Boards Auction League

padraig_f · 29-07-2014 3:06pm #1

Proposing a new league, with auction draft format. League will be hosted on nfl.com. Please post here if you want to play. Hoping to get 16 players, but could also play with a lower number like 10 or 12.

I haven't done auction draft before, so will be a bit of a learning process for me, but you won't be out of place if you're new to the format.

I created a placeholder league on nfl.com if you want to view the initial settings:
http://fantasy.nfl.com/league/2405145

In Exile · 29-07-2014 11:44pm

I'm in.

Anyone new to it, I would suggest doing one or two mock drafts on NFL to see what they are like.

The draft is great fun and involves having a plan in place.

LightningBlue · 29-07-2014 11:49pm

I'm also in. First time playing an auction league so we'll see how it goes.

The draft should be good craic alright.

padraig_f · 30-07-2014 5:08pm

In Exile wrote: »

Anyone new to it, I would suggest doing one or two mock drafts on NFL to see what they are like.

Good idea, tried one yesterday and it's a bit different alright.

One thing I noticed is the initial picks at least take longer than a snake draft with the multiple bids, so I think I'll reduce the number of teams to 12, as I'm concerned a draft of 16 may take too long.

Any feedback on league settings, let me know, nothing is decided yet.

Initial way I set it up was mostly with the defaults, but:

- 16 teams
- Scoring: regular
- Auction budget: 200
- Roster: 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 FLEX (WR/RB), 1 TE, 1 K, 1 DEF, 5 BENCH
- Playoffs: weeks 14, 15, 16. 6 teams.
- Waiver: move to last after claim, never reset.

Draft settings:
- Nomination time: 45 seconds
- Bid time: 45 seconds
- Bid reset time: 10 seconds

What I was thinking to change was:
- 12 teams
- 4 team playoff
- Bench: from 5 to 6.

- Nomination time: 30 seconds
- Bid time: 30 seconds

Spongey1975 · 30-07-2014 6:24pm

As the reigning Boards Auction league champion

i suppose i have to put my name in for this. Definitely better with 12 though

poldebruin · 30-07-2014 8:14pm

I'll have a whirl at this too.

radharc · 31-07-2014 6:09pm

Stick me down for this

me89 · 31-07-2014 9:54pm

Count me in.

fatgav · 04-08-2014 11:41pm

I'm in if there's room

padraig_f · 05-08-2014 12:32am

fatgav wrote: »

I'm in if there's room

Yeah, that's 8. I've changed the number of teams to 12, so need 4 more.

Changed some settings, mostly related to reducing the no. of teams from 16 to 12.

- 12 teams.
- 2 divisions (was 4)
- 4 team playoff (was 6)
- Bench: 6 (was 5)
- FLEX: WR/RB to WR/RB/TE (just to give more options, and make a backup TE a bit more useful)

- Nomination time: 30 seconds (default 45)
- Bid time: 30 seconds (default 45)

The 45 seconds seemed a bit excessive to me in the mock draft.

alsully · 07-08-2014 12:53pm

Ill join. Send me link. Cheers

Just a quick quest why does every1 on boards use nfl.com?? Its prob the worst set up. Espn yahoo and cbs are way better in that order

fisgon · 07-08-2014 1:03pm

I'll have a go at this too if there's room.

Adamcp898 · 07-08-2014 1:08pm

Wouldn't mind giving this a go as well, never did an auction league before though!

TaosHum · 07-08-2014 1:10pm

Never done one before, so I'd like to see what its about

padraig_f · 07-08-2014 5:29pm

Ok cool, we got 12. I'll PM people for email addresses and send invites.

alsully · 07-08-2014 6:29pm

thanks for the invite. is the draft date and time the one set? or will this change?

In Exile · 13-08-2014 3:08am

Hey padraig,

Have we a majority date for the auction yet?

IE

padraig_f · 13-08-2014 5:13pm

Sorry guys, I'll put up a poll today. Probably do it the weekend before the regular leagues to avoid clashes.

padraig_f · 13-08-2014 5:26pm

Ok added a poll here for the draft date:
http://doodle.com/vb85a7vyyh2mkd2b

It's between the 3rd and 4th pre-season games. Should be ok as starters don't tend to play the 4th game.

