Last year, I titled my piece: "How I Botched the RotoWire Steak League Auction," and that team finished with by far the most points in the league. So maybe my assessment doesn't mean much. But I'm happy with how things shook out this year, the details of which I'll get into below.
This season, the league was only 14, rather than 16 teams (actually it's now two 14-team leagues with the winners of each meeting in the final Week 17), but everything else is unchanged. It's a 1-QB, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE, 1-K, $200-budget auction, with three IDPs (one defensive lineman, one linebacker and one defensive back.) It's standard (non-PPR) scoring, and there's no flex position.
Of course, the key isn't to win this league (which pays out ~$250) but to avoid buying steaks, i.e., losing the total points side bet which can cost you north of $300. In case you haven't heard me mention it incessantly on Sirius XM, we've done this league since 2000, with half the participants buying steaks in a given year, and I've only bought twice, once for myself in 2005 and once for myself and two others (last place) in 2010. Every other season, I've eaten for free, putting me about $1500 to the good, steak-wise. (Actually, given I order the full shrimp entree as an appetizer and the surf and turf (market price) as my entree, let's call it $2000.)
This year, my strategy was to buy expensive players I liked early in the auction for anything resembling fair prices and figure out the end game later. Because we moved from 16 to 14 teams, and there is no flex, this league isn't much deeper than your standard 12-teamer - at least at RB and WR. As such, it made more sense to go stars and scrubs. The shallower the league, the higher the replacement value and the less valuable the mid-level players are. The deeper the league, the lower the replacement value and the more valuable anyone with a guaranteed role is. Because most people price players based on past experience, I suspected the top end would largely be too cheap, now that the league got considerably shallower from one year to the next.
Here are the results:
Pos | Peter Schoenke | $ | Shannon McKeown | $ | Erik Siegrist | $ | Mike Doria | $ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Jameis Winston | 11 | Derek Carr | 13 | Aaron Rodgers | 25 | Tom Brady | 16 |
RB | Carlos Hyde | 24 | Doug Martin | 31 | Duke Johnson | 12 | Todd Gurley | 51 |
RB | Matt Jones | 19 | Jeremy Langford | 17 | James Starks | 2 | Jonathan Stewart | 14 |
WR | Alshon Jeffery | 30 | Jeremy Maclin | 22 | Mike Evans | 40 | DeSean Jackson | 10 |
WR | Odell Beckham | 55 | Golden Tate | 24 | DeVante Parker | 21 | Julian Edelman | 23 |
WR | Donte Moncrief | 24 | Stefon Diggs | 15 | Jordy Nelson* | 39 | Eric Decker | 25 |
TE | Zach Ertz | 8 | Gary Barnidge | 7 | Rob Gronkowski | 32 | Coby Fleener | 15 |
LB | Eric Kendricks | 1 | Telvin Smith | 3 | C.J. Mosley | 1 | Jamie Collins | 2 |
DL | Rob Ninkovich | 1 | Carlos Dunlap | 2 | Dante Fowler | 1 | Muhammad Wilkerson | 2 |
DB | Antoine Bethea | 1 | Reggie Nelson | 2 | Karl Joseph | 1 | Landon Collins | 2 |
K | Dan Bailey | 1 | Chris Boswell | 2 | Josh Lambo | 1 | Stephen Gostkowski | 4 |
