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Stopa Law Firm $10K Auction

On Sunday July 12, in a suite at the Cosmopolitan, 12 of us got together for the Stopa Law Firm $10K auction. The prize is split between highest total points and whoever wins the playoff tournament.

The parameters are as follows: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 2 TE, 1 FLEX, 1 QB-FLEX, 1 K, 1 D and six reserves, half-point PPR scoring. Here are the results:

FUNSTONVAN RIPERSTOPAPIANOWSKI
QBRussell Wilson41Philip Rivers17Drew Brees39Tony Romo23
WRJulian Edelman16AJ Green41Kelvin Benjamin22Julio Jones43
WRGolden Tate16Keenan Allen15Vincent Jackson4Randall Cobb36
WRLarry Fitzgerald3Davante Adams3Torrey Smith2Jeremy Maclin5
RBMarshawn Lynch41DeMarco Murray34Jamaal Charles44Matt Forte36
RBArian Foster35Andre Ellington22Rashad Jennings7CJ Spiller22
TEAntonio Gates2Jimmy Graham30Rob Gronkowski51Zach Ertz15
TERob Housler1Cody Fleener2Ladarius Green2Kyle Rudolph2
W/R/TLatavius Murray20Lamar Miller20Alfred Blue1Mike Wallace2
Q/W/R/TJoe Flacco9Robert Griffin III8Colin Kaepernick19Alex Smith2
KAdam Vinatieri1Dan Bailey1----Justin Tucker1
DEFChiefs DEF1Seahawks DEF1----Rams DEF2
BNMarcus Mariota7Montee Ball2Bishop Sankey2Reggie Bush2
BNNick Foles3Marques Colston1Knile Davis1Chris Ivory2
BNDuke Johnson2Javorious Allen1James Starks1Kendall Wright1
BNLarry Donnell1Kevin White1Tre Mason2John Brown2
BNPierre Garcon1Jimmy Garrapolo1Charles Clay1Blake Bortles4
BNDonte Moncrief1
BNPhillip Dorsett1
LISSEVANSERICKSONDEL DON
QBMatt Ryan23Andrew Luck55Aaron Rodgers48Matthew Stafford16
WRDez Bryant43Mike Evans30Jordy Nelson34DeAndre Hopkins22
WRCalvin Johnson37Brandon Marshall13Alshon Jeffrey34Brandin Cooks29
WRBrian Quick2Anquan Boldin3Devonte Parker1Andre Johnson22
RBEddie Lacy45Justin Forsett29Le'Veon Bell41Carlos Hyde20
RBDevonte Freeman8Ryan Mathews9DeAngelo Williams5Jeremy Hill36
TEJordan Cameron4Delanie Walker7Martellus Bennett13Julius Thomas4
TEJordan Reed1Virgil Green1Vernon Davis5Austin Sefarian-Jenkins1
W/R/TJoique Bell6Ameer Abdullah17Darren McFadden11TJ Yeldon17
Q/W/R/TCam Newton24Jay Cutler8Charles Sims1Sammy Watkins9
K----Connor Barth1Cody Parkey1----
DEF----Texans DEF1Packers DEF1----
BNVictor Cruz1Tevin Coleman11Dan Herron1Amari Cooper10
BNHeath Miller1Jonathan Stewart8Matt Cassel1Jameis Winston9
BNTerrence West1Geno Smith2Justin Hunter1Doug Martin1
BNDwayne Bowe1Nelson Agholar3Percy Harvin1Marvin Jones1
BNStevie Johnson1Steve Smith Sr2Terrance Williams1David Cobb1
BNJosh McCown1Isaiah Crowell1
BNRyan Mallett1EJ Manuel1
PAYNESALFINO/MATTEKSCHOENKEBEHRENS
QBRyan Tannehill17Sam Bradford13Peyton Manning30Tom Brady25
WROdell Beckham46Demaryius Thomas45Antonio Brown44TY Hilton27
WRMartavis Bryant19Jordan Matthews25Emmanuel Sanders19Roddy White6
WRBreshad Perriman3Nick Toon4Michael Floyd6DeSean Jackson8
RBLeSean McCoy36CJ Anderson39Alfred Morris18Adrian Peterson42
RBMelvin Gordon33David Johnson5Mark Ingram19Todd Gurley17
TEJason Witten3Travis Kelce26Maxx Willams1Greg Olsen18
TEMychel Rivera1Josh Hill8Dwayne Allen1Owen Daniels4
W/R/TJoseph Randle19Eric Decker10Frank Gore19LeGarrette Blount10
Q/W/R/TTeddy Bridgewater15Andy Dalton12Ben Roethlisberger23Eli Manning21
KStephen Gostkowski1--------
DEFBills DEF2----Cardinals1
BNStevan Ridley1Charles Johnson6Giovani Bernard8Shane Vereen5
BNJay Ajayi1Mark Sanchez1Cody Latimer2Derek Carr2
BNJared Cook1Kenny Stills2Carson Palmer6Jarvis Landry4
BNMarqise Lee1Lance Dunbar1Devin Funchess1Allen Robinson6
BNJerrick McKinnon1Andre Williams1Jonas Gray1Brandon LaFell3
BNDorial Green-Beckham1Jaelen Strong1Tyler Eifert1
BNRoy Helu1James White1
BNTroy Niklas1

My strategy was to buy 4-5 star players with most of my budget and fill in the rest with cheap, fungible players I'd be able to swap out as needed. I executed it pretty well with Eddie Lacy, Dez Bryant, Calvin Johnson, Matt Ryan and Cam Newton (top-10 QBs qualify as stars in what's essentially a two-QB league.)

The one error I made was paying $8 for Devonta Freeman midway through the auction as he would have been a $1-$2 player in the end game. For some reason, when Peter Schoenke brought him up at $7, I thought the bidding would keep going, even though that made no sense.

My rule in NFL auctions (and also in mixed league MLB ones) is to pay top dollar for the upper echelon guys and save the rest of your money to control the end game. It's those $5-$15 bids on middle-round players that kill you. (I probably shouldn't have paid $6 for Joique Bell, either. While the value was fine, it cost me a lot of flexibility in the end game, too.)

The other choice everyone had to make was either to buy the top few defenses and kickers or pass on them altogether, have a bigger bench and wait for training camp developments to unfold before deciding who to drop before Week 1. Because we auctioned so early, it was an easy call for me to have the bigger bench. Had this been late August, I might have tried to get the Bills defense or Adam Vinatieri.