Fantasy Football: Silent Auction League Question

[MikeVic]

So I've signed up for a league here at work, and we're doing it as a silent auction. One position will be picked at a time, and then the list of players will be tackled. For each player, you write down your bid in secret... and the highest bid wins the player. This isn't a keeper league either. Scoring seems fairly standard... all TDs are worth six points, every five receptions are worth two points... defense seems kind of low in scoring though.

We'll be starting 1QB, 2RB, 2WR/TE, 1K, 1DEF, and 1Head Coach (??). There's also only 3 bench spots and 1 injured reserve spot.


Is there any kind of strategy for a draft like this? I can't really spend half my money on someone like LT, since QBs seem to be valued highly too (six points for a TD). I'm thinking you just have to try and get a very balanced team, and not go for one of the two or three elite talents at a position...

[AnalBumCover]

Can you clarify the auction format again? I'm not sure what you mean by "One position will be picked at a time, and then the list of players will be tackled."

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

Can you clarify the auction format again? I'm not sure what you mean by "One position will be picked at a time, and then the list of players will be tackled."

Whoa, haven't seen you around here in awhile.

We'll randomly pick a position... so say RB gets picked. Then we will bring up LT... and then everyone will write down a price (only you know your bid) they would pay for him. Then the bids get revealed. The highest bid wins. We would then move onto Larry Johnson, and do the same thing.

Once everyone has their 2 starting RBs, we move onto another position. Bench players will be tackled in a different way apparently. I'm thinking I'd use two of the bench spots for handcuffs and/or a high-upside RB. The last bench spot would be for whoever I pick up that week for byes.

There really seems to be too few bench spots though. You have to consider bye weeks like mad here.

[AnalBumCover]

Yeah.. I get to stick my head and read up on stuff here once in a while. Can't be too active though, wedding planning takes priority. Football season peaks my attention though.

Anyways, I've never seen a silent auction like this before, especially where a whole position is done at one time. How is the order of RBs, in this example, determined? Appears it goes down a predermined list or cheatsheet.

Under this format, I believe the top tier players at each position will go at a high premium close to one another in value. This is especially true in the most valued positions (RB and QB). You might want to let the vultures go after the top tier players, take your own stab at the bottom of that group, then attack the second tier players.

Ideally, you might get a top tier player for cheap if his position is called up later. WRs -> RBs -> DEFs -> !!!QBs!!!

[MikeVic]

Good luck with the wedding plans.

I believe they said we'd look at a ranking of players from last year. Of course, closer to the draft date I will bring up how we will go for rookies...

You bring up a couple of good points. People might over-spend on the earlier positions. I wont be going after any of the top-tier guys I don't think, unless I find myself having the money later on. However, I definitely won't be spending much more than the minimum for kickers and defense... maybe even for head coaches.

For defense, it's fairly standard, but shutouts aren't worth much:
0 points allowed 10
2-6 points allowed 7
35-45 points allowed -7
46+ points allowed -10

A middle-tier team could still give me decent scores.

Kickers seem favored compared to other leagues I'm in:
FG Made (50+ yards) 5
FG Made (40-49 yards) 4
FG Made (0-39 yards) 3
Total FG Missed -1
Each PAT Made 1

Head coach is one position I've never ever drafted before:
Team Win 5
Team Loss -2
Every Point Scored 0.5
25+ point Win Margin 5
25+ point Loss Margin -5

This actually makes it seem like getting a coach on a good, high-scoring team is pretty important. I might actually consider spending for Dungy. Although I have no idea what his realative value is.

[MikeVic]

I'm looking at last year's stats... Head coaches are ranked super high!! In terms of average points scored per player, the positions rank as follows:

QB (Peyton had 23.7, Brees 20.1). A bunch of fairly close guys here.

HC (Chargers had 20.8, Bears 18.6). Rest are between 12 and 16.

RB (LT had 19.6, LJ 13.6). Big fall-offs here. Might pay to get an elite guy.

D/ST (Ravens had 14.8, Bears 13.8). Patriots come in at 10, and most everyone else is between 7-9.

WR/TE (Harrison had 9.8, Owens 9.7). A bunch of 8s and 7s too. Not a huge difference here imo.

K (Everyone seems to be in between 7 and 9).

[AnalBumCover]

When is the draft? I'm curious to see how this turned out.

[MikeVic]

I believe it's slated for Tuesday, August 21st right now. But a few people haven't responded yet, so I have no idea if that's a final date.

I'll post my thoughts on the draft once it happens.

[MikeVic]

Draft is tomorrow, and the headcoach position was scrapped. We start with $21 Million, with a minimum of a $500K bid for a player... Roster spots are as follows:
1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR/TE, 1 K, 1 Def, 3 Bench.