Bench | Marcus Mariota | 6 | Ameer Abdullah | 14 | Brock Osweiler | 1 | Derrick Henry | 9 |
Bench | Charles Sims | 9 | Nelson Agholor | 6 | Dorial Green-Beckham | 4 | Matthew Stafford | 6 |
Bench | Josh Doctson* | 2 | Michael Crabtree | 9 | Andre Ellington | 1 | Frank Gore | 10 |
Bench | Phillip Dorsett | 5 | Jay Ajayi | 13 | Isaiah Crowell | 8 | Vincent Jackson | 5 |
Bench | Josh Ferguson | 2 | Justin Forsett | 7 | Devontae Booker | 3 | Chris Hogan | 3 |
Bench | Chris Thompson | 1 | Markus Wheaton | 13 | Javorius Allen | 8 | Antonio Gates | 3 |
Pos | Chris Liss | $ | Jeff Erickson | $ | Tim Schuler | $ | Herb Ilk | $ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Drew Brees | 18 | Russell Wilson | 24 | Blake Bortles | 17 | Matt Ryan | 1 |
RB | David Johnson | 43 | Adrian Peterson | 40 | LeSean McCoy | 28 | Jamaal Charles* | 36 |
RB | DeAngelo Williams | 7 | Arian Foster | 17 | Mark Ingram | 29 | Rashad Jennings | 12 |
WR | Allen Robinson | 42 | Demaryius Thomas | 31 | Keenan Allen | 33 | DeAndre Hopkins | 46 |
WR | Brandin Cooks | 38 | Sammy Watkins | 32 | Allen Hurns | 21 | T.Y. Hilton | 38 |
WR | Sterling Shepard | 16 | Larry Fitzgerald | 23 | Michael Floyd | 25 | Josh Gordon* | 14 |
TE | Jordan Reed | 20 | Martellus Bennett | 4 | Delanie Walker | 14 | Greg Olsen | 19 |
LB | Lavonte David | 4 | Khalil Mack | 7 | Luke Kuechly | 10 | D'Qwell Jackson | 1 |
DL | Jason Pierre-Paul | 1 | Michael Bennett | 1 | Robert Quinn | 3 | Olivier Vernon | 1 |
DB | Ha Ha Clinton-Dix | 2 | Reshad Jones | 3 | Kenny Vaccaro | 1 | Kam Chancellor | 1 |
K | Cairo Santos | 1 | Chandler Catanzaro | 1 | Justin Tucker | 2 | Mason Crosby | 2 |
Bench | Andy Dalton | 2 | Deone Bucannon | 1 | Kirk Cousins | 9 | Giovani Bernard | 19 |
Bench | Breshad Perriman* | 1 | Michael Thomas | 6 | Will Fuller | 2 | Jerick McKinnon | 3 |
Bench | Rishard Matthews | 1 | Bilal Powell | 6 | Zach Miller | 2 | Alfred Morris | 3 |
Bench | Spencer Ware | 2 | Keith Marshall | 2 | Chris Johnson | 1 | Jaelen Strong | 1 |
Bench | Paul Perkins | 1 | Terrance West | 1 | Terrance Williams | 2 | Jermaine Kearse | 1 |
Bench | Wendell Smallwood | 1 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 1 | Robert Woods | 1 | Kenny Britt | 1 |
Pos | Jason Thornbury | $ | Josh Ross | $ | Vlad Sedler | $ | Scott Jenstad | $ |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Andrew Luck | 23 | Ben Roethlisberger | 18 | Eli Manning | 14 | Carson Palmer | 9 |
RB | Thomas Rawls | 31 | Dion Lewis* | 7 | Lamar Miller | 39 | Ezekiel Elliott | 46 |
RB | Latavius Murray | 24 | Melvin Gordon | 20 | DeMarco Murray | 19 | Matt Forte | 16 |
WR | A.J. Green | 43 | Dez Bryant | 43 | Julio Jones | 50 | Doug Baldwin | 25 |
WR | Brandon Marshall | 38 | Amari Cooper | 36 | Randall Cobb | 26 | Emmanuel Sanders | 16 |
WR | Marvin Jones | 11 | Travis Benjamin | 9 | Tyler Lockett | 22 | John Brown | 17 |
TE | Eric Ebron | 2 | Ladarius Green* | 10 | Tyler Eifert* | 6 | Travis Kelce | 16 |
LB | Bobby Wagner | 2 | Sean Lee | 2 | Alec Ogletree | 1 | NaVorro Bowman | 4 |
DL | Leonard Williams | 1 | Aaron Donald | 5 | Everson Griffen | 1 | Calais Campbell | 2 |
DB | Barry Church | 2 | Harrison Smith | 2 | Johnathan Cyprien | 1 | Corey Graham | 2 |
