Advanced Auction Strategy (1 Viewer)

[Pots]

Anyone familiar with Auctions know the temptation of spenidng your cash early on a top 1-2 tier players at your starting positions (specifically RB1/RB2/WR1) and obviously the tradeoff would be at WR3/QB/TE and Depth.

Specifically, at what point is it better to have studs as your starters and sacrifice depth vs. having depth with upside but question marks at starting positions. I specify Auction drafts because it's the only format where you have the choice of top position players and very little depth.

Lets assume you have a solid RB1 (MJD, Rice, etc) and you're looking at your RB2.

For example, on $200 auction, you might be able to get Turner/Gore for $55. You might also be able to get Arian Foster for $30 and Ronnie Brown for $25. (RBs and values may vary, but you get the idea). You have 2 RBs with upside but question marks whose upside is probably less than how you feel Turner/Gore will do (who have less question marks).

The benifit from Foster/R.Brown is that you at least have a solid RB3 or even trade bait if both pan out, but it's possibly onle 1 or neither live up to their potential and you're stuck with an unstartable or inferior product when you could have had Turner/Gore. Also, many weeks you'll be wondering which to start and points on your bench don't help you win games. If you choose Gore/Turner, you will have an inferior bye-week replacement and both are injury concerns with questionable backups and in the budget standpoint, you're likely going to have to spend another $5-10 on your RB3 meaning you have a little less at another position.

You can take this same scenario with other positions, but i think RB is the most appropriate.

What strategy do you think is best to win championships?

 

[butcher boy]

What strategy do you think is best to win championships?

This is entirely dependant on the drafting patterns of your particular league. I think the best way to go about an auction strategy is to find out when and where value typically shows itself from previous year's auctions for each tier of player.For example, in my league, the tier of top elite RBs ALWAYS fall between $40-$50. I also notice that the earlier one of these RBs gets nominated, the cheaper he is and this is exactly what happened again this year. The order of the top 5 RBs went like this along with their prices.Peterson $41Johnson $43MJD $45Ray Rice $47Frank Gore $53When Gore was nominated, people quickly realized that he was the last of the elite RBs so his price was inflated. Since I know I always like to have a sure fire first round back on my roster, I didn't target a particular player here, instead I knew I would get the first or second of these players to get nominated and I ended up with CJ this year. Another pattern I notice in my league is that decent guys who slip almost never go for a bargain price like they do in some leagues, so its a bad idea to fixate on a player like this. This year I noticed that Jamaal Charles had slipped really far and no one was nominating him. I knew from previous years and being in the same situation, that bidding would blow up on him. As expected, people kept passing on other similarly ranked RBs waiting for Charles. While I got both Marion Barber and Cedric Benson for $10 each, Charles ended up going for $30 simply because he was the last decent RB left and people had been saving money. Terrible value.The point is that in auctions much more so than snake drafts, you need to study the tendencies of your past drafts and fish for value on good players.

 

[SmoovySmoov]

I don't know who "Depth" is, but I'm going with my man Studs.

 

[FantasyTrader]

I swear I don't mean to come off how this sounds, but this is basic auction strategy. And I don't think it can be answered unless you attach names & values to each strategy.

 

[Pots]

What strategy do you think is best to win championships?

This is entirely dependant on the drafting patterns of your particular league. I think the best way to go about an auction strategy is to find out when and where value typically shows itself from previous year's auctions for each tier of player.For example, in my league, the tier of top elite RBs ALWAYS fall between $40-$50. I also notice that the earlier one of these RBs gets nominated, the cheaper he is and this is exactly what happened again this year. The order of the top 5 RBs went like this along with their prices.Peterson $41Johnson $43MJD $45Ray Rice $47Frank Gore $53When Gore was nominated, people quickly realized that he was the last of the elite RBs so his price was inflated. Since I know I always like to have a sure fire first round back on my roster, I didn't target a particular player here, instead I knew I would get the first or second of these players to get nominated and I ended up with CJ this year. Another pattern I notice in my league is that decent guys who slip almost never go for a bargain price like they do in some leagues, so its a bad idea to fixate on a player like this. This year I noticed that Jamaal Charles had slipped really far and no one was nominating him. I knew from previous years and being in the same situation, that bidding would blow up on him. As expected, people kept passing on other similarly ranked RBs waiting for Charles. While I got both Marion Barber and Cedric Benson for $10 each, Charles ended up going for $30 simply because he was the last decent RB left and people had been saving money. Terrible value.The point is that in auctions much more so than snake drafts, you need to study the tendencies of your past drafts and fish for value on good players.

