However, if you don’t set up at least a basic budget, then you could end up blowing all your money on running backs and leave yourself nothing for your receivers and such. I'll budget a dollar for each a kicker and a defense, maybe $15-$18 for two quarterbacks and maybe $10 for my tight ends (assuming everyone knows I love David Njoku and they bid me up.) Again, that's just what I like to do. Personally, if it's a $200 budget, I'll throw about $170 towards running backs and wideouts alone. This is your team and you can dole out the auction bucks any way you like. You can break it up however you like, but personally, I like to set a budget for each position. The trick is to decide exactly how much you want to spend and where. You have a salary cap and you are not allowed to go over. Set yourself up with a very specific strategy/game plan and follow through with it from start to finish. The worst thing you can do to yourself is go in blind and just say you want to grab Players X, Y and Z and whatever else happens, happens. Just do it with purpose and with a methodology intact. However you feel you want to attack this auction is fine. You want to spread your money around rather than using more of a “stars and scrubs” approach? For sure. You want to invest a little more in your running backs' handcuffs? By all means. You want to pay up for wide receivers? Go ahead. Auctions can be confusing, overwhelming and even a bit intimidating if you don’t have a strategy picked out, so make sure you go in with a plan. This seems easy enough to follow, especially for the beginning player. However, what I can do is assure you that if you do follow these eight easy steps, you’ll put yourself in a much better place to win your league than if you don’t.ġ. After all, there is no one right way to be successful at an auction. Consider it more of a guideline than anything else. You obviously don’t have to take everything I say here as gospel. This is a piece about how you go about acquiring those players in an auction format. Obviously, there are certain leaps of faith you must take in regard to player selection, but this isn’t a piece about choosing players. The way I go about my own auctions is not how I would instruct a beginner and I often encourage others to play it safe and straight rather than linger outside the box with overly-bold or unconventional methods. It’s no different for me with when it comes to fantasy auctions. It’s probably not the most sensible way to go about things, but I always seem to end up in the right place. I still do the necessary research to remain as informed as possible, but on many occasions, I like to take a left even when the directions say to take a right. I like to work off my gut feelings and instincts as much as, if not more than, I rely on empirical data. When it comes to teaching, I’ve always been more of a “do as I say, not as I do” type of guy.