When it comes to fantasy, there’s nothing I love more than a fantasy football auction draft. Nothing. 

Snake drafts are easy. Any fool can whip through a set of fantasy football player rankings and cross names off a list. Heck, a nutless monkey can do a snake draft and still end up with a half-decent team. 

Yes, our fantasy football cheat sheet has auction values, but auction drafts still require skill and intelligence. Not only do you need a firm grasp of the player pool, but you also need the right blend of savvy and guile to pull it off.

Get your cheat sheet, then read on for a proven, winning auction draft strategy.
 

 

 

What Is A Fantasy Football Auction League?

A fantasy football auction draft operates similarly to a live auction. In this type of draft, NFL players are made available for bidding. Managers then place their bids. The teams continue to bid on a player until the remaining teams either withdraw from the bidding or can't afford to bid any higher. At the conclusion of the bidding, the player is awarded to the team with the highest bid.

If given the choice, most people will shy away from auctions. They’ll tell you they can’t commit to the six hours necessary to complete the draft, but in truth, it’s just fear and insecurity. (And a lack of an auction draft strategy! Ahem.) They’re afraid to screw it up. 

No one wants to botch their auction and ruin their fantasy season on Day One. I know because I speak from experience, as that was my mindset when I headed into my first fantasy football auction draft. 

Auction Draft Strategy: A Cautionary Tale

At my first auction draft, the rest of the owners were experienced both in fantasy and the auction process. Nonetheless, I wanted to prove myself capable.

Instead, I found myself outgunned at every turn. I zigged, they zagged, and, in the end, I was left sitting there with leftover bid money, a team destined to finish no better than last and, if I’m being honest, a dumbfounded look on my stupid face. It was both depressing and embarrassing, and I vowed to never let that happen again.

Nowadays, I cruise through auctions and routinely finish in the money because of the way I draft.

What is it that I do now that I didn’t before? How do I keep pulling it off? It’s actually quite easy. I just think back to that very first draft I did and I do the complete opposite.

If you’ve never done an auction or just plain suck at them, learn, as I have, from my mistakes back then.

Fantasy Football Auction Draft Strategy 2024

Walk into your Draft Day War Room knowing you’re the smartest owner at the table. Follow the steps in the best fantasy football auction draft strategy and you’ll be well on your way to winning your league in 2024.

Learn Your League Rules

Right? What a remedial way to start things off. But I guarantee there’s a healthy percentage of you who just said “Duh,” but also are guilty of this. As a commissioner in multiple leagues, I’m astounded by how many times I’ve answered a question that’s already spelled out in the rules.

There are so many different league styles, scoring systems and other strange nuances out there that you can't assume the rules are any one particular way. Going back to my first fantasy football auction draft, I didn’t know we were drafting a second flex position and it threw my budget completely off. You’ve never seen so many one-dollar players on a team with so few stars.

Don’t Bring A Knife To A Gunfight

Bring a friggin’ Uzi. Grab my Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet as soon as it drops. Plain old cheat sheets aren’t going to cut it. They could be the best rankings in the world, but if there aren’t dollar values assigned to every player and value tiers established, you’ll still be in over your head. 

The fantasy market wasn’t so super-saturated at the time of my first auction draft. My “values” that year were built off a three-minute glance at some other guy’s magazine, coupled with far too much emotion and feelings towards certain players. I wasted far too much money on overvalued players, then my leaguemates smelled the blood in the water and carved me up. 

You know that quote from Rounders when Matt Damon says, “if you can’t spot the sucker at your table inside the first few minutes, you are the sucker?” Yeah. That was me. Hence, the creation of my auction draft cheat sheet – so that none of you have to go through what I had to go through back then.

“By The Seat Of My Pants” Isn’t A Viable Auction Draft Strategy

Experts will always tell you to be flexible when drafting; to adjust on the fly. Don’t confuse that with just winging it. The concept of being flexible assumes that you have an established game plan and strategy already laid out. It doesn’t even matter what your auction draft strategy is, just as long as you have one. 

