Fantasy Football Mock Auction Draft: Grabbing a Top Player at Every Position

Depth is great. Being able to pick through players and play matchups is an art, and the more options you have, the better artist you can become. Superstars win championships, though.

In the fantasy world, teams are carried to victory some weeks by their best players or even just the guy who goes off with the biggest performance. It can be random and hard to gauge who will be the best players, but we generally have an idea of who the top guys will be in any given season, injuries notwithstanding.

I was inspired to try this strategy after I did the same thing in fantasy baseball. In that case, I got the top player at as many positions as I could, with catcher and second base the two areas that were easiest to accomplish later in the auction. With fewer positions in fantasy football, it seemed feasible to get the top guy at three or even all four skill positions, so I figured, “Why not?”

Let's go through the results of this mock auction in which my only rule was to get the top player at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. I wasn't able to grab every top player (you'll see below), but it was close enough to follow the spirit of this exercise.

This mock was for a PPR league with a budget of $200, every dollar of which I used.

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Top Players at Their Position

QB Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills, $29

RB Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles, $59

WR Ja'Marr Chase, Cincinnati Bengals, $64

TE Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals, $35

You could make arguments for a few other guys here, including Lamar Jackson, Bijan Robinson, Justin Jefferson, Brock Bowers, and others. I would have rather had Bowers, but he was the last one I went for in this exercise, and I was outbid by someone with more money available. McBride is a great consolation prize.

This group is the meat of this strategy, leaving the rest of the roster to be filled with low-cost players grabbed at the end of the auction.

Running Backs

J.K. Dobbins, Denver Broncos, $2

Travis Etienne, Jacksonville Jaguars, $1

Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, $1

Quinshon Judkins, Cleveland Browns, $1

Najee Harris, Los Angeles Chargers, $1

After getting my top four players, I was left with only one extra dollar to spend, and that went toward Dobbins. I like the new Denver running back as a cheap/late-round pick who could get something close to a starter's workload, and he should get plenty of pass-catching opportunities, so he has extra value in a PPR league. Injuries are an obvious worry, but at $2, who am I to complain?

Etienne and White are likely to be second stringers behind Tank Bigsby and Bucky Irving, respectively, but again, they are pass-catching backs who have some extra value in a PPR league. White has caught at least 50 passes in all three of his seasons, accumulating 1,232 yards and 11 touchdowns through the air. Etienne now has Liam Coen as his head coach and play caller, the guy who helped White to a successful receiving season last year. Etienne has averaged around 45 catches and 350 yards in his three healthy years, though he has scored just one receiving touchdown.

Judkins was dealing with legal trouble before recently being cleared and still hasn't signed his contract as he's away from the team. It's unlikely he plays much right away, and he might face a suspension, but when I was looking at $1 guys late, Judkins was something of a lottery ticket who is expected to perform well when he finally does get on the field.

Harris is wildly inefficient, averaging 3.9 yards per carry in his career and hitting 4.0 in just two of his four seasons. He topped 1,000 rushing yards every season, though, and scored 28 touchdowns on the ground. When he was going as a top-20 back, I hated the value. When he's going undrafted or for $1? He suddenly has some sneaky value. Hamstrung for good options, Harris was a fine pick, even as he's still recovering from an eye injury.

Wide Receivers

Jordan Addison, Minnesota Vikings, $1

Deebo Samuel Sr., Washington Commanders, $1

Brandon Aiyuk, San Francisco 49ers, $1

Marvin Mims, Denver Broncos, $1

Christian Kirk, Houston Texans, $1

Another group of $1 players here, we lack guys projected to do big things, but we do have a little upside if things can break right for one or two receivers. Wide receiver is also an easy position to find useable free agents at during the season, so I'm not as worried about this group as I am about the lack of impact running backs.

Addison is in a passing offense and has a good offensive play caller, but he also has a quarterback who will be getting his first action in J.J. McCarthy, a star in front of him in Jefferson, and a strong pass-catching tight end in T.J. Hockenson to steal targets. Most importantly (and the reason I got him for $1), Addison is suspended for the first three games of the season, dropping his draft stock.

Samuel is intriguing as a late draft pick or cheap auction pickup. He has been a star at his best, but we can't expect him to be more than a WR2 on his team and WR3/4 in fantasy football. He will get the ball different ways, including on screens and handoffs, so there will likely be good fantasy weeks, and that's a guy worth taking a shot on in this scenario, especially with Washington's top receiver, Terry McLaurin, sitting out with a contract dispute.

Aiyuk keeps ending up on my teams in pretty much every mock draft I take part in. He isn't expected back from a torn ACL until around Week 6 (a rough estimate), so he is more of a long-term play than someone to count on right away, but there is big upside if he can return and play somewhat to his old standard.

Mims and Kirk are low-level guys who don't have a ton of talent in front of them and could be part of their respective offenses. They are more likely to be dropped than part of a winning fantasy team, but when we're choosing from $1 players, beggars can't be choosers.

All my bench players are running backs and receivers. If you spend big on a quarterback and/or tight end (or draft one early in a snake draft), then don't bother taking a backup. Your star is going to play every week aside from their bye, and you can find a fill-in at the time. Use your bench spots on valuable RB and WR depth.

Defense and Kicker

D/ST Houston Texans, $1

K Harrison Butker, $1

I like doing this annoying little trick where my first nominations in an auction are my first choices at defense and kicker. You're going to spend $1 on those positions anyway, so what's the harm in trying to steal the top options early? If someone else wants to bid a second dollar, then they can have them, and they will have one less dollar to bid against me later.

You don't miss out on anything in those first few rounds by not nominating a top running back or wide receiver (as everyone else will do) because everyone has the chance to bid on every player. It's a no-lose situation when it comes to trying to get the top D/ST and K options.

I wanted the Denver defense, and Houston was my second option when someone bid $2 for the Broncos. The kicker could be anyone; Butker is a good kicker on a good team, though, a good combination for our purposes.

Conclusion

This is an intriguing strategy, but it goes a little too far to the extreme. I like the idea of getting Barkley and Chase, for instance, then saving the money on the quarterback and tight end spots to spread around the roster.

Superstars do win championships and having maybe the top receiver and top running back, a combination you could never put together in a snake draft, gives you a big advantage while still being able to build a roster using the other $60-plus. That strategy is one of my favorites and might be showing up in a future mock draft.