UPDATE: NIX TRADE; Rookie AUCTION Results; Question About Nix

[moishetreats]

For anyone interested, we just completed a rookie auction for my Team 2 in sig., built for 2025+. My players are in bold, and my comments are next to each one.

My big question is about Nix. I wasn't a huge fan coming into the NFL draft, but I do love the situation in Denver. Still, I might be able to move him essentially in a salary dump. I'm not sure whether to keep or get rid of him (basically for free)... Any thoughts?

And any other thoughts welcome!!

UPDATE. I just traded Nix for Michael Thomas ($1). Ultimately, I think the cap space is more valuable. When I won Nix, I was happy. With all the other players I got, though, I wanted to some more cap flexibility.


PLAYER WINNING BID
Williams, Caleb CHI QB $43
Harrison Jr., Marvin ARI WR $36
Daniels, Jayden WAS QB $35
McCarthy, J.J. MIN QB $29
Maye, Drake NEP QB $28
Nabers, Malik NYG WR $25 [LOVE him, especially at his cost]
Odunze, Rome CHI WR $24
Nix, Bo DEN QB $21 [What do with him??? Keep or trade essentially for free...??]
Coleman, Keon BUF WR $20
Benson, Trey ARI RB $19
Brooks, Jonathon CAR RB$19 [VERY excited about him in 2025+]
McConkey, Ladd LAC WR $18
Worthy, Xavier KCC WR $17 [Boom/bust. Could have little value in the future or far outperform this contract. Took the risk.]
Thomas Jr., Brian JAC WR $16
Penix Jr., Michael ATL QB $15
Bowers, Brock LVR TE $13
Corum, Blake LAR RB $12
Lloyd, MarShawn GBP RB $11
Pearsall, Ricky SFO WR $11
Legette, Xavier CAR WR $11
Wright, Jaylen MIA RB $10 [Higher than I wanted to go; he was a target of mine.]
Wilson, Roman PIT WR $9
Sinnott, Ben WAS TE $9 [Higher than I wanted to go; he was a target of mine.]
Mitchell, Adonai IND WR $8
Davis, Ray BUF RB $8
Burton, Jermaine CIN WR $7
Franklin, Troy DEN WR $6 [Wanted to pair him with Nix. If I trade Nix, he's a candidate for the Taxi Squad.]
Polk, Ja'Lynn NEP WR $6 [Meh on the player, LOVE the value.]
Washington, Malik MIA WR $6
Estime, Audric DEN RB $5
Sanders, Ja'Tavion CAR TE $5
Vidal, Kimani LAC RB $5
McMillan, Jalen TBB WR $4
Rattler, Spencer NOS QB $4
Corley, Malachi NYJ WR $4
Baker, Javon NEP WR $4
Ali, Rasheen BAL RB $4
Wiley, Jared KCC TE $4
Johnson, Theo NYG TE $4
McCaffrey, Luke WAS WR $4
Travis, Jordan NYJ QB $3
Walker, Devontez BAL WR $3
Tracy, Tyrone NYG RB $3
Allen, Braelon NYJ RB $3
Bell, Jaheim NEP TE $3
Rice, Brenden LAC WR $3
Guerendo, Isaac SFO RB $2 [I love this.]
All, Erick CIN TE $2 [Taxi Squad]
Cowing, Jacob SFO WR $2
Laube, Dylan LVR RB $2
Irving, Bucky TBB RB $2
Watson, Blake DEN RB $1
Reed, Austin CHI QB $1 [Taxi Squad]
Pratt, Michael GBP QB $1
Shipley, Will PHI RB $1
Jordan, Jawhar HOU RB $1
Smith, Ainias PHI WR $1
McClellan, Jase ATL RB $1
Reiman, Tip ARI TE $1
Gore Jr., Frank BUF RB $1
Means, Bub NOS WR $1
Holker, Dallin NOS TE $1
Flournoy, Ryan DAL WR $1
Schrader, Cody SFO RB $1 [Taxi Squad; thought it was a nice double-dip with Guerendo.]
Rees-Zammit, Louis KCC RB $1
White Jr, David JAX WR $1
Milton, Joe NEP QB $1
Stover, Cade HOU TE $1
Wilson, Johnny PHI WR $1

[abloom]

Looks like a solid draft for you. Caleb and JJ look like overpays in bestball format.

Nix may be an overpay a bit too. Rather get him for penix money.

Brooks,. wright, Polk, and nabers look like steals.

Don't know why you would just get rid of nix for free after spending $21 on him.

[Menace2010]

You'll be able to dump him for free at some point later in the season or early next if you still don't like what you've seen. Absolutely no benefit to dumping him for essentially nothing at this stage.

[TheTroll]

You'll be able to dump him for free at some point later in the season or early next if you still don't like what you've seen. Absolutely no benefit to dumping him for essentially nothing at this stage.

agree with the below guys. you just spent $$ on him. see if you can recoup his value before tossing him aside.

[moishetreats]

Thanks for the all the responses.

