I like auctions. They are a much more equitable way of dividing talent. Shouldn’t everyone, for example, have a shot at drafting David Johnson? But as people get more skilled at bidding, it becomes a lot harder to dominate in this format.
Witness the current Fanex Analysis Draft. A quarter of the players have allocated and over half of the money has been spent, and I don’t have much of anything yet – just Pierre Garcon and Stephen Gostkowski.
In a typical auction, where some owners are grossly overspending, now would be the time that I would start really in a bunch of steals. This auction has been different there haven’t been a lot of gross errors. Instead, players have tended to go for closer to what they’re worth. (On my spreadsheet, the 60 players who’ve been sold have been worth $1,309 – just $11 less than the $1,320 that’s been spent.)
This makes things a lot harder. Multiple times players have been sitting there that I didn’t think would wind up on my roster, and they’ve been at decent (not great) prices. So do you buy those guys? Or wait for better deals that may or may not be coming?
I sense that I might be fiddling while Rome is burning. In another few days, I may look back and wish I had taken some of the acceptable deals that have been there. Most notably, Jordan Reed, T.Y. Hilton, David Johnson, Tom Brady, Antonio Browns and Ezekiel Elliott were sitting there at decent prices (under 80 percent of what I thought they were worth). But I didn’t “love” any of the buys, so I sat on my wallet.
There’s never been a big spending frenzy in this auction, so I may regret not choosing those guys.
Auctions tend to go best when there are guys who are overspending big, allowing you to assemble a kick-ass roster. With over half of the money gone in this one (and most of the good players), I don’t think that’s going to be possible this time.
All of the superstar players are gone, so I’ll have to try to put together a team with more depth. Could be hard to pull off.
This is a PPR league. Teams start 3 WRs plus a flex (RB-WR-TE), so the middle rounds do have some value. Teams have 20-man rosters, with 10 players starting each week.
At this point, nine of the 12 teams have spent over half of their money. I’m last in spending thus far, with just $18 (of $200) spent on Pierre Garcon and Stephen Gostkowski.
I was sure I would buy Tyreek Hill in this auction, but it didn’t happen. He went for $26, which is close to what I thought he was worth. He’s another player that perhaps I should have gone higher on, because it’s looking like the big steals might not occur in this auction.
I’ve been waiting and waiting for the great deals in this auction. At this point, it might be time to lower the bar and start settling for lesser buys on lesser players. (I need to be careful not to get stuck holding money at the end.)
Here’s where we’re at so far. If a player looks like a pretty good deal, I’ve got him tagged with a black dot.
| FANEX AUCTION LEAGUE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Player | Owner | $ |
| PK | Justin Tucker | Adams | $5 |
| PK | • Stephen Gostkowski | Allan | $3 |
| PK | Cairo Santos | Panizo | $1 |
| PK | Wil Lutz | Cahill | $1 |
| QB | Aaron Rodgers | Valverde | $25 |
| QB | Drew Brees | Adams | $21 |
| QB | • Tom Brady | Holm | $20 |
| QB | Andrew Luck | Valverde | $20 |
| QB | Russell Wilson | Nease | $17 |
| QB | Jameis Winston | Cahill | $16 |
| QB | Dak Prescott | Lung | $14 |
| QB | Marcus Mariota | Dolfi/Walls | $13 |
| QB | Derek Carr | Nease | $13 |
| QB | Ben Roethlisberger | Tinker | $13 |
| QB | Matthew Stafford | Panizo | $12 |
| QB | Eli Manning | Panizo | $8 |
| QB | Andy Dalton | Valverde | $7 |
| RB | • David Johnson | Perlow | $55 |
| RB | • LeVeon Bell | Valverde | $49 |
| RB | • Ezekiel Elliott | Tinker | $41 |
| RB | Melvin Gordon | Adams | $41 |
| RB | LeSean McCoy | Schauf | $40 |
| RB | Jordan Howard | Nease | $40 |
| RB | Devonta Freeman | Panizo | $38 |
| RB | Leonard Fournette | Panizo | $35 |
| RB | Todd Gurley | Lung | $31 |
| RB | DeMarco Murray | Tinker | $31 |
| RB | Dalvin Cook | Adams | $31 |
| RB | Jay Ajayi | Adams | $28 |
| RB | Lamar Miller | Dolfi/Walls | $23 |
| RB | Christian McCaffrey | Dolfi/Walls | $20 |
| RB | Joe Mixon | Nease | $19 |
| RB | Marshawn Lynch | Adams | $19 |
| RB | Jonathan Stewart | Perlow | $7 |
| RB | • C.J. Prosise | Perlow | $6 |
| ST | • Kansas City | Nease | $4 |
| ST | • Carolina | Dolfi/Walls | $1 |
| TE | • Jordan Reed | Tinker | $16 |
| TE | Rob Gronkowski | Nease | $16 |
| TE | Delanie Walker | Nease | $11 |
| WR | • Antonio Brown | Cahill | $45 |
| WR | Julio Jones | Cahill | $45 |
| WR | A.J. Green | Lung | $39 |
| WR | Odell Beckham Jr. | Perlow | $38 |
| WR | Jordy Nelson | Lung | $37 |
| WR | Mike Evans | Cahill | $37 |
| WR | Amari Cooper | Dolfi/Walls | $37 |
| WR | Dez Bryant | Panizo | $33 |
| WR | Michael Thomas | Nease | $30 |
| WR | • T.Y. Hilton | Tinker | $28 |
| WR | Tyreek Hill | Adams | $26 |
| WR | Allen Robinson | Dolfi/Walls | $24 |
| WR | Keenan Allen | Panizo | $21 |
| WR | Brandin Cooks | Nease | $16 |
| WR | • Pierre Garcon | Allan | $15 |
| WR | Quincy Enunwa | Tinker | $10 |
| WR | DeVante Parker | Tinker | $7 |
| WR | Mohamed Sanu | Nease | $3 |
| WR | Zay Jones | Panizo | $2 |
—Ian Allan