Fantasy Football Draft Strategy: Auction Keeper Leagues

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It’s that time of year folks, draft season! Here I will be going play by play as I prepare, organize and execute my in-home league auction drafts. We are in year six of the league and I am still looking for my first title. It’s a 10-team auction-keeper league with a $50 budget. 

If you’re looking for auction values, be sure to check out our Average Auction Value (AAV) database.

Introduction to the League

What’s an auction-keeper league? It’s a league where you can keep a certain number of players year after year. Uniquely, year one starts out as a normal auction league where you have $50 to build a roster of 16 (minimum) to 20 (maximum) players. You can say it’s a salary-cap league because what you draft that player for, that value is stuck with them the whole year. You pay $26 for Derrick Henry and want to make a trade? You have to find a way to make the salaries of both teams work to make the trade. It can be hard, but it’s really fun!

 Instead of starting fresh every year with a new team, we are able to select 6 players (keepers) max for a total of $10 with each player you keep getting a $1 raise. It’s very fun and the player turnover is great every year with each keeper getting $1 added to their following year’s value. 

In addition to the keepers, we also have a 1st Round rookie draft. This is to help teams build with what we call a cheap keeper. We use FantasyPros Dynasty rookie rankings to figure out values. Values for rookies are $0.50 for first-round picks and $0.20 for players who are listed after the top 10. Furthermore, the “second-round” players are more than likely a running back who is “one injury away” from being the starter. 

Differently from a typical dynasty draft, we kick off the following season’s draft with a lottery. The league started back in 2016 and we started a random drawing to figure out who got what pick with a deck of cards. We have 10 cards numbered 1-10. It’s a random drawing, and each manager gets to grab a card. The way our playoff system runs is that 6/10 teams make the playoffs and the remaining four are out. Based on the card number you get determines your draft possibility for the following season. 

For example, if you pull 1 as your card, you can either have the first pick (missed the playoffs) or the fifth pick (made the playoffs). Likewise, if you pulled a 5 card, you could still have a top 4 pick, but no worse than the fifth pick overall. It may sound confusing, but once the playoff teams are in, it’s simple enough to understand.

Surprisingly these picks hold a lot of value to us as they can be used as trade pieces throughout the season along with using them as trade pieces for keepers going into the next season. We have no max number of picks, so theoretically you can get all ten of the picks. It’s just that much fun. 

Nevertheless, once the season ends, we all fade away as most redraft leagues do, but once the group text kicks off to start money collecting and selecting a draft date, we are back in draft mode. We’re reading news on players, profiles, and everything else we can find on our fantasy players. 

Note: I’m on this 24/7 because I’m always thinking fantasy football.

Preparation 

Rather than set my keepers and double-check what rookie pick I have, I’m looking over all other teams to see who they are keeping, and who is possibly going back to the player pool. Our keepers are put into the starting lineups and the players we would like to trade are on our benches. Knowing that each player gets a $1 raise from last year’s cost, I budget crunch and look for players on both the starting lineup and bench to see what pieces I can get. 

Currently holding the fourth pick, I wanted to move it. Skimming through other managers’ teams I found one player I had to have. I offered my fourth overall rookie pick in exchange for Travis Etienne. He at the time was drafted last year in our rookie draft for $0.50. With his $1 raise, paying the $1.50 fit into my $10 budget for keepers. Mind you this team I traded with was loaded, but I only wanted Breece Hall in this draft, trading up to get the top pick was not an option. 

Offer accepted. I was thrilled to get Travis Etienne after looking over all the teams and what free agents were going to be available. Knowing this, I can see running backs already go for a high price because there is a limited number of upper-end backs to choose from. 

Here are my keepers walking into the draft:

• Saquon Barkley: $4.50
• Travis Etienne: $1.50
• CeeDee Lamb: $2.50
• Michael Pittman: $1.20

Grand total: $9.70; remaining budget: $40.30

Skimming through everyone’s team here to see who is being kept and who is being thrown back into the player pool. Some teams like myself, like to hold potential keepers just in case something happens to any of my players between now and Friday night. Friday night, our rosters lock and the keeper in our starting lineup is who we are going into the draft with. 

Seeing that I have $40.30 remaining it’s time to start my “par sheet”. This sheet I use as a guide for max money to spend at said position while setting my bench at the cheapest. This league is a 6pt per touchdown with .5 point per reception (PPR). 

Comparatively, when setting up my par sheet, I made a Google sheet with a formula that automatically adjusts the cost for me. When building it I like to start it as a “studs and duds” calculation. Why do I do this? First, it’s a keeper league. Second, I know player values will be high, so I have to be prepared to spend and build the best roster possible. 

Why do I do this? Like many auction managers, you always look at the draft board after the draft and say, “If only I spent a little more”. Sound familiar? If not, you’re lying. I like to look at it and as I win players, I adjust from one or multiple positions (outside of kickers and defense, I always pay the minimum for them). Don’t sell yourself short! 