There are two week-3 pre-season games on the Sunday night, I left the Sunday option in anyway as it tends to be a good day for doing drafts. But vote against it if you don't like it.

fisgon · 13-08-2014 9:16pm

Could I just point out to those people in this league - me, Padraig F, In Exile, Spongey, at least - who are also in the PPR league, that it looks like our PPR draft will be on that Monday evening the 25th, at 10pm. Probably better to avoid a clash if we can.

Also, for those people who haven't done an auction draft before, it can take two hours or more, so probably useful to bear that in mind when choosing a start time.

wardie101 · 13-08-2014 9:55pm

Count me in if someone has to drop out, just seen it now

In Exile · 13-08-2014 11:55pm

fisgon wrote: »

Could I just point out to those people in this league - me, Padraig F, In Exile, Spongey, at least - who are also in the PPR league, that it looks like our PPR draft will be on that Monday evening the 25th, at 10pm. Probably better to avoid a clash if we can.

Also, for those people who haven't done an auction draft before, it can take two hours or more, so probably useful to bear that in mind when choosing a start time.

So over the next couple of weeks I have my Div 6 draft, this one, the PPR one, 1 with friends in the States and 1 in work here.

The lack of production in work in the mornings over the next month is going to be terrible!

padraig_f · 18-08-2014 5:15pm

Thanks for voting guys. Looks like it's headed for Tuesday week at 9pm, but I'll leave it open for another day or so, if anyone changes their mind.

alsully · 18-08-2014 5:28pm

cant make 9pm. voted for 10pm. it says its now tied 9 each 9pm nd 10pm. would it be ok 2 have it at 10. I have training that night.

padraig_f · 18-08-2014 7:55pm

alsully wrote: »

cant make 9pm. voted for 10pm. it says its now tied 9 each 9pm nd 10pm. would it be ok 2 have it at 10. I have training that night.

I guess if it's tied, I could do it.

fisgon selected 9pm, but not 10pm on Tuesday. Was that more a preference or can you not make it?

fisgon · 18-08-2014 8:36pm

padraig_f wrote: »

I guess if it's tied, I could do it.

fisgon selected 9pm, but not 10pm on Tuesday. Was that more a preference or can you not make it?

More of a preference really, I had it in mind that these auctions can often take more than two hours and didn't want to finish too late. But if it suits the majority of people I have no objection to starting at 10pm.

fatgav · 18-08-2014 10:03pm

Hate to be the fly in the ointment, but earlier the better for me as I'm up at 5 for work each morning.

padraig_f · 19-08-2014 2:47pm

fatgav wrote: »

Hate to be the fly in the ointment, but earlier the better for me as I'm up at 5 for work each morning.

Ah no, need to consider everyone.

Looks like it'll be Tuesday anyway. What I'll do is, leave the vote open til Thursday evening. If you want to change preference for a time, please edit your vote for your preferred time.

At the end of Thursday, I'll go with the highest. If there's a tie, I'll go with 10pm, since al asked first.

Here's the poll link again:
http://doodle.com/vb85a7vyyh2mkd2b

padraig_f · 20-08-2014 1:51pm

padraig_f wrote: »

At the end of Thursday, I'll go with the highest. If there's a tie, I'll go with 10pm, since al asked first.

Here's the poll link again:
http://doodle.com/vb85a7vyyh2mkd2b

I was thinking about this some more as it didn't sit right with me, and I think I'll just set it for 9pm.

I know I said I'd go with 10pm on a tie, but I realised my logic was flawed...it's not a tie between 9pm and 10pm.
There are also 8 votes for 8pm (9 for 9pm and 9 for 10pm). I think this makes the consensus best option 9pm.

Sorry Al, I know I said I'd do 10pm on a tie, but I need to try and consider what's best for everyone.

The good thing about an auction draft compared to a snake draft here is, if you arrive late, you still have your full budget to spend. Or if you want to leave early, you can strategise to spend all your budget early, and let the auto-draft pick up your $1 guys later on.

