Updated July 2026

FAAB Calculator — How Much Should You Bid?

Blind bidding without a framework is just guessing with extra steps. Type the player's name and we'll give you a number.

Search for a player above to get a bid.

How the calculator thinks

Type a name and the suggestion comes back as a percentage of your remaining budget, built from live signals instead of a guess at which bucket a player belongs in — the same signals that make someone good at auction drafts in the first place:

  • Sleeper add-trends set the floor. How many leagues across the platform have added this player in the last 24 hours — the closest thing to real-time market data on a waiver pickup.
  • Our alert wire flags breaking news. A high-severity story about the player in the last 72 hours — an injury, a role change — pushes the bid up. Quiet players get no boost here.
  • Expert tiers separate a stash from a starter.If the player already carries a Boris Chen tier grade, he's not speculative — he's startable, and the bid reflects that. (Same tiering logic drives our draft tier board and draft strategy.)
  • The calendar melts your money. FAAB expires worthless, so the same player is worth a bigger share of your budget in Week 12 than Week 2. The calculator scales bids up as the season shortens.

Treat the range as brackets, not gospel: your league's history matters (some rooms chronically overbid running backs), and exact round numbers like $20 lose ties to $21 — sharp leagues bid odd numbers.

Frequently asked questions

What percentage of FAAB should I spend on one player?

For a genuine league-winning pickup — an every-down role opening for the rest of the season — 40–75% of your remaining budget is standard in competitive leagues. For ordinary weekly starters, 15–35%. If you find yourself bidding 50% on someone you wouldn't start next week, close the app and sleep on it.

Why does the calculator suggest more later in the season?

FAAB dollars expire when the season ends, so their real value falls every week. A $30 bid in Week 13 costs you fewer future opportunities than the same bid in Week 2 — the calculator prices that in.

Where does the bid number actually come from?

Live add-trend data from Sleeper (how fast the hive mind is moving on this player), our own alert wire for breaking news in the last 72 hours, expert consensus tiers for whether he's already startable, and the week of the season. Search the player's name and the calculator blends all four.