Due to our draft board having stickers, our league’s commissioner sends out a group text the day before the draft to finalize our keepers so he can have the draft board ready with our keepers and rookies. Everyone has to drop their remaining trade pieces and hope nothing happens between the time they drop said player and the draft. 

Draft Day

On the day of the draft, I look at the waiver wire to see what players will be available for the draft. I adjusted my par sheet one last time. Like I said earlier, my par sheet looks like studs or duds, but it’s more of “maximum” that I will pay for that position. Here’s what I’m going into my draft with:

With this in mind, looking over what I can spend at max is pretty crazy when it’s a $50 auction league. I’m not going to spend all my money upfront, or just wait till the end to get whatever is left. I’m going to study the room. Get a feel for what the other managers are doing. You have to try and read the room. Continuously adapting to what is going on around you. Unlike snake leagues, here in auction drafts, especially in-person ones, you’re always on the clock.

As we all know, saying you’re going to do one specific strategy in your fantasy drafts is easier said than done. Everyone showed up prepared and ready to spend. No matter how many auction drafts you’ve done, you know you screwed up at one point somewhere. Right away, top players are going for top dollar. I mean top dollar.

You have a strategy in mind but sometimes you’ve got to throw it out the door. Luckily with my strategy I have above, it all worked out well. 

I already had my two starting running backs and wide receivers, so knowing this, I could go many ways. I wanted value, but when you get into bidding with someone and looking at their current roster, it’s just hard to let them go to that manager’s team. 

In the hope that a manager doesn’t get a steal on a player, I look at my spreadsheet and up the bid. Being one of the last two to bid on him, I win Alvin Kamara for $11.60. My flex position is now filled, and I saved $3.40 that I can apply to my tight end or quarterback. 

If you have read any of my pieces here at Faceoff, you know I’m super high on Travis Kelce. With the trade of Tyreek Hill, I see Kelce beating the tight end target and reception record, which is currently being held by Zach Ertz. After winning the bid on Kamara, Travis Kelce was nominated next. He was my “no matter what” player who I had to have on my fantasy team. 

The bid gets over $13, then $15, then $17. I knew the other guy was getting nervous as we were just going back and forth. The next thing I knew, I won Travis Kelce for $17.50. I was close to throwing in the towel, but if you listen to Drew Davenport, he too will tell you don’t hold that dollar value to heart. I didn’t, as I spent a little more and got my guy. 

Despite my spending already being at $38.80 (77.6% of my budget), I felt really comfortable with my team build. The only last pieces I needed were a quarterback, kicker, and a DST. 

A few running backs I was willing to bid out went for really good prices. As I saw what I paid for Kamara compared to others, I was a little disappointed in myself. Jumping the gun so quickly, I should have held back at that point, but what happened next made me feel really good about my team. 

Quarterbacks were starting to be nominated and unlike the first two players I spent quickly on, I sat back and took the wait-and-see approach. I wanted a top-10 quarterback, but didn’t want what was first nominated, or last. I had a player in mind, and when his name was selected, I knew it was the perfect time to jump in on him.

What better player to pair with CeeDee Lamb than Dak Prescott? I “budgeted” $9 at the time for a quarterback but seeing how cheap they were going for at the moment, I knew I was going to have money left to help build depth on my bench. I won Dak for $3! It felt like a steal as he was one of the cheapest QB1s as he was the 8th most expensive quarterback, including keepers.

Knowing that my kicker and defense are $0.10 no matter what, it’s time to build depth at running back and wide receiver. I’m not going to drag it out here but give you a quick overview of what I did on my bench.

With the thought of it being a keeper league, I wanted some other cheap players that could be league winners, dropped for waiver wire, and/or used as trade pieces to improve depth at any position. With Dak being my only quarterback, I wanted a player who I think has upside in himself, but on a bad team in Justin Fields. I got him for the minimum, so if he doesn’t pan out and another quarterback comes out of nowhere, I can easily drop him and pick him as the next best guy and everyone on the waiver wire is $0.10 after the draft and can be keepers for next year. 

The Finished Product 

Here is my finished roster. Out of the $50 I had available to spend, I spent $48.80 and loved it. You may ask “why though? Why not spend all $50?” Simple answer, it’s a salary cap league. Every player drafted here carries their dollar value into that season and holds it for the whole season. Like I said at the beginning of this writing, if you want to make a trade with another team, you have to make sure the dollar value fits in both teams’ caps. Leaving $1.20 in space gives me wiggle room to make trades if needed. 

The Rest of The Draft Board

What team is the best? Which is the worst? What are some of your favorite and worst players at cost? Hit me up on Twitter @RyanMiner_FFB

Would you like to be a part of an auction mock draft? Be sure to hit up @AlwaysAuction on Twitter as he tries to host weekly mock drafts on Sleeper!

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