I agree that previous draft treands is a valuable nugget. Unfrotunatley I'm converting my league to an Auction draft so previous snake draft info doens't convert well. I've also done a lot of Auction mocks and although they aren't indicative to what a draft will go like, I kept finding myself choosing between these 2 strategies. Depth with upside vs. Studs and little depth.I'd be thrilled if I got Benson for $10, but I don't see that happening very often (4% of the time?) and even if you blew your mney on studs, you can afford $10 on someone that shouldn't be going that low.

 

[CalBear]

Points on your bench have little value, and you can pick up bench depth on the waiver wire. In almost all cases, if you can trade bench points for points in your starting lineup, you should.

So, spend the big bucks on starters.

 

[butcher boy]

Yeah spend the bucks. Value will present itself.

Being the guy who saves all his money for the last guys to get nominated and realizing you could have spent the same dollars on better players really sucks.

 

[fightingillini]

Points on your bench have little value, and you can pick up bench depth on the waiver wire. In almost all cases, if you can trade bench points for points in your starting lineup, you should.So, spend the big bucks on starters.

This.My strategy in auctions is to spend 40-50% of my cap on two studs, preferably 2 RBs or a RB and a WR. Then wait for a while and bid only when you're getting a good deal. You want to have enough ammo at the end of the draft to steal players from cash strapped owners.In my auction draft last week, I spent 48% of my cap on MJD and DWill backfield. Waiting for value to emerge, I was able to draft Jennings, Nicks and Harvin for 27% of my cap. I got Cutler for 9% of my cap (this league overspent on QBs) and Finley for 6% of my cap......adding in $1 for K and D....I spent 92% of my cap on my starting lineup. I filled in my bench with Michael Bush for $3 and 5 $1 guys. So you should spend at least 85% of your cap on the starting lineup.I also like to nominate stud QBs early since they usually are overpriced IMO.But in general, you need studs to win. Fielding a balanced team of second and third tier players is generally a strategy that gets you to the playoffs, but usually will never win.

 

[schu]

Rule of thumb for studs or depth is dependent on roster size and waiver wire rules. For larger rosters I would tend towards depth because replacement players on the wire are going to have a more difficult time filling a starting spot. For smaller rosters (17 or less) I'd pay more of a premium for studs knowing I could fill misses with an acceptable free agent.

 

[Sylira21]

Points on your bench have little value, and you can pick up bench depth on the waiver wire. In almost all cases, if you can trade bench points for points in your starting lineup, you should.So, spend the big bucks on starters.

This.My strategy in auctions is to spend 40-50% of my cap on two studs, preferably 2 RBs or a RB and a WR. Then wait for a while and bid only when you're getting a good deal. You want to have enough ammo at the end of the draft to steal players from cash strapped owners.In my auction draft last week, I spent 48% of my cap on MJD and DWill backfield. Waiting for value to emerge, I was able to draft Jennings, Nicks and Harvin for 27% of my cap. I got Cutler for 9% of my cap (this league overspent on QBs) and Finley for 6% of my cap......adding in $1 for K and D....I spent 92% of my cap on my starting lineup. I filled in my bench with Michael Bush for $3 and 5 $1 guys. So you should spend at least 85% of your cap on the starting lineup.I also like to nominate stud QBs early since they usually are overpriced IMO.But in general, you need studs to win. Fielding a balanced team of second and third tier players is generally a strategy that gets you to the playoffs, but usually will never win.

Excellent example. I've done both strategies, and especially if you are in a league that has a few years of auction experience, it's really hard to get the uber-bargains at the end. Spend to get the starter quality guys, otherwise you're stuck with a bunch of RB3's and WR4's that are going to get cut the first few weeks when free agents emerge.

 

[fightingillini]

Points on your bench have little value, and you can pick up bench depth on the waiver wire. In almost all cases, if you can trade bench points for points in your starting lineup, you should.So, spend the big bucks on starters.

