We’ve moved on from non-PPR to PPR leagues in fantasy football.

We’ve moved from two wide receiver leagues to three wideout setups in fantasy football.

Now it’s time for the fantasy football community to move on from snake drafts and move to – auctions.

In this article I’ll discuss everything you need to know about auction drafts from how to set up an auction league to what strategies you will need to employ in order to have success in one.

WHAT IS AN AUCTION?

In an auction you get the chance to roster any player you want. Whereas in a snake draft you’re stuck taking whomever you want when it’s your turn to select a player, an auction allows you the freedom to simply have at it and grab whomever you desire since you can spend your cash anyway you want until you run out of it. Any player you want is an option for you in this format as you’re no longer left to simply take the best player available when you draft like the scenario that exists in a snake draft.

WHY SHOULD YOU GIVE AN AUCTION A TRY?

It’s fun. It’s intriguing. It allows you to roster the players you want.

I think this last point is the one you should focus on if you just aren’t sure about auctions.

If you have the 10th pick in the draft this season you aren’t getting Odell Beckham.

If you have the 11th pick in the draft, you ain’t getting Antonio Brown.

In an auction you can roster not only Beckham but also Brown. That’s right, you can get both.

In an auction you’re free to roster whomever you want until your budget precludes you from doing so.

WHAT SHOULD YOUR LEAGUE SETUP BE?

You can set your league up any way you would like. However, there are some generally set rules in the fantasy universe terms of roster size. I would suggest that you utilize a point-per-reception setup with the following roster spots in play.

1 QB

2 RB 

3 WR

1 TE

1 Flex (RB/WR/TE)

1 Kicker

1 Defense 

6 Bench Players

You can remove a wide receiver or a bench player or add a second quarterback if you like. Heck, you can do whatever you want to. But the above setup is pretty much the “standard” in fantasy football at the moment.

WHAT SHOULD YOUR BUDGET BE?

I’ve heard $10, $20, $100, $150, $200, $250, $260, $400, $3,000,000 amounts to spend on players. The truth of the matter is that there is no more infuriating set of numbers than what folks deem the proper setup in fantasy football leagues. Let me make it simple for you.

Use either (A) $100 or (B) $200.

That’s how all guides and rankings will be setup – using one of those two numbers ($100 or $200).

I would prefer $200. Here is why.

There are simply more units to be bid when you use $200. There won’t be those battles where whomever tosses out $3 first gets a player because you only have $100 total to spend. Using $200 obviously gives you more than double the units to bid which allows you the freedom to roster players you want, and it also allows for more spirited bidding which is never a bad thing.

HOW SHOULD YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY?

You can do this any way you want. It’s entirely up to you.

You can roster four players for 75 percent of your budget and win.

You can roster an entire lineup of players with none costing more than 15 percent of your budget and win.

There is no 100 percent certain path.

That said, I do believe there are two main choices people make in auctions; Stars and Scrubs OR The Balanced Approach.

If you follow the Stars and Scrubs approach you decide to spend big on a couple of players and fill out your roster with cheap options. This is the style people employ when you hear them say they are considering building their team around Julio Jones, Odell Beckham and David Johnson. The S&S folks go super heavy to get the top names in the game. They will blow their budget to add two, three or four stars and then end up with a roster filled with players who cost a couple of bucks. This strategy can totally work, but there are a couple main pitfalls. (1) If one of your stars is hurt, since you spent so much to get them at the expense of building strong depth, you could be in a world of hurt. (2) It only takes one other person in your league to be thinking the same thing to drive up the price of the players you are targeting which could blow your plan (I’ll dive into this more below).

The other major theory is the Balanced Approach. This is the strategy I normally use, and the one I would suggest you employ if you are new to auctions. In this setup you spread your money more evenly throughout your entire roster. You may not have that top-10 player on your team, but you can roster a host of really good players that doesn’t leave you scrambling late taking shots in the dark trying to fill out your roster with player’s no one else wants. If you want to try this approach I’ll even supply you with a guide how to best do that.

*The following dollar amounts are based on a $200 setup. You could roughly cut the numbers in half if using a $100 setup.

1 QB - $20

2 RB - $30, $30

3 WR - $30, $20, $10

1 TE - $10

1 Flex (RB/WR/TE) - $25

1 Kicker - $1

1 Defense - $2

Bench six players: $22 left to spend

Now that we’re through the setup, let’s talk about what happens when the action is hot and heavy.

DRAFT DAY TIPS

1 – Have a plan, but also have a backup plan.

You will hear folks say I’m gonna spend 70 percent of my budget on wide receivers.

You will hear folks say I’m going to build my team around ODB, Randall Cobb and Rob Gronkowski.

You can win doing either of those things.

However, what if someone else is willing to vastly outpace the reasonable cost for any of the three players? Will you keep spending just to get the three you want? What if Jordy Nelson falls to you at 75 percent of the cost you had him listed for making him too good a “bargain” for you to pass on. Are you still going to roster Cobb and go with two Packers wideouts each week? What if Greg Olsen comes up for bid before Gronk and he goes for 20 percent less than you had him listed for. Are you simply going to pass on him because you want Gronk passing on a good deal with Olsen for the hope that you will be able to get Gronkowski at a fair price? Seems risky to me.

Having a plan is great, but always make sure you have a fall back plan as well.

2 – Don’t get laser focused on one player.