So I think there are options there, and the 9pm time slot best facilitates that.

alsully · 20-08-2014 6:38pm

can u make it 930 so?

fisgon · 20-08-2014 10:16pm

padraig_f wrote: »

I was thinking about this some more as it didn't sit right with me, and I think I'll just set it for 9pm.

I know I said I'd go with 10pm on a tie, but I realised my logic was flawed...it's not a tie between 9pm and 10pm.
There are also 8 votes for 8pm (9 for 9pm and 9 for 10pm). I think this makes the consensus best option 9pm.

I tell ya, it's not easy being a FF commissioner, you need the wisdom of Solomon

padraig_f · 21-08-2014 4:44pm

alsully wrote: »

can u make it 930 so?

No, I think 9 is the best time for all. e.g. fatgav has requested 8, so 9 is the best compromise between 8 and 10.

fisgon wrote: »

I tell ya, it's not easy being a FF commissioner, you need the wisdom of Solomon

It's not as easy as it looks

padraig_f · 21-08-2014 5:34pm

Couple of notes on playoffs and game scheduling.

Playoff qualification.

Top 4 seeds overall qualify for playoffs.

I originally thought about doing a divisional thing, where the top 2 from each division play each other in the playoff semi final (akin to conference championships), but when I looked a the options on NFL.com, you can't control how playoff qualification is done, it always picks the top 4 seeds overall.

This affects scheduling, as you need a balanced schedule.

Schedule.

The schedule for the first 11 weeks will be you'll play every other team in the league once (this is the default).

Not so obvious what to do for weeks 12 - 14. The default is it picks the same teams you played in weeks 1-3. This is essentially random, and I think we can do better.

Below is what I'm planning. The motivation is, on the run-in to the playoffs, you want to play teams you're competing directly against for playoff places.

The nfl.com settings allow you to alter the schedule during the season. So what I'm thinking of is, after the week 11 games are finished, the last 3 weeks are rescheduled as follows:

[B]week 12[/B]
AFC#1 v NFC#1 (i.e. #1 seed in AFC vs. #1 seed in NFC)
AFC#2 v NFC#2
AFC#3 v NFC#3
AFC#4 v NFC#4
AFC#5 v NFC#5
AFC#6 v NFC#6

[B]week 13[/B]
AFC#1 v AFC#2 (#1 seed in AFC vs. #2 seed in AFC, etc.)
AFC#3 v AFC#4
AFC#5 v AFC#6
NFC#1 v NFC#2
NFC#3 v NFC#4
NFC#5 v NFC#6

[B]week 14[/B]
AFC#1 v AFC#3 
AFC#2 v AFC#5
AFC#4 v AFC#6
NFC#1 v NFC#3
NFC#2 v NFC#5
NFC#4 v NFC#6

This would be done as a one-off reschedule after the week 11 games (i.e. it won't be reseeded after week 12).

I think this is better than the random selection, and it also has the side effect that if there are one or two uncompetitive teams, they won't affect playoff qualification (#6 seed only plays #6, #5 and #4 seeds).

Any issues with this let me know, but I think it makes for a more equitable and more fun schedule than the default.

padraig_f · 25-08-2014 3:36pm

Reminder...draft is on tomorrow evening, 9pm sharp. Hope everyone can make it.

Have a look at the league settings to see if there's anything amiss:
http://fantasy.nfl.com/league/2405145/settings

Most are default, maybe for tomorrow the important ones are the draft timer settings:

Auction Budget: 200
Nomination Time Limit: 30 seconds
Bid Time: 30 seconds
Bid Reset Time: 10 seconds

padraig_f · 26-08-2014 5:50pm

Reminder...draft tonight 9pm.

I'm really unprepared....

Spongey1975 · 26-08-2014 7:34pm

padraig_f wrote: »

Reminder...draft tonight 9pm.

I'm really unprepared....

