Usually, I title this "How I Botched the Steak League Auction," and then go on to do well, but last year I really did botch it and missed out on buying double steaks by only one point. (Thankfully Josh Ross was in the league.) This year, I did some things well and some things poorly. For some background, it's a 14-team, 1-QB, 2-RB, 3-WR, 1-TE, 1-FLEX, non-PPR league with three IDPs. Here are the results:
| No. | Schoenke | Pos | $ | No. | Martinez | Pos | $ | No. | Siegrist | $ | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Davin Cook | RB | $44 | 8 | Todd Gurley | RB | $38 | 3 | Andrew Luck | QB | $9 |
| 28 | Odell Beckham | WR | $46 | 24 | Joe Mixon | RB | $43 | 29 | George Kittle | TE | $27 |
| 31 | David Montgomery | RB | $27 | 40 | Landon Collins | S | $3 | 45 | Tyreek Hill | WR | $47 |
| 84 | Lamar Jackson | QB | $9 | 51 | Luke Kuechly | LB | $2 | 46 | JuJu Smith-Schuster | WR | $48 |
| 92 | Jared Cook | TE | $9 | 60 | J.J. Watt | DE | $5 | 80 | James White | RB | $7 |
| 95 | DJ Moore | WR | $25 | 67 | Julian Edelman | WR | $20 | 85 | Tony Pollard | RB | $6 |
| 114 | Tarik Cohen | RB | $5 | 78 | Chris son | RB | $30 | 101 | DeMarcus Lawrence | DE | $1 |
| 121 | Damon Harrison | DT | $1 | 89 | Brandin Cooks | WR | $27 | 105 | Justin Jackson | RB | $4 |
| 127 | Latavius Murray | RB | $10 | 106 | Vance McDonald | TE | $7 | 119 | Kenyan Drake | RB | $12 |
| 132 | Robby Anderson | WR | $12 | 148 | Marvin Jones | WR | $6 | 123 | Calvin Ridley | WR | $24 |
| 135 | Harrison Smith | S | $1 | 152 | Larry Fitzgerald | WR | $2 | 129 | Demario Davis | LB | $1 |
| 177 | Darwin Thompson | RB | $6 | 155 | Ben Roethlisberger | QB | $4 | 156 | Geronimo Allison | WR | $4 |
| 191 | C.J. Mosley | LB | $1 | 162 | Jaylen Samuels | RB | $6 | 157 | Dak Prescott | QB | $1 |
| 205 | Rashard Higgins | WR | $1 | 176 | Robbie Gould | K | $1 | 161 | Matt Breida | RB | $6 |
| 218 | Quincy Enunwa | WR | $1 | 204 | Dion Lewis | RB | $3 | 171 | Jake Elliott | K | $1 |
| 229 | Chase Edmonds | RB | $1 | 209 | Marquise Goodwin | WR | $2 | 199 | Kam Chancellor | S | $1 |
| 234 | Adam Vinatieri | K | $1 | 228 | Giovani Bernard | RB | $1 | 213 | Qadree Ollison | RB | $1 |
| No. | Doria | Pos | $ | No. | Liss | Pos | $ | No. | Erickson | Pos | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Stephen Gostkowski | K | $2 | 2 | Melvin Gordon | RB | $24 | 9 | Darius Leonard | LB | $5 |
| 18 | Drew Brees | QB | $3 | 17 | Travis Kelce | TE | $39 | 12 | Justin Tucker | K | $3 |
| 41 | James Conner | RB | $46 | 19 | Harrison Butker | K | $2 | 15 | Budda Baker | S | $2 |
| 54 | Lavonte David | LB | $2 | 20 | Deshaun Watson | QB | $18 | 26 | Zach Ertz | TE | $27 |
| 56 | Davante Adams | WR | $45 | 32 | Ezekiel Elliott | RB | $55 | 34 | Le'Veon Bell | RB | $47 |
| 65 | A.J. Green | WR | $14 | 68 | Aaron Donald | DT | $3 | 52 | Derrick Henry | RB | $30 |
| 73 | Bradley Chubb | DE | $2 | 96 | Kwon Alexander | LB | $1 | 62 | Cam Newton | QB | $9 |
| 76 | Tom Brady | QB | $4 | 124 | Keanu Neal | S | $1 | 72 | Alshon Jeffery | WR | $14 |
| 81 | Tyler Lockett | WR | $22 | 126 | Darrell Henderson | RB | $8 | 86 | Chris Godwin | WR | $27 |
| 102 | Lamar Miller | RB | $9 | 138 | Dede Westbrook | WR | $11 | 97 | Sony Michel | RB | $21 |
| 113 | Robert Woods | WR | $27 | 140 | Duke Johnson | RB | $11 | 107 | Cameron Jordan | DE | $2 |
| 115 | Derrius Guice | RB | $12 | 141 | Kyler Murray | QB | $7 | 145 | Emmanuel Sanders | WR | $7 |
| 116 | David Njoku | TE | $6 | 160 | John Brown | WR | $4 | 197 | Keke Coutee | WR | $2 |
| 130 | Shawn Williams | S | $1 | 164 | Dante Pettis | WR | $5 | 211 | Donte Moncrief | WR | $1 |