I hear all the time that people say – I’m love Julio Jones so I’m going to start my team with him. Let’s say you view Jones as a $55 player in a $200 setup. If the bidding stops short of $55 you will be pumped up to get Jones for less than your target cost. However, what if someone else is dead set on Jones as well? If the bidding goes to $56 will you say $57? What if the bidding goes to $59, will you say $60? You have to know when it’s time to bow out of the bidding – even if it’s for the player you really, really want. You have to decide how far you’re willing to push things, but in many instances it’s unwise to blow the budget on a player.

I would suggest the following.

Remember above where I listed the dollar amounts in the Balanced Approach section? Let’s apply that same thought here.

Instead of saying that Jones is a must have and you spending whatever you have to in order to roster him, why don’t you say that you want to have one of the top-5 wideouts? That way you can roster a star at the position without having to drastically overpay for one of them. If guys one, two and three go for too much, let them. When WR4 comes up and his price is reasonable jump in on the bidding. Another way to accomplish this goals is to say you want a Tier 1 wideout, two Tier 2 running backs etc. We all have our favorite targets, but getting vapor lock on one guy can sometimes cause problems that your bankroll has a hard time overcoming.

3 – Understand the player pool implicitly.

Who is the backup to Matt Forte?

Which secondary wideout, if any, are worth rostering in Cleveland?

If you wait on the tight end position will there still be solid options for you to turn to late in the auction?

Things move fast in an auction so you simply have to be able to, in an instance, know the value of a player. If you’re trying to figure things out on the fly it’s fairly certain things won’t go well.

You cannot “win” an auction if you don’t know the player pool.

4 – Make sure you know the values of players before you start the draft.

How much are you willing to spend on Forte? How much is his handcuff – I see that call as Bilal Powell – worth? How much are you willing to spend on a Cleveland rookie like Corey Coleman? You need to know the values of all the players or you’re sunk. This leads into point #5.

5 – Create a system that allows you to succeed.

Here’s how Ray does it. You don’t have to do it like this of course, but this is the system that works for me.

I take one source to the draft. I don’t have six websites open and three magazines. I have one source. That source, basically a spread sheet, includes the following:

Players listed by position.

Players listed by team.

Players listed by tier.

Dollar amount targets for each player.

Bye weeks for each player.

That’s what I use.

I would also caution against using technology, and by that I mean a computer. What if your computer goes on the fritz? What if your battery dies? What if the internet signal doesn’t work?

Find a system that works for you and you will greatly benefit from it.

6 – During the nomination process don’t be afraid to mix things up.

You have an order, in an auction, for bidding. It’s the same each “round.” That’s the only thing that is set at the start. You are free to nominate any player for bidding at any point. In nearly every auction the first couple of names will be something like Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham and DeAndre Hopkins. People are so amped up to get that star player on their team that they toss them out immediately. Totally fine to do this of course, but I would ask you to consider doing the following.

What’s wrong with nominating Duke Johnson or Kamar Aiken right off the top?

Folks are so focused on the big name players that it’s quite possible that going with a mid-level player early will totally throw them off. You might be able to get a great bargain but at the very least you will be able to get a guy you really want.

Another thought.

Why not throw out a kicker or defense early? While folks are thinking Brown, ODB and Andrew Luck, who the heck is going to bid two dollars on Stephen Gostkowski?

7 – Understand how bidding works.

Change who you bid on.

If you only bid on players, you want others in the draft can continually price enforce on those players and make you pay full price to roster said players. If you only throw out for bidding a player you have no interest in, people will recognize that too. If you don’t want Pierre Garcon for a dollar you had better not nominate him on the chance that no one else bids.

You might also benefit from using “jump bids.” Someone will say Travis Benjamin $1. Then someone will go $2. Then someone will go $3 while another goes $4. If you’re willing to go to $4 on a Travis, and you really want him, after that opening bid comes out for Benjamin at a dollar why don’t you immediately go to $3 if not $4. That often times shuts the bidding down and allows you to get a player.

Oh, and don’t be the moron, yes I used that word on purpose, who bids $1 on Adrian Peterson. Don’t be the even bigger moron who then says $4. The draft will last for like four hours if folks do that. We all know AD is going for a big number, so don’t waste everyone’s time with stupid bids.

A final thing to track, and something more folks that you would think totally miss; pay attention to what others are doing and what they need. If you notice Player X is always bidding on rookies keep nominating them to deplete his funds. If you notice Player A, B and C need a quarterbacks and you already have one, nominate a quarterback and force others to spend their money to get one. Pay attention to see if 10 of the 12 teams in your league already have their tight end. You clearly have no reason to nominate an end if you are one of the two teams that doesn’t have one since it’s unlikely anyone else will be looking that way.

Don’t just track your team --- pay attention to what others are doing as well.

8 – Be mentally sharp at the draft.

No drinking at the draft, no partying the night before and no cell phones during the draft as you chat with your significant other. Pay attention to what you are doing. You’re there for a reason. You can get bombed with your homies after the draft, there will surely be time for that.

9 – Have fun, even if you make mistakes.

We all, even those of us who have done auctions for a long time, will make a mistake at some point in a draft. You will realize you should have kept bidding on a player you lost. Maybe you spent too much to roster the guy you got. No matter. It happens. Your team isn’t one player, it’s legion. You will do much better in an auction scenario if you have a short memory. You can dwell on any mistakes you made after the draft.

Have fun at an auction. Drafting is the best time of the year. Enjoy it!