Just wing it, its what i'll be doing

radharc · 26-08-2014 11:12pm

Ended up with roster of

Russell Wilson
Carson Palmer
______________

Marshawn Lynch
Doug Martin
M Jones-Drew
Danny Woodhead
Darren McFadden
_______________

Michael Crabtree
Wes Welker
Eric Decker
Riley Cooper
_______________

Vernon Davis
________________

Stephen Hauschka
________________

Buccaneers

Remaining Balance $0

Not too happy but learnt a lot for the future I guess.

In Exile · 27-08-2014 7:02am

An absolute nightmare of a draft.

Did it on my phone, and the app is a nightmare. Ended up with over $40 left over. Not on purpose, but didn't realise everyone else had spent.

Gonna be tough from this position already.

poldebruin · 27-08-2014 10:18am

Yes it was an interesting draft. I didn't have a moment to try a mock beforehand, and it took many rounds to figure out what was going on - got the hang mid way and was comfortable at the end, checking other rosters, seeing the balance remaining.

I ended up with a roster chock full of middling players - no studs besides Manning. There were bargains at the end - but my roster was filled, and left with $20 in the bank. I wager I will have a high scoring bench every week and frustrating choices with no clear starters at many positions.

I had also forgotten that as a 12 team league, there will be plenty of talent on waivers to fill the bench with for free every week. Really should have concentrated on filling as many starter positions with studs and filled n the rest with cheap $1 and waivers.

If it were a real team I could celebrate it's depth I suppose!

QB
P Manning DEN
C Kaepernick SF
P Rivers SD

RB
Z Stacy STL
L Miller MIA
D Williams CAR
S Ridley NE

WR
R White ATL
M Wallace MIA
TY Hilton IND
R Wayne IND
D Jackson WAS

TE
Z Ertz PHI
J Reed WAS

Def
Broncos DEN

K
Empty

Spongey1975 · 27-08-2014 10:48am

Forgot how much i disliked auction drafts, they go on way too long.

Reasonably happy with what i got, except for my WRs.

QBs - Cam Newton, Tony Romo

RBs - Matt Forte, Arian Foster, Reggie Bush, Bernard Pierce, Carlos Hyde

WRs - Larry Fitzgerald, Marques Colston, Dwayne Bowe, Hakeem Nicks

TEs - Jason Witten, Tim Wright

DEF - Cincinnati

PK - Justin Tucker

TaosHum · 27-08-2014 3:22pm

Wasn't really happy with my draft either. Although, it was my first auction draft so learned quite a bit from it. Ended up with:

QB: Brees
RB: Murray, Lacey, West, Andre Brown
WR: Harvin, Edelman, Baldwin, Shorts
TE: Thomas, Gates, Walker
K: Ewald

Panthers

Couldn't finish the draft, so the autopick came up with some weird picks.

padraig_f · 30-08-2014 12:45pm

Hey guys, been busy the last couple of days. Draft was a bit of a marathon alright, too long really, took 2.5 hours to complete. I'll look at improving this for next year. I did reduce the nomination/bid time from 40 to 30 seconds, this could be reduced further, but would probably still be 2 hours+ whatever way you did it.

So I think what I might look at next year is an offline draft. I have some web-development abilities to faciliate this. If I get some time I'll do some kind of prototype. Anyway, that's for another day.

In the draft I had a plan to do the 'Studs and Scrubs' strategy, probably went a bit extreme with that...spent 75% of my budget in the first 10 mins, on McCoy, Megatron and Jimmy Graham.

I was shut out of the mid rounds, but got some decent value late on. In hindsight, I'd probably do a kind of hybrid strategy....one or two studs, and keep some money back for competing on the bargains later on.