This.My strategy in auctions is to spend 40-50% of my cap on two studs, preferably 2 RBs or a RB and a WR. Then wait for a while and bid only when you're getting a good deal. You want to have enough ammo at the end of the draft to steal players from cash strapped owners.In my auction draft last week, I spent 48% of my cap on MJD and DWill backfield. Waiting for value to emerge, I was able to draft Jennings, Nicks and Harvin for 27% of my cap. I got Cutler for 9% of my cap (this league overspent on QBs) and Finley for 6% of my cap......adding in $1 for K and D....I spent 92% of my cap on my starting lineup. I filled in my bench with Michael Bush for $3 and 5 $1 guys. So you should spend at least 85% of your cap on the starting lineup.I also like to nominate stud QBs early since they usually are overpriced IMO.But in general, you need studs to win. Fielding a balanced team of second and third tier players is generally a strategy that gets you to the playoffs, but usually will never win.

Excellent example. I've done both strategies, and especially if you are in a league that has a few years of auction experience, it's really hard to get the uber-bargains at the end. Spend to get the starter quality guys, otherwise you're stuck with a bunch of RB3's and WR4's that are going to get cut the first few weeks when free agents emerge.

While it's great to get uber bargains (and I agree it's hard to do against tough competition), what I was generally saying is to try and save just enough money so that you can steal a nice sleeper/big upside guy for $2 when the guy that nominates him really wants him but can't spend more than a dollar.

 

[Nate]

Depth vs. Studs is advanced auction strategy?

I believe you will very rarely draft a championship caliber team by going into an auction with a set goal of acquiring studs or acquiring depth, unless you know your league's tendencies extraordinarily well. Auctions take on a life of their own - you've just got to adapt to what's going on.

I always shoot for a couple real difference makers (top 5 at a position) since they're so hard to pry out of owners hands later and establish a solid core, then just wait for value. Your patience will be rewarded in the middle and late rounds of nominations.

In my leagues - the only really consistent trend is that the top ranked player in the #1 tier at their position and the last #1 tier player nominated will go for much higher than they're worth. If you get a chance, nominate the 3rd ranked tier 1 player early, while others are waiting for the #1 guy or top-tier steals (which almost never come), and get your guy at a few bucks under value.

Later, I scoop up a lot of high-upside value gambles to fill out my roster (this year got guys like Nicks, Wallace, Foster cheaper than anticipated), but that's just personal opinion.

 

[PatsFan72]

There are limits you should put on yourself for any player. You don't want to be the guy spending 1/2 his money on Chris Johnson, which means unless you get extremely lucky with all your other picks, you'll loose a lot because he's not going to score 50 points every week. You need as many top 50 players as you can get, and being down to 1/2 your money isn't going to get you many more.

I spent 25% on one player, that is the highest I would ever go, and still got 7 of my top 50 guys...

Ray Rice

Andre Johnson

Drew Brees

Santana Moss

Chad Ochocinco

Vernon Davis (I have him ranked higher than most)

Hakim Nicks

25% is still a lot to pay.

 

[King of the Wolfies]

my experience has been that you can usually get 2-3 stauds at wr/te for the price of a rb stud. as such, i'll take mid tier rbs if i can have studs everywhere else. if you can get the wrs nominated early before the panic sets in, you can get them cheaper, at the same time making later wrs more expensive leaving less money for the late draft value picks.

 

[CalBear]

There are limits you should put on yourself for any player. You don't want to be the guy spending 1/2 his money on Charles Johnson

I absolutely agree. Now, Chris Johnson, on the other hand, might be worth that much.

 

[butcher boy]

There are limits you should put on yourself for any player. You don't want to be the guy spending 1/2 his money on Charles Johnson, which means unless you get extremely lucky with all your other picks, you'll loose a lot because he's not going to score 50 points every week. You need as many top 50 players as you can get, and being down to 1/2 your money isn't going to get you many more.

You also dont want to be the guy passing everyone up because they went for a couple dollars higher than whatever limit you placed on them. If you follow a set limit on a player, you may find yourself passing everyone up and spending your money on scraps later on. In most cases, you can get a top guy and still fish for top 50 value later on. Following set limits on players is a bad idea. It's all about adjusting your strategy based on what's actually going on during the draft.

