How To Win Your Auction Draft This Season (Episode 1009 with Adam Levitan and NFFC Hall of Famer Chris Eibl)

**Adam Levitan** (0:15)
Hello, and welcome to Episode 1009 of the official establishtherun.com Podcast. My name is Adam Levitan. I am one of the co-founders here at ETR. And with drafting season nearly upon us, it is time to discuss the purest form of fantasy football drafting, the auction draft.
For this, we are joined by old friend of the show, one of the sharpest auction players I've met. He's in the NFFC Hall of Fame. I can't believe there's an NFFC Hall of Fame, but there is and he's in it. Has insane results in auctions that has led him to third on the money list there. It is the one and only Chris Eibl from the high stakes streets. Chris, how's it going today?

**Chris Eibl** (0:57)
I'm doing great. Just like I said, I just got back from a family vacation in Maine and gearing up for the usual trips to New York and Vegas for some high stakes auctions.

**Adam Levitan** (1:06)
Very exciting stuff. On today's show, we are going to discuss all things auction drafts 2026 Strategy adjustments, this year's auction landscape, best auction practices for this year and lots more. I just also want to say huge thanks to Chris for doing this. He's playing big, but he still comes on here each year and tries to help out his fellow auction bros. So always appreciate the time and candor from Chris. Before we get into it here today, reminder that if you have a fantasy football draft coming up, we can help. Our NFL early bird bundle product is now live. That price is up for a limited time. It combines Draft Kit Pro with our in-season product. Draft Kit Pro, of course, includes all of our auction values.
Auction strategy and sheet players to target. And then in-season, we will have Thorman's rankings and tons of other season long content as well. So for more details on the early bird bundle or just Draft Kit Pro, head to the subscribe tab on establishtherun.com.
All right, Chris, I want to talk about the landscape first here in 2026, because I think we've seen some important changes. In Snake Drafts, the thirst for running back, once we get past the first three wide receivers, is absolutely out of control. In Snake Drafts, I'm expecting 12 of the first 20 picks this year to be running backs. What do you think that means for the auction streets this year?

**Chris Eibl** (2:41)
So I always want to pivot against trends, whether it's running back thirst or any other position. So doing the same thing as everyone else doesn't give you any type of edge. So if everyone else is panicking about running backs, that just means discounts at other positions. So I'm seeing really good opportunities to stack your wide receiver three spot this year with like Devonta Smith, Zay Flowers. And I've always been comfortable, especially in these standalone leagues where you're not trying to compete with a large field, rostering guys like Montgomery, Bucky Irving, Javante Williams, just guys who can get you by at that running back position. So yeah, the punchline is like, you don't win auctions by overpaying for the same position everyone else is changing.
Excuse me.

**Adam Levitan** (3:22)
Yeah. Do you think that these first running backs are bloated in price? I like a lot of these guys, Jonathan Taylor, Kenneth Walker, James Cook, Chase Brown. I could poke some holes in HN and Martin Hampton, certainly. But I guess coming into it, my thought wasn't that they're overvalued necessarily. They're just expensive. It sounds like maybe you think they're also overvalued.

**Chris Eibl** (3:47)
It's not so much that they're overvalued. I've just always found it easier to construct a team wide receiver first because it allows you to use your waiver wire ability to pick up running backs as guys get hurt. So that's always just been an easier approach for me more so than anything's wrong with the guys you mentioned.

**Adam Levitan** (4:06)
Yeah. Okay. That makes a lot of sense.

**Chris Eibl** (4:07)
Yeah.

**Adam Levitan** (4:07)
And that's like the auction specific strategy that I think is important to think through when you're playing auctions. You know, most auction players, most successful auction players employ a stars and scrub strategy.
If you are passing on some of these expensive running backs and going for maybe undervalued stuff, Zay Flowers, Devonta Smith, you mentioned might be cheaper than they should, which I think is certainly possible as well. Are you still into stars and scrubs based on this year's landscape?

**Chris Eibl** (4:39)
Yeah. So I would still go stars and scrubs. I still think especially in 10 or 12 team formats, that that's the preferred way to go because you're really allowing yourself to get all your money into your starting lineup, and then that prevents you from making mistakes down the line, like having too much money left on the table at the end.