Wide Receiver Strategy in Salary Cap Leagues

The great thing about salary cap leagues is that you can take your team in any direction you want. Your strategy options are completely wide open.

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Our Footballguys staff recently sat down to discuss their favored options at wide receiver when playing in a salary cap league.

• $200 cap
• 12 teams
• Full PPR
• Starting Lineup
  • 1 QB
  • 2 RBs
  • 3 WRs
  • 1 TE
  • 1 flex (RB, WR, TE)

How do you approach the wide receiver position in a salary cap draft? Feel free to discuss price enforcement and budget allocation.

Thoughts from Jason Wood

In a league that starts three receivers plus a flex, it's imperative that you prioritize the wide receiver position. While the position has depth, you cannot win consistently this year without elite options.

I'm looking to come away with at least one of my top 8 receivers (I see a tier break there), three top-25 options, and four top-30 options.

My plan is to nominate one of the receivers I most covet early (ideally, in the first round of bidding) and spend up to my max price. If that doesn't work, I'll aggressively bid and price-enforce on everyone in my top 8 until I land one of them.

If bidding is excessive, and I somehow miss out on all eight players, then I'll adjust my budget accordingly and be willing to go $2 or $3 over value for the aforementioned three top-30 choices. 

Thoughts from Andy Hicks

This is a position you have to succeed at to win in salary cap leagues. Ideally, you want one elite option and three or four others inside your top 30 receivers. More if you budget well. Overpaying is okay if you love a guy, but you need to also respect the rest of your roster. There is no point getting CeeDee Lamb and Ja'Marr Chase if you end up starting Pat Freiermuth at tight end and Derek Carr at quarterback.

I am looking to spend 80% of my budget on wide receivers and running backs. The balance depends on whether an elite running back like Christian McCaffrey ruins your budgeting.

The key is getting your elite option at wide receiver and a couple of your top 30 receivers for $5-6 maximum each. If my seven or eight wide receivers cost about 40% of my budget, I have done well.

Thoughts from Drew Davenport

In the last couple of years, salary cap rooms have continued the trend of pouring more and more money into wide receivers. This has caused me to question whether I should be taking a different tactic.

But I've concluded that wide receiver is still where I want to spend most of my money, and it's not uncommon for me to spend roughly $120 on them. It's easier than ever to find value at running back, so I want to leave my salary cap draft with not only an elite wide receiver or two but also at least five wide receivers I feel comfortable starting. If I'm getting good enough value, I might even stretch that to six before I'm done.

This allows me to miss on somebody or suffer an injury and still feel like I can field three or four strong receivers. Wide receiver is also the only position group where I'll actively chase the top couple of guys, and it's imperative that I leave every draft this year with one of Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Tyreek Hill, CeeDee Lamb, AJ Brown, or Amon-Ra St. Brown.

There is once again a massive group of receivers from about WR8 down through approximately WR35, and I'm trying to land at least three more from that group. All of those guys have a red flag somewhere in their profile, but most of them also have the potential for big spike weeks, along with the ability to finish the year inside the Top 12 at the position.

After I've secured those five to six from the Top 35, I will round out the corps by taking one or two $1-$5 flyers. The theme here is giving myself as many chances to hit on wide receiver as possible.

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