I am completely new to auctions, as is everyone else in the league that I am in. Where can I get ballparks of % of budget for players? I have no idea whether spending 25% or 40% or 30% or whatever of budget for the top backs is good, bad, or somewhere in between. I have entered data into both DD and dowloaded excel app but have yielded very different results in terms of percentage of cap.No one in the league has ever done an auction before so I would like to at least have an idea as what players "should" go for so at least I can be prepared.
You are in uncharted territory. I'd start by taking either the values you get from your excel app, or the DD, and construct some teams. Use those values and look at what happens if you take two stud RBs, and a stud QB, what is left for WRs, and who you can get for the money you have left. Create a team with stud WRs, and one with a stud QB, a stud RB, and a stud WR. With that you may get a bit of an idea of what various teams would look like. There really are no set and fast rules as far as budgets. You have to decide, if you are dead set on Drew Brees, and Chris Johnson, how that is likely to effect the rest of your team. You have to determine strategy, as far as budgets go.I would suggest not trying to use the DD during the auction. Especially if this is your first auction. It is great that it calculates the money each team has left for you. And it keeps track of what positions each team has filled. That can be very useful. But what I have found is that it is difficult to keep up with the entries, and stay on top of your auction. And if you enter something wrong it is hard to back track and find your mistake, all while staying with the current bidding. I'd suggest you bring a values sheet, and keep track of the money each team has left manually. That is important, knowing, as you go along, how much money each team has left.Be ready to change direction on the fly. You may decide that you don't want to spend on a stud QB. But Aaron Rodgers is on the board. You think he should be worth $40 and the bidding is stalled at $26. Don't be afraid to jump in on studs, especially if you feel they are undervalued. Or, on the other side, you covet Chris Johnson. You think his value should be $65, but the bidding is already at $75. Be willing to let a player go. But keep in mind, that if you have a very strong feeling about a player don't be afraid to go over your value either. You don't want to end up with a team that you got value on, but they are players you aren't really excited about owning. You are going to have to see how things are going in the auction. You may find, early, that RBs are going for less than what you think is their value. Maybe you expected AP and Chris Johnson to go for in the $65 to $70 range. They may have each sold for under $60. That may mean that the other stud RBs may go for less than your value, and WRs will go for more. Or it may mean that teams will end up paying more than they should for lesser guys because the supply is running low. If you are lucky, you will see teams overpay for players for awhile. The more teams overpay, the less money they will have left for the other players who are still available. That allows you to get some bargains.This is the kind of thing that makes auctions so interesting. You can go in with a variety of different plans. I have never walked out of an auction with the team I imagined I would get. I might get a couple of players I really wanted, but the action tends to dictate who I end up with. Things always change and you need to adapt. I'd try using the ESPN mock draft system for auctions. It seems to be the best I have found for doing mock auctions. Do a couple of those for a feel for an auction. Next year you will be able to look at what various players went for, and how various owners bid. This year you are going to have to learn on the fly. Good luck.
