What is a fantasy football auction draft?
A fantasy football auction draft is a draft that functions in the exact same way a real-life auction would. In an auction draft, NFL players are put up for bid and then “auctioned off” for managers to bid on. Teams bid on a player until each of the remaining teams either drop out of the bidding or are priced out. Once that happens, the bidding ends, and the player is awarded to the team who made the highest bid.
Auction drafts allow managers to nominate and bid on players using a virtual budget to create their initial roster. While post-draft, the league operates exactly as a standard redraft league would, the difference between an auction draft and a traditional snake draft is quite large. Since auction drafts force league members to manage a budget and bid against other managers to select players, the complexity of an auction can be overwhelming at first. However, once you’ve tried the format, most will find it very appealing as it involves a lot more strategy and skill than traditional snake drafts.
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How does a fantasy football auction draft work?
Auction drafts start by awarding each player in the league a virtual bankroll that also works as a self-imposed salary cap for each team. The most common number used in auctions is $200.00, but leagues can vary the amount if they want. Most auction mock drafts and any player value rankings for auction drafts (e.g. average price per player) will follow the $200.00 starting amount, so if you are thinking of starting an auction league, it’s likely best just to use this number.
It’s also important to remember that this fund isn’t replenishable in any sort of way and that you’ll only have that amount to use when filling up all of your starting and bench positions.
For example, in a league that includes nine starters (QB/RB/RB/WR/WR/WR/Flex/K/DST) and six bench spots, you’ll use that $200.00 to fill out 15 spots total. That works out to $13.33 per player. Obviously, we’re not going to be spending the same amount on each player we draft (nor should that be the goal) but keeping in mind how many spots you need to fill out and your overall budget is always a good idea.
When the auction starts, each member will get a chance to nominate players for the league to bid on until all the rosters are filled. As budgets start to dwindle, your max bid will also start to get cut. The site you’re playing on will automatically force you to leave at least $1.00 left over for every position you have left to fill. So, for example, if you have spent $190.00 already but still have four spots left to fill, your max bid would actually be $7.00 (not $10.00) as you’d need $3.00 left over to fill out your remaining three spots.
Once every member of the draft has filled out their entire roster, then the draft ends, and things play out exactly as they would in a standard redraft league with waiver rankings and weekly matchups.
One important thing to remember about auction drafts, though, is that while they can be more compelling and involve a more complex strategy since you have to wait for every member to nominate and fill out their roster, they also tend to take much longer than a standard snake draft. Make sure you schedule in extra time if you will be partaking in one for the first time this season.
Rules of a fantasy football auction draft
The auction starts by having a manager nominate a player to go up for auction. The nomination order isn’t really important (although each member will get placed in a specific order randomly – much like the beginning of a snake draft), but nominating players does play a huge part in auction strategy. We’ll get to why this is important below but what’s important to remember for now is that when you nominate a player, you also get to choose what his starting bid will be. Most fantasy managers will choose the minimum starting bid ($1.00), but you can set the bid to be pretty much whatever you like it to be as long as it’s within your budget.
After the nomination portion, the rest is pretty straightforward. Teams are allowed to bid as they choose, up to their allowed maximum (see above). If enough time has elapsed since a bid has come in, then the countdown will come on, and if there are no other high bids, then the player will be awarded to the high bidder once the countdown is over.
Fantasy football auction draft strategy
While the rules for an auction draft are quite simple and won’t take much getting used to, the strategy portion in auctions is where the real fun begins. Quite simply put, auctions have a lot of little complexities about them that make them interesting. Unlike snake drafts, where you pick a player and then have to wait until it’s your turn again to add another player to your roster, an auction draft allows us an active shot at acquiring every single player that gets put up for bid. That means constant action and the ability to acquire players you may never have had a shot at in a snake draft.
That is part of what makes auction drafts so much fun but also makes them more challenging to navigate for less experienced managers. Knowing which player to spend up on, who to nominate when it’s your turn and how to fill out certain portions of your roster late in drafts are all things that can help lead to a successful auction draft.