K | Steven Hauschka | 2 | Brandon McManus | 1 | Josh Brown | 1 | Blair Walsh | 1 |
Bench | Mike Wallace | 3 | Ryan Mathews | 16 | Julius Thomas | 3 | Jeremy Hill | 19 |
Bench | Sammie Coates | 4 | LeGarrette Blount | 5 | Chris Ivory | 10 | Willie Snead | 6 |
Bench | Jordan Howard | 5 | T.J. Yeldon | 6 | Devin Funchess | 4 | Tavon Austin | 7 |
Bench | DeAndre Washington | 3 | Mohamed Sanu | 3 | Bruce Ellington | 1 | Tyrod Taylor | 4 |
Bench | Davante Adams | 3 | Kamar Aiken | 6 | Shane Vereen | 1 | Laquon Treadwell | 4 |
Bench | Karlos Williams* | 2 | Cameron Artis-Payne | 11 | Anquan Boldin | 1 | C.J. Prosise | 3 |
Pos | Joe Bartel | $ | Ken Crites | $ |
---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Philip Rivers | 10 | Cam Newton | 25 |
RB | Le'Veon Bell | 39 | Devonta Freeman | 41 |
RB | Eddie Lacy | 29 | C.J. Anderson | 26 |
WR | Kelvin Benjamin | 23 | Antonio Brown | 50 |
WR | Jarvis Landry | 22 | Jordan Matthews | 21 |
WR | Kevin White | 19 | Torrey Smith | 15 |
TE | Jimmy Graham | 5 | Dwayne Allen | 6 |
LB | Ryan Shazier | 1 | Chandler Jones | 3 |
DL | J.J. Watt* | 6 | Ezekiel Ansah | 3 |
DB | Morgan Burnett | 3 | Kurt Coleman | 1 |
K | Roberto Aguayo | 1 | Adam Vinatieri | 1 |
Bench | Danny Woodhead | 5 | Darren Sproles | 1 |
Bench | Corey Coleman | 12 | Ryan Tannehill | 1 |
Bench | Tevin Coleman | 7 | Pierre Garcon | 1 |
Bench | Tony Romo | 4 | Theo Riddick | 2 |
Bench | Tyler Boyd | 4 | Brandon LaFell | 2 |
Bench | Jordan Cameron | 2 | Jason Witten |
I went after Allen Robinson (love him especially in non-PPR where his red-zone and big-play ability gets him TDs and his modest targets for a superstar don't hurt as much) and David Johnson (Le'Veon Bell without the suspension) right away, looking to add another star receiver or two. But I got "stuck" with Jordan Reed for $20 and Drew Brees for $18 while price enforcing, and I was fine with that. I also got DeAngelo Williams for $7 while bidding up Bell-owner Joe Bartel who knew what I was doing and stuck me with him on purpose. That was fine with me as it buys me four weeks to find a back to go along with Johnson. I spent up for Brandin Cooks and with only $30 or so left, broke my budget on Sterling Shepard for $16. That was the one place I might have held off and had more control over the end game. But there were still decent upside backs like Spencer Ware and Paul Perkins for $1 each.
Bottom line, I got two first rounders (Robinson and Johnson), a second rounder (Cooks), a third-rounder (Reed), two sixth rounders (Brees and Shepard) and a seventh (Williams). That means I traded a fourth and a fifth for a sixth and a first, while tossing in some 8-10 rounders for 11-13s. I'll take that deal any time.
As for IDP, I attribute a lot of my eating (as opposed to buying) to having success with them. I targeted Jason Pierre Paul (the No. 2 lineman in 2014) for $1 as it looks like he's his pre-injury self in camp. And I was willing to pay a bit for LaVonte David and Ha Ha Clinton Dix, two top-five IDPs at their positions.
Finally, I made sure to get Andy Dalton as a reserve because Brees is great at home and below average on the road. I'll use Dalton for most of Brees' road starts and hopefully wind up with top-three QB stats.