| 144 | Kareem Hunt | RB | $3 | 179 | Marquez Valdes-Scantling | WR | $7 | 224 | Damien Harris | RB | $1 |
| 186 | Greg Olsen | TE | $1 | 180 | Deebo Samuel | WR | $3 | 231 | DJ Chark | WR | $1 |
| 214 | Parris Campbell | WR | $1 | 221 | Terry McLaurin | WR | $1 | 236 | Mohamed Sanu | WR | $1 |
| No. | Schuler | Pos | $ | No. | Ilk | Pos | $ | No. | Thornbury | Pos | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Greg Zuerlein | K | $3 | 27 | Alvin Kamara | RB | $60 | 7 | David Johnson | RB | $56 |
| 14 | Saquon Barkley | RB | $66 | 48 | Aaron Rodgers | QB | $11 | 37 | Bobby Wagner | LB | $5 |
| 23 | Leighton Vander Esch | LB | $3 | 50 | Mike Evans | WR | $42 | 44 | Russell Wilson | QB | $10 |
| 42 | Leonard Fournette | RB | $41 | 58 | Blake Martinez | LB | $2 | 47 | Michael Thomas | WR | $44 |
| 63 | Myles Garrett | DE | $3 | 70 | Aaron Jones | RB | $36 | 66 | Keenan Allen | WR | $34 |
| 64 | T.Y. Hilton | WR | $31 | 104 | Cooper Kupp | WR | $13 | 83 | Mark Ingram | RB | $31 |
| 71 | Evan Engram | TE | $17 | 137 | Jarvis Landry | WR | $12 | 122 | Trey Flowers | DE | $1 |
| 90 | Carson Wentz | QB | $6 | 142 | Kevin Byard | S | $1 | 151 | DK Metcalf | WR | $4 |
| 128 | Jordan Poyer | S | $2 | 165 | Courtland Sutton | WR | $5 | 190 | Adrian Peterson | RB | $4 |
| 134 | Christian Kirk | WR | $12 | 169 | Carlos Hyde | RB | $5 | 192 | Mecole Hardman | WR | $2 |
| 146 | Len McCoy | RB | $5 | 170 | Akiem Hicks | DT | $1 | 198 | Tre'Quan Smith | WR | $2 |
| 150 | Jackson | WR | $5 | 175 | Jordan Howard | RB | $6 | 202 | Andy Isabella | WR | $2 |
| 174 | Mitchell Trubisky | QB | $1 | 184 | Trey Burton | TE | $1 | 219 | Ito Smith | RB | $1 |
| 206 | N'Keal Harry | WR | $2 | 200 | Devin Funchess | WR | $2 | 230 | Jason Myers | K | $1 |
| 216 | DeVante Parker | WR | $1 | 212 | Willie Snead | WR | $1 | 235 | Antoine Bethea | S | $1 |
| 227 | Mike Davis | RB | $1 | 225 | Jimmy Garoppolo | QB | $1 | 237 | Philip Rivers | QB | $1 |
| 233 | T.J. Hockenson | TE | $1 | 232 | Matt PraterK | $1 | 238 | Kyle Rudolph | TE | $1 |
| No. | Ross | Pos | $ | No. | Hochberg | Pos | $ | No. | Jenstad | Pos | $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | Antonio Brown | WR | $30 | 5 | Sam Darnold | QB | $3 | 21 | Nick Chubb | RB | $52 |
| 25 | Wil Lutz | K | $2 | 10 | Christian McCaffrey | RB | $52 | 57 | O.J. Howard | TE | $17 |
| 36 | Josh Jacobs | RB | $46 | 22 | Ka'imi Fairbairn | K | $2 | 74 | Devonta Freeman | RB | $31 |
| 39 | Hunter Henry | TE | $15 | 33 | John Johnson | S | $2 | 82 | Jaylon Smith | LB | $2 |
| 43 | Joey Bosa | DE | $5 | 59 | Julio Jones | WR | $50 | 108 | DeForest Buckner | DT | $2 |
| 53 | Roquan Smith | LB | $2 | 61 | Tremaine Edmunds | LB | $2 | 111 | Kenny Golladay | WR | $28 |
| 79 | Amari Cooper | WR | $30 | 88 | Khalil Mack | DE | $3 | 118 | Sterling Shepard | WR | $17 |
| 91 | Austin Ekeler | RB | $11 | 93 | Stefon Diggs | WR | $30 | 120 | Will Fuller V | WR | $15 |
| 98 | Tevin Coleman | RB | $23 | 103 | Kalen Ballage | RB | $8 | 139 | Justin Reid | S | $1 |
| 99 | Matt Ryan | QB | $7 | 117 | Mark Andrews | TE | $6 | 143 | Jared Goff | QB | $5 |
| 110 | Jamal Adams | S | $3 | 131 | Sammy Watkins | WR | $9 | 153 | Devin Singletary | RB | $11 |
| 112 | Miles Sanders | RB | $14 | 136 | Allen Robinson | WR | $22 | 166 | Curtis Samuel | WR | $10 |
| 178 | James Washington | WR | $4 | 159 | Kirk Cousins | QB | $1 | 167 | Jameis Winston | QB | $3 |
| 193 | Golden Tate | WR | $3 | 183 | Jamison Crowder | WR | $3 | 181 | Mason Crosby | K | $1 |
| 207 | Jerick McKinnon | RB | $2 | 201 | Justice Hill | RB | $2 | 188 | Anthony Miller | WR | $2 |