Seems like a pretty high minimum bid, so I have to be careful on who I bid on. But judging by the scoring in an above post, getting LT seems to be a priority... followed by a good QB.

[Logan]

Who the hell put that together? That's just a pain in the ass. The reason people use a $200 cap is because it's simple, and allows for bids to go up in a nice +$1 situation. Do you go from $500k to $600k?

Either way, that minimum is stupid as well. A $1 min with a $200 cap is 0.5%. Your scenario is 2.3% of the cap.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Logan

Who the hell put that together? That's just a pain in the ass. The reason people use a $200 cap is because it's simple, and allows for bids to go up in a nice +$1 situation. Do you go from $500k to $600k?

Either way, that minimum is stupid as well. A $1 min with a $200 cap is 0.5%. Your scenario is 2.3% of the cap.

A co-worker that said they use this system in another league... I'll form opinions after the draft. Unless they explicitly tell me not to, I will be making bids like $5,000,001 for LT. Since this is a silent auction, weird numbers for a player you really want could work nicely.

Yeah, I don't like the high minimum already. I can for-see a stupid situation where we're picking defense and kickers last... and most people only have $1M or $500K left... so what happens if everyone bids $500K on the Steelers D, but no one can afford to go higher. :P

[MikeVic]

Completed the entire 12-team draft in a couple of hours.

I thought it was fun actually. It's hard to gauge how much a player is wanted, or how much they'll go for. A couple of times I put out a value just fr the hell of it... so that people think I wanted the guy. And I could have had him for maybe 500K more! So I completely misjudged some players' values.

If there was a tie, the tied parties would then make another bid, the minimum being the initial bid they tied on.

We randomly picked from QB, RB, and WR... and drafted down a pre-ranked list until everyone had their starters. You couldn't bid for reserves yet. For the WR/TE position, we only did the first few TEs throughout the WR... since the majority of TEs won't score like WR.

For DEF/ST, K, and reserves... it was like a normal auction. Someone would just call out a name and we'd bid (500K minimum) on the player. I budgeted my money out, and so didn't have too much for reserves. But some teams had a lot, and would bid crazy amounts in order to spend all their money.

One player that baffled me was Andre Johnson. I already had my two WR, so I couldn't bid... but NO ONE left wanted him. I could have had him for 500K. When it came time for reserves, a guy bid like 3M on him since he had a lot of money left.

My team ended up being:
QB Philip Rivers (3M)
RB Steven Jackson (7.5M)
RB Rudi Johnson (3M)
WR Donald Driver (2M)
WR Roy Williams (1.9M)
D/ST Patriots (900K)
K Matt Stover (500K)

Reserve J.P. Losman
Reserve Marshawn Lynch
Reserve Laveranues Coles

I forget how much I spent on my bench, but the money spent was in the order listed above.

Some other notable winning bids:
QB
Peyton 7.5M
Palmer 4.7M (damnit!!)
Brees 6M

RB
LT 9.4M
LJ 7M
Reggie Bush 7.4M

WR
Steve Smith 4M
Harrison 4M
Holt 2.7M (I had 2.5M as a throw-away bet!!)
Owens 3.2M
Colston 2.6M


There are some nice FAs, but that's to be expected with only three reserve spots. Because of kicker and defense byes, I'll probably end up dropping at least one bench guy anyway.

[Logan]

Rudi Johnson was a steal at both the same price as Philip Rivers and at about 40% of what you paid for Steven Jackson (not that he's overvalued in any way).

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Logan

Rudi Johnson was a steal at both the same price as Philip Rivers and at about 40% of what you paid for Steven Jackson (not that he's overvalued in any way).

I think so too. I had 8M alloted for one RB, and 3M for another. I put the 3M bid for Rudi out there as one of those fake bids... but I won. So I was happy with that.

I predicted that Rudi will get injured this year, but I hope I'm wrong!

[MikeVic]

So... you apparently get 3 points automatically for the week's game if you're the home team. So I have a 3-point advantage against the guy I face this week since I'm the home team. Never saw that before.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

So... you apparently get 3 points automatically for the week's game if you're the home team. So I have a 3-point advantage against the guy I face this week since I'm the home team. Never saw that before.

that's unnecessary, queer and very canadian

[MikeVic]

So, here's a few of the QB, RB, and WR available as FA. Given this list, I'm pretty good with Losman as my backup QB and Coles as my backup WR for now... but maybe I can upgrade over Lynch as my RB? And maybe there's someone better than Coles?

