Fanball NFL Auction Breakdown: Week 8 – Wednesday, October 24th
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.
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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.
Wednesday, October 24th
Quarterback
Patrick Mahomes – $10
Cam Newton – $7
Mitchell Trubisky – $4
Russell Wilson – $4
Baker Mayfield – $4
Sam Darnold – $1
Quarterback is super simple to break down today. Don’t get stuck with Sam Darnold. After going through a few drafts, I’ve realized that the simplest way to go about QB is to bid on every QB not named Darnold that comes on the board. Darnold is far worse than the rest of the guys on the board, and in all likelihood, you can probably get any other QB, not named Mahomes, for one or two dollars.
If you are planning on going out of your way to get Mahomes, you better make sure you have enough money to get him. If he ends up going on the board later on in the draft, and you don’t have enough money to get him, then getting stuck with Darnold will likely end up sinking your draft.
Running Back
Todd Gurley – $31
Saquon Barkley – $28
Kareem Hunt – $21
James Conner – $20
David Johnson – $16
Marlon Mack – $9
Mark Ingram – $8
Nick Chubb – $8
Latavius Murray – $6
Chris Carson – $5
Jalen Richard – $4
Raheem Mostert – $1
Before I breakdown each tier, you need to know that RB is the spot where you need to be spending your money today. While there is a “landmine” in every single positional player pool, none are as serious as it is with RB today.
Barkley and Gurley – Be careful with these two RBs in drafts today. Gurley and Barkley are clearly the top two plays in this entire player pool, but if you spend too much on them early, you could end up getting stuck with some landmine plays in your lineup. Conversely, if you end up saving money for one of these guys at the end, you may end up getting outbid and stuck with Raheem Mostert instead of them.
Hunt, Conner, DJ – These three are a clear downgrade over the top two backs and a clear upgrade over the next eight. You should try to grab any one of these guys as your RB2 if you can (or RB1 if you can’t get Gurley or Saquon). I don’t have a huge preference on one of them over the others, so try to get any of these guys at a discount as the draft goes along.
Mack, Ingram, Chubb, Murray, Carson, Mostert – Look, all these guys are pretty drastic downgrades over the above RBs, but none will sink your draft. You should keep in mind your bankroll later on in the draft, because although these guys are worse than the above RBs, but the next two guys can legit ruin your entire draft.
Richard and Mostert – While I like Richard this week in salary format, and am higher on him than a lot of people, either of these guys can sink your draft completely and end up with a 1 point game. You should do everything in your power to not have Mostert in your lineup.
Wide Receiver
Tyreek Hill – $20
JuJu Smith-Schuster – $18
Mike Evans – $18
Jarvis Landry – $18
Brandin Cooks – $13
Stefon Diggs – $13
T.Y. Hilton – $10
Tyler Boyd – $8
Doug Baldwin – $5
Taylor Gabriel – $5
Christian Kirk – $2
Robby Anderson – $1
Hilly, Smith-Schuster, Evans, Landry, Cooks, Diggs – While the difference from the top RB and the bottom RB in this pool could end up being 40 points, in all likelihood, the difference between the top WR and bottom WR will be around 15 points. You could do 40 of these auction drafts and never spend more than $10 on a single WR and end up making money. My suggestion in these drafts is to focus mainly on RB and to just check what WRs are going for as they come on the board and try to steal one of them on the cheap.
Hilton, Boyd, Baldwin, Kirk, Gabriel, Anderson – Honestly, I’m not going to be disappointed if I get stuck with two of these guys in each of my lineup. All of these players have the possibility to outscore any of the top tier guys here, so my plan is just to see which of these guys I can get at a discount (and likely end up with Kirk or Anderson for $1 at the end).
Tight End
George Kittle – $12
David Njoku – $12
Jimmy Graham – $12
Trey Burton – $7
Greg Olsen – $4
Chris Herndon – $1
TE is a very similar spot to QB today, in that I in no way want to get stuck with Herndon. Although he may have had a good week this last week, it was likely due to volume which was strictly due to the wind. You should be bidding on every single TE not named Herndon who comes on the board, trying to get them at a big discount (you will likely be able to get one for four or five dollars). All TEs on the board not named Herndon have a projection four points higher than Herndon.
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.
Trubisky with Gabriel and Burton – To me this is the clear spot where you can get a huge correlation play for cheap. It’s likely that all 3 of these guys go off the board for under four dollars and with Trubisky having several 30 point games under his belt, you can likely get the far majority of Trubisky’s production here for cheap.
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.