1. LeSean McCoy RB $61
2. Calvin Johnson WR $51
3. Jimmy Graham TE $44
4. Stephen Gostkowski K $3
5. Ryan Mathews RB $18
6. Greg Olsen TE $9
7. Jay Cutler QB $4
8. Darren Sproles RB $2
9. Danny Amendola WR $1
10. Tyler Eifert TE $1
11. Brian Hartline WR $1
12. Anquan Boldin WR $2
13. Jake Locker QB $1
14. Ahmad Bradshaw RB $1
15. Buffalo Bills DEF $1

Did ok though, happy enough for a first go.

fatgav · 31-08-2014 12:41am

Fantasypros.com has this to say about our draft results:

1 Carpe that Diem
2 Going Once Going Twice Sold
3 Kilkenny Patriots
4 Meadows Macaws
5 Bray Broncos
6 The Talented Mr Ridley
7 Grizzly Bears
8 Broke Gopher
9 Warfield's Warriors
10 PItches Be Crazy
11 The Expendables
12 Geno-Cologists

In Exile · 31-08-2014 11:46pm

fatgav wrote: »

Fantasypros.com has this to say about our draft results:

1 Carpe that Diem
2 Going Once Going Twice Sold
3 Kilkenny Patriots
4 Meadows Macaws
5 Bray Broncos
6 The Talented Mr Ridley
7 Grizzly Bears
8 Broke Gopher
9 Warfield's Warriors
10 PItches Be Crazy
11 The Expendables
12 Geno-Cologists

I think being ranked 12th is probably a kind reflection of my draft!

poldebruin · 01-09-2014 10:10pm

Everything that is wrong with my auction draft strategy in one table. All values taken from NFL.com website. Strangely, the Geno-cologists might not have the worst of teams after all, based on projected starter points. I'm the Bray Broncos, the highest team projection, and the lowest starter projection. Of course it all comes down to any given week, but not an auspicious draft from me.
Team|Starters Cost|Bench Cost|Overall Team ADV|Points Proj|Starter Points Proj|
Grizzly Bears|184 (2)|16 (11)|235 (6)|2567 (4)|1714 (1)|
Kilkenny Patriots|178 (5)|22 (8)|243 (3)|2626 (2)|1689 (2)
Going Once Going Twice Sold|152 (9)|48 (2)|241 (4)|2604 (3)|1660 (3)|
Broke Gopher|174 (6)|26 (7)|229 (9)|2338 (11)|1660 (4)|
Geno-Cologists|132 (11)| 29 (6) |207 (12)| 2431 (7)| 1631 (5)|
The Talented Mr Ridley|183 (3)| 17 (9) |223 (11)| 2423 (8) |1627 (6)|
The Expendables|167 (7)| 33 (5) |231 (8)| 2537 (5) |1606 (7)|
Carpe that Diem|147 (10) |50 (1)| 238 (5)| 2412 (9)| 1598 (8)|
Warfield's Warriors|194 (1) |6 (12) |232 (7) |2331 (12) |1561 (9)|
Pitches Be Crazy|183 (3t) |17 (9t) |229 (9t)| 2341 (10) |1523 (10)|
Meadows Macaws|158 (8) |42 (4)| 246 (2)| 2536 (6) |1490 (11)|
Bray Broncos|132 (11t)| 48 (2t)| 263 (1) |2709 (1)| 1463 (12)|

In Exile · 09-09-2014 6:23am

I needed Rueben Randle to score 0.5 to win this week.

5 yards was all he needed. He had 2 catches for 1 yard. I could have f*cking had 5 yards from 2 catches in an NFL game.

fisgon · 19-11-2014 6:29pm

I have four fairly decent RBs (ranked 9, 11, 12 and 14 on ESPN this week) and am open to offers for any one of them - Ingram, Jennings, Hill and CJ Anderson. Looking for a good TE, or maybe a decent QB or WR.

(BTW, the trade deadline must be coming up, so please no unrealistic or insulting offers)

padraig_f · 19-11-2014 7:17pm

After week 11, everyone has played everyone once. I said I'd reschedule games for weeks 12, 13 & 14, before the playoffs, to match similarly ranked teams against each other.

The idea is you get a chance to play the people you're competing against for playoff places & seeding.

