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Well, this is it, the last required information dump (hehe, dump) for the masses in preparation for your 2014 Fantasy Football Draft. And here it is, the auction values have been released. But I’m guessing you already knew that, because, of well, ^. For those of you who have never played in an auction draft, or for those of you who do nothing but make it rain when you here the words Jamaal and Charles in the same sentence, I’ll go over some pointers so as to facilitate moderate to heavy alcohol consumption without the fear of drafting David Wilson.

These strategies and values are based on a 12-team, $200.00 budget auction draft. 

– Make a list of targets, and find peace with the fact that you’ll land some, and you’ll lose out on others. You really like Ryan Mathews? Oh, that’s just me? Okay, well… you like Keenan Allen, right? Of course you do, why wouldn’t you? Well, guess what, me too! And you know what? I’ll probably outbid you on him. But that’s okay, because I deserve him and the rest of the Chargers roster. It’s also okay because right next to Allen’s name, you should have Victor Cruz‘s name as well. Always have a back-up to a back-up to a back-up on your target list, and make sure you use our values to decide whether or not you are getting value. For example, let’s say I won the bidding for Allen, but I got him at $30.00, $5.00 more than his stated value and too rich for your blood. (Who gives blood a checking account anyways?) And you see Cruz’s bidding start slowing down at $19.00… now’s the time to jump in.

– Related to making a list of targets above with values, try to plan out a budget for each position using those values. Use Excel, Google Sheets, pen and paper, dark wizardry, it doesn’t matter. Simply, just have a general sense of what you want to spend and how much. For example, you really want to try and land the underrated Cam Newton at $15.00? That’s very possible! And guess what, his value is at $18.00… so that’s potentially $3.00 you can add to your RB pool that allows you to go for a Reggie Bush ($22.00) instead of a Joique Bell ($19.00). No auction draft will go to plan, but if you have this list in front of you, do the math on the fly and see how you can mix and match when you win players at a value or vica versa, you’ll have a huge leg up on your league-mates, and you’ll be surprised how little money you leave on the table at the end.

– Don’t be afraid to overpay for “your” guys. We all have a few guys that we each personally believe in. I’m a huge Kendall Wright guy this season, even in Standard Scoring leagues, and if I have to pay, let’s say, $5.00 more than his value ($17.00), I’m okay with that. I’ll find value elsewhere. You could call it the ‘know when to play ’em, know when to fold ’em’ mentality, but in auctions, I’m very aggressive in getting ‘my guys’. Don’t let the market or the other owners dictate your team. That doesn’t mean go crazy and spend $80.00 on Petyon Manning (and that’s just for his forehead), bring a balanced approach, but if you truly believe in a guy, pay that extra money and know that you can find savings later in the draft.

– Throw a few names out there early that you want. There are a lot of strategy guides out there that tell you to never buy in the first hour, or don’t nominate a player you want. Okay, but you might miss out on really good early values when people are buying into what everyone has told them, just sitting there and waiting. Let’s say you throw out Zac Stacy as one of your early nominations… my bet is, not many people are going to enter into a bidding war, because they want to save their money and position for guys like Eddie Lacy and Montee Ball. Fantastic, that’s value right there, and you’ve essentially set the market.

– Alcohol. Drink it.

 

And now, I’m proud to present the 2014 Razzball Fantasy Football Auction Values.

Note: Again, a special thanks goes to Rudy Gamble, because without him, we wouldn’t have this.Â