One of the best ways to kick off your new dynasty fantasy football league is with an auction startup draft. With an auction comes a whole new set of challenges you must prepare for. What is an auction draft, how does it differ from a traditional snake draft, and how can you best prepare for an auction dynasty startup draft?
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What Is an Auction Draft?
Most of you are probably familiar with the concepts of snake and auction drafts. For those that aren’t, hopefully, by the time you read this, you understand enough about auction drafts to want to give it a shot.
In a snake draft, there is a predetermined order of selection. Each team makes one pick, and then the next team goes, and the next, and so on.
In an auction draft, players are nominated in the same manner as in a snake draft. Then, there is a bidding war — just like an auction. Teams bid on players, and the team with the highest bid wins that player.
How Do Auction Drafts Differ From Snake Drafts?
In snake drafts, fantasy managers are limited by their draft slot. Your draft position dictates what subset of players are realistically available to you. Based on when your team’s name is pulled out of the proverbial hat, there are combinations of players you will simply not be able to draft.
In an auction draft, fantasy football managers can, in theory, draft any player they want.
Auction values and auction team roster construction are very often framed in the context of snake drafts. Right or wrong, the reason that is the case is that snake drafts are far more prevalent, thus making it easier for the average person, including the non-auction manager, to understand in context.
In snake drafts, if you want two players that have a similar ADP, unless you pick on the corners, you have no shot at drafting both of them. Your options are to reach a full round for one of them or just pick one.
In auction drafts, if you prefer two guys that typically go in the middle of the third round as opposed to a single second-round player, you’re free to make that decision.
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Have you ever found yourself staring at the top available players in a snake draft and thought to yourself, “I don’t want any of these guys.”? If you’ve been doing this anywhere near as long as I have, you’ve undoubtedly experienced that.
Oftentimes, you look at the guys going in the subsequent two or three rounds and wish you could just “trade down” and take multiple of them. Auction drafts allow you to essentially do just that. If you don’t want any of the players that typically go in rounds 4-5 in a snake draft, just don’t draft them. Do you want to shell out for two top-five players? Go for it.
The primary benefit of auction drafts is the increased control you have over constructing your roster. This is especially beneficial in dynasty startups because these are players you’re going to have for, quite possibly, their entire careers.
In redraft leagues, you don’t really want to draft players you don’t particularly like just because ADP says you should. That is even more pronounced in dynasty leagues. When you’re drafting players who will presumably be on your roster for the entirety of their careers, you want them to be players you believe in.
I never want to spend early-round picks on guys because I feel like I have to. Auction drafts make that possible without having to rely on finding a trade partner to trade down.
Fantasy Football Auction Draft Strategies
Fantasy football is dominated by snake drafts. While undoubtedly the most common draft format, it’s not my favorite. Auction drafts, on the other hand, I absolutely love.
If you’re looking to join a new dynasty league, I cannot recommend enough having an auction startup draft. In fact, if I were to join a new dynasty league, I wouldn’t even think about participating unless the startup was an auction. Now, let’s get into some dynasty startup auction draft strategies.
Stars and Scrubs
The strategy known as stars and scrubs is, well, exactly how it sounds. Your goal is to allocate the majority of your budget toward your starting lineup while backfilling your bench with a bunch of $1-2 players.
Depth is far more important in dynasty than it is in redraft. That’s why this strategy is more geared toward redraft. But that doesn’t mean it can’t work in dynasty leagues as well.
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Novice auction drafters often make the mistake of trying to have a complete team. In doing so, they often overlook the fact that only the players in your starting lineup score points on any given week. If you can make those players better at the cost of your bench, it gives you an advantage.
Of course, there are risks. This draft strategy leaves you vulnerable to injuries and underperformance. However, in a dynasty startup, it can be advantageous, given the long-term nature of dynasty leagues.
Those $1-2 players you’re taking to fill your final 10 or so roster spots will include young players with plausible upside. If you can hit on a couple of them while having an elite starting lineup, your roster will be even more stacked in future seasons.
As Herm Edwards so aptly put it, you play to win the game. Drafting safety valves and trying to build a balanced roster isn’t always the best way to go. It’s a great way to ensure you won’t have a last-place team, but the goal is to win.
The biggest mistake I made in my early auction days was putting together a roster full of good players but lacking great ones. It was a fantastic way to make the playoffs and lose.
A Balanced Approach
Unless you skipped over the previous section, you already know how I feel about this strategy. I’m not exactly a fan. Nevertheless, it is objectively a strategy that exists. So, I would be doing you all a disservice not to discuss it.
The balanced approach is putting together a deep roster with several usable players at each position. It doesn’t mean you necessarily avoid the elite players, but the general philosophy is to have multiple players on your bench that you’re comfortable starting.
As I mentioned above, the easiest way to convey value in auction drafts is by comparing them to snake drafts. It can be helpful to illustrate a point. Think of a balanced approach as having a starting lineup comprised of a bunch of third to sixth-round players. You won’t have a single player in your starting lineup that shouldn’t be there. At the same time, your roster will likely lack those players who can win you a matchup by themselves.
If you were matched up against a stars and scrubs team, your opponent would have a handful of players that terrify you. But as you get deeper down the starting roster, you will find your opponent starting players that might not even make your roster while you still have viable top 24/36 players in your lineup. In theory, that is where you make up for not having elite talent.
A balanced roster will consistently produce at or above the league median. Your team will be unlikely to completely faceplant any given week. You will dare other teams to outscore you. The idea is based on probability — if you’re slightly above average compared to the rest of the league, you will win more than you lose. That’s true. It mostly works.
You will likely make the playoffs at a high rate. And once you get in, anything can happen, in theory. However, to rattle off the three consecutive wins needed to win a championship, you typically need upside. That’s where this approach can backfire.
How To Navigate a Dynasty Startup Auction Draft
The key tenet of auction drafting is every draft is different. You can look at 100 snake drafts occurring within days of each other, and they’ll look similar. No two auction drafts will be identical — and the difference in the cost of players will be stark.
Understand what you want to do and be prepared to adapt. Read the room early. Deduce what type of managers you’re drafting against. Are they hoarding money early? Is the value now, or do you think it will be later? Are players going for more than they should?
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Look out for other articles going into more detail on the nuances and intricacies of fantasy football auction draft strategy as we get deeper into the offseason. There is so much more nuance to an auction draft than a snake draft.
Understanding player values, positional values, and how the amount you can expect to pay for a player shifts based on what’s already happened is paramount to your success. We at PFN will guide you every step of the way.