QB:
Jason Campbell
Brodie Croyle
Daunte Culepper

RB:
Jerious Norwood
Ladell Betts
Warrick Dunn
Tatum Bell

WR:
Jerricho Cotchery
Braylon Edwards
Mark Clayton
Isaac Bruce
Vincent Jackson
Bernard Berrian
Calvin Johnson

Thoughts?

[Logan]

Your league keeps on confusing me. Norwood and Betts as FA? Bell would be a great pickup too until K Jones gets healthy. Braylon Edwards is a legit #1 who could be a fine #2 on any fantasy team.

[MikeVic]

Originally Posted by Logan

Your league keeps on confusing me. Norwood and Betts as FA? Bell would be a great pickup too until K Jones gets healthy. Braylon Edwards is a legit #1 who could be a fine #2 on any fantasy team.

There were a lot of people that fell through because rosters were already full lol. Like I said earlier, if I knew I could get Andre Johnson for the minimum... I would have.

I took Lynch as a RB because I figure he'll get the biggest opportunity to shine. But he hasn't been doing good in preseason... Norwood is on the verge of becoming the starter, Portis is injured still so I think Betts could be good. I was thinking of picking up Tatum Bell actually. But I don't see the Lions running too much.

Would you drop Coles for Edwards? I figured Coles was a very safe bet (and since we give 2 points for every 5 receptions, that bumps him up just a wee bit... 0.4 points per reception isn't a lot, I know)...

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

So... you apparently get 3 points automatically for the week's game if you're the home team. So I have a 3-point advantage against the guy I face this week since I'm the home team. Never saw that before.

Our league did that last year. It affected either 2 or 3 games, I forget which. We might drop it this year, though -- with 14 teams, we're having 3 weeks of playoffs, so 13 regular season games. That means some teams will get 7 home games, and some will get 6.

[Logan]

I just don't get the point of it at all, when we're talking about fantasy games where roughly 20 players are playing in different environments. The 3 point edge for a home team is just a small part in establishing the spread of a real game.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Logan

I just don't get the point of it at all, when we're talking about fantasy games where roughly 20 players are playing in different environments. The 3 point edge for a home team is just a small part in establishing the spread of a real game.

especially for a fake team that has no home field

[Logan]

Essentially my point. I think your league and larrymcg's league should combine.

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Logan

Essentially my point. I think your league and larrymcg's league should combine.

you get bonus points if someone falls from the upper level of your stadium to their demise

[Passacaglia]

You don't get the point of homefield advantage? What's the point of ANY of it, really?

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

You don't get the point of homefield advantage? What's the point of ANY of it, really?

I don't get it all all fantasy wise. So each team gets a 3 point advantage in half their games. It's a wash and ultimately just a throwaway. And actually stupid in the sense that maybe a playoff spot is determined by this artificial thing when the teams drafted are evenly matched.

You could make a case that rewarding the higher seeds in the playoffs with a "home" game is worthwhile I guess.

I suppose the goal is more "realism".

[Passacaglia]

I think that the goal was pretty much to give people something to talk about during the week at work. "Hey Larry, you're already losing by three points." Maybe some people thought it was more realistic. I think it did cost a team a playoff spot, but who cares?

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I think that the goal was pretty much to give people something to talk about during the week at work. "Hey Larry, you're already losing by three points." Maybe some people thought it was more realistic. I think it did cost a team a playoff spot, but who cares?

Just not my cup of tea. That's all. In a sense I guess I care but not really.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

I think that the goal was pretty much to give people something to talk about during the week at work. "Hey Larry, you're already losing by three points."

Sweet, so you've gotten three and a half seconds of conversation. Now what?

Maybe some people thought it was more realistic. I think it did cost a team a playoff spot, but who cares?

I sure as hell would care if the team I drafted happened to always be 5 points better than my opponents' players during all of my "home" weeks and was just 2 points better than my opponents' during my road weeks. I'm sorry, but this is easily the dumbest element of fantasy sports that I've ever heard. I personally wouldn't be able to enjoy that, but apparently you do and that's fine.

[MikeVic]

I don't have an opinion of it yet, since I've never used it. If I lose because of it, I'll hate it. If I win, I'll like it.

[rkmsuf]

You should be able to draft stadiums. Except for the poor bastards that end up with Ford Field and have to give points at home.

[Logan]

There are so many inconsequential-to-a-real-game events that take place that could have a huge affect on winning or losing a fantasy game. For example, a hail mary at the end of the first half that's intercepted means absolutely nothing to the outcome of the game -- but that -2 points could be why you lose a fantasy matchup. I just don't see the point in adding in other completely arbitrary measure that isn't at all derived from your players' performance.