To help achieve success, I’ve outlined some of the basic strategies below and also gone over a few more higher-level tactics to consider when you’re venturing into your auction. Like all fantasy football drafts (auction or snake), the main thing to remember is to be flexible and react to what your opponents are doing. But the below should help you in developing an initial plan and hopefully provide you with a couple of little tricks for outmaneuvering your opponents, as well.
Avoid bidding wars, set limits
Theory: One of the easiest mistakes to make in auction drafts is to get carried away in the moment when bidding on a player. When another member of your league is hellbent on acquiring a certain player (no matter the cost), the best strategy in 99% of those situations is just to step aside and let them overbid. That doesn’t mean you can’t put up some resistance (and help drive up the bid), but setting some thresholds as to how much you’re willing to spend on certain players will go a long way to keeping you away from regretful decisions.
There will certainly be players that you’ll want to be more aggressive on than others, but if there’s too much action or the bid simply gets too large (and well past a fair value), the best course of action is to walk away and wait for the next nomination. Keeping your budget intact is one of the best paths to dominating the mid to late stages of an auction draft, so make sure you spend some time attempting to set approximate budgets or limits for some of the elite players.
Action: Participating in some mock drafts can help somewhat in this regard as it will give you a general idea of how much players are going for and what your salary rankings should be. Simply writing out key numbers can help you visualize and set hard stops once bidding gets too high.
Nominate undesirable players
Theory: This is a small but easy way to get ahead in an auction draft. Since you’ll obviously have your list of preferred players, one way to gain an advantage is to try and break other people’s budgets by getting them to bid on players you’d rather avoid early on in the draft. If other members of your league have spent big on a couple of stud running backs already, when the elite running back you’re targeting comes around, it’s quite likely that they’ll be less willing to engage you in a bidding war, giving you a better chance of acquiring your player at a value price.
Action: Again, a little simple prep can go a long way to achieving an edge. Write down rankings of players you have little to no interest in and nominate them early. Additionally, mind the format of the league. If it’s a full PPR league, nominating running backs with less receiving ability early can be a good way of dwindling your opponent's bankroll and not losing out on more elite full PPR league targets.
Be ready to jump on value in auction drafts
Theory: Auction drafts can be longer and, at points, will even get a little tedious, especially if there’s a run of players that you’re not interested in getting nominated. That said, it really pays to watch every bid. Players will often come up at certain points in the draft who, for one reason or another, just don’t generate much interest. Maybe there’s been a couple of bidding wars in a row, and the aggressive managers are tapped out, or possibly there’s just low sentiment around a player. Either way, value is value, and snagging a player at 15% or more below what his actual auction value should be will almost always help your draft. Be mindful and watch for opportunities to add strength to your roster by scooping up deals when they arise.
Dec 5, 2021; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Chris Godwin (14) reacts after making a catch during the fist quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
Action: Sometimes, just putting out an early bid can do wonders for driving out competition. Most players get nominated with $1.00 bids, so raising the bid by a large increment (say $1.00 to $10.00) can oftentimes give you the appearance of a wild bidder – and scare away other managers who want to avoid bidding wars. If a player’s fair value is $20.00 and you raise the bid from $1.00 to $14.00, you may just get lucky and snag a player for 25-30% less than he should have gone for. Regardless of your approach, always be on the lookout for players who have low bids and little interest.
Watch what other managers
Theory: While auction drafts can take longer and have a little more downtime built into them, using that time to keep an eye on your opponent can be a massive advantage. How different teams are building their rosters can and should affect your strategy on who to go after and who to nominate. If there’s just been a big run on elite quarterbacks, maybe now is the time to nominate a mid-grade player you like at that position because it’s unlikely you’ll get much pushback from the squads who already broke the bank to get a top player at that position. Bringing it back to 2022, if Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Justin Herbert all just went off the board–and they all went for premium prices–maybe now is the time to nominate a Kirk Cousins or Russell Wilson, as many teams will be experiencing quarterback fatigue.