 

[mdlane]

One thing I've learned from auctions is to get at least a couple players you LIKE. If you keep going for value picks, you're likely to end up with a roster of players that don't get you enthusiastic week in and week out. That may or may not hurt you and your plans for a "perfect draft," but honestly, isn't the point of an Auction league to draft the players you want to have on your team? For example, in a recent auction I did, I passed on Jahvid Best, who went for what I thought was an egregious price at $40, and later bought Forte and Sims-Walker for a combined amount a little less than that. VBD-wise, I believe I came out ahead. But interest-wise and probably upside-wise, I would have been happier with Best and am bummed I didn't just bite the bullet and "overpay" for the player I wanted.

Other than that, I personally think you should get at least 2 top 12 RB and/or WR on your team, regardless of whether you go studs&scrubs or depth.

 

[Nate]

Depth vs. Studs is advanced auction strategy?

I believe you will very rarely draft a championship caliber team by going into an auction with a set goal of acquiring studs or acquiring depth, unless you know your league's tendencies extraordinarily well. Auctions take on a life of their own - you've just got to adapt to what's going on.

I always shoot for a couple real difference makers (top 5 at a position) since they're so hard to pry out of owners hands later and establish a solid core, then just wait for value. Your patience will be rewarded in the middle and late rounds of nominations.

In my leagues - the only really consistent trend is that the top ranked player in the #1 tier at their position and the last #1 tier player nominated will go for much higher than they're worth. If you get a chance, nominate the 3rd ranked tier 1 player early, while others are waiting for the #1 guy or top-tier steals (which almost never come), and get your guy at a few bucks under value.

Later, I scoop up a lot of high-upside value gambles to fill out my roster (this year got guys like Nicks, Wallace, Foster cheaper than anticipated), but that's just personal opinion.

The bolded is obviously true, but for the most part, the top of the ADP sheet are also the first guys nominated. So if you want to pursue a strategy of securing 2 of the top 5 RBs you have to go into your draft having that as your main-line strategy. Obviously if they go beyond the point that you've personally defined their value, you change course. But assuming they go for around what you expect, you should either know before the auction starts if that's going to be how you want to structure your team.

There's absolutely nothing I love more in my auctions than GMs set out to get 2 of the top 5 RBs.The GMs with a flexible game plan will win in auctions.

 

[Nate]

There's absolutely nothing I love more in my auctions than GMs set out to get 2 of the top 5 RBs.The GMs with a flexible game plan will win in auctions.

Being flexible is not a game plan. It's a willingness to deviate from one.

Nice one, Captain Semantics Call it a game plan or a lack of one, the point is that you'll never get the most out of an auction if you aren't in a position to take what it gives you.

 

[JamesTheScot]

I swear I don't mean to come off how this sounds, but this is basic auction strategy. And I don't think it can be answered unless you attach names & values to each strategy.

Exactly.If your studs stay healthy and perform as studs (and they don't always), you do well. When they don't, you don't.

When your cheap with upside guys pan out, you do well. When they don't, you don't.

It will always distill down to the accuracy of your predictions for each individual player.

Neither is the correct strategy in and of itself. What matters is whether you are more accurate than your competition in identifying which studs will be studly and which upside guys will rise to the occasion. Players that other owners are missing the boat on usually "slip" to you at what you preceive to be bargain prices. If you are right in your prediction for this player, you got a steal. But if you aren't, you wasted your $. Strategy alone doesn't help you hit or miss. If you're bad at predicting, you'll just load up your team with a bunch of marginal producers that never break out. Or, if you follow a stud theory, you'll overpay for a stud who won't earn his salary and the excess you spent on him keeps you from insuring that risk with quality backup options.

I don't see it as an either/or proposition, either. I like taking studs and then ferreting out the upside plays with what's left of my money. But that still turns on the accuracy of your predictions as compared to your competition's.

A word of caution about value though, if a player never makes it into your starting lineup and never produces starter worthy points, it doesn't matter how cheaply you acquired him. If RB A scores at 3:1 compared to RB B, and RB A cost you 2:1 what RB B cost you, it's still meaningless if RB A isn't producing starter worthy points.

 

[FantasyTrader]

There's absolutely nothing I love more in my auctions than GMs set out to get 2 of the top 5 RBs.The GMs with a flexible game plan will win in auctions.

Being flexible is not a game plan. It's a willingness to deviate from one.

