chrisparsons83/Salary Cap Drafting Strategy

## Salary Cap Drafting Strategy
well, the thing I would say is that I tend to allocate 85-90%ish of my budget towards my starters, and 10-15% of my budget towards my bench
so say you have 1QB/2RB/2WR/1TE/1FLX/1DST/1K
and then 6 bench
that's pretty much standard
and $200 budget
I'm expecting to spend $1 on QB/DST/K each
and I'll say I have $170 for my starters... that means I have $167ish for my RB/WR/TE/FLX
actually, the more I look at those numbers... I'm spending 90% on my starters more than 85%
but then, what I would do is take something like beersheets and start trying to build groups of RB/WR/TE/FLX out of $170
just to get an idea of how you can split up your money
you're going to be surprised with how far that $170 goes
but you should try some different setups... see what happens when you pull a couple of WR1s, and see what that does to your TE or RBs
or see what happens if you get Gronk, and how to build a team around that
as for actual in-the-trenches strategy, there are a few things to consider
the top levels of each position, which have more defined, agreed-upon tiers, tend to go for prices in a U shape
where the first person nominated in a tier will go for a lot... the middle ones will go for less, and then the last one in a tier will go for probably about the same as the first in the tier
it's not always true, obviously, but it's a trend that comes up enough times that I consider it
other things... you should almost never nominate a player you want in the early rounds
and you want to nominate people that will make others spend money
so let's say you are playing a 2RB/3WR format
and you have 2RBs already
and most people went WR
you should be nominating RB there, because people will need to be spending to get a good RB, and you can waste more of their budgets
you can also nominate a top QB if you feel there's balance in the positions, but you don't waste as much budget as you'd think by doing that
when I'm drafting, I set my view of the teams to show max bid remaining, and positions filled
for instance, late in the game... there are lots of times where everyone is max-bid $2
that means if you're opening the bidding for a sleeper you want, if you bid $2, you get it, because no one else can outbid you
if you bid $1, it means that someone can bump to $2, and either you're stuck if you don't have the money, or you're going to have to bid $3 and that sucks when every dollar counts towards the end
I tend to just assume that I have $170 to spend on my RB/WR/TE/FLX and adjust as I go along in the draft, because crazy things always happen
for instance last year, I nominated Zeke at $25 (he was going anywhere from low $40s to the mid-$50s)
the entire room passed and now I had Zeke... which was not ever in my plan in any situation
it happens!
so you adjust
oh... don't sheriff
if you think someone will bid higher for a player, don't bump them up to squeak another $1 out of them unless you're willing to pay for that player
for instance, let's say Wilson is at $15 currently in the bidding... I bet the person is willing to pay $19 for them
don't bump to $16 unless you are prepared to have Wilson for $16
it's awfully tempting because you don't want your opponents to get value out of a player, but it's worse if you don't get value
but I'll say the main thing is that you'll see players draft like they draft a snake (and kind of spread things out in terms of the cost of players they're buying) and players that spend a bunch of top end players and then spend $1 on a bunch of cheap players... and the latter does WAY better than the former
the cool thing about salary cap is that if you want to have a team with Gurley and Bell, you can totally have a team with Gurley and Bell
you may have to pay $140 for it, ha
as long as you aren't in the mindset of "oh, I'll get a WR1 and a RB1, and then a RB2 and a WR2 type, etc etc" you'll be fine
it's better to get 2 WR1s and 2 RB1s and then just cheap out otherwise
taking beersheets and trying to divvy up $170 between RBs/WRs/TE/FLX is a really good exercise though

