I’ve been playing fantasy football in my home league for 12 years now, and every offseason, we propose and vote on rule changes. Usually, they’re minor, but this year, a significant change was passed, forcing me to completely reimagine the way I play fantasy football.

Only a few weeks ago I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about how the auction format worked. My whole fantasy career I had the impression auction drafts were too complicated and lengthy. Besides, why would you want to depart from a classic snake draft, the most fun thing ever with a group of ten friends?

Still, my home league excitedly voted to stray from our decade-plus snake journey to a format none of us knew anything about. I got to researching the format, and a few things immediately became apparent. 

My Introduction To Auction 

For starters, there are far less auction-related podcasts/blogs/websites than I expected. While the internet is overflowing with fantasy football content, auction is surprisingly niche. Auction drafts are seldom covered as one-offs by your favorite fantasy football podcasts; most of the content comes from outlets exclusively covering everything auction. 

With that being said, auction industry experts promise the same thing. Once you experience how simple, strategic, and fun a fantasy football auction can be, you may never draft snake again. Bold, I know, but after taking a careful eye and ear to just about every article and podcast from the last five years covering ‘Auction Drafts for Beginners’ to ‘Big-Brain Strategies’, I think I’ll never draft snake again.

Let me get something straight: I am not claiming to be an expert in this. I haven’t completed a single auction in my life; there’s a level of nuance and flair you can only acquire through years of experimenting and experiencing the format. But c’mon, we’re all beginners here; we don’t really care about the most advanced strategies to gain the most marginal of advantages over your competitors...we do?

This articles offers you a one-stop shop; a convenient hub consolidating every color, detail, and shade you need to paint a clear picture of the auction format with no prior knowledge. I will lay out the basic rules and structures of auction, the best methods to prepare leading up to the auction, and finally bring everything together to dominate the board, have fun, and leave with a roster you feel confident in.

Forget (Almost) Everything You Know About Snake

One of my favorite fantasy trends are those crazy social media posts of league-mates running combine drills or racing in potato sacks to determine the order of their fantasy football draft. If that sounds like your league, call the race off this year because, in an auction, the draft order is completely inconsequential. In fact, you won’t be doing any drafting at all. 

Basic Structure 

Unlike snake, where players are drafted (defined as a compulsory recruitment), managers in auction drafts will take turns nominating a player on the board (defined as proposing a candidate). Once the first player is nominated, managers bid until no one will go higher. This nominating and bidding process continues until everyone’s roster is full. Simple as that. 

That first manager can still nominate Christian McCaffrey or whoever you think deserves 1st pick status in snake, but it could also be Patrick Mahomes, Malik Nabers, or Pat Freiermuth. When it comes to auction drafts, it’s not about expecting the unexpected; it’s about preparing for it.

Like your redraft league, it’s still important to research, know the guys you’re drafting with, and have a draft day plan...or two. The main difference in the auction, however, is that your approach to these steps changes slightly. 

Looking at Players In a New Way

The way managers interact with players and the board itself is a major difference from snake to auction drafts. In snake draft, the pool of players you’re picking from when you’re on the clock is small. For example, cross-referencing general 2023 Average Draft Position Rankings (ADP) and general industry mock drafts from preseason, most top 50 players fall consistently between a seven-pick range.

This is best exemplified by Jaylen Waddle, who was drafted more closely than any other player to his 24.5 industry ADP, meaning half the league had no chance at Waddle before the draft even started. 

This idea of certain players being unattainable is something you need to get out of your head. In auction, any player you want, you can have. Instead of the guy in front of you stealing your guy and your agency, no one is stopping you from spending an extra dollar to secure the player. Yeah, this might not be the smartest budgeting, but the best part is you decide a player’s worth; you decide when to stop bidding.

Nine seasons ago, after almost displacing Giovani Bernard as the Bengal’s bell-cow as a rookie, I was dead set on taking sophomore running back Jeremy Hill with my mid-second-round pick in my fantasy draft. My draft day plan was ruined when he went one pick ahead of me. How could someone have liked Jeremy freakin Hill more than me?

