Fanball NFL Auction Breakdown: Week 9 – Wednesday, October 31st
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 or under what you are projecting to pay for them. You can find the full scoring system for Fanball NFL here.
Be sure to check out Kevin Cole’s overall look at his projected values before my breakdown below.
Wednesday, October 31st
Quarterback
Cam Newton – $13
Drew Brees – $6
Mitchell Trubisky – $5
Ben Roethlisberger – $3
Baker Mayfield – $2
Joe Flacco – $1
I’ve had a little bit of trouble trying to figure out what to do at QB with today’s player pool, and I think it entirely goes with what you are planning on doing with the rest of your draft. Right now, I have each QB priced at their actual price above replacement. There is a very decent likelihood that you can get any of these QBs under value, but Newton is the guy you need to plan for if you want to get him. There are two big landmines (players that can ruin your draft if you get stuck with them) in this draft that you want to avoid. If you plan to pay up for Newton, then it’s smart to lock down a cheap RB and/or WR early on in the draft.
Running Back
Alvin Kamara – $24
James Conner – $22
Christian McCaffrey – $22
Adrian Peterson – $14
Nick Chubb – $12
Tarik Cohen – $12
Mark Ingram – $8
Jordan Howard – $8
Alex Collins – $6
Tevin Coleman – $6
Peyton Barber – $3
Frank Gore – $1
Kamara, Conner, McCaffrey – All three of these backs are pretty much in the same tier for me with a slight edge to Kamara. It is very likely that you won’t be able to get one of these backs easily and likely impossible to get two of them. You are going to need one spend up spot in this draft, and if you have to choose between a premium RB and a premium WR, I suggest that you go with one of these backs.
Peterson, Chubb, Cohen, Ingram, Howard – All these backs are a drastic downgrade over the top tier and their prices will likely be fungible between each draft you have based on where the top RBs go on the board and when these backs go on the board. The smart move is to get one of these early on at a discount, as later on in the draft you can all but guarantee that they are going to go way over value when people are scrambling to not get stuck with Barber or Gore.
Collins, Coleman, Barber – I don’t want to get any of these backs, but it may be hard to get a well-rounded team without one of them. I wouldn’t bid too high on any of them unless it’s at the end of the draft and you may be forced to get Gore if you don’t.
Gore – Avoid if at all possible, but if you have to choose between getting stuck with Gore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, or Jesse James, you choose Gore every time.
Wide Receiver
Michael Thomas – $26
Antonio Brown – $24
Julio Jones – $24
Mike Evans – $21
JuJu Smith-Schuster – $21
Jarvis Landry – $14
Calvin Ridley – $14
John Brown – $12
Devin Funchess – $6
Taylor Gabriel – $6
Tre’Quan Smith – $6
Marquez Valdes-Scantling – $1
Thomas, Brown, Jones, Evans, JuJu – Each of these WRs are one of the top WRs on the entire slate. The thing here is that there are a lot of great WRs and it may actually be possible to get two of these guys in your draft and still get a decent team around them. I mentioned that I prefer to pay up for a top tier RB, and I would drastically rather get stuck with one of the top three RBs than any of these WRs, but I in no way want to get stuck with Valdes-Scantling. If you wait to bid up one of these WRs later in the draft, it could cost you the entire draft as you may end up getting stuck with MVS. Plan accordingly if you plan on waiting late in the draft for these top WRs
Landry, Ridley, Brown, Funchess, Gabriel, Smith – I’m bunching all these WRs in one category even though I have listed drastically different prices above, because the above prices are what I believe you will end up being able to get them for. Every WR above MVS is near a 10-point improvement and the smart move in these drafts is to try and get any one of these guys for single digits early on in the draft.
Marquez Valdes-Scantling – Any draft where you get stuck with Scantling was likely a complete failure. This is the single worst player you can get stuck with is in the draft and you should do everything in your power not to get stuck with him.
Tight End
O.J. Howard – $6
David Njoku – $4
Greg Olsen – $4
Trey Burton – $4
Jimmy Graham – $4
Jesse James – $1
To me, TEs 1-5 have very little difference in expected output, with a huge dropoff when you get down to James. Each of the top five TEs are projected to get over double the points that James is projected to get. Your plan in this draft should be to get whatever TE, not named James, you can get as they come on the board. The later it gets in the draft the more you should make it a priority as the only player that can do more damage to your lineup in this player pool is MVS.
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.
Bake Mayfield with Landry & Njoku – To me this is one of the best ways to build your team around a stack. In all likelihood, you will be able to get all three of these guys for under $20 and it will help you avoid the landmines at each of their positions. Although Njoku killed a lot of lineups last week, and Landry couldn’t do much with the amount of volume he had, both of these guys could take a huge step forward with Jackson gone and going against a horrible KC defense (Not to mention that they are probably going to be throwing a lot to try and catch up). If you land on two of these guys early on, you should absolutely pay up an extra buck or two over value for the third.
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.