Added 2019-08-18
tl;dr - the goal is to get value for your entire budget, not for your entire team of players (this is talking about leftover money)
There's this concept of value - getting a player for $5 when he's really going for $13 on average. Clearly this is a good thing.
You have to be careful though, as it's very tempting to wait for that middle lull of the draft.
That middle lull is where players that generally have that $10-15 ADP can be had for ~$5 sometimes.
Having one or two of those players is great. Having an entire team of those players is awful.
Say you have a roster of 15 players, and on average, every player is supposed to go for $13.
That would be $195 spent if you bought them at ADP
Now, say you get every one of them for $5. Great value! You only spent $75 on a theoretical $195 worth of players.
However, the problem is that money is just gone now, you don't get to carry it forward.
So you've wasted $125, and realistically you might as well have spent $13 per player, as you used your $200 to get those 15 players.
One way to think about this is if you take the leftover $s at the end of the draft and distribute them to your remaining players
That's really what you spent on those players, as those leftover dollars are kind of wasted dollars
This rears its head once you're outside the first 4 rounds of so of players.
If you're still sitting on $100+ dollars after 40 players are gone, you're going to have trouble spending your budget
Because people just don't have that much money to spend.
This means that even if you're seeing players going for way over their ADP in the first two rounds of nominations,
You're going to have to jump in quickly and get a few players
Otherwise you're going to be left with being unable to spend all of your budget
If you don't, you're going to be paying more relative dollars for those players than you otherwise normally would.

Added 2019-10-16
There are somewhat obvious tiers in drafting, but there's a situation you have to watch out for,
and it's the situation where there's one last good player and then a HUGE drop in talent, and multiple
people are clearly holding onto budget trying to wait out for this last good player.
An example of this would be like a $40 RB (Todd Gurley 2019),
and then the next RB on the board is likely a $12 RB (Sony Michel 2019)
In that situation, because there are managers trying to hold money, they're not willing to waste money on those $12 RBs
So now all of the sudden those $12 RBs go for like $3-5 instead because everyone is saving their money for that $40 battle, and
"hoping to get value"
Spoiler: Gurley in this situation is still going for $40. What you want to do in this situation is try to nominate that lower
tier of $10-$15 RBs and try to get them for stupid cheap before Gurley goes off the board.
	well, the thing I would say is that I tend to allocate 85-90%ish of my budget towards my starters, and 10-15% of my budget towards my bench
	so say you have 1QB/2RB/2WR/1TE/1FLX/1DST/1K
	and then 6 bench
	that's pretty much standard
	and $200 budget
	I'm expecting to spend $1 on QB/DST/K each
	and I'll say I have $170 for my starters... that means I have $167ish for my RB/WR/TE/FLX
	actually, the more I look at those numbers... I'm spending 90% on my starters more than 85%
	but then, what I would do is take something like beersheets and start trying to build groups of RB/WR/TE/FLX out of $170
	just to get an idea of how you can split up your money
	you're going to be surprised with how far that $170 goes
	but you should try some different setups... see what happens when you pull a couple of WR1s, and see what that does to your TE or RBs
	or see what happens if you get Gronk, and how to build a team around that
	as for actual in-the-trenches strategy, there are a few things to consider
	the top levels of each position, which have more defined, agreed-upon tiers, tend to go for prices in a U shape
	where the first person nominated in a tier will go for a lot... the middle ones will go for less, and then the last one in a tier will go for probably about the same as the first in the tier
	it's not always true, obviously, but it's a trend that comes up enough times that I consider it
	other things... you should almost never nominate a player you want in the early rounds
	and you want to nominate people that will make others spend money
	so let's say you are playing a 2RB/3WR format
	and you have 2RBs already
	and most people went WR
	you should be nominating RB there, because people will need to be spending to get a good RB, and you can waste more of their budgets
	you can also nominate a top QB if you feel there's balance in the positions, but you don't waste as much budget as you'd think by doing that
	when I'm drafting, I set my view of the teams to show max bid remaining, and positions filled
	for instance, late in the game... there are lots of times where everyone is max-bid $2
	that means if you're opening the bidding for a sleeper you want, if you bid $2, you get it, because no one else can outbid you
	if you bid $1, it means that someone can bump to $2, and either you're stuck if you don't have the money, or you're going to have to bid $3 and that sucks when every dollar counts towards the end
	I tend to just assume that I have $170 to spend on my RB/WR/TE/FLX and adjust as I go along in the draft, because crazy things always happen
	for instance last year, I nominated Zeke at $25 (he was going anywhere from low $40s to the mid-$50s)
	the entire room passed and now I had Zeke... which was not ever in my plan in any situation
	it happens!
	so you adjust
	oh... don't sheriff
	if you think someone will bid higher for a player, don't bump them up to squeak another $1 out of them unless you're willing to pay for that player
	for instance, let's say Wilson is at $15 currently in the bidding... I bet the person is willing to pay $19 for them
	don't bump to $16 unless you are prepared to have Wilson for $16
	it's awfully tempting because you don't want your opponents to get value out of a player, but it's worse if you don't get value
	but I'll say the main thing is that you'll see players draft like they draft a snake (and kind of spread things out in terms of the cost of players they're buying) and players that spend a bunch of top end players and then spend $1 on a bunch of cheap players... and the latter does WAY better than the former
	the cool thing about salary cap is that if you want to have a team with Gurley and Bell, you can totally have a team with Gurley and Bell
	you may have to pay $140 for it, ha
	as long as you aren't in the mindset of "oh, I'll get a WR1 and a RB1, and then a RB2 and a WR2 type, etc etc" you'll be fine
	it's better to get 2 WR1s and 2 RB1s and then just cheap out otherwise
	taking beersheets and trying to divvy up $170 between RBs/WRs/TE/FLX is a really good exercise though

