Fantasy Football Auction Draft: How to Dominate

With the opening of the NFL season closing in quickly, it's time to start thinking about your fantasy football team. While auction-style drafts are not nearly as popular as standard drafting methods in fantasy, there are many arguments why it's a whole lot more fun and rewarding. In an auction-style draft, each owner bids on players to fill their roster while trying to remain under a set budget (most common drafts use a $200 budget). Usually, each owner takes a turn nominating a player for auction. For myself, the main draw of the auction draft is that EVERYONE has a chance to get LaDanian Tomlinson, not just the guy with the first pick (or the second pick, if you end up in a draft with an Adrian Peterson fan). Here are 8 tips for how you can dominate your fantasy auction draft.

1. Budget. Budget. Budget. Before the draft starts, figure out your dream team. Be reasonable. My way of putting together a roster is to find an online mock draft, and then select one player from each round for my dream team. Consider each round to be a group that you can pick ANY player from. After picking your dream team, put a dollar amount next to each player's name to be sure you can fit your dream team into the budget. Stick to that budget like your life depends on it. Then you get the "Trickle-Down Effect." For instance, let's say you have budgeted for Stephen Jackson. Your budget for him is $24. You get him for $22. Now you get to add $2 to the budget for another position. If you can get some players for less than budgeted, you can upgrade on your budget dream team. You can upgrade a 3^rd tier running back and get a 2^nd tier running back.

You wanted the 6^th ranked defense, but now you can afford the 3^rd ranked defense. It works the other way, too. If you budget for Stephen Jackson and he goes over your budget, let him go. Get the next-best guy to Stephen Jackson and use the money you saved in the "Trickle-Down" example. In addition to "Trickle-Down", budgeting also allows you to go for big names and drive other player prices up. If Stephen Jackson is your guy at $24 and LaDanian Tomlinson is on the auction block first, bid up to $24 for Tomlinson. Tomlinson may not be the best example, but if you can get someone better than the player you budgeted for, at the same price, why wouldn't you do it? At the very least, you're being active in the bidding process, and driving player prices up. If you stick to your budget and adjust the rest as you go, you'll find that you can get a very solid and consistent (while not filled with stars and household names) team.

2. Let the "Big Spenders" be just that. At the start of many auctions, you'll find that the big names might go for more than you budgeted. Let them go. When other owners overspend on players early, it means you can get more bang for your buck later in the draft when you've got all the money and everyone else has some quarters, a button and pocket lint left to spend.

3. Patience is key. In the last draft I participated in (with 8 teams), I didn't win a single player until 20 players were off the board. Everyone thought I was nuts. You know where I am now? First place.

4. Don't Want Him? Make Others Take Him. The draft starts. You want Derek Anderson as your #1 quarterback. What strategy do you take? Nominate Ben Roethlisberger. Why? Each team only needs one starting quarterback. If all of the other owners fill their quarterback slots, they won't even place a bid on Derek Anderson when he's up, and you get a bargain.

5. Know the Other Owners. Everyone wants their favorite players on their fantasy team. And there is always at least one owner who is willing to overpay for his favorite players. Someone will overpay for Tom Brady. Someone will overpay for Terrell Owens. Have a Giants fan? He will definitely overpay for Eli Manning. Feel free to get as many favorites as you can into your budget, but if the bidding gets too hot, realize that winning your league is more important than having your favorite players.

6. Whatever the Minimum Bid Is, That's How Much Your Kicker Costs. Why kickers even exist in the world of fantasy sports is beyond me. Here's what you should know about kickers:

- They are impossible to project. I checked a website that ranked the top 10 kickers prior to the 2007 season. Of those 10 kickers, only 3 actually ended up in the top 10 when all was said and done.

- The difference between #1 and #10 is slim. The difference between last year's top kicker and last year's 10^th ranked kicker was 23 points. That ends up being less than 1 ½ points a week.

- You only need one kicker. Let me repeat that. YOU ONLY NEED ONE KICKER. When your kicker has a bye week, drop someone useless, pick up a different kicker, then drop the kicker when the week is over. Period. There is no need for a 2^nd kicker. Ever.

- It's a crapshoot. One of my kickers scored a touchdown last year. Who can predict things like that? No one. Anyone can win the kicker lottery for the best kicker in the league. You should be the guy who's ticket is the least expensive.

So let everyone else waste their money on the kicker that they think will be best. You, on the other hand, can save your money and get a player at any other position who can make a bigger impact.

7. Don't be Afraid to Talk Some Trash. Did you just get a top-tier quarterback at half the price you were expecting? Let everyone in the room know about it. Did someone greatly overpay for their wide receiver? Let everyone in the room know about it. Get in their heads and make them question every move that they make going forward. "I wouldn't have paid that much for him," "That's a lot to pay for a guy who will play three games and get injured the rest of the season" or "I think the word you were looking for is 'Peyton,' not 'Eli,' but that guy has already been picked. Pick again" all work well. Just remember to have fun with it and that there is a thin line between talking trash and being the a-hole in the group.

8. After Your Starting Lineup, Your Next Concern Should Be Depth at Running Back. Of all fantasy positions, running backs face the highest number of injuries. An injured top-tier running back can bury your fantasy team early in the season (like Stephen Jackson killing me last season). Focus on running back depth and if you have a top-tier running back, you might want his backup (also known as "handcuff") to ensure that if your guy does go down, you'll have a running back that will still get plenty of carries.

You should now be equipped with all the tools you need to give everyone else in your fantasy league a run for their money. Good luck and have fun, fantasy leaguers!