Auction Drafts
There’s nothing more American than an Auction Draft. In an auction, you can draft whoever you want and construct however you want. You want your favorite player? Great, you can have him. You don’t feel like drafting for a while? Fuck it, go get sauced at the pub. That’s the problem with Snake Drafts. In a traditional draft, everything is given to you in an orderly fashion. In an Auction, no one gives it to you. You have to take it. This style of drafting rewards preparation, experience, and strategy in a way Snake Drafts never come close to. Similar to poker, the main focus of the Auction is reading and manipulating your opponent, making it the World Series of Drafting. The only downside is managing a budget, which can be problematic for someone who never looks at price tags. But don’t worry, you don’t need an Accounting degree from Cambridge to draft a team. By the end of this article, you’ll understand the Cardinal Rules of drafting and hopefully wake up to see what you’ve been missing with Auctions.
Part III - Texas Draft’em
You know what I like about restaurants? You can learn a lot, watching things eat.
Costello - The Departed
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The American Dream
There’s nothing more American than an Auction Draft. In an auction, you can draft whoever you want and construct however you want. You want your favorite player? Great, you can have him. You don’t feel like drafting for a while? Fuck it, go get sauced at the pub. That’s the problem with Snake Drafts. In a traditional draft, everything is given to you in an orderly fashion. In an Auction, no one gives it to you. You have to take it. This style of drafting rewards preparation, experience, and strategy in a way Snake Drafts never come close to. Similar to poker, the main focus of the Auction is reading and manipulating your opponent, making it the World Series of Drafting. The only downside is managing a budget, which can be problematic for someone who never looks at price tags. But don’t worry, you don’t need an Accounting degree from Cambridge to draft a team. By the end of this article, you’ll understand the Cardinal Rules of drafting and hopefully wake up to see what you’ve been missing with Auctions.
The First Cardinal Rule
The first cardinal rule of auction drafts is preparation. Having your rankings, plans for roster construction, and budgets ahead of time will inform you if the player up for bid is worth chasing or folding on. It begins with setting a budget.
How To Set A Budget
Set your budget based on WoRP. With WoRP, you’ll know the hierarchy of different positions to target. With this in mind, set a budget of 23-21% for the highest tier of players at the most valuable position, 19-17% for the top players at the 2nd most valuable position, 16-14% for the best tier at the 3rd best position, and 13-11% for the best players at the least consequential position. From there, set a lower budget for the subsequent tiers at each position.
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I hate to break it to ya, but you can’t afford multiple Tier 1 players. Don’t be a freakin’ idiot and spend 23% for Lamar Jackson, 19% for Ja’Marr Chase, and have 42% of your funds allocated to only two players. The rest of your roster will be trash.
The First Chip To Fall
After you set your tiers and budgets, the most important thing to pay attention to is the Market Defining Players. Once a player like Josh Allen, Justin Jefferson, Bijan Robinson, Brock Bowers, or any of the other elite players in their tiers is claimed, their price has set the market. Once this happens, you have to decide if you’re comfortable with the market price, or if you would rather wait to operate at a possible cheaper price in a lower tier.
Going Over Budget
If the price exceeds your Max Bid allocation, Stay Away! Any time you decide to bid on a player that is ABOVE your budget, you HAVE to lower your budget for another position accordingly. So if you bid 3% more than what you had budgeted at QB to land Jayden Daniels, you have to subtract 3% from another position. Any time you go over budget, you are sacrificing one tier of players for every 2-3% you go over budget.
The inverse is true as well. Claiming a player at a cheaper price gives you the flexibility to outbid other managers on critical players or claim multiple players in higher tiers.
The Second Cardinal Rule
The second cardinal rule is tracking the other managers. With most of your hard work completed before the auction begins, you are freed up to focus on managing your opponents.
Reading Your Opponents
You can read another manager’s cards with their bids, how much funds they have left, the player pool available, and what they have left to fill on their roster. It’s for this reason I advocate for slow auctions. You only have time to focus on sticking to your budget in fast auctions. Anticipating the other managers’ next move and disrupting their plans is why Auction is 10 times more satisfying than a standard draft.
The Third Cardinal Rule
The overall goal of an auction draft is to deplete your opponent's funds on players that you DON’T want so that you can outspend the other managers on the players you DO want. That is why the third cardinal rule, and the most fun, is sabotage.
The First Moves
To get the ball rolling, the elite players are often the first ones up for bid for two reasons: A) They define the market price for their position. B) They also exhaust the most significant chunk of funds from managers. The less money a manager has, the less influence and power they have on the draft. If you love Puka Nacua and BTJ, nominate players like Chase, Jefferson, Lamb, ARSB, and Nabers first. This forces the hands of the other managers to deplete large sums of auction dollars for players you care less about.
