Auction Domination: 5 reasons why a fantasy football auction is better than a snake draft

Still stuck doing a snake draft? Upgrade your league to an auction draft.

Hello everybody, my name is Trader Tim and I’m going to give you 5 reasons today why you should consider trying out a fantasy football auction this year. Snake drafts are fine and they can be easy, but if you’re a real fantasy football guy then auctions are the only way to go. Here’s why:

1. No Waiting Around

In a snake draft, you can spend upwards of 25-30 minutes just sitting around and scratching yourself. If you have the first or last pick in the draft, you get your pick(s) and then do literally nothing for 20 or so picks in between. You’re forced to sit there and watch others fill out their rosters while you do nothing other than play with your phone or drink. While that may be fine for some, it is not how real drafting is meant to go. In an auction every player is live, so the action never dies down. You have the option of bidding on any and every player (until you run out of money) so you have a reason to be engaged and pay attention the whole draft. There is no better feeling than capitalizing on your buddies’ mistakes when they let you snag a player on the cheap because they weren’t focused and you were. With every single pick opening up a battlefield you can readily jump in, auctions literally take the boring out of drafting.

2. You Can Use Actual Strategy

In a snake draft there is very minimal strategy. You can try to plan ahead as far as who you might like to target or what positions you want to go after or avoid, but really, you only have limited control over how that works out. If you really want a certain player and he gets picked one spot before you, then your strategy can get disrupted at no fault of your own. Realistically, it usually comes down to pick the best player at your highest position of need every round, which isn’t much strategy at all. Auctions change all of that! You can budget each position differently, you can target certain guys / tiers and guarantee you get them, you can choose to bust your friends’ balls and bid their favorite players up. There are almost infinite strategies you can concoct in an auction format whether it involves roster construction, budgeting, bidding plans, etc. This is just not an option in a regular snake draft.

3. Literally Everyone is Available (at least to start)

To quote the Million Dollar Man, “Everybody’s got a price”. Unlike a snake draft, if you want a player badly enough, you can have that player. If you get stuck with pick 5 but you really wanted David Johnson then you’re shit out of luck this year. In an auction, you are guaranteed to get Johnson as long as you’re willing to pay more than the next guy for him. In fact, if you want Johnson and Ezekiel Elliott, then have at it. Generally, I would caution against spending too much for one or two guys, but at least you have the option.

Ted Dibiase Million Dollar Man Theme

4. You Get Rewarded More For Being Prepared

If you’re that lazy ass in the league who likes to roll into a draft completely unprepared and pull out a magazine for the first time at the draft, then auctions probably are not for you. However, if you’re reading this article right now then you are obviously intelligent and you should use your preparedness to your advantage. While any monkey can slog through a snake draft and end up with a relatively decent team, this is not the case in an auction. You must be prepared enough to know how much players should be valued, maintain a budget, and bid with a plan. Since you will be prepared to do those things, you can gain a sizable advantage on the slugs in your league who are not.

5. The Draft Lasts A Bit Longer

Let’s face it, the best part about any fantasy sport is the draft. There’s always the excitement about who you’re going to be able to roster and the bargains you’re going to be able to exploit and how stacked your team is going to be. Then the season starts and most of your plans go to hell and by week 3, you’ll be swearing at the tv screen because some scrub is going off against you for your opponent while your first rounder rolled his ankle only 5 minutes into the game. Why not savor the good stuff? In many cases I only see certain people in my life once a year, on draft day. I want to spend more time with those friends and I want to soak in more draft time and an auction lets me do both of those things. A longer draft is not usually better when it’s a snake draft because it just means that people are taking too long to make their picks and that can be maddening. A longer draft in an auction just means that the bidding is fast and furious and everybody is engaged and having fun. Give me the auction please!

I imagine some of these points resonated with those of you who have participated in an auction draft before. If you have never had the pleasure, I hope these reasons are enough to urge you towards giving it a try. I’ll be back soon with 5 strategies to dominate your auction but until then, don’t be a stranger on the message board below!

Author

  • As a 20 year veteran of fantasy sports, I have seen everything and tried every strategy. I have learned that the keys to winning are preparation and focus. I am here to share my experience and preparation with all of you! My biggest strengths are drafting, trading and add/drops because they all require good preparation and knowledge of what you are doing. I will share my advice and my reasoning while hopefully sprinkling a little entertainment along with it.

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