Fanball NFL Auction Breakdown: Week 8 – Thursday, October 25th
Hey everyone, welcome to the Fanball NFL Auction breakdown. If you haven’t played on this site before, it’s a product unlike anything you’ve ever seen before in DFS. They will be offering an Auction-style format drafting with four players on the board at all times, meaning you have to be on your toes and be aware of what is going on, because split-second mistakes can be costly.
Each team must draft 1 QB, 2 WR, 2 RB, and 1 TE. No player can be left on the board at the end of the draft, so if you are the last player not to draft a TE, then when the last TE goes on the board you will autodraft them for $1.
RG Exclusive Offer: Deposit $20 on Fanball and get a $20 bonus!
There are four players up for auction at all times, so you need to be able to adlib on the fly if someone goes drastically over what you are projecting to pay for them or if they go drastically under what you are projecting to pay for them. Below are my breakdowns for each position, along with the projected pay-point for each player I would suggest.
Be sure to check out Kevin Cole’s overall look at his projected values before my breakdown below.
Thursday, October 25th
Quarterback
Ben Roethlisberger – $4
Jared Goff – $4
Andrew Luck – $3
Jameis Winston – $2
Andy Dalton – $2
Matthew Stafford – $1
QB is a fairly straightforward category today. While Roethlisberger is above the rest of the player pool by a bit, all QBs are within four points of each other. While in all likelihood Roethlisberger is probably worth throwing around nine dollars on, in all likelihood you are better off just throwing one to two dollars on either Luck or Goff or just completely punting the position as many people will bid up the QB that they prefer. Chances are you don’t get stuck with Stafford at the end as someone will likely click on his name during the chaos that ensues in these drafts.
Running Back
Todd Gurley – $31
Alvin Kamara – $21
Joe Mixon – $21
Christian McCaffrey – $21
Phillip Lindsay – $10
Marlon Mack – $10
Tarik Cohen – $10
Kerryon Johnson – $8
Latavius Murray – $3
Isaiah Crowell – $3
Duke Johnson – $1
Doug Martin – $1
Gurley – As what happens everytime we have a player pool with Gurley in it, it’s going to be a mad bidding war as soon as Gurley comes on the board. I’ve written this situation up often thus far, and there are a few things I’ve noticed. First off, if Gurley goes on the board at the beginning, there’s a decent chance that a few people aren’t paying attention and you can often times get him for low 20s. If everyone is paying attention, Gurley will likely be bid up way too high and it’s not worth going for him.
Secondly, if Gurley goes later on in the draft one of two things are going to happen. Either people are going to plan specifically to get Gurley and make sure that they have enough money to beat anyone else in a bidding war or everyone will have blown all their money and you can get him at a huge discount. Be on the lookout for how much people have left to spend near the end of the draft. If you can get outbid by one person, it’s better to spend up on other guys as you will likely end up getting stuck with a ton of money left on the board.
Kamara, Mixon, McCaffrey – I don’t have a huge preference on any of these RBs over the other two, but all these guys are clearly a tier ahead of the next group. There is going to be a mad dash to get these guys when they come on the board, so be on the lookout for whoever else is on the board as you might be able to get one of them while your competition is distracted.
Lindsay, Mack, Cohen, Johnson – If you can’t get two of the above RBs, then this is where you want to go for your RB2. The smart move is to lock up one of these guys early on in the draft at a huge discount and try and load up at the rest of your positions later with the extra money you saved.
Murray, Crowell, Johnson, Martin – I have no desire to get stuck with any of these RBs as the rest are a huge upgrade, but if I am getting stuck with one of these guys, my preference is leaning largely to both Murray and Crowell. Both these backs have a secure workload this weekend while both Johnson and Martin have a floor somewhere around two or three. Do you best to make sure you don’t get stuck with Johnson or Martin.
Wide Receiver
Antonio Brown – $25
A.J. Green – $23
Davante Adams – $20
JuJu Smith-Schuster – $18
Robert Woods – $18
Mike Evans – $18
Brandin Cooks – $18
Marvin Jones – $7
Courtland Sutton – $4
Jordy Nelson – $3
Marquise Goodwin – $3
Tre’Quan Smith – $1
Brown, Green, Adams, Smith-Schuster, Woods, Evans, Cooks – The tier one for WR is massive today and the dropoff to the next tier is pretty massive. My suggestion here is to just bid on every single one of these guys as they come on the board and to try to get two of them in your lineup for around half your bankroll. While it’s never a good idea to have preconceived notions and bias toward players in DFS, it is an absolute reality for most players, so you are likely to see two or three of these guys go well below value.
Jones, Sutton, Goodwin, Smith – I am doing everything in my power not to get stuck with any WR in this tier as any single one of these WRs can completely ruin your lineup. If you are going to get stuck with one of these guys, try to bid up an extra buck or two for Jones as he is the one least likely to destroy your lineup.
Tight End
Travis Kelce – $21
Jared Cook – $10
Jimmy Graham – $10
Vance McDonald – $3
Evan Engram – $2
C.J. Uzomah – $1
Kelce – I currently have Kelce at $21 cause that’s his realistic value relative to the rest of the TEs, but in all likelihood, you won’t see him go for more than $12-14 in any draft. You should keep your eye on him when he comes on the board as he should be given priority over most other players in the draft at any position.
Cook and Graham – if I’m not going to get Kelce, these two are the ones I’m going to shoot for. This position really ends up coming down to what guy comes on the board when. Both Cook and Graham are drastic upgrades over the bottom three TEs and my plan is simply to see if I can get either of these guys for around $4-5. If I can scoop them up on the cheap, my plan is to pay up for Kelce.
Mcdonald, Uzomah, Engram – I don’t plan on getting stuck with any of these players, but if I am going to, it’s best not to bid over $1 on any of them.
The Stack Spots
As we all know, in football DFS, pairing your QB with a WR or TE can have a drastic effect on your upside in any given competition and auction-style like this is no different. As you can clearly see from the player pool, each QB has WRs and/or TEs which you can pair with them to raise your upside. Below is my favorite stacking spot.
Goff with Cooks and Woods – This is the clear stacking spot in today’s player pool. With Kupp probably being out this week, the majority of Goff’s production is going to come from these two WRs. If Goff goes off for a huge game and you have all three of these guys in your lineup, then there’s a good chance that you win your contest. Adding in Gurley can have a pretty decent correlation too, but the chances of getting him with these 3 are pretty slim, so It’s better to just focus on these three players during your draft.
Remember guys, keep an eye out for what’s happening in your draft and if guys are going for way less than they are projected for here, you should know that some of these prices may be too low. Likewise, if guys are going for higher than the above price early on you can get a lot of these guys at a huge discount.