By: Kurt Turner
https://fantasyknuckleheads.com
December 19, 2012
My son had the flu this week; it’s pretty much an epidemic here in Mississippi. To make matters worse, my Saints shutting out Tampa was overshadowed by the Falcons shutting out the Giants, really? But worst of all, I failed miserably in our websites fantasy football auction draft, my second fantasy football auction draft to date. I made one massive mistake that I’ve never overlooked in standard snake drafts but, we’ll get to that later.
First, Let's Break Down the Auction Draft
Format of the Auction Draft League:
- 10 Team
- PPR with 6 points for QB TD + Return Yardage points
- Auction Draft
- No waiver budget
Setting the Draft night stage:
- Late
- Drunk
- Video conference draft via a Google hangout (follow us on G+), watch below.
As you can see, if you skip around in the video above, we’re all slowly decaying as time and alcohol take their toll. Nevertheless, we all had a blast, such a blast that I let loose a bit much and made the biggest auction draft NO- NO of my fantasy football career, we'll get to that later.
Worse Mistake(s) Ever Made + A Couple Full Scale Dirty Tactics
Lesson #1 – Don’t be distracted
Headed into the draft, my focus was on getting everyone tied into the “hangout” which was being broadcast live, recorded and posted to youtube.com. Also, we had to jump between hosting providers because NFL.com wouldn’t let me pause the draft when several members didn’t show up on time.
Lesson #2 – Don’t worry about your Auction Budget
After a few players were drafted, it seemed the price was too steep for top tier players. I was concerned about my auction budget, to compensate for a perceived lack of budget I targeted guys I knew would go “cheap” but still had massive potential, guys like Darren McFadden and Demarco Murray. In doing so, I invested too much stock in potential, bad fantasy mutual fund… you want guaranteed stable work horses at all cost, strategies about this later.
Lesson #3 – Don’t think you know it all.
While my team is ranked 3rd in points earned, I know I could have drafted a clear point leader if I had prepared. Self perceived “god like” fantasy football drafting expertise really punched me in the nose. The combination of distractions, sleep deprivation and alcohol could have been thwarted with upfront preparation and a good draft cheat sheet. Which I normally prepare for big money leagues, which this was not.
A Couple Full Scale Dirty Tactics
After the draft, I walked away with a couple theoretical tactics that I believe (especially #1) are bullet proof "loop holes" in auction drafts.
#1 Dirty Tactic – Break the bank on 5 top tier players!??!
Normally, in standard drafts, you can’t do this. However, by manipulating your auction draft strategy, you can easily draft 5 top tier players, hear me out! Everyone else is planning a budget for all 9 starters plus their bench, that’s conventional wisdom. This will give them 2, maybe 3 top tier players max.
But you’re thinking outside of the box!
Consider this… your budget is $200… 9 STARTING SLOTS… 1 QB / 2 RB / 2 WR / 1 FLEX / 1 TE / 1 K / 1 DEF. We’re going to draft top tier players for the top 5 scoring slots: 2 RB, 1 QB, 1 FLEX and 1 WR. Your budget hit will be roughly $184 (give or take), leaving you with $16 for the remaining 3 slots excluding your kicker and bench, which you are not concerned about filling during the auction!! More on that later…
- QB - $40
- RB (3x because I like to flex RB) @ $38 each
- WR - $30 (easily sub for top tier TE)
- Damage = $184
Now that you have your top 5 slots filled you’d like to fill the remaining starting slots with sleepers, value picks and/or possible steals. 1 WR, 1 Defense and 1 TE is all that you’re focused on and you have $16 dollars!! So easy!!
- TE - $8
- WR - $6
- Defense - $2 (could sub this 2 bucks for TE @ $10) – only pick if great opening kickoff value.
Everyone laughs at first; they see your bench and kicker slot empty and your budget money all gone. Then they look at your starters and realize your team is undeniably UNBEATABLE! Once the draft ends you IMMEDIATELY fill your bench with sleepers and other value picks to fill bye weeks. Even if there’s an immediate waiver system in place after the draft (not default), or a waiver wire budget, you can execute this strategy without concern. You will have optimized your starting lineup and drafted a clearly elite team at the key positions that matters, damn near all of them LMAO!
Sure caveats exist, but YOU'RE GOING TO KILL IT, in the majority of 10 to 12 team leagues.
#2 Dirty Tactic – Build distractions!
Most of us draft online, so hosting a live “video conference” for FREE during the draft serves as a complete distraction to those ill prepared. Places like www.oovoo.com and www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts offer free online video conference rooms where you can have 10 to 12 of your buddy’s link up online during the draft and trash talk, video conference style. You just steer clear of the distractions created by the anarchy and you’ll do fine. Oh, and tell everyone to bring beer, building upon your subterfuge!
So, what are your fantasy football auction draft strategies? Are mine complete crap? Let me know mofo! Comment below!
Kurt Turner (@_knuckleheads) is the founder of fantasyknuckleheads.com, a heavily committed and social active fantasy football blog.