Nice one, Captain Semantics Call it a game plan or a lack of one, the point is that you'll never get the most out of an auction if you aren't in a position to take what it gives you.

It's more than semantics. If all you enter a draft with is, "I'll see what I'm going to get" you're setting yourself up to lose. If you want to win, you enter with, "This is what I want my roster to look like. I want to spend up to $X on my RB1, $Y on my RB2..." And then so on and so forth. If unexpected values show up, you take advantage and adjust. But you should have some baseline idea of what you're trying to do, who you're trying to target, and approximately where you want to spend your money.

I think you're inferring entirely too much from Nate's statement. Since when does being flexible = I'll just "see what I'm going to get"? You said it yourself, flexability is a willingness to deviate from the plan. It isn't the absence of having a plan.

 

[FantasyTrader]

I swear I don't mean to come off how this sounds, but this is basic auction strategy. And I don't think it can be answered unless you attach names & values to each strategy.

Exactly.If your studs stay healthy and perform as studs (and they don't always), you do well. When they don't, you don't.

When your cheap with upside guys pan out, you do well. When they don't, you don't.

It will always distill down to the accuracy of your predictions for each individual player.

Neither is the correct strategy in and of itself. What matters is whether you are more accurate than your competition in identifying which studs will be studly and which upside guys will rise to the occasion. Players that other owners are missing the boat on usually "slip" to you at what you preceive to be bargain prices. If you are right in your prediction for this player, you got a steal. But if you aren't, you wasted your $. Strategy alone doesn't help you hit or miss. If you're bad at predicting, you'll just load up your team with a bunch of marginal producers that never break out. Or, if you follow a stud theory, you'll overpay for a stud who won't earn his salary and the excess you spent on him keeps you from insuring that risk with quality backup options.

I don't see it as an either/or proposition, either. I like taking studs and then ferreting out the upside plays with what's left of my money. But that still turns on the accuracy of your predictions as compared to your competition's.

A word of caution about value though, if a player never makes it into your starting lineup and never produces starter worthy points, it doesn't matter how cheaply you acquired him. If RB A scores at 3:1 compared to RB B, and RB A cost you 2:1 what RB B cost you, it's still meaningless if RB A isn't producing starter worthy points.

 

[Warpig]

Spend on the studs! Scour the waiver wires for gems during the season.

I've been doing an auction league for about 12 years now and up until this year I was a tight wad that wanted to be thrifty. In the past I always had the team with the best depth, no top 5 guys at any position usually. Unfortunately, all this strategy got me was average points. I was always competitive but I've never gotten past the 1st round of the playoffs. This year, I decided to spend and throw caution to the wind. With a $100 cap, I ended up with the following:

Mendenhall - $23 (wasn't expecting to get him so cheap, CJ, AP, MJD, Rice and Gore all went for close to $50)

J-Stew - $20 (overspent, but like someone mentioned, he was the last "stud" left)

Calvin Johnson - $20

Brandon Marshall - $16

Eli Manning - $1 (this was a total steal...still trying to figure how I pulled this off...especially when Brees, A-Rod, Manning, and Brady all went for $25 - $44!)

Romo - $16

Celek - $4

Keller - $0

I have decent depth behind these guys. I know my RB's are probably my weakest position, but I was really targetting Calvin and Marshall. Celek may end up leading his team in receptions and/or TD's. Romo has high hopes with all the weapons he has and could lead the league in yards and TD throws.

Normally I would have a stable of RB's consisting of players like Fred Jackson, Forte, Jerome Harrison, Moreno...stuff like that. Then I would have followed that with WR's like Lee Evans, Reggie Wayne, TJ Housh, Braylon Edwards and the like...whatever I could get for cheap but would give me the best depth.

This year I arguably have the best WR tandem and some pretty good RBs, TEs, and QBs to support my WR lineup.

And I totally agree with the poster that said the longer you wait, the higher the prices go. GO BIG EARLY!

 

[groomsie]

Some nice points, including those by butcherboy, fightinillini, and schu. In particular I think the point that with larger leagues shifting a bit more toward depth and away (ever so slightly) from studs makes sense. A few things I'd chime in with:

1. In my experience with auctions, I'd rather have clear cut starters than be waffling every week on 4 players of equal quality and anguishing over who will have the big week. You'll kill yourself after every game. So I would say I personally prefer having definitive starters (at RB and WR especially--I've always been able to find a QB in the woodwork).

