Over the past several years, we’ve seen many changes in fantasy football. While traditional snake drafts are still popular, more of the general public have changed their draft to an auction or salary cap format.

However, a salary cap league can be overwhelming for first-time players. A salary cap draft takes more strategy and on-your-feet thinking than a traditional snake draft. The first thing new salary cap league players need is to have a strong understanding of how their fantasy draft works.

Below are four strategies and tips to help fantasy players properly spend their budget during a salary cap draft.

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Fantasy Football Salary Cap Draft Advice: Spending Strategy

Don’t Bid Overly Aggressive Early

First-time players will be excited about the new draft format and the ability to land multiple first-round talented guys. However, be careful how aggressive you are with your budget. You want to partake in the draft process and land a superstar or two. Yet, you don’t want to use 85-90% of their budget on two players, no matter how good they are.

Instead, have a game plan before the draft starts. Plan to spend no more than 30-35% of your budget on your top player. However, don’t double down on first-round talented guys. Remember, your budget will disappear faster than you realize. Furthermore, you want to save a fair chunk of your budget for the final several rounds, where a buck or two could be the difference between landing a sleeper at a discount or missing out on them completely.

Limit Your Spending on Solo Starter Positions

While superflex leagues have become more popular over the past few years, most public or home drafts have a starting lineup with only one quarterback spot. Similarly, most fantasy leagues have only one tight end, team defense, and kicker starting slots. Those are the positions you can stream off the waiver wire. Therefore, fantasy players should be very conservative at those positions with their budget.

Fantasy players shouldn’t spend the big dollar amount needed to land the top quarterback or tight end. Last year, Josh Allen and Travis Kelce were the most expensive quarterback and tight end drafted. Allen finished the QB1, while Kelce was the TE3 in half-point PPR scoring. However, those two players likely cost fantasy players a significant chunk of their budget.

Meanwhile, Dak Prescott finished as the QB3, while Evan Engram was the TE2. Prescott and Engram didn’t end last season as the top quarterback or tight end. Yet, they also probably cost fantasy players a small fraction of their budget compared to Allen and Kelce. Instead of paying for a big-name quarterback or tight end, save your budget for the positions you need to start multiple guys – running back and wide receiver.

Follow the 50/20 Rule

The 50/20 or 20/50 rule is one of my favorites for salary cap drafts. Fantasy players want to save 20% of their budget for the final 50% of the nominations. Fantasy players want to have more money than their league mates for the final rounds.

There are two ways to win your salary cap draft – avoid overpaying/picking bust players and be able to outbid your league mates for the double-digit round sleepers. While that doesn’t mean you should hold onto half of your budget and miss out on the superstar players, bookmark 20-25% of your budget for the second half of the draft.

Another thing to remember is every dollar counts. Those later-round nominations will come down to one team having an extra dollar or two to spend. Remember, most fantasy football platforms require every team to fill out their roster by the end of the draft.

If you have a $100 budget and 16 roster spots to fill, you can’t spend more than $85 on a player because you need at least $1 for the other 15 spots. If you want a specific sleeper, being able to bid $2 instead of $1 might be the difference between getting him or not.

The Not So Famous $2 Bid

Many salary cap articles are about players at a discount or which players you should target for $1. However, the $2 bid rarely gets mentioned. As I said above, the ability to have an extra dollar or two in the final round is the difference between landing your favorite sleeper or missing out. Furthermore, there is a way to make sure your league mates miss out on that sleeper simply by making the opening bid $2 instead of $1.

When you make a nomination for $1, the next bid must be at least $2. However, every dollar matters in those final rounds, especially for those who didn’t follow the 50/20 rule. For example, you are the only one who can spend more than $2 on a player, and it’s your time to nominate a player.

Instead of nominating the player for $1 and allowing your league mate to bid $2, fantasy players should start the bidding at $2. That way, no one else in the league can bid on the player. Since everyone else’s max bid is $2, you have secured the player right after nominating them.

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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.