Keeper auction help!

[nmack29]

Last year was the first auction for our league, as well as it now being a keeper league. The auction went well, but now I need help with keeper strategy. Do I keep big name, big dollar player or keep value players?

 

We have a $200 salary cap.

Rosters = 3 QB, 4 RB, 4 WR, 2 TE, 2 Kicker, 2 Team Defense

Starters = 1 QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE, 1 Kicker, 1 TeamDefense

 

Standard performance type scoring.

 

I need to keep 4 players from this group.

 

I consider these 2 players "value" keepers and will keep them.

 

Javon Walker - $7

Jason Witen - $1

 

I need 2 more from these presorted possiblities:

 

David Carr - $21

Ben Roethlisberger - $5

Shaun Alexander - $52

Edgerrin James - $48

Travis Henry - $5

Darrell Jackson - $15

Michael Clayton - $1

David Akers - $2

 

Any help is appreciated. Sorry for the length, but like I said this is all new to me.

 

Thanks,

Nathan

[KevinL]

I agree with Walker & Witten. (why can't people spell his name right?)

 

Carr - no, you can get a better QB for that $

Roethlisberger - maybe, $5 is cheap for a QB starter

Alexander & James - no, you want to keep bargains, these guys will sell for about the same again

Henry - maybe, depends if it looks like he will start in Tennessee

Jackson - no

Clayton - yes

Akers - $2 for a top K is a bargain but Henry or Roethlisberger are probably better options.

[nmack29]

That was my biggest question - value or star power. I just had a typo with Witten.

 

Henry could be a steal at $5 if he starts for Tennessee.

 

I was leaning toward Clayton and Akers, but now that Henry has been traded I think he is a better value.

 

For comparisons last year Harrison and Holt were the only WR $40 and over. RB's over $40 were Tomlinson, Holmes, McCallister, Green, Portis, Alexander, James, Lewis, and Taylor. With Tomlinson topping the list at $70.

[Ralph Furley]

I say you keep Clayton, Henry (for 5 bucks, what the heck) and Edge. Depending on when your auction is, there may be some owners hesitant to spend a ton on Alexander, because of contract issues, which in turn will inflate Edge. I think Edge for that price is a very decent deal. If Chris Brown goes down Henry is great for that price as well. Clayton for a buck is fantastic.

[westvirginia]

I agree with your two "value" selections. In an auction keeper, guys who play at well above their cost are the key to championships. In that vein, you won't touch Clayton for less than $12-$15 with a $200 cap (assuming 12 teams), so I'd nab him too. You have (at worst) one starter and one top-notch backup WR, and Clayton will likely be in the top-third or lower-second tier of WR this year. You effectively have three of eight starters done for less than 5% of cap. That puts you in a tremendous position. In a ten team league Clayton's only worth slightly less, say $9-$12.

 

Leaving you with just a single slot, I'd keep Henry or Alexander. The reason for keeping players is twofold: 1) to ensure you get to keep them on your roster, and 2) because it would cost you far more to get them again than to keep them. You really only have two other players that fit that mold, Henry and Roethlisburger. To me, Roeth still has a bunch of ???. If you remember Manning's rookie season, he got better as the season went on. He was terrible in his first 8 games, but by the last 8, he'd cut interceptions, improved completion percentage and increased TD's - all at a very dramatic rate. Roethlisburger, if anything, was worse at the end of last season. I have him on one dynasty squad, but I still don't trust him yet and if some owner wants to pay much more than the $5 for him, let them. There are probably better options out there. Henry, if he is the starter (looks likely because of Brown's injuries) will be worth way more than the $5 tag. If he were to be the uncontested starter all season and see somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 carries, then he's probably going to put up 7-10 TD's and 1300 or so all-purpose yards. That probably won't happen, because Brown will be healthy at some point. Even if Henry sees half that (and I think he'll see most of the goal-line love due to Brown's well-documented problems in short-yardage) he still scores well enough to be a RB3 in most leagues. And Alexander, unless your scoring is skewed in favor of QB's, is cheap at 25% of cap IMO. Not drastically so, but cheap nonetheless.