Here's the proposed schedule:

week 12:
AFC#1 v NFC#1 (#1 seed in AFC plays #1 seed in NFC etc.)
AFC#2 v NFC#2
AFC#3 v NFC#3
AFC#4 v NFC#4
AFC#5 v NFC#5
AFC#6 v NFC#6

week 13:
AFC#1 v AFC#2 (divisional games, top 2 seeds in AFC play each other etc.)
AFC#3 v AFC#4
AFC#5 v AFC#6
NFC#1 v NFC#2
NFC#3 v NFC#4
NFC#5 v NFC#6

week 14:
AFC#1 v AFC#3 (more divisional games)
AFC#2 v AFC#5
AFC#4 v AFC#6
NFC#1 v NFC#3
NFC#2 v NFC#5
NFC#4 v NFC#6

Here's the current schedule (in case I mess it up):

Week 12
Grizzly Bears		vs. 	Kilkenny Patriots	
The Talented Mr Ridley	vs. 	Meadows Macaws	
Bray Broncos		vs. 	Carpe that Diem	
Broke Gopher		vs. 	Going Once Going Twice Sold	
Warfield's Warriors	vs. 	The Expendables	
Geno-Cologists		vs. 	PItches Be Crazy	

Week 13
The Talented Mr Ridley		vs. 	Grizzly Bears	
Kilkenny Patriots		vs. 	Bray Broncos	
Meadows Macaws			vs. 	Carpe that Diem	
Warfield's Warriors		vs. 	Broke Gopher	
Going Once Going Twice Sold	vs. 	Geno-Cologists	
The Expendables			vs. 	PItches Be Crazy	

Week 14
Grizzly Bears		vs. 	Bray Broncos	
Carpe that Diem		vs. 	The Talented Mr Ridley	
Meadows Macaws		vs. 	Kilkenny Patriots	
Broke Gopher		vs. 	Geno-Cologists	
PItches Be Crazy	vs. 	Warfield's Warriors	
The Expendables		vs. 	Going Once Going Twice Sold

And here's what the revised schedule will be:

Week 12
Pitches Be Crazy (AFC#1, 10-1)           vs. Meadow Macaws (NFC#1, 8-3)
Warfields Warriors (AFC#2, 9-2)          vs. The Talented Mr Ridley (NFC#2, 6-5)
Geno-Cologists (AFC#3, 6-5)              vs. Carpe that Diem (NFC#3, 5-6)
Broke Gopher (AFC#4, 4-7)                vs. Grizzly Bears (NFC#4, 4-7)
Going Once Going Twice Sold (AFC#5, 4-7) vs. Kilkenny Patriots (NFC#5, 4-7)
The Expendables (AFC#6, 3-8)             vs. Bray Broncos (NFC#6, 3-8)

Week 13
Pitches Be Crazy (AFC#1, 10-1)           vs. Warfields Warriors (AFC#2, 9-2)
Geno-Cologists (AFC#3, 6-5)              vs. Broke Gopher (AFC#4, 4-7)
Going Once Going Twice Sold (AFC#5, 4-7) vs. The Expendables (AFC#6, 3-8)
Meadow Macaws (NFC#1, 8-3)               vs. The Talented Mr Ridley (NFC#2, 6-5)
Carpe that Diem (NFC#3, 5-6)             vs. Grizzly Bears (NFC#4, 4-7)
Kilkenny Patriots (NFC#5, 4-7)           vs. Bray Broncos (NFC#6, 3-8)

Week 14
Pitches Be Crazy (AFC#1, 10-1)           vs. Geno-Cologists (AFC#3, 6-5)
Warfields Warriors (AFC#2, 9-2)          vs. Going Once Going Twice Sold (AFC#5, 4-7)
Broke Gopher (AFC#4, 4-7)                vs. The Expendables (AFC#6, 3-8)
Meadow Macaws (NFC#1, 8-3)               vs. Carpe that Diem (NFC#3, 5-6)
The Talented Mr Ridley (NFC#2, 6-5)      vs. Kilkenny Patriots (NFC#5, 4-7)
Grizzly Bears (NFC#4, 4-7)               vs. Bray Broncos (NFC#6, 3-8)

I'll update it shortly.

Weeks 15 & 16 will be playoffs.

edit: updated now.

fisgon · 19-11-2014 8:31pm

Sounds ok to me, no objections.

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