Wide Receiver Value

[cochise29]

I'm in a non-point per reception league (10 or 12 teams - auction draft) that must start 4 WRs. My question is, how does the WR value differ from leagues that require fewer WR starters? How does it affect the value with respect to the 2 required starting RBs? No flex position BTW. It is the intent of our commish to balance the value of WR and RB. Has he done it though? Both get 1/10yds and same value for TDs and same bonus levels.

My initial thought is that the WRs would be more valuable than in a league that required fewer starters. More will come off the draft board at least. But is the value of the top WRs, the ones that would be drafted anyway, affected? I can't see paying top dollar for Fitzgerald just because I need 4 WRs. If anything, I would think I should hang on to some auction dollars establish a deep WR corps rather than one that is top heavy.

My RBs still score more points individually, but now my WRs score about as much collectively. Due to this, my current thinking is to allot the same amount of auction dollars to each collective position. Say $40 or so to each in a $100 cap league.

Opinions?

[spodog]

Here's how I'd look at this.

If it's a 12 team league, each week, your league will be starting 24 RBs. There are only 32 starting RB's in the NFL, and some of them are in comitteee's, so the true count is even lower.

For WRs, your league will be starting 48 WRs each week. There are somewhere around 75 to 80 starting WRs in the NFL, given the variety of sets that teams use, anywhere from 2WR to 4WR formations.

So, your league will be utilizing almost 75% of the available starting RB talent in lineups and only around 60% to 65% of the available starting WR talent.

Has your commish balanced the value of WR and RB with 4 starting WR spots? No, but you are closer than in some leagues.

The fact remains that you should still find the true RB talent dissappear faster than you will the WR talent in this format.

As for an auction allocation, I would not pre-allocate equal $'s between RBs and WRs in this format. I'd still be willing to spend a higher proportion of my $'s on RBs.

What I would do is spend extra time studying who the possible breakout and high upsdie WR guys are that might be available in Rounds 11 and beyond in a traditional snake draft. I'd also reserve maybe an extra roster spot or two for WRs and grab a few of these high upside guys on the cheap in your auction for a buck or two. Could pay big benefits.

It may actually benefit you to have the other owners THINK that RBs and WRs are equally valued based on the 4WR starting requirement.