Cheap Players to Target in Auction Drafts

Snake drafts remain the most popular form of fantasy football, but auction is a fantastic alternative for those who want a more strategic distribution of players for their leagues. Our auction values succinctly summarize how much we think each player is worth, but we still have our favorites within each price range. Today, we’ll identify some cheap players ($1 or $2 in our auction values) we think have legitimate upside.

TIER 1

Josh Downs (WR, Indianapolis) – Downs has always been an effective target earner (0.25 targets per route run in 2025, 0.30 in 2024) but has been pigeonholed into a slot-only role thus far in his pro career. With Michael Pittman Jr. gone, the Colts may opt to keep Downs’ snaps limited, but that would mean playing Ashton Dulin or Nick Westbrook-Ikhine full-time on the outside. Basically, there’s some chance Downs earns himself a legit full-time workload during the season, and the volume ceiling is tantalizing in those scenarios.

Makai Lemon (WR, Philadelphia) – Lemon may go for more than $2 in most auction drafts, but if you can get him at this price point, he makes a ton of sense as a cheap upside play. Lemon won the Biletnikoff Award for college football’s best wide receiver last season, but he finds himself in a low-volume Eagles passing offense. Still, he’s a fascinating talent who mostly played in the slot in college but actually had superior efficiency metrics outside, and Philadelphia has plenty of vacated targets with A.J. Brown now in New England.

Kyle Monangai (RB, Chicago) – Monangai forced his way into a 60/40 split with D’Andre Swift last season and flashed immense contingent upside when he totaled a whopping 26 carries and five targets in one game sans Swift. The Bears’ offense is ascending, and Caleb Williams should take another step forward in Year 2 of the Ben Johnson regime. Monangai will have some viable weeks even as the RB2, but the contingent upside at this price point is too good to pass up.