In 2015, I wrote my 10th different version of strategies for salary cap drafts (also known as auction drafts). I wrote then that there was no traction to make this format the preferred way to build rosters versus snake drafts.
And now it's 2024, and there still hasn't been a movement to make salary cap drafts the way to build rosters.
I have failed you.
I thought about this worldwide resistance and came to some conclusions.
One, they are more time consuming -- your league's snake draft might be done in two hours; a salary cap draft could take three.
Two, they are more labor-intensive because you have to keep up with how much you have left in your budget, how much others have in their budgets, what your maximum bid is, and so on. It's a lot.
Three, they're more complicated. It's just not as straightforward as a snake draft. And I think people prefer the safety of picking in order, one by one like kindergarteners in a classroom line on Halloween choosing delicious bite-sized candy. Sorry, I just had some candy and so that analogy was on my mind. Did you know CBS provides candy to the office? This is such a cool place to work. Also, my blood sugar is out of control.
But I think the biggest fear people have is that they're just flat-out scared to do them. They don't want to make a huge mistake and over-bid on a player, or be too sheepish and miss out on a lot of players. It's the same reason why people hate buying cars -- they want a great deal and would feel ashamed if they got taken advantage of.
So this year's version of my salary cap draft strategies will focus on helping out those who are new to the format and are squeamish about making a mistake in this format instead of the traditional snake format.
Before the bidding
Tiers are where it's at: Organizing players by position based on your expectations is crucial for dominating a salary cap draft. This creates a sort-of road map that paves your way to building a winning team because you'll be able to gather information on what players are going for and how much you might pay for a similar player in the same tier.
Here's a real-life example: I was in a 14-teamer with a bunch of other Fantasy nerds esteemed Fantasy Football analysts. Our budget was $200. Early nominations included Christian McCaffrey ($52), Breece Hall ($48), and Bijan Robinson ($52). So when Jahmyr Gibbs went up for bid, I started chasing him expecting to pay less than those guys, but not too much less. I wound up with Gibbs for $39.
I knew what my range was to spend on Gibbs, who is at the bottom of the same tier as those three guys, and I bid accordingly -- and I think I got a good value.
There's more to it -- tiers will show you when groupings of players are fading. When one or two players left in a certain tier at any position are left, you'll have to decide whether or not to bid on them or to let others get them and start thinking about the next-best tier. And if you decide to bid, you'll know what the right amount to spend on them is.
Tiers are the most important part of pre-draft prep. Don't pass up this step. You can find the latest versions of my Tiers here.
Know who you want -- and who you don't: Salary cap drafts afford you the opportunity to go after whoever you want. For example, if you have to have Tyreek Hill on your team, you can just out-bid the league and get him. Can't do that if you're in the 10th spot in a snake draft. And you can do this with multiple players if you want to. I could try to get everyone on my breakout list if I wanted in a salary cap draft.
Similarly, you should know who you don't want. For example, if players coming off a big season spook you because the odds say they won't repeat their success, you can avoid them all. No Puka Nacua, no Nico Collins, no Travis Etienne, and so on. You'll want a list of those guys, by the way.
Know how much you'd spend for who you want: Our rankings pages have our salary cap draft values for every player. They're based on a $100 league. Our values vary from analyst to analyst but you can get a good idea of what a player should go for based on these values. If your league's budget is $200 or whatever, multiply our rankings accordingly -- but don't assume it'll be that way for every player. Cheaper players might not have the same bump as their pricier counterparts.
This leads me to another point: The more players you'd be happy starting after 80th overall in our consensus rankings (on the same page as our salary cap draft values), the more open you should be to spending big on premier talents. That's because you'll settle for cheaper dudes in your lineup.
The bidding begins!
Nominations matter: Typically, league managers take turns nominating NFL players and they're put up for bid one by one. It's important to nominate players you do not want with your first couple of picks because then other people in the league will spend for them, and you want your league mates to waste their precious dollars on those players since you have no intention on bidding on them anyway!
Then once you get those guys out of the way, you should nominate players you do want. You'll be able to control the nominations and potentially box out other managers who won't be as willing to spend what you're okay with spending. Remember, the winning amount for every player goes to the manager who offers to pay it -- you want to be that guy, so lazily nominating quality players you want for less than $3 is at least a waste of time and at most a tactical mistake. As I wrote last year, the equity you give up in trying to steal a player (which is unlikely) you get back by deterring others from outbidding you.
The Eisenberg Edge: My colleague Jamey Eisenberg loves to spend his very first nomination on one of the best DSTs or kickers for 1% of his budget. If no one outbids him, he gets the DST or kicker for the minimum. No one ever out-bids him. It's a savvy move ... if your league still uses kickers and DSTs.
Bid with the nines in mind: All Fantasy managers have a mental hurdle about spending too much. Some of them face that hurdle when the first digit of a double-digit bid is higher than the current bid. In other words, if your bid is $9, $19, or $29 (and so on), the manager you're haggling with will have to go to the next-highest number (in this case $10, $20, $30, etc.). Some folks draw a line there. It is to your advantage to make sure you get that "nine-bid" in first -- even if it costs you one or two more dollars.
Speaking of one or two more dollars ...
Treat yo self: There will come a time in your salary cap draft where the bidding is steep and you're not sure just how much further you could go. At that juncture, I want you to remember that this is a Fantasy league, these are not real dollars, and you cannot take these dollars home with you and save them for next year. Allow yourself to spend the extra buck! And it might even turn into two or three bucks. Know what the consequence of that is? You'll probably be a dollar short for a bench player later on. Boo hoo. Get who you want, and spend what it takes.
Don't enforce prices: Fantasy managers will pick up a stud player with a big price tag, then start bidding up other players at that same position so that they match his aforementioned stud player's big price tag. This whole idea of trying to keep bids "fair" is a waste of time and sort of reckless. In the process of driving up prices, a manager could get stuck paying a lot for a player he doesn't necessarily need. That's a disaster.
It happened in that salary cap draft I wrote about before -- and that's in a league with people who do this for a living. The manager who got Josh Allen for $20 nominated Patrick Mahomes for $15 thinking that someone else would have to spend up to get him and come close to Allen's value. It didn't happen, and that manager now has Mahomes as his backup quarterback.
Just get who you get and be happy -- don't try to force bids to happen with other managers. It's not worth the risk.
Beyond the bids
Your measuring stick: If you want to know if you did well or not, compare your roster to what their average draft positions (ADPs) are in a snake draft. If you end up with a player who was a Round 1 pick, a player who was a Round 2 pick, a player who was a Round 3 pick, and so on, you probably did fine.
But if you didn't get any Round 1 picks, one Round 2 pick, two Round 4 picks, three Round 6 picks, and nothing special after that, you probably blew it.
And if you got a Round 1 pick, two Round 2 picks, a Round 3 pick, two Round 4 picks, etc., you crushed it. Your league will be looking up at you in the standings.
In the event you're unhappy with your team, don't panic. Your league will have waivers just like every other league and playing the waiver-wire is a crucial part of Fantasy success. No Fantasy season is lost after a draft -- we make sure of it.