The Biggest Tell
If a manager is constantly the highest bidder on a player, chances are they want that player. Armed with this assumption, it’s critical not to allow other managers to get away with winning a key player below market price. This is known as a “steal.” If Josh Allen is up for bid, and he’s going for less than a previous won bid of Lamar Jackson, it's pivotal that you drive up the price to be level with Lamar’s if you're confident the other manager will continue to call your bid. If they call your bluff, your consolation is Josh Allen at market price. The best advantage is knowing the other manager LOVES the player up for bid and depleting their piggy bank further by pushing them past their comfort zone.
The Fourth Cardinal Rule
My fourth cardinal rule is to remain in the top two of funds throughout the draft. With this spending power, you can be involved and influence the entire Auction. If you’re active throughout the draft and bid on most players, including players you don’t want, other managers will have difficulty reading your intentions. To help mask your plans, I recommend waiting until the initial flurry of bids on a particular player dies down before casting your first bid. Force it to become a 2-3 horse race between you and the other manager(s), driving the price up to the market for that tier and perhaps even past it if you’re bold.
With spending power, you can force the hands of others, land the players you want, and achieve the critical depth for your roster. Speaking from experience, you do not want to be the team with 3 studs and 27 duds.
The Fifth Cardinal Rule
The final cardinal rule is patience. In the typical auction draft, four to six of the top players at each position go off the board, along with 75% of the funds from half of the managers. With so many managers now having to watch the Auction from the sideline, there’s less competition for the players still left. With less competition, there’s a higher likelihood for “steals” the longer a draft goes on. There’s nothing more gut-wrenching than seeing a top player sneak their way to the end of the auction and be won by another manager at a fraction of the market cost.
But keep in mind, the longer a draft goes on, the more scarce certain positions become. This is especially important in SuperFlex leagues. You don’t want to be the manager who was too stingy to bid on any Tier 1 or 2 QB, and instead you pay Tier 1 prices for a Tier 4 or 5 QB out of desperation before the position dried up. You can avoid this by staying involved in as many bids throughout the draft. It’s better to be stuck with a higher tier player at market price that you don’t love than stuck with a bottom tiered player you hate. Auctions are won by being frugal and selective, not cheap and hesitant.
No More Pencils, No More Books
In life, there are always the haves and the have-nots. The have-nots have been told “draft him,” “sell him,” “buy this,” or “subscribe to that.” If you go for that sort of thing, I don't know what to do for you. The haves make their own way. No one gives it to you. You have to take it. Non Serviam. When you decide to be something, you can be it. That's what they don't tell you. You don’t have to be a product of your environment. Make your environment a product of you.
The Dossier
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The Trade Chart
The Startup Draft sets the tone for the league. From the onset, those with a champion mindset want to pursue every advantage they can. Trading during the Startup is one way contenders separate themselves from the rest of the league. Trading up at a value for a cornerstone player or trading back to accumulate assets are great paths toward imposing your will on the league. All juggernaut teams are conceived during the Startup Draft. This article will explain how you can navigate through the frenzy of the draft and position your team for future success.
Part II - Take It or Leave It
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The Startup Draft sets the tone for the league. From the onset, those with a champion mindset want to pursue every advantage they can. Trading during the Startup is one way contenders separate themselves from the rest of the league. Trading up at a value for a cornerstone player or trading back to accumulate assets are great paths toward imposing your will on the league. All juggernaut teams are conceived during the Startup Draft. This article will explain how you can navigate through the frenzy of the draft and position your team for future success.
Things to Remember
The best trades are often the ones you don't make - There are so many trades we wish we could take back, and there are many other deals we look back on that we're grateful never came to fruition. Unless you love the trade, don't go through with it.
Prep - To get the most out of this article, it is essential to do some prep beforehand. A great place to start is with Part I of this series, Snake Draft Checklist. But at the very least, it is pivotal that you map out your favorite and least favorite rounds of the draft based on consensus ADP. There is no point to a Trade Back Chart if you don't know what rounds you want to capitalize on and which you want to avoid.
Let It Be Known - Right before the draft kicks off, declare in the chat, “If anyone wants to trade during the draft, come to me first!” You want to communicate that you’re open to trading and have come prepared to make the deal as painless as possible.
KEYNOTE—The following charts are a starting place for your trading considerations. You want to use these as a framework based on the rounds you’re targeting to avoid being exploited through improper compensation.
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KEYNOTE—About the Startup Values Chart, it is important to remember that these values are an approximation. When you trade a pick away, you are also trading away the “player” that could have been selected at that spot (e.g., if you trade away the 1.01, you are trading away Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, or Jayden Daniels). So make sure that your compensation for the pick you are trading away is equal to the value of that player.
