Going once, going twice, sold!
Drafts, keeper, and survivor formats all offer exciting ways to play fantasy football, but let's examine the benefits of holding an auction draft. Because if you’re looking for a re-birth in your fantasy football experience, an auction league might be just what you need.
My first fantasy league experience was in 1973, and the fact I am sharing new ideas, theories and strategies with fantasy fanatics some 30-plus years later reinforces what most of you already know. The growth and popularity of “Fantasy” continues to soar.
Most of us, especially ultra-competitive fantasy leaguers, want to explore and expand our fantasy horizons once we have satisfied certain goals. Whether you’re a grizzled veteran or relatively new to the hobby, you may be searching for new challenges to test your knowledge and skill.
I actively participate in many traditional formats each and every year. Like millions, I enjoy the camaraderie and competition. Still, basic redraft, keeper and dynasty leagues that use a serpentine drafting format have become rather routine. So, seven years ago I decided to expand my fantasy universe.
If you’re beginning to find traditional fantasy formats ordinary, plain, and at times chronically slow, it’s time to think about some exciting new ways to play. Yes, brothers and sisters, you too can reclaim your fanaticism and fever as a born-again fantasy owner.
In salary cap leagues, you can start any player you want, and that particular player can be on any or all rosters within your league. So, all managers have equal access to all the NFL players. This style is perfectly suited for the most skilled fantasy fanatics and works well for highly competitive smaller leagues. The fact you aren’t regimented to a draft slot gives you the same chance as the next owner.
Another format that creates a ton of drama and plenty of fantasy titillation, especially on draft day, is auction drafting. Like a delicately-aged Scotch, a Timothy Leary supplement, or Paris Hilton movie, it’s said that once you try an auction league, you rarely regress to a lesser sensation. Once you go auction, you’re unlikely to revert back to traditional draft leagues, at least not with the same vigor or passion.
In traditional draft leagues or serpentine formats, you have limited control over who will reside on your roster. For example, unless you have one of the top three or four selections in your annual draft, you can’t obtain the elite players like Chargers stud running back
LaDainian Tomlinson. Even if you desperately desire his services, he just won‘t be around after the first or second pick. This might be the most attractive difference between a draft and an auction. Owners no longer have to concern themselves as to where their team resides in the draft pecking order.
The extensity of bidding on any player and the complexity of salary cap management make auctions a more intoxicating selection process, and one that allows you to purchase any player your heart or budget affords.The auction process is simple in concept, but its challenges are multifarious in how one applies his or her strategy.
Auction leagues are exactly what they say they are…league owners bid on a nominated player and the manager with the highest bid gets that particular player.
Auction leagues begin with each owner having an equal budget or salary cap to purchase the players needed to fill the roster requirements. This preset salary cap (i.e. $100) cannot be exceeded, and the total amount is dependent on league variables. A player is nominated by one of the owners, typically at a minimum price (i.e. $1), and the bidding begins. In cyclical motion, each league owner nominates a player, and the bidding process continues until all of the teams have filled their roster requirements. For the record, the budget money used is typically not actual money, and it doesn’t benefit any owner to spend any less than the entire cap on his or her roster.
This is where the simplicity ends, and the strategy begins. In fact, what player an owner nominates is a strategically key ingredient in the overall grand auction design.
As mentioned earlier, the added depth of competitive bidding alters the draft from a slow, wait-and-see who is available, to one of a quicker-paced strategy game. This one facet of an auction has caused many people to favor this format over traditional snake draft leagues.
A fantasy owner is almost forced to settle for personnel in serpentine formats. In an auction, you can ultimately assemble your team with the players you actually covet. For example: If you want one, two or three elite first-round players, you can spend the vast majority of your salary cap and sign those targets. In theory, auction allows you to roster
LaDainian Tomlinson,
Adrian Peterson, and
Tom Brady if you so desire. That just isn’t possible in traditional re-draft formats.
If your strategy is to configure a more balanced roster, you can avoid high-priced players altogether and shape a team with five or six so-called second- and third-round selections. Ultimately, how you build and frame your team is completely up to you and isn’t controlled by a regimented snake draft.