2. Find the "favorites" of your league mates and use those that you don't like to wring money out; in our league in the day Jimmy Smith and Joe Horn were always good for about 5% overpayment by a particular owner, even when Jimmy Smith was "washed up". This is useful information to know when you need to just hold your position and keep the other owners bleeding cash.

 

[Nate]

There's absolutely nothing I love more in my auctions than GMs set out to get 2 of the top 5 RBs.The GMs with a flexible game plan will win in auctions.

Being flexible is not a game plan. It's a willingness to deviate from one.

Nice one, Captain Semantics Call it a game plan or a lack of one, the point is that you'll never get the most out of an auction if you aren't in a position to take what it gives you.

It's more than semantics. If all you enter a draft with is, "I'll see what I'm going to get" you're setting yourself up to lose. If you want to win, you enter with, "This is what I want my roster to look like. I want to spend up to $X on my RB1, $Y on my RB2..." And then so on and so forth. If unexpected values show up, you take advantage and adjust. But you should have some baseline idea of what you're trying to do, who you're trying to target, and approximately where you want to spend your money.

Setting positional budgets automatically sets you up to win? I don't even know how to respond to that...Everyone's got different strategies. I've been using this strategy for years in leagues with GMs ranging from FF rookies to 18-year veterans and had a ton of success. I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why I'm "setting myself up to lose", except that since I'm using a strategy that differs slightly from yours, that I must be.

 

[butcher boy]

Another good way to tell how you are doing during your draft is to look at your team and their ADPs and see how you're doing in terms of that. If you can identify a first round pick, second round pick, third round pick, etc. you're probably doing ok. Of course if you splurged on 2 studs you cant expect to have many 2nd or third round caliber guys, but it's a general baseline to how you're doing.

For example in my draft this last weekend after a while of drafting I realized I only had Chris Johnson and Greg Jennings, and started to panic as more and more guys went and people were filling up their rosters, but then I realized that a lot of the guys being nominated were 5th-7th round caliber guys and that there were better players coming up. I ended up with no one on my team with a lower ADP than around round 8 or 9 aside from kickers and defense.

 

[CalBear]

Some nice points, including those by butcherboy, fightinillini, and schu. In particular I think the point that with larger leagues shifting a bit more toward depth and away (ever so slightly) from studs makes sense. A few things I'd chime in with: 1. In my experience with auctions, I'd rather have clear cut starters than be waffling every week on 4 players of equal quality and anguishing over who will have the big week. You'll kill yourself after every game. So I would say I personally prefer having definitive starters (at RB and WR especially--I've always been able to find a QB in the woodwork).

It's worth noting that you'd really prefer to have clear cut starters whether you're doing a draft or an auction. But in a draft, you have very limited control of the quality of your players; you get one first-round player, one second-round player, one third-round player and so on. The quality will tail off more or less at the same rate of the overall talent pool (modified by your own ability to make better choices than the rest of your league).With an auction, you can choose to have a different kind of team; essentially, you can trade the money that would be spent on a later-round player, and use it to upgrade one of your other players. In my league with two keepers, I wound up with the following roster (.5 PPR, no TE required, start 2RB/3WR+TE). Looking at ADP for those players:1: 1.03 MJD2: 2.07 Miles Austin3: 3.02 DeSean Jackson4: 3.08 Pierre Thomas5: 4.12 Jermichael Finley6: 5.06 Hakeem Knicks7: 6.05 Kevin Kolb8: 6.08 Reggie Bush9: 8.01 Johnny Knox10: 10.08 Matt Stafford11: 10.10 Eddie Royal12: 11.04 Montario Hardesty13: 12.12 Leon Washington14: 15.02 Donnie Avery (auction was pre-ACL, of course)15: 16.06 Todd Heap16: 21.04 Kevin Faulk17: 23.06 Jerious Norwood18: N/A Olindo Mare19: N/A Detroit DSo if you look at this, what I wound up doing was taking money away from players in rounds 10+, and spending it on players in the earlier rounds (especially rounds 4-9). If I was picking in the 3 slot, I would have had picks 4.10, 5.03, 6.10, 7.03, 8.10, and 9.03; what I wound up with was players who could have been taken at 3.08, 4.12, 5.06, 6.05, 6.08, and 8.01. In exchange I got scrubs on the end of the bench; but that's the kind of thing you'll be working the waiver wire for, anyway. I can find a receiver to replace Avery, a kicker/D to upgrade Mare/Detroit (although I think Detroit's D will surprise this year), and a third-down back for emergency bye week fill-in if Faulk and Norwood don't cut it. That's what you're trying to accomplish in your auction; slide the value of your picks upwards, so you're getting a better starting lineup than you could possibly get in a draft. You don't have to start with AP and MJD.