When Trading…
The first four rounds are the most important of the Startup Draft. If you trade in these rounds, be sure to have at least two rounds of selections at your disposal before you decide to trade away another pick (e.g., if you trade away your 1st, do not trade away your 2nd or 3rd).
Do not trade away any picks in consecutive rounds through rounds 5-8 (e.g., if you trade away your 5th, do not trade away your 6th).
After round 8, feel free to trade in consecutive rounds (e.g., if you trade away your 9th, you may also trade away your 10th).
Do not ever trade back more than 2 consecutive rounds (e.g., if you trade away your 11th, DO NOT trade away your 12th and 13th as well).
Do not trade away more picks than what you receive back in compensation (i.e., do not send away 3 picks to get only 2 picks back).
Pay attention to what part of the round the picks are located (i.e., is their selection in the beginning with slots 1-4, the middle with 5-8, or at the end with 9-12).
If the pick you are sending away is early (slots 1-4), then ask if the last pick in your compensation package can be moved up (e.g., if you trade away the 1.01, instead of asking for their 2nd, 4th, and 8th in return, ask for their 2nd, 4th, and 7th as compensation).
The Dossier
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Snake Draft Checklist
Keep in mind that your drafted team isn’t your FINAL team. Your roster could look significantly different by the end of the season if you’re active in free agency and trading for players.
But at the end of the day, this is your team and the one you’re taking into battle. So draft the players you’re willing to get in a bunker with and Unleash Hell!
Part I - Unleashing Hell
Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity.
Maximus - Gladiator
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Before The Draft
Portfolios
Diversification is Key when you Play in Multiple Leagues
Keep track of your players’ exposure rate across all leagues.
Would not recommend rostering a player worth a 2nd+ on more than 40% of your leagues in case of possible injury.
Create a List of your Favorite Players
List the top players in the draft in tiers ranging from your Favorite to Least Favorite.
Track the number of shares you have of each player. Aim to acquire more of your favorite players and avoid your least favorite.
Resources
Create your Rankings for 13-15 Rounds
Rank your players within tiers to aid with possible trade-back scenarios.
Do not go nuts putting players in tiers that differ widely from consensus.
This may become an issue during a trade where the compensation you seek doesn’t align with your trade partner’s value of the player.
Create a roadmap, knowing ahead of time:
Each tier's location on the Draft Board
Where the best rounds are
Where the worst rounds are
Where the gaps are at each position
Have the Consensus ADP Rankings Open
Most people draft based on consensus ADP.
Have it open to anticipate your league mates’ moves.
Consult Roster Construction and WoRP
Create a checklist based on your league’s recommended Roster Construction
Prioritize the positions with the highest WoRP advantage in your league
In The Draft
ADP
Respect the ADP Market
Don’t be too high or too low on players.
Do not select a player more than a few spots ahead or behind ADP in the First Round
This ADP gap will increase as the draft progresses - By the Fourth Round, you may be willing to take someone a whole round earlier or later than ADP recommends.
Pick A Direction
After Round 4, Decide if your Team is Primed to Compete in Year 1 or Later
Choose the path of least resistance
If more than half of your league is constructed to Win-Now, prioritize acquiring younger assets with upside and trading back to amass draft capital (or vice versa).
Draft a Healthy Mixture of Players
Drafting all rookies is a risky venture considering their hit rates.
Drafting all older players for the sake of winning now is also very risky if they underperform or get hurt.
The best strategy is to draft a mix of players with high upside and/or a track record of high production.
Tie-Breakers
Consider Both Player’s Market Sentiment
Who will be easier to trade?
You take on a lot of risk if you are higher on a player no one else is.
You may not be able to trade them away if the player underperforms.
Do Not Buy Into Players Whose Value Has Increased Based Upon Hype
Do not draft players at their peak ADP.
It’s better to wait and see if the player can be acquired for cheaper later on than pay a premium.
Players Who Fall
These players can be a massive value or a falling knife you want to avoid.
It is more difficult to trade away players your leaguemates skip over in the draft.
Diversification
If you are debating between two players in the same tier, draft the player you have lower exposure to.
Do not draft players in a lower tier for the sake of your portfolio.
Do Not Chase After Rookies
Rookie Hype can cloud your judgment to the point you overextend your resources to acquire more shares of them.
About 3/4 of all rookies will lose value after their first year; acquire them in year 2.
Risky Players
Avoid players on a downward trajectory following a disappointing season.
Avoid players close to the end or past their peak years of production.
Keep in mind that your drafted team isn’t your FINAL team. Your roster could look significantly different by the end of the season if you’re active in free agency and trading for players.
But at the end of the day, this is your team and the one you’re taking into battle. So draft the players you’re willing to get in a bunker with and Unleash Hell!
The Dossier
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