Dominate Your Fantasy Football Auction/Salary Cap Leagues

As the hobby of Fantasy Football gains popularity we're starting to see more and more variations on league rules and structures. These changes coincide with the improved software flexibility that league manager sites and software that are now able to easily handle. The current software and league managers have made even the most complex leagues and scoring systems easy to setup and maintain. This has allowed salary cap leagues to become very popular. In your typical salary cap league you're basically running your Fantasy team with the same amount of details that a real NFL front office would operate. There are contracts to negotiate, rookie drafts and some leagues even have ALL positions.

If you've never played in a salary cap league before with contracts it would be a good idea to first be somewhat familiar with Fantasy Football before diving into a league of this nature. The learning curve can be a little intense for someone who has very little fantasy football experience and these leagues are more for people looking for a new challenge with their Fantasy Football hobby.

The first thing you must realize when entering a salary cap league is your mistakes tend to stick with you longer. You must spend your money wisely and it's best to have a solid plan in place and be well prepared.

Build your team to win NOW! While this may sound obvious most owners become enamored with the idea of building a young franchise and trying to develop it over 2 years to end up with a dynasty that dominates the league for a decade after a slow start in year 1. This plan NEVER works. Too many things change so whenever possible, build for the moment. That's not to say you shouldn't trade or make deals that give you future draft picks, but select your players in your initial draft that will give you the best chance to win your league NOW.

Your initial draft will have many very talented older players falling way too far. It will also have a ton of young, unproven players being taken way too early. A smartly planned draft can take advantage of these mistakes and set the table for a team to come out with a dominating squad from Day 1.

Here is why building a team to win NOW and taking advantage of older "value" players who fall too far due to their age can help you win now and in the long-term. Lets say Brett Favre falls out of the first 20 QB's in your draft. At this point, a perennial Top 10 QB becomes a huge immediate value. By selecting Brett Favre you get a quality QB fairly cheap. If he retires in a year you will subsequently get that extra money to spend on free agents next year. It's all about balancing production and cap money. Many players in Salary Cap leagues over-manage their team. They spend too much on the future. This is a double-edged sword. They pay a lot of money to try and land the next big thing. This in turn handcuffs themselves long-term with big contracts while at the same time limiting their ability to trade and be active in free agency the following year.

Like most fantasy leagues the running back position is still paramount in salary cap leagues. This position will be heavily scavenged on draft day but a smart player will have a few backups on his squad as well. RB injuries happen every season. Go out and grab the backups to guys who play in great systems. Get them for a year or two at league minimum. One injury and you've hit paydirt for next to no cash off your payroll.