Fantasy Football: The Awesomeness Of Auction Drafts

Are you depressed because you’re stuck with the #9 pick in your fantasy football serpentine draft this year? Are you dejected that you haven’t even a prayer of landing Adrian Peterson, Matt Forte, or Maurice Jones-Drew? Do your league competitors ridicule you because you probably won’t even have the chance to draft Larry Fitzgerald?

My friends, the solution is clear: auctions.

Auctions are one of the fastest growing trends in fantasy football. It is estimated that just over a quarter of all fantasy football leagues use an auction, but that number increases every year.

If you want to try something different and are up to the challenge, I would strongly urge you to join a league that utilizes an auction. Auctions level the playing field and involve far more strategy than a dull, run of the mill serpentine draft.

Fantasy football is evolving and changing every season. Face it, serpentine drafts are boring. You just sit there calling out names, doing very little for the vast majority of the draft. Serpentine drafts are spectator sports and a thing of the past.

Auctions allow owners an opportunity to acquire any player and the ability to impact what team gets every player. Auctions are the most fun and most challenging way for your league to distribute players each season.

It is my hope that this article encourages you to join and dominate an auction league this season.

Auction Basics

So what exactly is an auction?

An auction is an alternative way for your fantasy league to allocate or draft players. Instead of every team having a set draft spot to take turns calling out names for three hours, teams are given a set budget to spend on a set number of players.

For example, the auction league I run each season has 12 teams and each team has $125 for a budget. The auction is 15 rounds so there are 15 fantasy players per team roster.

The auction starts when the defending league champion nominates the first player. He or she can nominate any player at any position for bidding. Teams then bid for the player.

The league commissioner usually serves as or finds someone to be the auctioneer. When an owner wins a player, that owner gets to nominate the next player for bidding. The auction continues this way until all teams have the league roster limit which, in my league, is 15.

Pretty simple, eh? Now that I’ve told you what it is and how it works, I’m going to show you how to own your auction every season.

Prepare and Focus

Let’s start with the fundamentals. Now this should go without saying, but it is critically important that you properly prepare for an auction and stay focused during it. I’m sure that many of you like to tip back a few (or more) of your favorite malt beverages during your league draft.

That’s fine to do during a serpentine draft, but I would emphatically advise against it at an auction.

In an auction, every player nominated could potentially be on your fantasy football team. As I said earlier, auctions are not the eyewitness events that serpentine drafts are. A few years ago, I actually observed one owner win five players in a row.

Now, that’s not usually smart, but the fact that it can happen illustrates the importance of staying focused and alert during your auction. Staying focused and staying ahead of your competition will help put you over the top at your auction.

I know this sounds fairly fundamental, but it is important enough (and forgotten enough) to bear repeating. 

Auction Preparation

1. Create a list of dollar values for each player that should be drafted

This list would be the main component of your preparation stage.

For example, take a 10 team league with 15 man rosters and a $100 team cap. This means that 150 players (15 player rosters for each of the 10 teams) will be taken for a grand total of $1000 ($100 for each of the 10 teams). Your league rules and setup will dictate your dollar values.

This is why it’s impossible for me to come up with an auction sheet for people each year.

Player dollar values are too specific for each individual league (scoring systems, roster setups, etc). Fear not, because these lists aren’t difficult to construct.

When compiling your auction sheet, math is obviously pretty crucial. In the example league above, my list of the top 150 players must be equal to $1000. If it’s not, I’m in trouble the minute the first player hits the auction block.

By the way, you need not put every NFL player on this auction sheet. In the above league, my auction sheet would only have the players that I project to be in the top 150 overall.

2. Determine a budget for players and positions

This is something you should include on your dollar value list. If you think certain players (most likely those from your favorite team) are going to make you spend more than you should, you need to set limits for yourself.

Keep in mind that you should never pay the actual market value for a player. Your goal should be to try and get every one of your players for about 75 percent of their market value.

If you can do this, you are saving money on every player while building a team that is theoretically worth far more than your league’s cap. This is the key to winning auction leagues.

In terms of limiting yourself by position, I would recommend the following percentages for an average league with a common scoring system: 

QB 15 percent - Solid fantasy QBs are a dime a dozen now.
RB 50 pecent - RBs are the foundation of your team in nearly every league.
WR 30 percent - If your league starts three WRs, you will be forced to spend more here.
TE four percent - The TE position is deep, but you can splurge if you were frugal at the other positions.
K/DEF one percent - Try to save as much money here as you can. As by as much, I mean $1 for each.

As you can see, the name of the game is budget. Your league rules and scoring system will determine your budget at each position. If your league scoring system favors RBs (as most leagues do), your budget and auction sheet should reflect that. Budgeting is the most important aspect of auctions.

Trust me, when the bidding for Adrian Peterson and Larry Fitzgerald gets hot and heavy, you’re going to need every dollar at your disposal. If you plan and prepare effectively, you will have no problems finding room in your budget to grab one of those elite players on the way to building your championship team.

Nominating Undesirable Marquee Players

For the vast majority of an auction, you should be nominating star players you don’t want. You want your nominations to make other teams spend (and hopefully waste) money.

The fastest way to do that is to nominate undesirable marquee players. Nominating marquee players you don’t want will make your opponents spend a good portion of money. This is especially true for the early stages of an auction.

Early in an auction, owners get excited when the big names start coming up. This excitement causes people to overspend on those star players. This, in turn, typically leads to great deals for you later in the auction.

This strategy allows you to acquire players for 75% of their actual value, which, once again, is the key to winning fantasy football auction leagues.

Early in my auction, I’ll be nominating the marquee QBs, RBs, and WRs I don’t want. This should allow me to get the QBs, RBs and WRs I do want at significantly better value later in the auction. 

