In my debut piece on the dynasty side of Dynasty Football Factory, I’m going to walk you through what you should be doing now in your dynasty leagues. I’ll split this up into a few parts and possibly even a two-part article if people are interested. Let’s jump right in!
#1: Evaluate Your Current Leagues and Your 2020 Plan
In simple terms, what this means is that before you manage your rosters and conduct trades, you should make sure that you’re committed to the league for the 2020 cycle. There is no shame in leaving a league for any reason. Those reasons can range from being overstretched in too many leagues, to not enjoying the league, to wanting to play leagues at a different level of buy-in, be that lower or higher.
Dynasty leagues thrive on having a full complement of committed owners and having someone in the league that doesn’t want to be there is always bad for the league. Therefore, if you’re not sure if you’re going to continue in the league, avoid making any trades or big moves until you’ve made that decision. It’s only fair to the new owner that may take over to allow them the benefit of making their own choices with the roster.
#2: Evaluate Your Roster
Once you’ve committed to the league for 2020, the next step to take is to evaluate your roster. Don’t compare it to other teams just yet but focus on what you have as a dynasty team. The first way to do that is to look at your 2019 season results in depth. Look past just your record because that can be misleading. Examine where you ranked in total points and your all-play record if that’s easily accessible.
After looking at how your team performed, take a closer look at the roster you have. If it’s a superflex league, look at the quarterback position first, because that will likely drive your strategy. If it’s a 1QB league, then running back and wide receiver depth is critical.
Then, take a look at your draft capital. With the strength of the 2020 draft class, what and how many picks you have is more important than ever. The primary step here is to evaluate your team holistically and see if you think it is a good or a bad team and what you need to do.
Some might say that you should figure out whether you have a rebuilding or contending team instead, but I find that it’s easier to think about concrete facts like how you performed in 2019 and then try to figure out the next steps based on that.
#3: What to Do with a “Bad Team”
If your team performed poorly in 2019, the main thing you have to ask yourself is why? There are typically three types of underperforming teams.
The first is a team that was derailed by injuries. If your team was expected to be a contender going into 2019 but was hurt by injuries, you probably shouldn’t overreact and contemplate making considerable changes to your squad. Injured players often have depressed values until later in the offseason, so hang on and be patient. Their value will rebound, and you can make moves later on to bolster your team. Injury-plagued teams that performed poorly are often not rebuilds but are simply contending rosters that got unlucky.
The second type of poorly performing team is what I will call a young or developing team. Perhaps this team picked a bunch of rookie wide receivers in the 2019 startup draft, and those players gained dynasty value but didn’t score a lot of fantasy points. Therefore, the fantasy team performed poorly, but the roster is well stocked. In these cases, my best advice would be to consider if the current roster is suited for a 2020 run. If so, consider what cheap or undervalued veterans might be available from your league-mates. This time of year is often when those types of players have the least value, so it’s an excellent time to add them to your roster. However, the most significant piece of advice is patience. Young or developing players tend to mature in value throughout the offseason, so selling them now is often a bad strategy. I know trading is fun, but sometimes patience is the correct long-term move.
The last type of bad team is the dumpster fire. This team often performed poorly in 2019 but also has little or no draft picks and few young assets. These teams require the most immediate attention and often are multi-year projects. If your team is full of veterans but still didn’t manage success in 2019, then you will likely have to tear everything down. However, like the other situations, there is still an order in which to rebuild your team.
The best first step with a dumpster fire team is to identify some core building blocks that will hold their value through at least the start of the 2021 season when competing might be possible. In dynasty formats, that is almost always wide receivers age 25 or younger, although I could see including a couple running backs on that list like McCaffrey and Barkley. Some of my favorite core building blocks include D.J. Moore, Courtland Sutton, A.J. Brown, Chris Godwin, and Juju Smith-Schuster. In Superflex formats, high-end quarterbacks under 30 are also solid building blocks, with Patrick Mahomes, of course, being the prime example.
Once you have identified the building blocks on your current roster, then you should focus on gaining value wherever you can. The best method of gaining value right now is probably to target 2021 draft capital. While everyone is focused on the 2020 draft, people might be more willing to give up 2021 picks for some of your unwanted players. This strategy can help you rebuild and have more capital to improve your team further down the road. Draft picks generally increase in value over time, so those 2021 picks will gain value each day we move closer to the 2021 rookie season.
Overall, no matter how bad the team, it can be turned around, and there is always a path to become a contender. Just don’t give up, keep grinding, and you’ll get there.
#4: What to Do with a “Good Team”
If you’re reading this section, that means you decided that your team performed well in 2019. Similar to the poor performance section, there are three main types of high-performing teams in 2020. The first is the “lucky” team or a paper tiger. This type of team was strong in 2019, but it was mostly due to a lot of lucky breaks. If you have a team that performed well but doesn’t have a lot of dynasty value, you need to consider how to improve your team. The main point here is that at this point, 2019’s results no longer matter in terms of 2020 outlook. You need to evaluate how your team will perform in 2020 and make changes accordingly.
The next type of high-performing team is the veteran-dominated team. These teams will have a lot of Julio Jones or Julian Edelman type players and will likely be on the precipice of a decline. The big decision point with this kind of team is whether it can compete again in 2020 or whether it needs to be blown up. If you judge that your team is capable of competing, then I would advise selling your 2020 picks for proven players. Don’t do that now, as 2020 picks will only gain value up until the rookie draft. However, it’s essential to think about which veterans you may want to acquire, so you’re prepared come rookie draft time. If your team needs to be blown up, then I would try to sell some of those veterans for 2020 draft capital, if possible. Now is the right time to buy 2020 picks before their value is maximized. If your team needs a significant overhaul, pivoting to the 2021 class is always an option, as those picks are incredibly undervalued right now.
The last type is the juggernaut. These teams often dominated the 2019 season and have multiple stud-type players. They also are often loaded with depth and are well-balanced rosters. There are two key points to remember with such a team. First, don’t make any extreme moves unless you’re sure it makes sense. I’ve seen many trade-happy owners destroy monster teams just from a desire to make trades. Trading is a lot of fun, but it needs to be done smartly. Second, stay active. Even if you won a title in 2019, there is no time to rest on your laurels. Look over your roster and see where you can improve it. I guarantee that each of your league-mates is finding a way right now to try and take you down, so if you’re not working as well, you’ll be falling behind.
Thanks for reading this article. You can find me on Twitter at @DFF_Justin. I’d love to interact with anyone in the community, so reach out anytime. I’ve been taking fantasy questions lately and trying to help out with all formats, so keep sending those questions my way.