You want to go “stars and scrubs?” Fine. Go for it. You want to be conservative and spread the money around, great. Just stick with it. Without a set fantasy football auction draft strategy, you get wishy-washy on bids. You shy away from spending and end up missing out on guys who can really help you. 

Back to my first draft: Wishy-washy was me saying goodbye to a much-needed starter so that I could overspend for a backup running back later on in the draft. It could have been avoided coming into the draft with an auction strategy of something – anything – rather than nothing.

Set Your Auction Budget & Keep Track Of It

This is a game based on statistics, so when your auction draft comes around, do the stupid math. Set up your budget. Establish a range of money you want to spend for each position and do your absolute best to stick to it. I’m not one for spending more than $1 for a defense or a kicker, so I’m able to build a wider range for the positions that matter most. 

But you do you! If you think $5 for Justin Tucker or $3 for the New York Jets defense is worthwhile, then so be it. Just map it out beforehand, and then remember it’s firm-but-flexible. Some guy might go for less than what you expected and free up some budgeted (and now surplus) cash for someone else. Maybe even someone at a different position. 

And as the auction progresses, be sure not to rely on the draft software to keep track of your budget. Build a spreadsheet or do it by hand because you will have moments where maybe you “borrow” from your quarterback budget to get that elite tight end you were coveting. If you don’t keep track of it, you end up like I did and “borrow” so much that you are now the proud owner of four $1 receivers/special-teamers who may or may not get a return touchdown. 

Nominate With A Purpose

Toss out the name of a superstar you don’t like early to get people to blow big money fast? Cool. Nominate the top kickers and defenses to get people spending more than they should on each position? Awesome. It doesn’t matter what your reason is, just make sure you have one. 

Arbitrarily throwing out names does nothing but cost you a potential advantage at your fantasy football auction draft. I can’t recall any one particular moment where this screwed me, but a series of thoughtless and random nominations certainly never helped.

Your Auction Strategy Can Be Aggressive When Necessary

Another quote from Rounders here: “Tight but aggressive, and I do mean aggressive. That’s your style, Professor. You gotta think of it as a war.”

Everyone has their own style of auction drafting, but you’re here at Fantasy Alarm reading our fantasy football draft guide. You must value our opinion. And my opinion is that you need to be aggressive early. I’m not saying blow 80% of your budget on Christian McCaffrey and Tyreek Hill, but if you want a player, get in there and bid. 

You can go a couple of dollars out of your budget if a player’s that important to you. Just remember to adjust and understand that there will be other players you have to sacrifice in order to do so. Is the sacrifice worth it? Is the juice worth the squeeze? If you think so, then get that player.

If you want to play it conservatively in the beginning of your draft and not drop sacks of money on Breece Hall or Ja'Marr Chase, then by all means, play it cool early on. You’ll see plenty of others jump into an early bidding war and drop half their budget on two guys, so that should leave you in the driver’s seat for the next couple of player-tiers.

But when that happens, don’t sit there like a mope and not bid aggressively. You need to take advantage and spend the money they no longer have on guys like Kenneth Walker and Christian Watson. If you don’t, how else are you going to compete? Are you saving your money for player-tiers four and five?

There Will Be Casualties. Accept It.

You’re never going to get every guy you want. Accept that.

If you lost out on a guy you really wanted, get over it. Move on. Nothing you can do now. Dwelling on it and bidding on-tilt is only going to cloud your judgment, cause you to deviate from your auction draft strategy, and in all likelihood lead to wasteful spending. 

Don’t Be That Guy At Your Fantasy Auction Draft

You like to booze it up? Go ahead. You enjoy puffing the Magic Dragon? Smoke up, Johnny. You don’t have to be a Boy Scout, but for crying out loud, control yourself.

If you go braindead at your draft, you’re not only screwing up your team, but you’re also a disruptive force lengthening an already lengthy procedure. Your friends can only be so patient after five straight rounds of reminding you to nominate.

Smart, strategic, sensible and savvy wins auctions. Stupidity does not.

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