Intro
When the opportunity arose to participate in a new salary cap league hosted by Reality Sports Online (www.realitysportsonline.com) with a group of my fellow DLF writers, it was an opportunity I had to seize immediately. The buzz about RSO has been growing quite a bit in the last couple of years so even though I already manage more dynasty teams than I should (who doesn’t?), this was my first real chance to experience their unique platform, particularly their proprietary auction software. After volunteering to commission the league with RSO President Matt Papson, we were able to fill the league very quickly with DLF writers.
Over the course of the Summer and during the NFL season, each writer will document their personal experience with RSO, highlighting their individual strategies and their thoughts about the league and site in general. Whether you currently participate in an RSO league or not, it would be highly advisable to follow along with this series as we document it. If you’re interested in creating your own RSO league (you should be), you can use the Promo Code “DLF10” to receive a 10% discount.
League Format
The DLF Writers League on RSO is a 16 team league with four divisions of four teams each. Six teams will make the league playoffs with the top two seeds receiving first-round byes. Each team may have up to 25 players on their active roster and an additional two players on injured reserve during the season. The rosters are comprised of offense only with no kickers. The starting lineups are comprised of one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, and two flex (RB/WR/TE) spots. The scoring system is standard PPR with five points for each passing touchdown.
During the startup auction process (which we are currently about halfway through), each owner may assign two 4-year contracts, three 3-year contracts, and four 2-year contracts to veteran players. All other players won in the auction process are given 1-year contracts.
League Participants
The 16 owners, with their Twitter handles, are as follows:
- Jeff Beran – @FFJeffB
- Dan Meylor – @dmeylor22
- Nathan Powell – @NPowellFF
- Jacob Feldman – @feldmanjacob
- Eric Hardter – @EDH_27
- Jeff Miller – @FFJeffM
- George Kritikos – @Rotohack
- Zach Bahner – @BahnerFFett
- Jarrett Behar – @EyeoftheGator
- Doug Green – @7RoundsInApril
- Jaron Foster – @jlfoster10
- Russell Clay – @RussellJClay
- The FF Ghost – @TheFFGhost
- Kyle Pollock – @KylePollockFF
- Brian Malone – @julesdynasty
- Ryan McDowell – @RyanMc23
To keep track of our startup auction and our league experience in general, you should give everyone on this list a follow on Twitter. Another great follow is the RSO Twitter account, which can be found @RealitySportsOn.
Strategy
Not only is this my first experience with Reality Sports Online, it’s also my first time participating in a 16-team league. With 15 other experienced dynasty owners in the league, I decided to be aggressive in the startup auction and try to anchor my team with a stud player at each position. So far, here is how my team has taken shape:
QB – Peyton Manning (1 year, $18.5M)
RB – LeSean McCoy (2 years, $44.5M), Joseph Randle (2 years, $12M), Darren McFadden (1 year, $4M)
WR – Dez Bryant (4 years, $93M), Emmanuel Sanders (2 years, $24M), Devin Funchess (4 years, $31M)
TE – Jimmy Graham (1 year, $23M)
[inlinead]In case you’re wondering why my team is only partially constructed, the reason is we decided to split up the startup auction into a series of mini auctions which will be completed in the next few weeks. Thus far, I have been able to accomplish my goal of having a stud at each position with Manning, McCoy, Bryant and Graham as anchors. I may have overspent on Manning and Graham but the 1-year contracts should give me plenty of options in the off-season if my strategy crashes and burns. I feel great about the Emmanuel Sanders contract as he should produce at or near WR1 levels for a low-end WR2 price tag. The Joseph Randle and Darren McFadden contracts could end up costing my team a chance in the playoffs, though. If one of them doesn’t end up winning the starting job for Dallas, it will be a significant waste of money. The Devin Funchess contract was more expensive than I was hoping but I have a big man-crush on him so I was willing to overspend a bit.
Overall, I’m happy with the direction of my team but these next few mini-auctions will be critical for my team as I’ll need to find productive players to fill in the gaps. With only about 16% of my total salary cap budget left to spend, I’ll have very little room for error so impromptu bidding wars and price enforcing is strictly out of the question for me from this point forward. It will be very difficult to avoid bidding wars because of the addictive exhilaration created by the RSO auction software. The best thing I can do for the health of my franchise now is to patiently wait to identify value on the auction board and take advantage of it wherever possible.
That pretty much sums up the basics of the league itself and sheds a little light upon my personal strategy. Be sure to follow along all Summer and during the NFL season as we document our experience with RSO. Again, if you’re interested in creating your own RSO league, please use the Promo Code “DLF10” when you sign up to receive a 10% discount.
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I also completely my first RSO draft this past Saturday and I have to say the whole league is just buzzing about it.
After reading your article I really feel like I got steals at QB especially considering it is a superflex. Rodgers 132M/4 & Bridgewater 44.5/3. Okay I probably overpaid for Bridgewater, but I really wanted him and think the contract will be a fair price in the end.
I was just surprised to see Peyton to go for nearly 19M in both leagues and that you were able to get Graham on a one year deal.
Look forward to more of these articles!
Wow, for a superflex, those seem like amazing deals, especially Bridgewater. I think Peyton will still be a top 5 QB this year so I was willing to pay a little extra rather than pay the same price for 2 streamable QBs.
Considering an RSO startup and would likely go 16 teams as well. Was snooping around over there and saw your tweet Jeff.
Can you talk about the “mini auction” format? Is that easy to accomplish with RSOs software (just Pause)? Is there a link to the league on RSO to take a look at how others have applied their strategies? Great idea!
DW,
The mini-auction was very easy to accomplish with the pause button. It’s not necessarily the best way to do it as I think getting the whole auction done in one sitting is ideal but the mini auction format worked for us.
Here is the link: http://www.realitysportsonline.com/LeagueHomeDeluxe.aspx?refid=FC6-6630A754215C
Just joined RSO this year in a 16 team dynasty startup and I can’t wait to get started. I am a little worried about the initial draft with 30 roster spots for 16 teams we could go 8 hours if we avg a minute per player drafted in the bid process. It will probably be less but I too was wondering about the ability to split up the initial draft into smaller segments. If you have any insight into how you did this would love to hear about it. Btw, so far your roster looks great forma 16 team league, what happens if you run out of cap room before you fill your entire roster? Can that actually happen?
Just like in a regular auction league it makes you keep the min amount for each roster spot you have open. Min contract is $500,000.
As Krcil stated, the software won’t let you break the salary cap. From a commissioner’s perspective, this is a huge plus as I don’t have to worry if people are paying attention to their cap while they’re bidding. As far as breaking it up into smaller segments, there is a “pause” button for the commissioner to utilize that just freezes the auction wherever it is. For 16 teams and 30 players per roster, it’s probably better to split it into 2 auctions. With our 25 player rosters, it took about 6-6.5 hours total to complete the auction so that should give you a good point of reference.