Thank god I wasn’t playing auction then because I would have made sure I was the highest bidder. The moral of the story: if you like a player that much, you can plan and build your team around them. Equally, this could blow up in your face if your guy is Jeremy Hill, so overbid on your guys with caution.

Escaping ADP

The nomination mechanic in auction means managers need to be ready to hear anyone's name at any time. In snake drafts, ADP provides a strong blueprint for when you can expect a given player to come off the board. This metric, however, is not helpful for auction because players in auction no longer 1) come off the board in a linear fashion and 2) are compared to the players drafted around them for a spot on your roster. We've already addressed the former, so let's move on to the latter.

According to Fantasy Pro's 2024 ADP, Travis Kelce and Deebo Samuel are both going 29.0 as of writing. This means in snake, if you're on the board at the end of the first third round, you're likely weighing these players against each other. In an auction, these two players will never appear in the same sentence; their values will never be compared. 

ADP Dollar Value 

You're probably asking yourself, 'If we’re not using ADP to determine where players are going/what their values are, what do we use?’. The easy answer to your question is any tool like Fantasy Pro's Dollar Value Calculator. This nifty tool allows you to adjust various parameters and league settings, spitting out neat dollar values for every player. Right away, you’ll notice something very different in the layout compared to ADP rankings: Dollar Value rankings are separated into position groups. Let's go back to the Kelce vs Samuel scenario.

If Deebo Samuel is nominated, you’re not comparing him to Travis Kelce, you’re comparing him to the dollar value of other wide receivers taken. Same with Kelce, how much did Sam Laporta go for? If Kelce is the first tight end nominated, his price could sway the entire position group. See what I’m getting at?

Yes, the Dollar Value is helpful, but it should only act as a placeholder. Industry experts who create these Dollar Value rankings explain that they don’t even use them themselves during the auction. When you think about it, it makes sense; players go for drastically different prices from auction to auction, so Dollar Value goes out the window pretty quickly when the auction starts.

What's most important is knowing how much you like Deebo Samuel and Travis Kelce. The best way to do this is by creating tiers for each position.

Turning Industry Rankings Into Tiers

Initially, this may feel like a daunting task, but I assure you this is easier and less time-consuming than you realize. Start off by printing or making a copy of the Fantasy Pro's dollar value calculator or any industry consensus Dollar Value ranking; then, we’re going to draw lines where the dollar values determine the tiers in each individual position group. Looking at the top 17 running backs, for example, Fantasy Pro’s has tiered as follows: 

Based on the dollar values assigned by Fantasy Pros, I’ve used different shades to identify each running back tier. Immediately, we see CMC alone in the top tier, a somewhat compact 2-7, and two big drop-offs at running back 8 and 17.  

After you’ve done this for the whole position group, you can begin to move players between tiers based on how you value them against each other. Maybe you think Breece Hall has a real chance to finish as the Running Back 1, and he’s actually in that top tier with CMC. You may also agree with Fantasy Pro’s tiers; all that matters is that you know when one tier ends and the next begins. 

As you build your team and bid on players, it’s crucial to know how many players are left in a given tier and how much other players in the tier went for. With everyone valuing players differently, it’s a given that some players will go outside of the position tiers you have in front of you, so use your own to determine where the value lies on the board. Know the last player in a tier will alwasy go for the most, so attack a tier earlier than later. 

Flexible Team Building

The last means of preparation before your auction is to experiment with different team builds. In redraft, this comes in the form of mock drafts. It goes without saying the more mock drafts you do, the better sense you get of where players are going and how to best attack different areas of the draft. In 2024, it’s easier than ever for managers to mock drafts on their phones at any time of day. Every year, I’m guilty of experimenting with over 100 mock drafts before my three real ones. 

