I’ve always loved jazz music.

My dad got me into the style as a kid. Duke, Satchmo, and Miles were constants on the record player. Anyway, it was the off-beat characteristics that intrigued me. Taking a structured form like the blues and infusing it with another jolt of humanity was (is) captivating. Every artist, from Ella to Wynton, had their own seasoning to provide to the gumbo that is jazz. The approaches varied, but the result was the same.

Auction drafts hit some of the same notes. Its roots within fantasy football are obvious. However, the mechanics of nominating a player introduce rhythmic chaos to what would otherwise be the natural flow of snake formats. And once you figure out the beat, you’ll get hooked on auction drafts, too.

What are Auction Drafts in Fantasy Football?

“An auction draft is where managers bid on players using a virtual budget.”

Sounds simple, right?

If you’re another (frustrated) Bengals fan like me and want Ja’Marr Chase this year, you can get him on your roster! Heck, we can get his best friend, and my QB, onto your squad, too. But it’ll cost you. We’ll get to that part later, but for now, let’s focus on the mechanics of auction drafts.

• Setting up the draft
• Nominating players
• Bidding battle
• Building your team 

The first part is easy. Find 10 or 12 friends and decide on two things: the nomination order and the total budget. Cooterdoodle had some fun ways to figure out which manager gets to pick first. I’d go the “random order” route if you’re short on time. But, at the same time, a Mario Kart tournament for bragging rights and the top of the order sounds like fun, too. Regardless, once complete, your draft room shouldn’t look too much different than what you’d see using our Draft Champion tool.

Now, let’s jazz it up.

In order, each manager nominates a player. What follows is the frenetic cadence of auctions. People shouting the dollar amounts they want to spend on the player. A pause as everyone considers the highest bid—the tension crescendos with the cost. And then the stinger comes when the auctioneer (i.e., the commissioner) declares the winner. 

Get in where you fit in, as a friend recently told me. Like jazz, the cadence in bidding switches from slow to fast seemingly without a reason. It’s part of why having a plan in mind helps, or else you’ll miss out (or overpay) for top-end talent. Let’s walk through an example using one of the guys I mentioned earlier.

There are some parallels between auction and snake drafts, and featuring top-12 options early is one of them. By our consensus rankings, if you had the 1.01 spot, you could reasonably nominate Chase first. Then the bidding battle begins.

• You: I’ll nominate Ja’Marr Chase and start the bidding at $10 (Assume $200 budget).
• Manager 4: $25
• Manager 12: $45
• Manager 6: $60
• You: $61
• (Silence)

As I was saying, once you get the beat, you or the person next to you causes it to shift or stop completely. There’s nothing wrong with it. You’re making music! Or, well, a fantasy team at least. Nobody’s in total control. Everyone’s vibing off each other, which is just one of the differences between auctions and our traditional snake drafts.

How are Auction Drafts Different from Snake Drafts?

I’ve already hinted at the most-distinctive trait of auctions: money.

I’ll adjust a phrase coined by a few wise men from New York City: 'Cash rules everything around you.' Or, to use another phrase, put your (virtual) money where your mouth is. 

Auction drafts give us the ability to get our guys. Luckily, our rankings team has already done some of the work for you. Usually, we denote player value by round or pick. ADP is almost a form of currency. Ironically, converting ADP to (fake) USD is the hard part. However, unsurprisingly, the connection to something with more structure isn’t hard to find.

We (the royal we) set ADP through the use of projections and news. Sometimes the math and our intuition disagree, but the same expectation holds: the further into the draft you get, the less output you’ll get from a player. Auction values aren’t that different.

Costs come from the same sources as ADP. Hype, team outlooks, and the number of points we should expect are all inputs. The greater the prediction, the larger the price tag. So while the process may look chaotic (“$25!” “$45!” “$60!” $61!”), the undertone is ADP. It’s why I haven’t spelled out what ADP means. Because, in this context, you can see how we can narrow the superficial gap between auctions and snakes to something we already understand. But, of course, there’s a twist.

I’ll use a simulated draft board to highlight one of the benefits most supporters of auction drafts will mention.

Again, going off rankings and ADP, we’re not too far from reality. However, snake drafts have a tinge of finality to them. Our tool even tells you.

From the 1.01 slot, I know I won’t be able to pair Chase with another elite WR like A.J. Brown or get a top-6 RB. De’Von Achane and Christian McCaffrey will almost assuredly be off the board. My position (typically) constrains me to a specific set of players. It’s why the “Burrow double stack” continues to be one of the most sought-after correlations in tournaments. Auctions give us a better chance to build the teams we envision.

Before applying hindsight bias, think about the roster from a positional standpoint. 

It features two top-six WRs, two top-six RBs, the consensus TE1, and a top-five QB. You’d need the perfect position and a few real-time market adjustments to build the same team in a snake draft. And it’s all possible just by switching the format of your league. But, to generate a squad like that (or better), there are a few tips you can apply to give yourself an edge.

What are Some Strategy Tips for Auction Drafts?

Use ADP (average draft price) as a guide to set your own limits on players.

Let’s go back to that bidding battle on Chase.

• You: I’ll nominate Ja’Marr Chase and start the bidding at $10. (Assume $200 budget.)
• Manager 4: $25
• Manager 12: $45
• Manager 6: $60
• You: $61
• (Silence)

He’s your guy, so I get the move. You put your money where your mouth is. But let’s go back a few minutes before you broke the rhythm. 

Like any draft, I come in with a plan. My leaguemates force me to be like water and adjust on the fly, but the goal is the same. I’ll scoop value where I can, while also paying attention to positional needs. A player’s average draft position gives me some sense of value. Consensus auction costs, such as the suggested RB prices above, serve a similar purpose.

The silence or pause in a bidding battle is when you know you’ve hit a guardrail. The tendency to stay within the “optimal” lane causes hesitation. However, by setting your own limit, you can push past (or stay within) the norm to secure the guy you want.

Understand “player” vs. “tier of players.”

Tiers are essentially buckets of players. You can group them however you want, but we typically define the breakpoints based on clear drops in production from one set to the next. Our ranks already have tiers made for you.

In a snake draft, everyone has a shot at drafting one of the RBs in the first two tiers. Sure, Saquon Barkley won’t be available to the person in the 10-hole. But we can all get a high-end rusher. More importantly, we can define a (short-term) draft strategy.

By targeting an RB early, we can choose multiple build paths from Hero-RB to maintain a balance between WR and RB. All we need is one of those guys to start the process. The same is true in auctions.

Of course, the altered thinking is being mindful of how much you want to spend. By our prices, you could get De’Von Achane and Christian McCaffrey for about the same price as Barkley! Anyway, the larger takeaway is that instead of focusing on names, the focus is on their tier. And as you see, your options within a group start to dwindle, you can decide on making a play or adjusting your draft strategy.

Help spend your opponent’s money!

No, this doesn’t mean bidding for your leaguemates.

I mean, it’s a bold move. But let’s try a safer tactic instead.

Again, you’ve got the 1.01. And still, you want Chase. But everyone else in your league does, too. So, let’s try to whittle down the competition.

Nominate a player within the same positional tier or one that has a similar cost. Got an Eagles fan in the draft? Put Barkley on the block. Dangle Justin Jefferson or CeeDee Lamb out there to the LSU or Dallas disciple. Let them do your work for you.

While they’re fighting over the guys you’re willing to let go, they’re decreasing their budget (once they’ve won). At the same time, you’re earning a greater chance at getting the player you want. By nominating non-targets and monitoring everyone else’s wallet, you’ll be a professional at taking down auction leagues in no time.

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