Try auctions for more freedom, more strategy
SO YOU’VE put on your big-boy pants for fantasy football and you’ve got yourself an auction draft, huh? We don’t want to knock the snake-style format, but when it comes to those, your opponents’ selections have as much to do with picking your team as your own personal rankings do.
In an auction, everyone is available to you no matter the nomination order, and with some savvy bidding and gamesmanship, you can build your roster around the players you covet most. You won’t get everyone you want, but you certainly can have most.
The trick to a successful auction draft is establishing a strong game plan. It doesn’t matter if your strategy is a stars-and-scrubs approach or a more balanced distribution of funds, you just have to stick to the plan and the budget. Adjustments always get made on the fly, but if you deviate from the plan too much, it can throw off your entire draft.
Once you’ve got your targets established and you’ve decided how much to allocate for each position, make a contingency plan. There always is that one guy who covets a player to the point of over-bidding, and if that’s one of your targets, you may have to let go. Organizing your player rankings by tiers is the best solution. That way, if you miss your primary target, you still are using those funds for a comparable player.
Now that your strategy is in place, it is all about how you present yourself in the draft room. Don’t be predictable. Pick and choose your moments to be aggressive. When it comes to a player you want, most people let the bidding slow down before stepping in with their own. That is fine, but if you repeat that behavior every time you want a guy, the league will catch on and start bidding you up. Attack early on some and they won’t know who you really want.
And of course, keep your wits about you. Someone always is armed with a case of beer heading into the draft, and having too many double-barrel IPAs will turn your poker face into an easily-read Kool-Aid smile. There is a reason they call it a war room, and if your mind is foggy, you’ll lose every battle. Let someone else play the goofball. You don’t need to be that guy.
Focus is going to be your best friend in an auction. It will help you nominate players with purpose. It will help keep you from getting caught up in a bidding war. It will help you maintain your budget. Keeping track of players available and your bid money is hard enough. Losing focus only will make it worse. Ever see someone pull a thread and unravel a sweater? Your focus is that thread, and that sweater is your entire fantasy football season.
Howard Bend er is the VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter@ ro to buzz guy and catch him on the“Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the S ir iusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 4-6p.m.