Fantasy Football Dynasty 101: Transitioning from Redraft to the One True Format

The Ten Dynasty Draft Commandments

• Thou Shalt Draft BPA (Best Player Available). While it is tempting to draft to fill positional needs, it is wiser to simply always draft the best player on the board. A savvy dynasty manager can take that value and use the trade market to turn it into the players they need to win (and considering your impeccable choice in research materials, that savvy manager is you).


• Thou Shalt Pick a Winning Window. Once your team is drafted, take a look at your core players and identify a rough time period in which their projected primes line up. This is your “winning window”, and from that point on all roster moves should be evaluated based on whether they will make your team better during that period. If BPA panned out so that player ages on your squad don’t line up favorably, you may have to be fairly active in the trade market to create a window for yourself. To be clear, though, under no circumstances should a winning window interfere with drafting BPA.


• Thou Shalt Not Project More Than Three Years Ahead. While it may seem like a foregone conclusion that someone like Mike Evans or Ezekiel Elliott will still be an elite asset in four years, the dependence of any given player on the eleven guys around them (as well as the sheer violence of the game of football) makes projecting that far into the future a fool’s errand. I personally project three years down the road at the absolute most, and limit it to two whenever possible. Just think of it like a modern marriage (although a fantasy football team is generally more reliable and Gronk would definitely put out more).


• Thou Shalt Buy Low. This advice is most often applied to the trade market after the draft, but it also applies to the draft itself. Players who are coming off of an elite season are always going to cost a premium, but every year there are studs coming off of injuries or down years who can be had at a relative discount. Do your research, decide which ones you believe in, and target them. A few of my personal favorites this year are Russell Wilson, DeAndre Hopkins, and Lamar Miller.


• Thou Shalt Know Thy League Rules. Dynasty leagues often have more esoteric rules than redraft leagues, and small changes to scoring can have major repercussions. Even the relatively minor adjustments of making passing TDs worth six points or adding points for return yards have major implications for player values, and many dynasty leagues have scoring systems that are far more unique than that. Be absolutely certain that you are intimately familiar with the scoring rules of your league.


• Thou Shalt Know Thy League Trade Market. Fantasy football is a lot like poker- knowing your opponents is almost as important as knowing the game itself. Pay attention during the draft to what positions specific managers seem to value as well as what the league values as a whole (potential/youth as opposed to proven veterans, RBs as opposed to WRs, etc etc). Understanding how your leaguemates perceive value will allow you to make effective use of the trade market and turn your team into a contender.


• Thou Shalt Hold Thy Cards Close to the Vest. This is related to my sixth commandment- while you are reading your leaguemates for preferences and tendencies, the smarter ones are doing the same to you. Don’t make public knowledge of your plans or strategies or the players you covet, as all of these can be used against you.


• Thou Shalt Draft for Talent, Not Situation. To put it simply, situations change and talent does not. I don’t necessarily mean just physical gifts or pedigree either- the history of the NFL is littered with physically gifted freaks and high draft picks who didn’t pan out, as well as average athletes who dominated for years. I define talent as the ability to produce at a high level in the NFL when all else is equal, and you should be drafting players who have given you reason to believe they have that innate ability (rather than players who are in a good but ultimately temporary situation).


• Thou Shalt Do Thy Research. Dynasty rosters are typically a lot deeper than redraft rosters, which means that your startup draft will likely have more rounds than you are used to. Most new dynasty players simply make their later picks based on ADP, but in doing so they are giving up the opportunity to pick their own sleepers. Championships are won in the later rounds, and knowing players outside of the top 120 makes you better able to take advantage of the rounds that other managers foolishly ignore.


• Thou Shalt Not Get Cute. This commandment applies to redrafts as well as startup drafts, but the consequences in the latter are more severe. It’s extremely easy to see a player you like and worry that they’ll be picked before it comes back around to you, then decide to ease your mind and get a little endorphin rush by taking them a few rounds earlier than necessary. Best case scenario, the player outperforms their draft stock and you got them for market value. Worst case scenario, you wasted a perfectly good pick due to poor impulse control and the loss of value haunts your team for years. Take it from someone who’s made this mistake before- don’t get cute with it.