ESPN does have auction draft mock lobbies, but you’ll be in a room with likely nine plus AI bots who will be bidding based on ESPN Dollar Value. There’s no nuance; you won’t learn much from this. Instead of doing these mock drafts, I think you can best replicate this process of running through draft day scenarios by doing the following exercise.

Working a Budget

Imagine all the players you take in an auction coming together at the end to form a perfect puzzle. The completed puzzle represents your total budget, with each player on your team being a piece of the puzzle whose size is represented by the $ you spend on them. It’s up to you as a manager to decide the size of every individual puzzle piece.  

I know there’s no way to know how much a player will go for on auction day, but remember, we have a placeholder, Dollar Value! Using this metric, you can practice allocating different sums of money to different positions.

What if your two biggest puzzle pieces are running backs Breece Hall ($46) and Bijan Robinson ($44)? How would a team look where 50% of the budget goes to two top running backs? Are there middle-value wide receivers you’ve identified will outperform? TLDR: The number of ways you can build a team in an auction draft versus a snake is pretty much square-rooted.

Dynamic Budgeting Strategies

Consider, for example, the infamous snake draft strategy Zero RB: a manager fully neglects the running back position until the 6th round at the earliest. In an auction draft, you can deploy this strategy much more dynamically than in snake.

According to Fantasypros ADP, Josh Allen and Sam Laporta are the only non-WR/RBs going in the top 25. This means that in snake your first and likely second-round pick - unless you reach - is coming from a relatively small pool of wide receivers. You cannot avoid this, it is a certainty. 

In an auction, however, your Zero RB strategy could be to avoid this pool of wide receivers altogether and instead target several low-end WR2s and WR3s you think have top-ten boom potential. 

Again using Fantasy Pro’s dollar value calculator for reference, there’s a huge drop off after WR7 Puka Nacua, valued at $39, to WR8 Deebo Samuel at $31. After that, there’s only a $13 difference before you reach WR25. The most prepared managers  going for a Zero RB strategy will know which of the 18 wide receivers in this value range are in a tier of their own.

You should always be targeting a small tierof players, not just a guy. If you’re going for a guy, he should be in a tier of his own. Moving on to a more risky and new strategy for snake drafters, introducing Stars and Scrubs. As you can guess, this strategy involves spending a large ratio of your budget on two to three elite fantasy players and scraping the barrel for your remaining roster spots.

Similar to the Breece and Bijan build from earlier,  consider a more dramatic iteration; you secure CMC, Tyreek Hill, and CD Lamb for what would be around 92% of your budget, then fill the remaining spots with $1 players and free agents. It’s incredibly risky, but if you manage to evade injury, you could land the three highest-scoring fantasy players. 

To recap, be prepared to construct different types of teams depending on how the board shapes up. You have no idea what these managers are thinking, understand almost anything can happen and you must be flexible with your plan.

Staying One Step Ahead Of Your Opponents on Auction Day

The big day has arrived, and every seasoned auctioneer will tell you the best thing to do beforehand is to clear your mind. You’re about to enter a battleground where every action will either boost your chances of victory or crumple them. Listen to music or walk to clear your mind, drink lots of water, and let the auction begin.

Nomination Theory

I’ve beaten around the bush thus far regarding the nuance of the nomination mechanic of the auction draft, but here I’ll address it holistically. On the surface, the nomination feels like your one sliver of opportunity to sway the draft.

It’s easy to think back to redraft, where being on the clock is your most influential draft moment. That out-of-body experience of being on the clock is unmatched. In an auction, however, that feeling is replicated across every pick because you always have agency in an auction draft, not just when you’re on the clock.

Nomination is important, but it’s a fact that you’re not nominating the player 90% of the time. Let’s go over some basic strategies for who you should and shouldn’t be nominating when the time comes. 

