September 1st was the end of my fantasy draft week. Last Thursday was my keeper league draft, Saturday was the family league snake draft, and finally, my auction draft. I loved them all. However, if I had to pick one, it would be auction. Like I told the one newbie to that draft, once you go auction, you don’t go back…
Actually, I think an auction/keeper league would be the ultimate. Have to put some kind of dollar cap on the keepers maybe, like no more than half your dollars can be spent on keepers. That would be really cool. The auction draft on this night is the most difficult in my opinion. 12 teams, 18 roster spots, $200 budget. Knowing that you will have to overpay to get the top stars, you really need to plan well. The star of stars on this evening was the consensus best fantasy player this year, Jonathan Taylor.
JT went for a cool $65, essentially 1/3 of your team’s budget; hope he doesn’t get hurt. I was in on the bidding for him until it went over $60. The 2nd highest bid was shared by 2 guys at $57: Cooper Kupp and my running back, Austin Ekeler. I kind of backed myself in a corner on Ekeler; he WAS the 2nd rated RB on my list… I did want him, but… since I let 9 other RBs including JT go in front of him, I kind of needed to get him… and I did. Paid a little more than I wanted to, but that’s the name of the game, especially early in the draft.
I had planned to spend $50 on my top 2 guys, preferably 1 RB and 1 WR. With Ekeler on the roster, I needed a WR. I had 3 in mind. I missed out on the first two, with Davante Adams going for $46 and Ja’Marr Chase going for $55; I went back and forth with my childhood friend, the guy I first played fantasy football with 30+ years ago, on Chase… this happened multiple other times in the draft; why were we always going after the same guys? Well, maybe because we’re smart and think alike? Haha… Anyways, he was a pain in my ass all night, also snagging the 2nd RB I wanted in Javonte Williams. But back to WR… I did get my 3rd guy, Stefon Diggs, at exactly $50; not too bad.
Now I sat… and waited. I didn’t want 1 of the top 4 TEs, but had my eye on #5. I needed a solid 2nd WR and RB, and of course, had my eyes on Herbert at QB again. The first QB nominated was Josh Allen; of course I liked him too. The guy that had bid up Herbert on me last year got him at $22; I thought I was in the clear… until somebody else bid him up on me… I had to let him go at $24; that’s the discipline… I did snag Courtland Sutton for my WR2 for $20; I like that pick. My TE was brought up next. I paid a little more than I wanted, but I got Dalton Schultz for $14. The next QB on my list was Jalen Hurts, who happened to be the top QB on my buddy’s list. I let him go at $21. I was kind of worried at QB now… the next guy on my list was Burrow, who I snagged for $12. Guy messed with me after that pick, saying he’s going to be out Week 1… I was scrambling looking online to see if that was true… haha. It’s not.
I had to get a 2nd RB. There were already 22 RBs taken… but I had one more guy that I wanted. I picked up Chase Edmonds for $18. My money was low now. What’s that… $47 left for 12 guys. I wanted to get another solid WR; I picked up rookie Chris Olave from the Saints for $9. The next WR I snagged will hopefully be the steal of the draft; Deandre Hopkins for $6. I did know he would miss the first 6 weeks of the season, but that still leaves 11 weeks! If he wasn’t missing those first 6 weeks, he’d be a $40 WR. Stash for now, hurt some dudes later. Of course I had to get some Bears… $4 for my backup QB Fields, and $1 each for Herbert (I had to get 1 Herbert), Santos, and the Bears D. Wrapping up my roster and a couple picks I really like: Austin Hooper, Josh Palmer, and Jahan Dotson all for $1 each. My couple longshot picks were Tyler Allgeier, Rex Burkhead, and David Sills V all for a buck each as well.
Now that you’ve seen the Sleeping Dogs fantasy roster, you see what it takes to build a winning team… haha. Well, last year wasn’t so winning, but I did make the playoffs and finish 4th; the year before that was when I raised the trophy in this auction league. The defending champ is already talking shit; I’ll face him in Week 1. Let the fun begin… Good luck!!!
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