Total Points Auction Keeper League Whole Roster Starts

[Azrael]

I am entering an 8 team auction league this year that is total points (not head to head). There is a $200 draft cap, after which there is a $250 hard cap.

The line is 2 QB, 2RB, 3WR, 2 TE, 4 flex (RB, WR, TE), 2 K, 2 Def.

Everyone on your roster starts. There is no bench. There is however an IR for injured players. All Free Agent pickups are $15. That's where the extra hard cap comes into play. If Portis gets hurt for 6-8 weeks, you can pick up Betts for $15 and stash Portis on the IR. Now your cap is theoretically at $215 towards the 250 assuming you used all of your draft cap.

Scoring is yet to be determined but will probably be close to standard with no negative points.

A question we have yet to figure out that I am hoping to get some insight on: How will it be determined when a player has to come off the IR? What if an IR'd player becomes a gametime decision week to week? How will we force the owner to make a decision on who to cut from his team if the IR'd player is constantly iffy, but continues to play every week.

I was wondering if anyone has ever played in a league where the entire roster starts? What are some problems you run into or strategies you should have that are different than a typical league with a bench.

Here's a few of my preliminary thoughts on this:

* Consistency means little. A player like MJD gains value because it's his total points that matter. The fact that half his games are crappy matter nothing if he finishes as a top 10 point producer at his position.

*Drafting the best team means more than having the best players. There are no starters. Your whole team needs to score.

* Backup RBs become worthless. Since you start everyone you need every position to produce. Really no point in having an important handcuff on your team because he'll consistently get outproduced by alot of 2nd WRs. Guys like Mendenhall, Norwood, Chris Johnson, DeAngelo, etc become virtually worthless because you can't stash them on your bench and "see what happens".

*Late-mid round RBs and WRs become important. F. Taylor, F. Jones, Smith, Forte, Berrian, S. Moss, K. Curtis, Cotchery become actually more valuable than any auction guide gives you credit for. $7-11 for these guys? I'll take it.

Thoughts? Advice?

[dream_017]

Buy 6 starting RBs 8 team league with the possibility of have 6 RBs start for you is huge. You can always get QBs and WRs, there are more then enough to go around, but like you said back-ups are worthless(until someone gets hurt), but being able to rack up points with 6 RBs

Never played in a league that the entire roster starts, so I can't help you on the problems or issues.

As far as the IR is concerned, it has to be spelled out good from the start. Personally, I only make players that are actually on IR or listed as Out on the injury report to be eligible to be placed on IR. The first week that a player is listed as anything other than Out, he needs to be placed on the active roster and a player dropped or that IR player needs to be dropped. Anything other than Out, that player has a possibility of playing so they should not be able to be placed on IR.

[Azrael]

thanks dream...no one else has any other opinions on any aspect of this league?

[biju]

thanks dream...no one else has any other opinions on any aspect of this league?

I like dream's idea unless it's a PPR, then while people scramble for RBs you can sit back and watch the feeding frenzy while they eat up their draft cap cash and you can pile up WR2s later in the draft for cheap. I would always offer up RBs for auction on my turn to nominate (if that's how you're doing it) to try to get everyone to use their spending cash too early.

[skibrett15]

basically this is about getting a bunch of players who can score in bunches. a 2 qb league like this demands that you have a qb who can toss points on the board in bunches. I think that with 4 flex spots you are probably looking at wrs to fill those spots since backup wrs will score more than backup RBs and they have better shots at TDs. If you can land 2 good qbs, 2 good RBs, and a slew of good-mediocre wrs you will be in good shape. Saving some cash would be a good idea, since in this league having a big FA QB/RB is gonna pay off big time. You can probably pick up a 50-60 dollar player for 15 or 30 if you have a good eye for the FAs.

[Azrael]

basically this is about getting a bunch of players who can score in bunches. a 2 qb league like this demands that you have a qb who can toss points on the board in bunches. I think that with 4 flex spots you are probably looking at wrs to fill those spots since backup wrs will score more than backup RBs and they have better shots at TDs. If you can land 2 good qbs, 2 good RBs, and a slew of good-mediocre wrs you will be in good shape. Saving some cash would be a good idea, since in this league having a big FA QB/RB is gonna pay off big time. You can probably pick up a 50-60 dollar player for 15 or 30 if you have a good eye for the FAs.

Well, we just agreed to move one of the flex spots to a RB so now it's 3RB and 3 flex.

One of my theories is that people are going to over value the studs and under value the "role players". If they are looking at a typical auction cheat sheet, most are for 10-12 team leagues. This means that those leagues are working with more total money to spread around. Say 12 team league with $200 caps have $2,400 total to spread around. With an 8 team league you are looking at $1,600 total, which means players should get only 2/3 of the value that the cheat sheets are assigning. Guys like LT and AP are getting values of $70 but in this league they should only get values of approximately $48

Moreover, role players or borderline starters such as Forte, Kevin Smith, Fred Taylor, Felix Jones, and Chester Taylor become critical when you realize that there are only about 35 playable RBs out there to start the year and you can play up to 6 but probably only practical to play no more than 5.

Knowing that 17 x 8 =136 and that each team must field 2 QB, 2 TE, 2 K, and 2 Def (8 x 8 = 64), this means that there will be 72 total RB and WRs to divvy up (assume 35 RB and 37 WR). Focusing most of the cap on getting the right mix of studs and role players for the best prices is critical.

I definitely think sitting back for a little bit and letting people over spend on a few marquis guys right off the bat is a good strategy.