By: Steve DeAngelo
I Attended my first fantasy auction of the 2010 season last night in South Jersey. This particular league is a keeper league that is in its 6th season. It’s a good bunch of guys and it’s always good times meeting with them. It’s a fairly competitive league as well with solid owners.
The Freehole Fantasy Football League is a ppr league with backs and receivers getting 1 pt for every 2 catches. The rest is standard scoring. The lineup format is standard with a flex position. QB, RB, RB, WR, WR, Flex, TE, K, DEF. We are allowed 4 keepers each season with a $175 cap. The max contract is 3 years and salaries increase every year you protect your player.
3 years ago I gave Vince Young a 3 year contract. I loved VY coming out of college and I still believe in him even though he still has many doubters. Obviously though at $22 it’s not good market value. Also I traded for Marion Barber last year after dumping some other contracts and he was coming in protected at $19 this year. Again probably not great market value but again this is a keeper league and things like this will happen. However both of these players can still provide solid production for me throughout the year.
My new contracts were protecting Rashad Mendenhall at $11 as I signed him to a 1 year deal. I had him at $6 last year and protecting him at 1 year increases his salary by $5 to make $11 for this year. I did the one year contract for two reasons. First only being able to protect 4 guys I want to keep my options open for next year as we are not allowed to cut guys under contract. Also I am not fully sold on Mendenhall yet even though he has solid potential. Either way $11 bucks for Mendenhall is a great price.
The other player I kept was Shonn Greene for $6. He was $2 last year and I signed him to a 2 year deal increasing his salary by $4 to make it $6 for this season. I am a believer in Greene but didn’t want to go 3 years because you never know with injuries in the NFL so I just wanted to decrease my risk some. Again like with Mendenhall I got value as Shonn Greene at $6 is a superb bargain.
So entering last night’s auction I started the night with $117. Kept at RB were all the big backs like MJD, Rice, CJ, SJ, Gore, AP. Also Ricky Williams, Ronnie Brown, Pierre Thomas, DeAngelo Williams, Addai, Turner, Lesean Mcoy, Jamal Charles, Benson, Moreno and Matt Forte were all protected as well. So as you can see what was I really left with? Mostly the rookie backs and some other guys like Jerome Harrison and the old veterans like LT, Thomas Jones etc. I had 3 backs coming in with Greene, Mendenhall and Barber but I wanted more because I want to build depth to play matchups, guard against injury and increase my trading pieces. RB is the best commodity in Fantasy Football.
Protected at Wideout was Fitzgerald, Randy Moss, Roddy White, Brandon Marhsall, Michael Crabtree, Miles Austin, Sidney Rice, Dwayne Bowe, Calvin Johnson, and Hakeem Nicks. Two names left of this list that were available Andre Johnson and Reggie Wayne. Also Desean Jackson, Wes Welker, Marques Colston and Ocho were available among some other solid wideouts. There were a lot of quality wideouts left unlike the runningbacks. My goal was to get either Johnson or Wayne or double up on two of these guys.
At Quarterback gone was Rodgers, Romo, Rivers, Brees Matt Schaub and Matt Ryan. Best one available was Peyton Manning then you have the likes of Carson Palmer, Jay Cutler, Brett Favre etc. I wasn’t concerned with getting a top Qb because I knew I would have strength at RB/WR and also I like Vince Young. Plus I have $22 invested in the guy!
Just a note of advice if you’re in an Auction Keeper league. Be sure to always know what is left and gauge what the depth of talent is at each position. This way you know exactly who you want to target. Failure to do this will result in you not knowing what you really want and bidding on everything that sounds good. Pick what you want and go after it that is my motto. Don’t be afraid to outbid the other guy even if you have to go up a bit. The beauty of an Auction is you can get any guy who want as long as you have the $$. Be confident and go get what you want. Also look for value as well but only after you get what you want. If you end up getting the guy wanted for a good price than that is great and bonus for you. Also of course keep track of your $$ go ahead and ask the commish for a Salary Check.