As for Nix: the thought behind trading him now is to free up the money. As you noted, abloom, he's a bit of an overpay. If I could move him, I'd have that cap space for the veteran auction in August (which has a surprisingly deep pool of players available). It's sort of the sunk-cost fallacy: just because I got him last night doesn't mean I *need* to keep him. I just didn't see a realistic world in which he'd end up on my team, so I'm trying to figure out after the fact if I truly want him at that cost.

[Pac_Eddy]

How does your league do a rookie auction? Do you have draft picks that get converted to auction dollars? Can you trade future auction dollars?

I've been interested in the idea but haven't taken the time to figure out how it would work. Thanks

[moishetreats]

How does your league do a rookie auction? Do you have draft picks that get converted to auction dollars? Can you trade future auction dollars?

I've been interested in the idea but haven't taken the time to figure out how it would work. Thanks

No draft picks. All by contract. We have a $300 cap in our league, so our available money is how much we can spend at the auction. For instance, I had around $190 in available cap space before the rookie auction, spent about $110, and now have about $80 in cap space. I can use that to trade for players, get veterans in the August Auction, or do other cap things unique to our league.

Essentially, cap space is like draft picks. Before the auction, I traded away Bijan and Lawrence (about $90 in cap) essentially for nothing. I used that cap money (+$20) to get all the guys listed above. So the cap space I got from trading away those two players was like getting the 1.03 rookie pick (Nabers), say 1.10, 2.02, 2.04, and 2.06 (Nix, Worthy, Brooks, Wright) and some 3rds. That would be the best equivalency.

At least in this league, there are other considerations: length and type of contract, etc. So I actually got more cap value than the draft picks would indicate, but that's a ballpark way to look at it.

I'm happy to share more about how our league works. Send a PM if you'd like and I'll give you my contact info!

[Pac_Eddy]

Cool system. Thanks for the info!

[moishetreats]

Cool system. Thanks for the info!

You're welcome! Thanks for the Spaceman Spiff pic!

[moishetreats]

UPDATE. I just traded Nix for Michael Thomas ($1). Ultimately, I think the cap space is more valuable. When I won Nix, I was happy. With all the other players I got, though, I wanted to some more cap flexibility.

[Menace2010]

I've never played in a contract league where money mattered this much. Still grappling with the fact you essentially dealt Lawrence and Bijan for Nabers, Brooks, and maybe Worthy depending on how you add the money up. Seems bad. Like really bad. But maybe guys are on longer contracts now? Still seems like you keep moving descent players for cap space to hopefully add descent players...

[moishetreats]

I've never played in a contract league where money mattered this much. Still grappling with the fact you essentially dealt Lawrence and Bijan for Nabers, Brooks, and maybe Worthy depending on how you add the money up. Seems bad. Like really bad. But maybe guys are on longer contracts now? Still seems like you keep moving descent players for cap space to hopefully add descent players...

Completely fair. And I operate in my league differently from most with remarkable success, so far. I'll give the short reply then the full one.

Short: Yes, the rookies are on longer and cheaper contracts. Since I wasn't realistically winning this year with Lawrence and Bijan, I'd be paying them premium rates for wasted production. I'm essentially paying them full salary in 2024 to have the privilege of having them in 2025. With the cap space, though, I can actually position myself much better in 2025. Since they are on high contracts, I can spend the top-end money next year on a QB or RB (or trade for one) while using the extra $90 this year to invest in rookies who are hopefully ascending.

Long:
I saved about $90 on Lawrence (whom I'd have through 2026) and Bijan (whom I'd have through 2025). For almost the exact same amount of money, I got Nabers, Worthy, Brooks, Wright, Polk, Franklin, and a couple of cheap $1 & $2 flyers. I don't need all of them to pop for this to be a financial win. If even two of that whole group looks great, then I'm waaaaay ahead. Here's why.

1) I'll save enough cap space so that I can cut any/all of Worthy, Wright, Polk, Franklin, and the flyers at the end of 2024 if they look like busts.

2) Each year, you can cut one player at a reduced rate. So if one of them is a bust whom I can't afford to cut this year, I'm still okay.

3) On the flip side, if even just two hit, then I have top-end players at middle-of-the-road contracts or even potentially below average contracts. That's how you really assemble championship teams: having players who outperform their contract. So you'll have Lawrence and Bijan at their fair value, and I'll have Player X and Player Y whose production values are anywhere from 70%-100% of Lawrence and Bijan but whose contract values are 1/3 to 1/2 the cost. Then I can get one or two more elite players with the cap savings.

4) In addition, the players that bust are gone after one year (go back to #1). The ones that hit are on my team for 4-5 years. That's a HUGE opportunity window that far exceeds Lawrence at fair cost and Bijan at fair cost for a shorter time.

If you're interested, I'm genuinely happy to talk more about our contract league. I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it. I have legitimately never thought about fantasy football the way I do in it, and I spend so much more wonderful/frustrated time with this league than all my others combined. To be fair, I don't *all* my leagues like this. But it is absolutely phenomenal.