Dealing With Rookies

Rookies are usually incredibly overrated and rarely, if ever, dependable fantasy contributors in their first season. Nominate some of the top billed rookie QBs and WRs early and see if you can get your competitors to break the bank and waste some money on a rookie’s hype.

Hopefully, you noticed that I “conveniently” left out rookie RBs. Rookie RBs need to be evaluated on an individual basis. If anything, given the right situation, starting rookie RBs tend to be underrated and undervalued.

Remember, auctions are all about value.

Nominating Desirable Players

There will come a point in your auction when you will be able to start nominating (and winning) the players you covet. Now, it’s quite difficult to explain when that exact point is and how you’ll know, but you should recognize it if you’re paying attention.

For me, it’s usually about two-thirds of the way through the auction. For example, in my 12 team, 15 round auction, it will usually be just after the first 100 players are gone. It will also usually be the time when I have more money than the other teams. At this point, I am looking to steal my sleepers and high risk, high reward players at a bargain price.

Control Your Emotions

When a player you covet or desire is nominated, don’t be obvious about it. Try to wait until the bidding starts to diminish before getting involved. Use a boring, monotone voice when you bid.

If you show too much emotion, your competitors will notice it and punish you. Keep your poker face on and stick to your budget.

Conversely, exploit and abuse owners who willfully surrender important information by their inability to control their emotions. An effective strategy is showing emotion as a ploy while merely bidding up another owner. In most cases, your competitor will think you’re giving away information and he’s playing you.

Until, of course, you stop bidding and smile, knowing your cleverness just cost him more money than he wanted to spend on a player he probably did not want or need.

Patience Is A Virtue

Auctions are fast-paced and exciting. At the same time, however, auctions reward patience. David Dorey, co-founder of The Huddle, is a master of this.

I remember David and I both waited around in the 2004 Fantasy Auctioneer Invitational Expert League and annoyed one another in late bidding battles. My team was voted Preseason Favorite. David’s team ended up tying for the league’s best record.

Moral of the story? Owners who get hyperactive in auctions usually run out of money rapidly and miss out on some great deals late in the auction. With auctions, you often have to just sit back, relax, and take what your opponents give you. More often than not, you’ll be surprised at what they leave you.

Patience is a virtue and it is vital in auctions. 

Be The Active Owner

You should try, in some way, to be involved in the “sale” of every player nominated. This is a major strategic element that differentiates serpentine drafts from auction leagues.

Become the owner who “controls” what team wins each player by bidding to price out certain owners or by bidding to drive up the price of a certain player. Pretend the auction is a schoolyard and you are its bully.

Remember, you’re not usually going to be bidding to actually win the player. You’re bidding to influence what owner wins the player and how much they have to pay. The goal of auction leagues is to find the best deals possible and make sure your opponents waste their money and overspend.

The key to bidding up other owners is to be smart about it and not get greedy. If you do, you could easily find yourself stuck with a player you didn’t want at a price you couldn’t afford.

The objective is intelligent aggression. That’s the key.

It’s probably going to take some practice and experience to properly understand the principle of intelligent aggression, but your effort will be well rewarded. If you can get your competitor to bid just an extra $4 on a particular player, that’s four less dollars that he or she has to spend when the bidding gets hot and heavy on the elite RBs. 

Know Your League Rules and Competition

Once again, this sounds fundamental but I see people make mistakes with this every year.

Auction or not, it is essential to know and be familiar with your competition and league rules. You need to know your cap, roster size, scoring system, etc. All of these rules will determine your preparation, strategy, budget, and, ultimately, the success of your auction.

Along the same lines, you need to know your competition. Find out the players and teams they covet, the players and teams they despise, and exploit it.

Simply put, make sure the guy at your auction wearing his Tom Brady jersey pays dearly for him.

Pay Attention and Be Flexible

Always remember that no player is irreplaceable and all is never lost. Mike Ditka once said, “Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.” This is the attitude you need to have in fantasy football.

Be ready to change your plans if the situation calls for it. Make sure that you are aware of any trends that develop during your auction. If RBs start selling for astronomical prices, it’s going to alter your strategy and have an effect on your team.

If you make a mistake early in your auction, that’s fine, it happens. Relax, recover, and get back to work. Do everything possible to keep your mistakes to an absolute minimum.

I’ve seen drunks with a cheatsheet walk out of a serpentine draft with a competitive team that makes the league playoffs. Alcohol and a cheatsheet are indistinguishable from suicide at auctions.

The Big Picture

Mistakes that your competitors make are usually more beneficial than you doing something right. This is especially true at an auction. Any mistakes made at an auction draft are immeasurably worse than what they would be at a serpentine draft.

Believe it or not, spending just $3 more than what you should have on a particular player can have catastrophic consequences on both your auction and your season. The most common mistake I see each season is owners not using all of their allotted money.

When the auction is over, you shouldn’t have any money left. If you do, you didn’t budget properly and you made some mistakes. You can get away with mistakes in serpentine drafts.

Auctions, on the other hand, are about as forgiving as an ex-wife at a custody hearing. That money is given to you to be spent, so make sure to budget and spend it all. Also remember that your overall team is more important than its individual players.

For example, if I break the bank and buy both Adrian Peterson and Drew Brees, I’m probably going to have towel boys at WR and TE. Two superstars do not make a team and my team will struggle because of it.

Always try to leave your auction with the best team, not just a couple of the best players. There is little, if any, room for error in auctions. You must minimize your mistakes while you maximize the mistakes of your opponents. I cannot overstate the magnitude of that previous sentence.

If you’re looking for a real challenge this fantasy football season, I would recommend joining an auction league. Auctions are an absolute blast and extremely challenging as well. If you have any questions regarding auction leagues or auction strategy, please don’t hesitate to email me at [e-mail].