Ian Allan's Mailbag
Posted Jun. 06 at 11:45 AM
Publisher Ian Allan fields your questions on strategy, how to run your league, player ratings -- and whatever else you think of. Updated every Friday during the season; Tuesdays and Fridays during the last two months of the preseason. You must be registered and signed-in to submit a mailbag question. After you sign in at the top of the page, the link to submit a mailbag question will become visible.
Question 1:
Ian- longtime subscriber here.. Our league is entering our 21st year, and after 20 years of drafting, we are finally moving to a "drauction" this season, with our sights on this being a baby step towards moving to full-blown auction down the road.
Can you provide the basics for how to go about setting up a drauction, and what pitfalls to look for/avoid? I am thinking of $100 for 4 players, before moving to straight draft. My first concern is how to handle multiple teams all willing to blow all $100 on, say, Adrian Peterson? Secondly, should we force all teams to buy 4 players? How to determine draft order after we switch to draft (team with most money left goes first, etc..)?? Any ideas would be appreciated.
Matt Tinker
Orleans, VT
Matt Tinker [ORLEANS, VT]
A:
It sounds like you’ve already sniffed out the key issues. I think $100 for four players will work. I don’t think that LaDainian Tomlinson or Adrian Peterson will be coveted enough to get multiple guys to shout out bids of “$100!” the instant he’s put on the block. But just to be sure, I like the option of allowing teams to buy fewer than four players. Maybe there’s somebody out there who’s willing to pay $97 for Tomlinson or Peterson, but no way will anybody be willing to go up to the $100 and lose those three additional players (and they’d finally get those three guys not at the end of the auction but at the end of the draft). I suggest you start by creating a nominating order. Because there is some strategy involved in the order – maybe somebody wants to sneak away with Brian Westbrook as the first guy, knowing that others perhaps would be reluctant to bid, knowing it would take them out of the running for Tomlinson or whatever.
And you definitely should tie your draft order to the auction results. Once it’s time for the fifth round to start, whichever team has the most money left gets to pick first (not only in the fifth round, but in every remaining round). If two teams have the same amount of money left, I believe, it would be reasonable to leave them in the same order they were in for the auction portion. In our league, the nominating order is determined by the finish of the previous year – the league champ always gets to nominate the first player.
Good luck with this venture. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Question 2:
I noticed in your Fanex draft that you chose Andre Johnson ahead of Braylon Edwards. I understand that the ball will be distributed among more wideouts in Cleveland, and Andre is the main man in Houston. Andre was on a tear (no pun intended) last year before the knee injury. I am still concerned however, about his lingering knee problem (as well as Schaub's offseason shoulder surgery ... albeit the non-throwing shoulder). I think I would prefer to go the safe route and select Edwards. Any thoughts on this?
Tod Denison [BAKERSFIELD, CA]
A:
I would prefer to have Edwards as well. When I selected Johnson, that was before he underwent the follow-up knee surgery that will sideline him until training camp. I don't think the knee issue is a big deal -- he should be fine -- but it makes sense to go the safe route and move him below some receivers that are of similar value anyway -- Edwards, Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald and Brandon Marshall (I don't consider Marshall's arm injury to be as serious as Johnson's knee issues).
Question 3:
Have a question on your thoughts on Chad Johnson for the upcoming season. It sounds like he's coming back soon, based on recent reports, but how do you see his lack of activity on team's OTA and other workouts? Do you see this affecting his numbers? Also, how about Vincent Jackson who also came on in the playoffs?
Keith Swiniarski [FT LAUDERDALE, FL]
A:
I'm not a big Johnson fan. I'm not confident he's going to play 16 games -- my leaning is that he won't. And with as many bridges as he's burned, I can't imagine he's going to step in and deliver his usual numbers. No way would I even consider making him one of the first 15 receivers selected in a league right now. I don't think I'd take him in the top 20.