In traditional serpentine or snake drafts, strategy is almost completely absent in the early rounds. If you don’t obtain the services of one or two running backs in the first three rounds of your league selection process, you will find your roster depending on back-ups, rookies or sleepers to carry you through the long fantasy season.
Through the years of my fantasy football experience, I have found that most owners who participate in traditional formats simply take the best possible running back available in the first two or three rounds, and then apply strategy entering the middle and late frames. An auction format makes every player selection an adventure and a non-stop game of cat and mouse among the participants.
Imagine making decisions concerning auction strategy that include:
Nominating assumed high-priced players early to deplete your opponents' bankrolls.
Convincing the other owners in your league that you desperately want a specific player -- maybe even a rookie -- when you actually have no desire to roster him.
Putting one of the top defensive units on the auction block early and watching an owner overspend on a fantasy container that should never cost more than the minimum (one of my favorite maneuvers).
Placing a high-priced bid on your nominated player, a player that is considered a top fantasy sleeper, reducing his presumed value.
Gambling or bidding on personnel you don’t really want simply to drive up the price of that player.
These are just a few of the exciting options that await you in an auction format - options that are non-existent in serpentine wait-and-see formats.
I find myself growing weary waiting almost 20 or 30 minutes between selections in a traditional snake draft. Constructive measures are difficult to facilitate while waiting your turn in this format - which inevitability results in needless trash talking and insulting comments directed at opposing owners in regard to their player selections. You really can’t blame owners for these deprivations; they are simply bored to tears waiting their turn.
In an auction, the process is totally interactive for all. You can bid on any player, or every player, and it can be sincerely the most unabridged fun you have ever had in a fantasy draft.
Next, let's talk strategy and tactics and look for some ways to win your auction.
Have a projected dollar value designated for each player you lust after for your completed roster. If possible, have a projected value for every player on your cheat sheet.
Have a list of players to nominate and prioritize for the auction process.
Nominate high-profile and assumed high-dollar players you don't necessarily want early in the auction.
Don’t overpay or exceed your projected value on a player. If you do, be prepared to live with holes in your finished roster.
During the auction process, record the final sale price for each player in your league. This will not only give you an idea of how your league perceives player value, but it will help you when proposing a league trade, as well as in future auctions.
Have fun with shill bids (bidding on players you don't actually want, just to drive up the price), but understand this strategy comes with a risk. You could actually purchase a player you don’t want if you go one dollar too far. Diminish your risk by shill bidding only on players that are about to be sold for a price well below your projected market value.
Know the scoring and roster rules in your league and apply them to your projected budget at a particular position. Are you going to spend 50-60 percent of your salary cap on running backs? 75 percent? 25 percent? These decisions depend on the scoring structure of your league. Know your scoring rules and apply them to your projected values accordingly.
Know your opponent. Make an attempt to find out if they have favorite players or teams. This will help you in determining how the owners in your league perceive the value of specific player personnel.
Remember that value is key in auction leagues. One dollar could make the difference between whether you can or can’t acquire that backup for your starting running back late in the bidding process.
Don’t overspend, but don’t under spend, either. Don’t end up with money left over when the auction is complete. Those unspent dollars don’t do you any good during the regular season.
Make sure you get at least one franchise player. Without this endeavor, you will likely find yourself with unused salary cap monies.
Have fun, but remain calm while those around you become consumed in the bidding excitement.
Most importantly, learn from the experience and carry it forward into your next auction.
There is a fallacy that auctions are only for the experienced and fanatical fantasy owner. I strongly disagree with this assumption. In fact, I compare my initial auction league to my first downhill skiing experience. I didn't bother with lessons or taking baby steps on the bunny hill. I took the lift -- to the top of the highest, toughest slope -- and challenged the hill head on. Sure, I crashed and burned more than once on the fun-filled run, but by the time it was over, I learned some very valuable lessons - morals I couldn’t receive by reading or taking lessons from so-called experts.
Don‘t be afraid to challenge the auction process even if you are a relatively inexperienced fantasy player.
Going once, going twice…sold on auction leagues!