Action: It’s hard to keep track of what 10-12 teams are doing, but, again, a little prep can help. Get an extra mobile device ready prior to the draft and keep it open specifically for the purpose of tracking the movement of your opponents. Also, be sure to pay attention to runs on positions as that can often create fatigue in the bidding and lead to opportunities.
Next-level auction strategies
Strike early in auctions while others are settling in
Theory: While the big names like Jonathan Taylor, Christian McCaffery, and Cooper Kupp will generate tons of bidding, regardless of when they are nominated, oftentimes, the second-tier of players will go underbid early on in a draft. Nobody wants to overspend early (especially on a player with an ADP less than 5.0), so being aggressive on the first couple of quality players that come up can often lead to some of the best deals in the draft. This strategy will generally work better among a more experienced group, but it’s not outlandish to see some of the best deals come early on while managers are settling in.
Action: This one requires a lot of subtlety and a quick reading of the room. If a quality second-tier player comes up in the first couple of nominations, and you don’t see many of your opponents bidding, it might be time to get aggressive and see if you can’t snag a quick win (and a great deal). While you want to avoid overspending early, deals are deals, and you can’t take any leftover cash with you, so be ready to strike fast early on.
Have an auction endgame plan
Theory: The final round of nominations in an auction draft can often be some of the most vital for putting together a solid overall team. Once teams are left with just a few spots to fill, the NFL player pool will be sparse, with few quality names remaining. If you still have a budget left, then you can potentially take advantage by nominating players with a bid larger than $1.00 (and thereby shutting out your opponents with smaller bankrolls). Additionally, if there are a lot of teams left with just the minimum amount (who can’t bid above $1.00), then this is the time to be a bully and ensure they don’t get quality names for cheap prices.
Conversely, if you are one of the teams left who barely has any money left to spend, you need to be careful about who you nominate. If there are a couple of sleepers you really want for your bench, sometimes the best move will be to wait until anyone with a budget is done drafting before nominating them. That will avoid having your choices sniped by players who still have money left over.
Action: Auction end games take some getting used to. It’s OK to fill out your final couple of spots in an auction draft with $1.00 players (and likely a good sign as you’ve acquired some quality names along the way) but getting the players you want late in drafts requires some moxy. This is again where mock drafts come in handy, as they will let you experience how the final stages of an auction fantasy football draft play out.
Auction vs Snake drafts
As mentioned above, auction drafts have a lot of complexities about them. Since they involve managing a budget and participating in a bidding process, experience in areas like valuation, purchasing, and sales can actually be pretty helpful. This can also be a potential drawback for some people too, though, who want a simpler process that traditional snake drafts offer. Below we’ve outlined the main differences between the two different formats to help you understand auctions a little better and how they differ from their more common cousin, the snake draft.
Jan 9, 2022; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14) waits in the tunnel before the game against the Green Bay Packers at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports
Auction drafts vs. Snake drafts
- In an auction draft, you can bid on anyone.
- Auctions allow you a shot at every single player in the NFL player pool – unlike a snake draft where players picking in front of you can and will routinely snipe your favorite players.
- An auction draft allows you more time to map and plan out a strategy.
- Time in between nominations–and when a player is up that you’re not interested in–means more time for thinking and planning.
- Snake drafts often only allow 30 to:60 seconds for you to pick. You have to be very reactive and often change plans on the fly with little time to think.
- You’re more self-reliant in an auction draft and less reliant on luck.
- Balancing a budget and creating a team from scratch means you are more in control of your team, compared to a snake draft where the draft order and player ADP rankings play a huge role.
- Luck plays a larger role as the random order of a snake draft determines who gets a crack at the very top players in the draft.
- Auction drafts take longer.
- Auctions can drag out. Everyone needs to fill out bench spots, and with each player getting bid on, the process simply takes much longer than snake drafts, which can be completed in under an hour depending on the settings.
- Auction strategy is more complex.
- Budget management, bidding and nomination strategy, and roster construction are a huge part of having a successful auction.
- Auctions are more nuanced than snake drafts, but, as a result, a successful auction draft will require more experience and preparation than a snake draft.
