Sometimes the house wins. That was the case in our annual Experts Auction League, where Ian Allan cruised to victory. It was his third win in the last decade, same in that timeframe as David Dodds of FootballGuys. Dodds came in 3rd this year, while Matt Schauf of Draft Sharks came in 2nd.
This is a best-ball league, where we hold the Auction back in May to get the results into our annual preseason magazine, then play it out over the course of the season with no transactions. Each team gets their best weekly lineup of 2 RBs, 3 WRs and 1 QB-TE-PK-D/ST. To minimize scheduling luck, each team plays every other team each week during the season. Top score goes 11-0, 2nd-highest score goes 10-1, etc. Allan ended up winning by 20 games.
In leagues of this sort, where you can't adjust your roster due to injuries, suspensions, or pandemic-related illnesses, depth is critical. Allan had that at wide receiver, with both Seattle wideouts (DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett), Calvin Ridley and Terry McLaurin. That group enabled him to overcome the lost season for Deebo Samuel, hurt most of the year. Jamison Crowder also chipped in a number of good weeks, when healthy.
The rest of Allan's roster had enough good starters to hold serve most weeks. Kyler Murray was a top performer at quarterback, while Chris Carson, David Johnson and Nyheim Hines cobbled together enough decent weeks at running back. Hayden Hurst and Dallas Goedert provided a solid tight end most weeks.
Probably the key pick for Schauf's Draft Sharks team was Justin Herbert. His only other quarterback was Dak Prescott, lost for the season early on. Without Herbert, acquired for just $2, he'd have been sunk. Not that Schauf's team didn't have stars elsewhere: Alvin Kamara and Aaron Jones at running back and Davante Adams at wide receiver. Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods rounded out his starting three most weeks.
Dodds' FootballGuys team didn't have an elite quarterback (Wentz and Cousins), but it had a decent one most weeks. Strong running back duo of Derrick Henry and Ronald Jones, and like Allan great depth at wide receiver. Mike Evans, Amari Cooper, A.J. Brown, Corey Davis and Tee Higgins all worked out.
The teams that struggled were generally hit hard by injuries and unexpected opt-outs. Sam Hendricks lost Damien Williams and Derrius Guice before the season even started, Marlon Mack early on, and Austin Ekeler to injury; LeVeon Bell went from a starter for the Jets to a backup with Kansas City. Tough to win with no running backs. David Dorey lost Odell Beckham and Zach Ertz to injury, and watched fortunes change for veteran running backs like Leonard Fournette and Mark Ingram.
Final standings are below. Full rosters can be seen in our preseason annual.
| EXPERTS AUCTION LEAGUE FINAL STANDINGS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | T |
| Fantasy Football Index | 132 | 44 | 0 |
| Draft Sharks | 112 | 62 | 2 |
| FootballGuys | 110 | 63 | 3 |
| YouRulz.com | 105 | 70 | 1 |
| Perfect Season Fantasy Football | 99 | 74 | 3 |
| Big Guy Fantasy Sports | 93 | 81 | 2 |
| RotoWire | 85 | 91 | 0 |
| Yahoo! Sports | 75 | 97 | 4 |
| FantasyData | 63 | 111 | 2 |
| Fantasy Index Blackout | 62 | 112 | 2 |
| Extra Point Press | 62 | 113 | 1 |
| The Huddle | 47 | 127 | 2 |
--Andy Richardson