| 217 | Nyheim Hines | RB | $2 | 215 | David Moore | WR | $2 | 208 | C.J. Anderson | RB | $2 |
| 220 | Adam Humphries | WR | $1 | 226 | Delanie Walker | TE | $3 | 222 | Jamaal Williams | RB | $1 |
| No. | Bartel | Pos | $ | No. | Crites | Pos | $ | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josh Gordon | WR | $10 | 6 | Patrick Mahomes | QB | $29 | ||||
| 30 | Baker Mayfield | QB | $11 | 49 | Marlon Mack | RB | $37 | ||||
| 35 | Kerryon Johnson | RB | $43 | 55 | Damien Williams | RB | $38 | ||||
| 38 | DeAndre Hopkins | WR | $54 | 69 | Adam Thielen | WR | $35 | ||||
| 77 | Danielle Hunter | DE | $2 | 75 | llip Lindsay | RB | $17 | ||||
| 87 | Mike Williams | WR | $26 | 94 | Calais Campbell | DE | $2 | ||||
| 100 | Rashaad Penny | RB | $13 | 109 | Tyler Boyd | WR | $17 | ||||
| 125 | Royce Freeman | RB | $11 | 149 | Corey Davis | WR | $10 | ||||
| 133 | Deion Jones | LB | $1 | 154 | Malcolm Brown | RB | $1 | ||||
| 147 | Eric Ebron | TE | $3 | 158 | Austin Hooper | TE | $2 | ||||
| 168 | Michael Gallup | WR | $3 | 163 | Cory Littleton | LB | $2 | ||||
| 172 | Tyrell Williams | WR | $7 | 182 | Tyrann Mathieu | S | $1 | ||||
| 173 | Ronald Jones | RB | $7 | 194 | Marquise Brown | WR | $2 | ||||
| 185 | Derwin James | S | $2 | 195 | Alexander Mattison | RB | $3 | ||||
| 187 | Peyton Barber | RB | $5 | 196 | Kenny Stills | WR | $2 | ||||
| 189 | Jordan Reed | TE | $1 | 210 | Josh Allen | QB | $1 | ||||
| 203 | Mike Badgley | K | $1 | 223 | Brett Maher | K | $1 |
You can see from the "No." field the order in which the players were thrown out. I bought a heavily discounted Melvin Gordon for $24, a slightly cheap Travis Kelce at $39 (caught price-enforcing to be honest) and a kicker on the best offense in the league. So far so good, until for God knows what reason I went $18 on Deshaun Watson. Watson is a great player, especially in fantasy, but QBs are so cheap in this format, $18 was about $6 too much. I just flat-put forgot you could get Carson Wentz for $6 or Dak Prescott for $1.
After that I doubled down on risk with Zeke Elliott at $55. Given Saquon Barkley went for $66, and McCaffrey and Kamara are more PPR dependent, it was a fair enough discount. The problem with going big on two holdouts is the upside of winning this league - about $200 - is less than the downside of finishing last and double-buying steaks at dinner - about $300.
After Elliott, I felt I did a good job saving my money for quality backups with upside like Darrell Henderson and Duke Johnson, and managing to fill in at receiver with players likely to be targeted by their teams - Dede Westbrook, Dante Petttis, John Brown and Terry McLaurin. (I also have Deebo Samuel in case Pettis isn't the guy, and threw $7 at Marquez Valdes-Scantling who could be the No. 2 in Green Bay.
Probably the oddest buy I had was Kyler Murray for $7 when I already had Watson and could have used another WR or backed up Elliott or Gordon with the money instead. He's my No. 8 QB right now, but his 80th percentile season is probably QB2, and his 90th, QB1. No one else in NFL history has 800 yards rushing/600-pass-attempt upside, so I took him for the hell of it. But I can't play both him and Watson, and it's almost impossible to trade a QB in a 1-QB league.
Roster By Position:
QB: Deshaun Watson/Kyler Murray
RB: Ezekiel Elliott/Melvin Gordon/Darrell Henderson/Duke Johnson
WR: Dede Westbrook/John Brown/Dante Pettis/Marquez Valdes-Scantling/Terry McLaurin/Deebo Samuel
TE: Travis Kelce
K: Harrison Butker
DL: Aaron Donald
LB: Kwon Alexander
DB: Keanu Neal