Everyone loves a traditional snake draft. However, auction or salary cap drafts have become more popular over the past several years. Salary cap drafts have been popular for those in the fantasy football industry for a while. Yet, they have recently gained popularity in home leagues.

So, should first-time fantasy players join a salary cap draft league? Absolutely! However, make sure you know the differences between a traditional snake and a salary cap draft. Furthermore, fantasy players need to understand the draft strategies best suited for salary cap and auction leagues, especially if it’s their first time playing that way.

While it might seem confusing or overwhelming, let’s see what fantasy players need to know before joining a salary cap or auction draft.

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Fantasy Football Auction Draft Targets

Let’s dive into how to nominate players in fantasy football auction drafts and then 12 players that you should be targeting with your picks.

Basic Understanding

Snake drafts are simple, as each team takes turns picking a player. When you get to the end of the round, the order flips in the opposite direction. So the team picking last in the first round will pick first in the second round. Similarly, the team picking first in the fourth round will pick last in the fifth round.

Salary cap and auction drafts are somewhat similar. However, there is no snake or turn at the end of each round. More importantly, teams aren’t picking players for their roster. Instead, they nominate a player for everyone in the league to bid on. That means you aren’t guaranteed to get the player you nominated with your pick.

Each team can bid on the player in a short window of time. The player will be rewarded to the highest bidder when the timer expires. Every time a team makes a new bid, the timer will reset for typically 10 seconds, giving everyone a chance to up their bid for that player.

So, how much should you bid on a player? The answer depends on several factors. The most important one is your budget. Each team will get a specific dollar amount to spend during the draft. Typically, you must bid at least $1 for every player. Therefore, you can’t spend your entire budget on one player.

Most salary cap and auction drafts have a budget of $100 or $200. The budget might be higher if you play in a league with a deeper roster. The best way to determine how much to spend on a specific player is to use the FantasyPros value calculator.

Which Players Should I Nominate?

You would think it’s wise to nominate players you want to draft. That’s the wrong way of thinking, especially in the first few rounds of nominations. When you nominate a player, the rest of the league automatically assumes you want him.

Instead, fantasy players should try to force their league mates to burn through their budget because of a bidding war. For example, if you don’t trust Christian McCaffrey to stay healthy this year, make him your first nomination. Let the rest of the league bid for the superstar running back, using up their budget. That way, you could get your RB1 target for a slight discount later in the draft.

Similarly, fantasy players should nominate their sleeper candidates early in the draft process, especially if they aren’t popular candidates. Your league mates might be hesitant to spend more than $1 early in the draft for fear that they can’t land their star target because of a lack of money. Therefore, you could land your top 2-3 sleepers for the minimum bid.

Players to Target

Prices via FantasyPros Value Calculator based on a $200 budget in a 12-team half-point PPR league.

Players Worth The Cost

These players will cost your team a significant chunk of your budget. However, they are excellent targets to be your Hero or Anchor running back/wide receiver and are worth every penny.

• Breece Hall (RB – NYJ) for $58
• Bijan Robinson (RB – ATL) for $48
• CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL) for $58
• Amon-Ra St. Brown (WR – DET) for $46

Value Options

These players are a value at their calculated cost. They aren’t necessarily going to be league winners, but they won’t break the bank and provide your team with more value than that cost.

• Kyler Murray (QB – ARI) for $3
• Devin Singletary (RB – NYG) for $10
• Chase Brown (RB – CIN) for $8
• Diontae Johnson (WR – CAR) for $9

Bargain Buys

These are players you can likely draft for a buck or two. They are the typical sleepers or late-round dart throw targets in traditional snake drafts.

• D’Onta Foreman (RB – CLE) for $2
• Keaton Mitchell (RB – BAL) for $1
• Romeo Doubs (WR – GB) for $2
• Hunter Henry (TE – NE) for $1

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Mike Fanelli is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @Mike_NFL2.