	Added 2019-08-18
	tl;dr - the goal is to get value for your entire budget, not for your entire team of players (this is talking about leftover money)
	There's this concept of value - getting a player for $5 when he's really going for $13 on average. Clearly this is a good thing.
	You have to be careful though, as it's very tempting to wait for that middle lull of the draft.
	That middle lull is where players that generally have that $10-15 ADP can be had for ~$5 sometimes.
	Having one or two of those players is great. Having an entire team of those players is awful.
	Say you have a roster of 15 players, and on average, every player is supposed to go for $13.
	That would be $195 spent if you bought them at ADP
	Now, say you get every one of them for $5. Great value! You only spent $75 on a theoretical $195 worth of players.
	However, the problem is that money is just gone now, you don't get to carry it forward.
	So you've wasted $125, and realistically you might as well have spent $13 per player, as you used your $200 to get those 15 players.
	One way to think about this is if you take the leftover $s at the end of the draft and distribute them to your remaining players
	That's really what you spent on those players, as those leftover dollars are kind of wasted dollars
	This rears its head once you're outside the first 4 rounds of so of players.
	If you're still sitting on $100+ dollars after 40 players are gone, you're going to have trouble spending your budget
	Because people just don't have that much money to spend.
	This means that even if you're seeing players going for way over their ADP in the first two rounds of nominations,
	You're going to have to jump in quickly and get a few players
	Otherwise you're going to be left with being unable to spend all of your budget
	If you don't, you're going to be paying more relative dollars for those players than you otherwise normally would.

	Added 2019-10-16
	There are somewhat obvious tiers in drafting, but there's a situation you have to watch out for,
	and it's the situation where there's one last good player and then a HUGE drop in talent, and multiple
	people are clearly holding onto budget trying to wait out for this last good player.
	An example of this would be like a $40 RB (Todd Gurley 2019),
	and then the next RB on the board is likely a $12 RB (Sony Michel 2019)
	In that situation, because there are managers trying to hold money, they're not willing to waste money on those $12 RBs
	So now all of the sudden those $12 RBs go for like $3-5 instead because everyone is saving their money for that $40 battle, and
	"hoping to get value"
	Spoiler: Gurley in this situation is still going for $40. What you want to do in this situation is try to nominate that lower
	tier of $10-$15 RBs and try to get them for stupid cheap before Gurley goes off the board.