Last night - starting at 1;00 am my time - we had the Team Huevos Auction, a 14-team, $200 budget, QB-flex, half-PPR format, with two regular flex positions and no kickers. The buy-in was $250.
Here are the results:
Evans | Golden State Waves | Erickson | LIGHTS OUT | Schoenke | Pros vs Joes | Liss | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Dak Prescott | Kirk Cousins | Nick Foles | Russell Wilson | Tom Brady | Blake Bortles | Derek Carr |
WR | Stefon Diggs | DeAndre Hopkins | Adam Thielen | Davante Adams | Michael Thomas | Keenan Allen | Kenny Golladay |
WR | Demaryius Thomas | Jarvis Landry | JuJu Smith-Schuster | Josh Gordon | Michael Crabtree | Michael Gallup | Kelvin Benjamin |
WR | Will Fuller V | Corey Davis | A.J. Green | Jamison Crowder | Robert Woods | Pierre Garcon | Josh Doctson |
RB | Melvin Gordon | Christian McCaffrey | Dalvin Cook | Le'Veon Bell | Ezekiel Elliott | Devonta Freeman | Kareem Hunt |
RB | Royce Freeman | Peyton Barber | Jordan Howard | Duke Johnson | LeSean McCoy | Alex Collins | Saquon Barkley |
TE | Kyle Rudolph | David Njoku | Austin Hooper | Jordan Reed | Greg Olsen | Rob Gronkowski | O.J. Howard |
FLX | Joe Mixon | Tevin Coleman | Allen Hurns | Rashaad Penny | Tarik Cohen | Zach Ertz | Adrian Peterson |
FLX | John Ross | Keelan Cole | D.J. Moore | Chris Godwin | Matt Breida | Bilal Powell | Mike Williams |
QBFLX | Andy Dalton | Eli Manning | Jared Goff | Mitchell Trubisky | Andrew Luck | Ryan Tannehill | Jimmy Garoppolo |
D | Bears | Saints | Bengals | Broncos | Panthers | Falcons | Eagles |
B | James White | Aaron Jones | C.J. Anderson | Ronald Jones II | Nick Chubb | Eric Ebron | Sony Michel |
B | James Washington | Alshon Jeffery | Tyrod Taylor | Julian Edelman | Ty Montgomery | Ryan Fitzpatrick | Carson Wentz |
B | Courtland Sutton | Josh Rosen | Baker Mayfield | Sterling Shepard | Christian Kirk | Tyrell Williams | DeVante Parker |
B | Danny Amendola | Nathan Peterman | Tyler Eifert | Anthony Miller | Boston Scott | Phillip Dorsett | Brandon Marshall |
B | Josh Allen | Randall Cobb | Austin Ekeler | Calvin Ridley | Houston | Doug Martin | Terrelle Pryor |
Salfino | Pianowski | Stopa | Loza | Del Don | Behrens | I Hope I Win | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
QB | Ben Roethlisberger | Matt Ryan | Aaron Rodgers | Matthew Stafford | Philip Rivers | Patrick Mahomes II | Cam Newton |
WR | Julio Jones | Tyreek Hill | Jordy Nelson | Doug Baldwin | Amari Cooper | Odell Beckham | Antonio Brown |
WR | Marquise Goodwin | Golden Tate | Sammy Watkins | Larry Fitzgerald | T.Y. Hilton | Brandin Cooks | Allen Robinson II |
WR | Marvin Jones | Mike Evans | Nelson Agholor | Emmanuel Sanders | Chris Hogan | Donte Moncrief | Dede Westbrook |
RB | Alvin Kamara | Carlos Hyde | Lamar Miller | Leonard Fournette | Kenyan Drake | Todd Gurley II | James Conner |
RB | Isaiah Crowell | Chris Carson | Dion Lewis | Derrick Henry | Jay Ajayi | Chris Thompson | David Johnson |
TE | Evan Engram | Jack Doyle | Travis Kelce | George Kittle | Trey Burton | Jimmy Graham | Delanie Walker |
FLX | Cameron Meredith | Cooper Kupp | Jamaal Williams | Marshawn Lynch | Rex Burkhead | Ted Ginn | Giovani Bernard |
FLX | Theo Riddick | Kenny Stills | Tyler Lockett | John Brown | Robby Anderson | Mohamed Sanu | Jordan Wilkins |
QBFLX | Case Keenum | Alex Smith | Deshaun Watson | Taywan Taylor | Joe Flacco | Drew Brees | Marcus Mariota |
D | Cardinals | Jaguars | Rams | Ravens | Vikings | Chargers | Titans |
B | Paul Richardson | Kerryon Johnson | Alfred Morris | Jeremy Hill | Lamar Jackson | Mark Ingram | Rishard Matthews |
B | Nyheim Hines | Devin Funchess | Sam Bradford | Tre'Quan Smith | Ricky Seals-Jones | Taylor Gabriel | Mike Gillislee |
B | Sam Darnold | Coreyment | Marlon Mack | Spencer Ware | Mike Wallace | Darren Sproles | Albert Wilson |
B | Geronimo Allison | Jameis Winston | Quincy Enunwa | Jared Cook | LeGarrette Blount | Tavon Austin | Cordarrelle Patterson |
B | Javorius Allen | Latavius Murray | Vance McDonald | New England | John Kelly | Dante Pettis | DeSean Jackson |
My goal was to buy two top backs, preferably one of them being Saquon Barkley (because I had zero shares of him heading into this auction, and I'm a Giants fan) at least two viable QBs and fill in cheaply at WR and TE. I certainly achieved those broad outlines, for better or worse.
