The most important tool you have on draft day is your cheatsheet. A handy go-to guide for how players stack up against each other so you know who to bid on and how high to go. Because when draft day comes you don’t want to be trying to work from memory or some vague list that takes too long to make sense of while bids are flying by all around you.
Your cheatsheet is also useful for coming up with draft strategies in the days beforehand. With current average prices and expected point production next to each player you can design a roster maximizing production while minimizing cost. It’s always good to be prepared.
In this article I will show you how I recommend you create your own cheatsheet. Now I realize there are some already available from big name websites, but as always, doing it for yourself works best. Let those rankings be your guide to making your own list, along with all the inside information you’ll pick up along the way as you're doing your research.
All auction draft cheatsheets should be divided up by position. Let’s start with running backs. Take a piece of paper and make a column with the heading “Running Backs.” Now you might think you would list players out by the order which you want them, but since we’re doing an auction draft, don’t do that. Instead you want to rank them by their typical going price. If your using ESPN to host your league you can find draft statistics here. Or you can go to websites like fftoolbox or Yahoo! and check out their lists. The prices can differ depending on where you’re running your league, so find the price guide most applicable to you.
Once you have the names down, to the right of the list write down the general price range for players, being sure to leave space next to the names for individual notes. For example, this year Chris Johnson and Adrian Peterson are both in the $60-$65 range, so I write that across from them. Then $55-60 across from Maurice Jones-Drew and Ray Rice below them. And so on all the way down. Now when I’m planning out my team if I want to draft, say, Ryan Mathews, I just look at my cheatsheet and see that I have him in the $30-$35 group. So that’s what I expect I’ll pay.
Now that I’ve got the prices, I can then check out some of those published cheatsheets and see what each players projected point totals that year will be. Of course these are just guesses, so feel free to review several and take them all into account. However, players will often group into a range that is pretty similar to how expensive they are. For example ESPN thinks Steven Jackson, Frank Gore and Michael Turner will all score around 220 to 230 points this season, so I’ll just write 225 pts beneath their average price of $45-$50.
Now some of these players won’t conform to this, especially if you’re using multiple sources, but don’t get upset. The dollar value and expected points total are just what the market is generally saying about them. That’s what we want our list to tell us first. If you strongly believe Shonn Greene is going to rack up 230 pts this year, and are afraid you’ll forget it, just write “(230)” next to his individual name so you’ll see and remember.
Make a list for each position, quarterback, tight end, kicker, etc. You do not have to make long lists for any position except running back and wide receiver if you’re using a standard ten team league. Knowing the 12 best quarterbacks will probably suffice unless you plan on getting several backups and really don’t want to screw up your dollar bid for Chad Henne. Running backs and wide receivers are hot commodities and less predictable (especially running backs) so you’ll want to concentrate on getting the best sleepers you can with them.
Most of the information you will find falls into just a handful of categories, so shorthand and symbols make sense. Just use whatever abbreviations you want, although be sure to make a key on the back of your cheatsheet so you don’t forget. Because you will forget. Unless you don't.
After a couple weeks your cheatsheet will benefit from your homework and note taking. You’ll know in a glance that you believe the people who say LeSean McCoy will splitting too many carries and that Beanie Wells who is sitting right above him on your list has what looks to have an easy schedule this year. Of course write all your notes in pencil, because you’ll read a lot of conflicting opinions and might change your mind several times about certain guys before draft day.
Like I said at the beginning of the article, feel free to use your cheatsheet to come up with strategies before the draft. The advantage of an auction draft is that you can have concrete plans. You want a top tier $60 guy in your first RB slot and a mid-level $20 guy in your second RB slot? Check out the available options beforehand. Perhaps Ray Rice and Jamaal Charles respectively are your favorite guys in those ranges. Plan on drafting them. Often players will go for exactly what the average trends say they will, and if not, be prepared to spend a couple dollars over price and watch your competition shrink away. Knowing which guy you want will give you confidence to overspend three or four measly dollars for him. And if some crazy man to your left isn’t going to stop outbidding you no matter the cost, just pick your second favorite guy in your price range and let him overpay.
Well I hope this lesson comes in handy to you on draft day. Remember if you have a firm plan, but act nice and flexible about it, you aren’t likely to walk away from your draft with regrets. Now get out there, and good luck!