 

[PatsFan72]

There are limits you should put on yourself for any player. You don't want to be the guy spending 1/2 his money on Charles Johnson

I absolutely agree. Now, Chris Johnson, on the other hand, might be worth that much.

...and he (Chris) was on my team, that's what you get for typing to quickly.

 

[Nate]

Everyone's got different strategies. I've been using this strategy for years in leagues with GMs ranging from FF rookies to 18-year veterans and had a ton of success. I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why I'm "setting myself up to lose", except that since I'm using a strategy that differs slightly from yours, that I must be.

Here's the thing: "being flexible" is not a strategy. It's how you adapt a strategy. When you go into a draft, you should have a good idea if you believe that, based on the average auction values, if you think that there is value in structuring your team by going after a couple of high-value RBs, some mid-level WRs, and a replacement-level TE or if you think that there is value to be had in the later RBs and want to get premium WRs and a premium TE or whatever. The whole point of an auction draft is that you can structure your team how you think looks best that year. It's no different from trying to plan your draft in a snake draft except that you have even more control. Obviously, if there are large steals to be had, Chris Johnson going for $32 in a $200 cap league for instance, you might make an in-draft adjustment to what you had planned to do. But that's different than saying that you're going in without any plan other than to be flexible.

Not really.Look - you seem to be hung up on wether my idea of a "game plan" or "strategy" falls under your definition of a "game plan" or "strategy". Nobody, including me, cares about this.I'm saying "don't get hung up on getting specific guys, watch for value". You're saying "start with an idea, be ready to adjust for value". They're really not all that different.

 

[fightingillini]

Setting positional budgets automatically sets you up to win? I don't even know how to respond to that...

I thought you were flexible.

Everyone's got different strategies. I've been using this strategy for years in leagues with GMs ranging from FF rookies to 18-year veterans and had a ton of success. I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why I'm "setting myself up to lose", except that since I'm using a strategy that differs slightly from yours, that I must be.

Here's the thing: "being flexible" is not a strategy. It's how you adapt a strategy. When you go into a draft, you should have a good idea if you believe that, based on the average auction values, if you think that there is value in structuring your team by going after a couple of high-value RBs, some mid-level WRs, and a replacement-level TE or if you think that there is value to be had in the later RBs and want to get premium WRs and a premium TE or whatever. The whole point of an auction draft is that you can structure your team how you think looks best that year. It's no different from trying to plan your draft in a snake draft except that you have even more control. Obviously, if there are large steals to be had, Chris Johnson going for $32 in a $200 cap league for instance, you might make an in-draft adjustment to what you had planned to do. But that's different than saying that you're going in without any plan other than to be flexible.

Being flexible is a given. But you need an initial strategy. I map out each starting position and set a budget. This will obviously depend on lineup requirements, roster size, and scoring system. How much do I want to spend on RB1? WR1? Starting QB? Then use my projections and map out a wish list of players and see if I can fit an optimal team with the budget that I have. I need to have multiple players (around 3-5) that can fill a specific slot. If I can only 1 or 2 that I like at that spot, then I need to adjust my budget, since there's a good chance I may run out of options at that slot. I tweak it until I have the appropriate strategy.

 

[wudaben]

I generally map out several different rough outlines of my team and label them... so I might have one called the "2 stud RB & Value" price guide and another that is "Stud QB, RB, WR & value" and so on. On each of these I basically lay out all the roster slots I have open and the approx. price I'm willing to pay depending on which outline I'm currently following.