The first player out of the gate was Kareem Hunt. I had my nomination queue on Todd Gurley, so a picture of Gurley showed up at the top of my screen. I glanced up quickly, thought we were bidding on Gurley, pushed the price up to $50 to move it along, and it stuck. Imagine my surprise when I bought Hunt. Actually this turned out to be a good price relative to Gurley who went for $60, I like Hunt plenty, and it fit my strategy. But it was a total accident.
The fourth player out was Barkley, and I was going to get him within reason. I paid $54, which in my opinion, is a fair price. I had my two-back core and now needed to make sure I locked down two solid QBs in this 14-team QB flex format. I was in on the bidding on Tom Brady, and when he went for only $25, I should have realized QBs would be woefully underpriced. I snagged Derek Carr for $16 - which seemed like a value at the time in a league where 28 QBs start every week - but that turned out not to be the case.
A few players later, I bid up Jimmy Garoppolo to $23, mostly to troll Dalton Del Don, and predictably that nutless monkey didn't go to $24. Again, I was happy with the value at the time, but in retrospect, I could have waited. Even so, it was worth it for the excoriation Dalton will get on our next Real Man Would podcast.
I also bought the Eagles defense for $2, and was exactly where I wanted to be with $55 left and the core of my team. That's when I did something rash. Jeff Erickson bought Nick Foles for $3 and was trying to pair him with Carson Wentz. As the QBs were going too cheap early, I didn't want to let him do that, so I bid up Wentz to $20. He let me keep Wentz, and while I didn't need a third QB at that price point, I felt it was a bargain, didn't need him for 1-2 weeks and should be able to trade him (or one of my other QBs) once Wentz gets healthy. But it left me with only $35, three receiver and two flex spots to fill.
I sprung for Sony Michel at $9, an upside play that could pan out or flop, $7 for Adrian Peterson - this was a jump bid, and though I like him in less than full-PPR, I might have gotten him for $4 or $5. Not sure why I was so quick to type "7," but it was after 2:00 am my time at that point.
The rest of the auction was mostly junk. I got Kenny Golladay, who I think has a great chance to break out, for $5, but he's hardly a sure thing. I bought O.J. Howard, who I like, for $3, but probably should have waited and bought a $1 TE like others did. Ben Watson remains unrostered, for example. I meant to go plus-one on Mike Williams from $1 to $2, but Andy Behrens beat me to the $2 bid, and I accidentally went to $3 and "won" him. He could pan out, but I don't like that the team just signed red-zone vulture Antonio Gates. Be careful with the plus-one button, especially late.
One other botch was my last two-dollar player, Devante Parker. I meant to bid on D.J. Moore, but for some reason (maybe my bid timed out, and Parker was top in my queue?) it was Parker. Honestly, I'd have preferred Moore, but it could work in my favor.
in the end, my strategy was okay, but the Wentz buy was poor, given how cheap the late QBs went: Tyrod Taylor ($6), Baker Mayfield ($3), Sam Bradford ($4), Josh Rosen ($3), Sam Darnold ($5), Ryan Tannehill ($10), Andy Dalton ($10), Eli Manning ($11), Jameis Winston ($11) and Mitch Trubisky ($13). Objectively QBs are worth far more than that in this format, and the room got them wrong, but you have to play the room, not some perfect theoretical pricing on a spreadsheet. If the money is going heavy on position players - and in fairness this is deeper for RB/WR too - there will be less remaining for the QBs. I thought, given their scarcity, there'd be a crunch for the last few viable ones, and there was - of sorts. But it was a crunch between teams with $10 or $11 to spend, and no one needed to pay more than that.
All things considered, it was a so-so auction. As long as Wentz gets healthy, I'll have a major trade chip in a QB-flex league, so this roster is probably better than it looks. My former SXM producer Trevor Ray has a 50 percent stake in it, and had he put together this sketchy receiving group, I'd have destroyed him for it, so we have some work to do.