August 22, 2024: Wasted Money

Wednesday night was my first Fantasy Football draft of the season; when it’s all said and done, there will be three drafts. If I had to pick one, between an auction, snake, or keeper, the choice is clear; it would be auction, the draft that I just completed. I can’t lie though… I’m a little disappointed; the main reason I’m disappointed is because I had leftover funds, essentially wasted money for the first time that I can recall; can’t take it with you in the regular season. Yes, I left $23 out of my $200 budget on the table; hope it doesn’t come back to bite me.

I always say you’re not wasting money spending big to go after your guy; you have to do that in an auction format. The thing is, don’t do it more than once or twice. The thing is, the one guy that I wanted to do this with, got crazy, and I eventually bowed out; this happened to a lesser degree with multiple players that were high on my list, like AJ Brown and Bijan Robinson. Now, maybe I was wrong with these guys, thinking they’re going to have monster years, and then I’ll look back, and not feel too bad. Yet, looking at my roster, and seeing that $30 on Nico Collins was the most I spent on a player… that doesn’t feel right.

On the flip side, I was able to get all the “mid-guys” that I wanted, because I had a ton of money. I did get my #1 TE target in Sam LaPorta for not a bad price of $21, the 2nd most I spent on a player. I spent $19 on a RB I wanted in James Cook; I was happy about that. Out of the 16 players I drafted, not counting the Bears defense and Cairo Santos, 10 of them were on my list; not too bad. Other guys I spent double digits on were McLaurin ($14), Tee Higgins ($16), Godwin ($12), and Gus Edwards ($10). Again, not unhappy with these guys, I just don’t have a big dog… or dogs. I have a lot of guys who could turn out to be big dogs, but would have to say they’re “mid” right now; we’ll see.

Rounding out the roster… D’Andre Swift; he wasn’t on my list, but got him cheap. Same goes for D-Hop… who could turn out to be a great pickup IMO. I wanted Tua at QB; I got Tua at QB. I also picked up Herbert for dirt cheap as a backup; if he’s healthy, he could end up being my starter. Another guy on my list was WR Jameson Williams from Detroit; got him. Brian Robinson Jr was another guy I couldn’t pass up for the price, along with Joshua Palmer, Chase Brown, and semi-handcuff to Cook in Ray Davis. I will need to have hit on a handful of guys for my team to really be good this year.

When the end of the draft came around, and I still had $23 left… I was not happy. Sure, I avoided spending big bucks on a player who could be a bust, but I needed at least 1 big guy, preferably 2; I have zero… unless you want to give me LaPorta as a top player; I did see him ranked #1 among TEs in some places. Currently, I have zero backup TEs, which could come into play immediately, if for some reason LaPorta doesn’t play. Well, it is what it is… one draft down, two to go. Ready for football to start today. Good luck in your drafts.