Ok so this is who I ended up with.
QB- Vince Young $22 (previously protected)
QB- Mark Sanchez $3
QB- Matthew Stafford $3
RB- Rashad Mendenhall $11 (Protected this year)
RB- Shonn Greene $6 (Protected this year)
RB- Marion Barber $19 (Previously protected)
RB- CJ Spiller $17
RB- Jahvid Best $19
WR- Andre Johnson $52
WR- Braylon Edwards $8
WR- Lee Evans $3
WR- Roy Williams $3
WR- Legedu Nanee $4
TE- Todd Heap $1
K- Dan Carpenter $1
Def- Bengals Def $1
So as you can see even though I had 3 runningbacks coming in I went out and got two rookies with huge upside in Best and Spiller. I loved both of these guys and got em. I also got both for solid prices right around the $20 mark. I would have went up to $25 for both and probably a little more on Spiller so I was happy with the price I got. Again this allows me to play matchups, avoid injury and have trading pieces. What do most people want? Runningbacks.
Andre Johnson went for $52 because after Desean Jackson, Reggie Wayne went he was bound to get bid up high. Wayne ended up going for about $38 which is good value considering I got Johnson for $52. However I don’t care I got arguably the best Fantasy wideout in the game. Grouped with my backs this a dangerous combo. I could have got Wayne but he was the first person called and I didn’t really know what to expect. This is often a good Auction Strategy however, usually that first guy that gets called out is a stud and because people don’t know what to spend as of yet he usually goes for a good bargain. So it’s good to sometimes bid on that player. In my case I didn’t because I knew there were many other wideouts left. When Johnson got called I was going hard for him because I had the money to spend. Me and the Commish got into a bidding war but I didn’t give up and landed Johnson.
The rest of my wideouts aren’t spectacular but they do have decent upside. Can Lee Evans finally break out? Who knows but at $3 he’s a decent buy. Also Braylon Edwards at $8 isn’t bad especially with Holmes out the first 4 weeks. Roy Williams I don’t like but there really wasn’t much left at that point so I grabbed him for $3. Naanee maybe he can step up in the absence of Vincent Jackson I am taking a chance there. End of the day I only need to start two wideouts and my #2 wideouts can be serviceable for me. I’m not too worried because I have a Stud at my #1 WR and I can fill my flex spot with a RB.
Like I mentioned I wasn’t to worried about Quarterback because I knew I would fill out my roster at RB and WR but I was happy with getting Sanchez and Stafford to go along with Vince Young. I can play matchups with these guys and they all have tremendous upside in my opinion. Also having Stafford and Sanchez at $3 they are potential keepers for next season.
I was trying to target some good tight ends but my money was tight after spending on the backs and Johnson so I ended up with Todd Heap who I believe is still at least serviceable.
Kicker and Defense I got for a buck. It’s very rare that I spend more than $2 dollars on my kicker or defense. Most cases it’s just not worth it. I would rather save my money and bid on a skill position.
My week 1 Starting Lineup will look like this.
QB- Vince Young (I love the guy)
HB- Shonn Greene
HB- Rashad Mendenhall
WR- Andre Johnson
WR- Braylon Edwards
TE- Todd Heap
Flex- CJ Spiller or Best
K- Dan Carpenter
Def- Bengals Def.
I am happy with the way my team turned out and I think I can definitely compete for a title with this team. In a 12 team keeper league I believe this is a solid team. The moral of the story is this. If you really like someone go get him don’t get outbid. Also build depth at the Running back position. Be confident and go after what you want. Make sure you know exactly who is left so you can gauge the talent depth available at each position. Look for Value. Also as every keeper league is different and different players will be available go check out our Player Outlooks if you haven’t already and you will get a good idea of who we like and don’t like. I hope you found nice value in this post.
Please leave your thoughts and comments and what you like or don’t like about my team and what you may have done different. Thanks for reading.
Fantasy Savvy 