft.On another note, if you can only bid in $5 increments, why not just give everyone $20 and bid in $1 increments?

 

[WampusCat43]

What's the logic behind this drafting system? Why not do auction from start to finish?I'd go big on one of the top3 RBs, just because there are so many question marks on the other top20 RBs.

In our case, we just started this three years ago as an experiment. While it's popular, we're...ahem...older and they don't want to spend the extra two hours auctioning off lower-impact players.It's also a basic scoring league, which is aggravating, but I'm working on that. The league has an average mix of good, bad, and guppy players.

Personally, I find an auction draft finishes quicker than a serpentine draft.On another note, if you can only bid in $5 increments, why not just give everyone $20 and bid in $1 increments?

Probably would, but I had to sacrifice a goat just to get them to try auctions in the first place. The $5 question doesn't apply to my league; we use $1 increments. I suspect the $100 is so they can compare values to what FBG publishes; the $5 increments just speeds things up, although I think wringing that last $1 out of somebody is half the fun.

 

[SloppySeconds]

We've had done a blended draft for about 7 years. We start with one keeper. Than do 48 auction bids. Each team starts with $400. Nomination starts with 12th place through 1st place. You need to have one $1 left in order to nominate (yes this means that occasionally someone will only have 3 nominations and someone 5). Also means that not everyone ends up with 4 picks. But I can't remember anyone coming away with less than 3 and anyone with more than 5. We then do 10 rounds serpentine.

I can say that after 7 years the strategy keeps changing. One of the oddities is that sometimes trash is thrown out there to bid on. Sometimes someone will try and get a Pk or Defense for cheap. You can try and study trends from past years, but every year ends up differently. I personally like this and it helps keep the draft interesting. You can not easily plan for how the draft will end up and for me this keeps the draft interesting.