How to Win Auction Drafts

Today, we will be talking all about Auction Drafts. In case you have no clue what an auction draft is, these are the basics.

• Managers take turns nominating players they would like to bid on
• Managers bid on the player they want
• A "bid-clock" resets every time someone makes a bid.
• Once you win the bid you acquire the player
• You have around $200 to build your team.

Step One: Organize the Spending

QB: 7%

RB: 40%

WR: 45%

TE: 7%

K: $1

D/ST: $1

For Example, if the budget is $200, then you would spend: $14 on your quarterback, $80 on running backs, $90 on wide receivers, and $14 on your tight ends. Now, this is just a rough estimate. If you see a player that you really want that will put you slightly over the budget, then by all means go and get him. This is just to help you throughout the draft so you don't end up spending way too much on one position.

Step Two: How Will You Build Your Team?

There are many different ways to build one's team. Some people decide they want to go all out and get the three best players, then try and draft a bunch of steals afterwards. Others try to get the best starting lineup and then spend as little as they can on their backups. Some try to build the best all around team by spending similar amounts on starters and backups alike just in case of injuries. We will be breaking down all three of the ways that you can build your auction team here.

Option One: Get the Best Players

Some people may be confused by what I mean when I say to get the best players, so I will give you an example. Say the first pick is here, and you decide to spend $50 on Ja'Marr Chase. A good player, but maybe a bit overpriced. Then the third pick comes and they spend $35 on Justin Jefferson. They now have the best receiving core in fantasy football, but they have already spent half of their salary on just two players. Can you see how that may be a problem? I would suggest away from this option, unless you know you can get a steal in the later rounds.

Option Two: Focus on Starting Lineup

This is a variation of the previous option, except it will turn out a little bit better for the overall team. In this variant, instead of spending the $50 on Ja'Marr Chase, maybe instead you get Brian Thomas at pick 11 for $22, and then spend $21 on Nico Collins, and so forth. These $15-$25 purchases will end up getting you one of the best starting lineups in the league, but your bench will consist of $1 players. You'll be banking on either drafting a steal that low, or none of your players getting injured.

Option Three: Balanced/Focus on Depth

This option is nothing like the previous two, because you most likely won't be making a splash pick of one of the top players. Instead of that, your first pick might be Jonathon Taylor or Tee Higgins, and then you will have leftover money after the starting lineup is finished to get some quality bench players as well. This lineup variation is what we like to call playing it safe. If one of your players does get hurt, you can replace him just as easily because you saved money and drafted a very similar player to keep on your bench.

Step Three: Have Player Rankings

I cannot stress how much player rankings will help you in your draft. More specifically, in auction drafts having players ranked in tiers, just so you have a basis of where everyone is at points-wise and they also show how much better another player is than another. For example, say Justin Jefferson is ranked as the WR2 and Nico Collins is the WR6. They might seem very close, when in reality Jefferson is miles ahead of Collins. By making it into a tier list, it really shows just how good someone is.

Now, you want to go after a player typically in the middle of your tier list, just in case someone bids way too high on the last player in your tier. It's a good idea to know what players you would like to target beforehand, so you know when to save and when to spend on certain players. The last thing you want is to get into a bidding war with another manager just because he wants the same player as you.

That was three easy steps on how to win auction drafts, and if you want more help, just comment on one of our social media posts! You can find us on X @sfantasyweb and on Instagram @strictlyfantasywebsite.