As for Jackson, he showed in the playoffs that's he's capable of putting up good numbers, catching 18 passes for 300 yards and 2 TDs in three games. But that was with Antonio Gates on the sidelines. With Gates back to full health, I expect Jackson will revert to being an underused sidekick in that offense. That's just the way they run that offense down there. San Diego's wide receivers caught a league-low 113 passes last year.
Question 4:
Question: In a Dynasty league I've been offered Brandon Jacobs, Roy Williams, and a free agent draft pick (I could use to snag a better kicker) for LenDale White and Steve Smith. Good deal or not?
WILLIAM ROGERS [USA]
A:
I'm not sure which side of that deal I prefer. Jacobs is definitely better than White, but he (Jacobs) isn't a knockout back, and he's had some injury problems. Smith is definitely better than Roy Williams, but Williams could close some of that gap next year, when he'll likely sign a free agent deal with a new team. Williams is three years younger than Smith, but I'm not confident he'll ever be a true knockout receiver -- like what Smith will be this year. And then there's a draft pick involved as well.
It's definitely a fair trade offer. Maybe you do it. But it's not a no-brainer. I'm not sure which side will wind up being better in that deal.
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Question 1: Ian- longtime subscriber here.. Our...
Posted by MICHAEL ROPER | Jun. 06 at 07:18 PM
For what it's worth, I'm the commish of a league that will be entering it's third season using a drauction. Rather then looking at it in terms of players, we do it in terms of rounds. In the first season of our drauction we had 3 rounds of nominations which lead to 36 players being auctioned off. Like Ian suggested, we had no minimum or maximum number of players required for purchase. This led to many different types of strategy within the auction. Some teams specifically wanted to come out with 3 players, one team spent $83 on LaDanian Tomlinson (and left the other $17 on the table) while another owner went bargin shopping and ended up with 5 players of the first 36 nominated. Any teams that did not get at least 3 players then just got extra picks at the end of our 15 round draft. We also did try a full blown auction a couple years later and decided unamiously that we prefered the drauction to the full auction. Our league has many expierenced owners that have played in many different types of leagues and every one has agreed that our 3 round drauction is the perfect combination of allowing you to target specific players in the auction, while taking a full two hours less then a full 18 round traditional auction.
Question 1: Ian- longtime subscriber here.. Our...
Posted by Matt Tinker | Jun. 09 at 12:22 PM
To Michael Roper response: So what you're saying is that theoretically one owner could come out of your 3 rounds with 10 players if he alloted his money properly? Or do you put a maximum on how many players any given owner can accumulate during the drauction portion of the draft?
Question 1: Ian- longtime subscriber here.. Our...
Posted by MICHAEL ROPER | Jun. 09 at 01:36 PM
Matt - In theory yes, one owner could come out with 10 or more players. However, with a $100 salary cap and $1200 to spend between the 12 teams to spend on only 36 players, it's very unlikely that that the other 11 owners would continue to allow the same owner to get player after player unless they were DJ Hackett or Jason Elam types. If in that rare circumstance where one guy got 10 of the 36 nominated players, he would then forfeit his final 7 rounds of picks (as he would have his full roster of 18 players after the completion of the 8th round of the snake draft) To the guys it my league, it's the ultimate in control over your team. If you research all off-season and truly believe that Stephen Jackson is gonna have a monster year, all that time is wasted if you draw the 9th pick in your snake draft. The Drauction allows you to get the superstars that you want on your team while not taking as long as the actual NFL draft to auction off all 216 players. In our three years of "drauction-ing" the most players one team has ever gotten was 5. And of those 5 he got one 2nd round calibur player for $31, two third round calibur players for $27 and $24 respectively, his top rated defense for $13 and a backup running back for $5. In his case he was hardly the team to beat, but he was able to target and get guys he knew he wanted without having to take them a round or two early in the snake draft.
Question 3: Have a question on your...
Posted by David Allen | Jun. 11 at 05:05 PM
Regarding Chad, it seems like everybody had that same thought last year about Randy Moss ( I am no way comparing the two).maybe Chad and Carson are tipping one up at the local pub drawing up plays on coctail napkins??