Auction Draft Strategies Vol. 1

Following up my article on developing your own auction draft strategies, this time around I’m going to show three examples that you can use for your draft or at least get a better idea of how to build your own.

#1. Double Stud

Fantasy football teams tend to be built around players known as “studs.” These are positional leaders who are going to blow it up every week and slam 15 to 20 points home on your opponent. Or maybe 10 to 15 points in the case of wide receivers. Not everybody can have a team with a couple of studs, or sometimes even one stud, but at least they at least can spread their wealth around and pick up more mid-level producers if they don't. But are you comfortable taking your chances with a bunch of second and third tier guys and hoping none of them underproduce? If not, you might consider the Double Stud draft setup.

The idea here is to get an awesome running back and an awesome quarterback. Know you want one, decide which one you want the most and go get them. This year, 2010, the stud running backs are Chris Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Maurice Jones-Drew, and Ray Rice. In a $200 draft, these guys are going to cost you somewhere between 55 to 65 of those dollars. How you pick the one you want is up to you; you can study them all and make your most intelligent guess, or you can accept that it’s a roll of the dice and try to get any of them if they are selling for lower than projected.

With quarterbacks, the studs this year are Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning. That’ll probably be their order in price, but not necessarily by who is most likely to score the most fantasy points. I see Aaron Rodgers as the best value; he could break 300 fantasy points in standard scoring leagues. Peyton is the next highest because he’s always a beast, even if his last two regular season games might be half games. And then Drew Brees, who is riding a high off the Super Bowl. Even though you’re throwing big bucks down on these studs you always have to keep an eye on the bottom line. If you’re getting Chris Johnson and spend $65 to do it, is it a good idea to spend $45 on Drew Brees? Or is it smarter to pay $30 for Peyton Manning and let that 15 extra dollars carry over to picking up your wide receiver group? It’s up to you, although personally Peyton Manning and Larry Fitzgerald seem like a more attractive duo to me than Drew Brees and Chad Ochocinco.

From there you split your money up into the remaining four RB and WR slots. Assume your TE, D, and K will cost you about $15 combined. I would strongly recommend you really lean into those wide receivers, they’re so much more reliable than running backs looking forward. With $100 gone on your two studs, along with $35 gone on your bench and peripheral players, you’d still have money to get say Miles Austin, Sydney Rice, Joseph Addai, and Marion Barber. Or maybe you go a little cheaper on your two studs, and split the money evenly getting Greg Jennings, Marques Colston, Jamaal Charles, and Jonathan Stewart. When it comes to mid-level guys, $15 to $20 extra to spread around can make a huge difference for your entire squad.

#2. Best Wides

Running backs can’t be trusted. You know it, I know, everyone knows it. Who doesn’t know it?!?! Maybe Adrian Peterson can be trusted with your wallet or to dog-sit for a couple days, but not even he can guarantee he’s going to actually rack up the 280 to 300 points necessary to make him worth his going price of $60 to $65. Therefore, when faced with an uncertain football economy, invest in safe assets—wide receivers. Unless his leg snaps in two, Andre Johnson is incredibly likely to get 190 fantasy points or more this season. As is Randy Moss. So hire them!

Or you could hire Larry Fitzgerald or Reggie Wayne. It’s up to you who you think will do best, but go for the best two. Once you have them you’ll want a good quarterback, but not an expensive quarterback. Think a mid-level guy (mid-level QBs are an awesome value in my opinion), such as Brett Favre, Tony Romo, Matt Schaub, or Philip Rivers. Spending somewhere between $12 to $20 him. For your third receiver slot, you can go a little cheaper than best, but still get somebody really good. A $20 guy like DeSean Jackson, Greg Jennings, Steve Smith, or Anquan Boldin. Then spend another $35-40 on two running backs. That could get you Beanie Wells and Pierre Thomas. Or Knowshon Moreno and Matt Forte. Or Jonathan Stewart or Joseph Addai!

Feel free to throw down on a $15 tight end with this plan. You’re going to want some more reliable points every week using two mid-level backs. Then each week you’ve got two stud wide-outs pulling in 12-14 points each, three mid-level producers giving you 9-11 points each, a QB at 16 points, a great tight end making 10, then a defense and kicker making whatever it is they make. That’s around 95 to 100 points a week from reliable types of producers. That’ll get you to the playoffs. Although you have to pray neither of your stud WRs do have their legs snapped. And that none of your mid-level guys turn out to be total busts.

#3. Strong Peripherals + Great Back

Having a top running back is a priority for a lot of people. After that, what if you just want a solid team all the way around? Here’s one strategy to do that. You focus on getting a top back, #1 or #2, and then you make sure you get the best tight end, D/ST, and K available. Leaving you plenty of money to spread around on everybody else and pick up solid guys.

Here’s how it plays out money-wise. You take Chris Johnson or Adrian Peterson for $60 to $65. You take Dallas Clark or Antonio Gates for $15. You get your favorite defense and kicker for $1 to $4. Yes, yes, veterans say it’s crazy to spend more than a dollar on either, they don’t play in public leagues. Forget ‘em. Add it up and you’ve spent around $80 or a little over. Take off $20 for your bench. Now you’ve got $100 with which to buy a QB, RB, RB/WR, WR, and WR. The easiest way to split the money up is evenly, about $20 on everybody, keeping track off any underspending you do during the draft and moving over the savings to another position. Better case scenarios could leave you with Brett Favre, Beanie Wells, Miles Austin, DeSean Jackson and Marques Colston, for example. Combined with Adrian Peterson and Dallas Clark? What a roster!

Hopefully these draft strategies, and adorable accompanying graphics, provide you with some inspiration in planning out your team. Remember if you’re doing multiple teams you can use multiple strategies. Here’s a tip too: always, always, always practice using a strategy in a mock auction draft at least once before you try it out in your real draft. It’s possible over the course of an hour and half draft to make a mental error, and practicing your draft even once is likely to elucidate any possible errors you might be in danger of making. Trust me, it’s worth it. Now enough from me already, get out there, and good luck!

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