I’m a big fan of the drauction format. It’s a lot better than a draft, and I think it’s better than a traditional auction as well.
In the Daily Football League (which is kicking off its 40th season), we started with a draft and rolled with that format until the mid-‘90s. Then we switched over to an auction, with each team given $100 to construct a 16-man roster.
In the 2022 season, we decided to try a drauction, and we haven’t looked back. It’s got a lot of the best selling points of an auction, but it’s simpler. It’s also a lot faster (trimming an hour or two off the Player Selection Meeting).
In our drauction, each team is given $65 to spend on four players, with a $5 minimum (so the most that can be spent on a player is $50). The remaining 12 players for each team are drafted, and they’re given slotted contracts between $1 and $7, depending where they’re picked. Those 12 slotted contracts add up to $35, bringing each team up to a maximum of $100.
The slotted contracts are necessary because we use a salary cap system during the season. Teams bid on free agents, and must create cap room to land them, with no team allowed to exceed 16 players or $100.
Like an auction, the drauction gives everyone a fair shot at landing its key players. If you have your heart set on selecting Bijan Robinson or Ja’Marr Chase, you can opt to spend for them.
But once 48 players have been selected, things switch to a regular draft. There is no haggling over the kickers and lesser tight ends. There’s no minor in-fighting over guys like Wan’Dale Robinson and Jerome Ford. That can become pedantic in an auction, particularly one with a $200 cap.
The other dimension in a drauction is that the draft order for those final 12 rounds is determined by cap space. If you make it out of the auction portion with the most remaining money, you get to pick first in all of the remaining rounds. You also have more cap space early in the season, giving you an edge in obtaining key free agents.
I didn’t pay much attention to the draft order this year, maxing out and picking last in every round. But next year, I will make more of an effort to be sure to save a least a dollar. About half the teams spend all their money, so saving just one dollar would jump a team up a few spots in every round. I got sniped on about a half dozen players this year in the final 12 rounds; had I save just one dollar, I would have picked ahead of those teams.
Four years in, I haven’t settled on a drauction strategy. Typically in these, there will be four or six players in my expected top 48 who don’t even get sold, so I think it makes sense to be way more aggressive in spending. That backfired on my last year, when I got caught holding Christian McCaffrey. But I’m going that same route again, spending big to land the No. 1 player on my board (Ja’Marr Chase).
This is a TD-only format, and also with the added dimension of double points for touchdowns of 50-plus yards. I put some stock in this, and I bought both of the players who scored 4 such touchdowns last year (Chase and Jameson Williams).
With the benefit of hindsight, I would have been better off waiting and picking some of the other top players. According to my prices, five of the other top 6 players went for much better deals than Chase. But I got my guy, and I expect I’ll do just fine building a team around him.
In the auction, Kyren Williams was the first player nominated. I had him valued at $27, so it was a no-brainer for me to go up to $19 for him. I was happy with the buy but a little disappointed that I thought it would take me out of contention for Chase. Chase was either the 2nd or 3rd player nominated, and I pretty quickly submitted a max bid of $36, thinking he would be going for more (I thought he was worth $40-plus). I didn’t want to bid $35 and have somebody else say $36 before I did.
It made for a quiet auction for me, with my only remaining duties to fire $5 darts at the board until I found two players that nobody else wanted. I ended up with my 30th and 32nd players, which I was happy with (combined, I thought those guys were worth almost $20). Getting those two guys late validates to me that in a drauction, it’s better to be more aggressive about spending.
| 2025 DFL / FOUR-ROUND AUCTION | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Value | Sale | Franchise | Player |
| $40.47 | $36 | • Lewiston | WR Ja'Marr Chase |
| $37.54 | $28 | Donner Pass | RB Josh Jacobs |
| $36.15 | $28 | Bellevue | RB Derrick Henry |
| $34.77 | $25 | Mar-a-Lago | RB Jahmyr Gibbs |
| $34.08 | $20 | Green River | QB Joe Burrow |
| $31.31 | $27 | Spokane | RB Saquon Barkley |
| $30.62 | $18 | Clayton | QB Jalen Hurts |
| $28.54 | $25 | Donner Pass | QB Josh Allen |
| $28.54 | $27 | Pullman | RB Bijan Robinson |
| $27.36 | $21 | Clayton | RB Jonathan Taylor |
| $26.74 | $19 | • Lewiston | RB Kyren Williams |
| $24.38 | $17 | Renton | RB James Cook |
| $23.00 | $16 | Clayton | RB Chase Brown |
| $22.31 | $23 | Renton | RB Ashton Jeanty |
| $20.92 | $22 | Springfield | RB Christian McCaffrey |
| $20.23 | $19 | Lakeview | QB Lamar Jackson |
| $19.54 | $18 | Green River | RB Kenneth Walker |
| $16.77 | $11 | Pullman | RB Bucky Irving |
| $16.08 | $17 | Springfield | RB Omarion Hampton |
| $15.38 | $20 | Spokane | WR Terry McLaurin |
| $14.69 | $14 | Belltown | RB David Montgomery |
| $14.69 | $23 | Belltown | WR CeeDee Lamb |
| $14.00 | $15 | Belltown | QB Jayden Daniels |
| $14.00 | $21 | Bellevue | WR Justin Jefferson |
| $13.31 | $16 | Renton | WR Nico Collins |
| $12.77 | -- | unsold | RB DeVon Achane |
| $11.92 | $12 | Green River | WR Brian Thomas |
| $11.23 | $22 | Lakeview | WR Tee Higgins |
| $11.23 | $11 | Bellevue | WR Xavier Worthy |
| $10.54 | $5 | • Lewiston | WR Jameson Williams |
| $9.50 | $8 | Lakeview | RB TreVeyon Henderson |
| $9.02 | $5 | • Lewiston | RB Isiah Pacheco |
| $8.46 | -- | unsold | RB James Conner |
| $8.14 | $18 | Mar-a-Lago | WR Mike Evans |
| $7.90 | $5 | Donner Pass | WR Tyreek Hill |
| $7.08 | $13 | Spokane | WR Courtland Sutton |
| $7.08 | $10 | Clayton | WR A.J. Brown |
| $6.38 | $6 | Green River | RB Chuba Hubbard |
| $6.38 | $15 | Pullman | WR Amon-Ra St.Brown |
| $5.97 | -- | unsold | WR Malik Nabers |
| $5.45 | $8 | Pullman | WR DeVonta Smith |
| $5.28 | $8 | Renton | WR DK Metcalf |
| $5.00 | -- | unsold | WR Marvin Harrison |
| $5.00 | $9 | Lakeview | WR Calvin Ridley |
| $5.00 | -- | unsold | WR Drake London |
| $5.00 | $7 | Mar-a-Lago | TE Mark Andrews |
| $5.00 | -- | unsold | WR George Pickens |
| $5.00 | $5 | Bellevue | WR Davante Adams |
| -- | $11 | Belltown | TE Brock Bowers |
| -- | $11 | Mar-a-Lago | QB Patrick Mahomes |
| -- | $5 | Donner Pass | TE George Kittle |
| -- | $5 | Springfield | WR Ladd McConkey |
| -- | $5 | Springfield | TE Sam LaPorta |
| -- | $5 | Spokane | RB Alvin Kamara |
—Ian Allan