In my draft this past weekend was a 12 team, $300 cap auction. QB's are weighted to score slightly more than RBs. RB, WR & TE get the typical 6pt TDs and .1pt per 1yd (or 1pt for 10yds). Defenses/ST are a bit tricky, instead of doing tiers based on points given up we start with 25pts and do -1pt for every point given up and 6TD, 2INT/FUM/SAF, 1 SACK. Using this scoring defenses generally don't give you a huge amount of points individually but it is very important to have a couple solid units otherwise you are in for some negative games. Anyway... at this draft everyone seemed to deviate from last years patterns and all top tiered QB,WR & RD went for astronomical amounts! CJ, Peterson, Rice, MJD, Turner and Gore all went from $79-$93. Rodgers, Brees, Brady, Peyton, Romo & Schaub went for $92,91,82,65,49 & 49 respectively. Receivers basically amounted to the same story from Andre Johnson, Moss, Fitz, Austin, R White, Wayne & C Johnson between $50-$75. Needless to say these actual draft prices killed everyone of my mockups but here is what I came away with (not great in my opinion but could surprise):

QB1 Cutler $16

QB2 Roethlisberger $2

RB1 D Williams $50

RB2 Moreno $31

RB3 J Stewart $30 **

RB4 Harrison $15

RB5 Slaton $3

WR1 Austin $65

WR2 Nicks $19

WR3 Knox $15

WR4 S Moss $7

WR5 M Williams TB $3

WR6 Hester $1

TE Gates $20

DST1 SF $14

DST2 SD $4

K Crosby $3

** I wasn't comfortable owning DWill without Stewart at all, one goes down and I have the best back in fantasy!

 

[aimlessgun]

Everyone's got different strategies. I've been using this strategy for years in leagues with GMs ranging from FF rookies to 18-year veterans and had a ton of success. I've yet to hear a convincing argument as to why I'm "setting myself up to lose", except that since I'm using a strategy that differs slightly from yours, that I must be.

Here's the thing: "being flexible" is not a strategy. It's how you adapt a strategy. When you go into a draft, you should have a good idea if you believe that, based on the average auction values, if you think that there is value in structuring your team by going after a couple of high-value RBs, some mid-level WRs, and a replacement-level TE or if you think that there is value to be had in the later RBs and want to get premium WRs and a premium TE or whatever. The whole point of an auction draft is that you can structure your team how you think looks best that year. It's no different from trying to plan your draft in a snake draft except that you have even more control. Obviously, if there are large steals to be had, Chris Johnson going for $32 in a $200 cap league for instance, you might make an in-draft adjustment to what you had planned to do. But that's different than saying that you're going in without any plan other than to be flexible.

Not really.Look - you seem to be hung up on wether my idea of a "game plan" or "strategy" falls under your definition of a "game plan" or "strategy". Nobody, including me, cares about this.I'm saying "don't get hung up on getting specific guys, watch for value". You're saying "start with an idea, be ready to adjust for value". They're really not all that different.

Yeah I think you're both on the same track, except he is explaining it in more detail, while I guess you just do it without thinking about it?Because you do have to go into the draft knowing what you think guys should be worth and what positions would be a value at what prices and what certain ways to build a team to maximize points will be. If you don't know these things, you can't be flexible in any meaningful way because you won't be able to recognize opportunities. Knowing the general framework allows you to realize someone is going for cheap, take him, and then know how to restructure your team plan.

 

[aimlessgun]

Some great advice in here.

Things I definitely agree with:

-Spend at least 85% of your cap on starters.

-Grab at least a couple Tier1 surefire studs: guys who will only be prevented from producing by freak injury.

-Fill with undervalued guys thereafter.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but if you are planning on going crazy with studs, it's is easiest to save money at the QB and TE positions. Since most eveyr league will only start one of these, there will almost always be less than awful guys late for peanuts. Getting a startable RB or WR late for cheap pretty much depends on your leaguemates being a little slow/asleep.

A point of definition: I think there's a difference between a "studs and duds" strat and a "studs and midtier guys" strat.

-Studs and duds means taking either 2 of the big4 RB's or 3 expensive Tier1 guys.

-Studs and mid tier guys can be accomplished with 1 expensive RB, and some elite but not extremely expensive WRs/QBs. For example, this year it can usually be accomplished with something like: Big4 RB + 2 of White/Austin/Jennings (often undervalued elite WRs) + Romo (often undervalued near elite QB). Obviously those names are interchangeable with any other WRs/QBs that might slip (Schaub instead of Romo etc)