Strike Early When You’re On The Clock

Industry experts agree the strategy for nominating players changes as the draft progresses. For the early rounds, one strategy reigns supreme. Consider the example below: You’ve done your research, you have your tier lists, and you’ve identified Ja’Marr Chase as your clear top player in fantasy in 2024. You think he’s going to crush his expectations, and all your plans are built around him as your best player.

After throwing out a top-ten player you didn’t want in round one, you’re on the clock in the second round, and Chase still hasn’t been nominated. Should you nominate him or throw out another player you don’t want, like the first round, to burn opponents’ cash? The answer: nominate Chase ASAP!

If you’ve already decided to build your team around Chase, the longer he remains unnominated, the greater jeopardy your plan becomes. If you’re planning on paying whatever Chase’s price ends up being, make sure you get him early so you can execute the rest of your auction strategy. You could have even nominated him in the first round! Especially if you don’t have any players on your team yet, you need to go after guys you want, so if you don’t get them, you can adapt quickly.

Nominating a Player, You Don’t Want

Returning to the strategy of nominating players, you don’t want to rid your opponents of cash early; yes, this can work, but consider a more critical approach early on in your auction.

There’s strategy to nominate a guy with a limitless ceiling like De’von Achane, knowing a bidding war will ensue. In this scenario, the winning manager slightly overpays due to the competition, and you’ve succeeded in removing $30 from the board. But what about the consequence of not nominating De’von Achane?

Instead of one manager spending ~$30, the three managers fated to bid up Achane will each put money aside waiting for his nomination. Now, instead of sinking $30 on one manager, there could be over $100 frozen across multiple managers. Interesting right?

Anyways, as the draft progresses and the core of your team gets locked into place, that’s the time you can throw out a guy you don’t. Still, even if you don’t want the player you’re nominating, be meaningful with these nominations. 

Nominate players who act as integral data points to your draft plan. If you plan to attack that clump of 18 wide receivers I previously mentioned, you may want to nominate a shiny one you don’t want. This is your chance to set the guardrails for a future tier!

Bidding Theory

Your biggest advantage as an auction manager is the ability to bid on every player regardless of who nominates them. You have a chance at manipulating the price of pretty much every player in the auction, especially early on when people have more money.

The last thing you want to do is sit around and wait for your favorite guys to be nominated. If you haven’t put a single bid in yet, and that player comes up and suddenly you get active, people will catch on! The most skilled managers can completely swing the board in their favor through smart bidding. 

Price Enforcement

Let’s use Puka Nacua as an example, who’s coming off the best rookie wide receiver season ever. Still, I personally have a hard time justifying his value and tier compared to guys like Mike Evans and Nico Collins. Even though I know I don’t want Puka Nacua on my team this year, you bet your bottom dollar I’m still gonna bid on him.

I sure as hell ain’t winning him, but if I stop at 70% of his perceived dollar value, I guarantee if any manager is going to get a filthy good deal, it’s me. This strategy of bidding on a player with the sole goal of increasing their value is known as price enforcement. 

Deploying a price enforcement strategy comes with risk. If you bid 70% of what you thought Davante Adams was worth and get him, you need to be ready to adapt your strategy accordingly. With great risk comes great reward, and if you price enforce effectively throughout the auction, you can literally manipulate the values of every player and even tiers on the board.

For example, you recognize multiple managers are bullish when the first quarterback, Jalen Hurts, is nominated. You get involved in the bidding and successfully raise Hurts value by $8. Suddenly, the guardrails have been shifted for the value of every quarterback. Use price enforcement at your own risk to ensure players reach a value threshold you’re comfortable with them going for.  

Final Reminders

Some final reminders and advice before I send you off. Please don’t be doing something else during the auction. In snake, you can get away with having diverted attention when it’s not your pick, but in auction, you need to pay close attention to everyone’s activity from the get-go. 

Whether it be knowing how many players each team has, picking up on managers’ bidding tendencies, to being on top of tiers, it’s the little things that make the biggest difference in winning your auction. Chaos is a given, but with rock-hard tiers and plans you can capitalize on the madness. Good luck!