Hello, and welcome to my trade catalog. In this piece, I will review some trades I have made in the last month or so in my leagues. I will explain my thoughts on making the trade, the league setting, and the state of my team. I hope this will help you learn some suitable structures for trading and what type of assets I am trading for or away, whether I am tanking or contending. Let’s get right to the first trade.
9/21/2023 – 12 Team league, Superflex, start two TE, TE Premium, PPR Dynasty League
Gave Away: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Elijah Moore, 2024 2nd
Received: Travis Kelce
Team: Strong Contender
In this league, I started hot with a bunch of early wins. I also had a TE in Pitts who was performing below expectation, as well as backup TEs who were unable to provide anything of relevance in my TE2 slot in Chig Okonkwo and Greg Dulcich. WR was also a position of strength for this team, so I took some assets that weren’t producing but held solid Dynasty value and turned them into the single best asset money can buy to contend at the TE position. I do not miss these WRs one bit, and Kelce has been great. I feel good about this one.
9/24/2023 – Same League as above.
Gave Away: Jerome Ford, 2024 4th
Received: 2026 2nd
Team: Strong Contender
I wanted to call this trade out for a few reasons. The first is that even though I am contending, I will still gladly sell a productive asset for picks if I think there is good value to be had. Jerome Ford for a 2nd is that value. I will always look to trade a spot-starter RB for a 2nd in every league, in any format. Even in the short month and a half since making this deal, I have gained value. According to fantasycalc.com, at the time of the trade, it was against my favor by 23 points, but four weeks later, it swung to 36 points of value in my favor. And today, it is up to 136 for me. This will only grow as we get closer to the pick being used and as Ford returns to the bench. Always make these deals.
10/05/2023 – 14 teams, Superflex, PPR Dynasty League
Gave Away: Quentin Johnston, 2024 1st
Received: Tyreek Hill
Team: Middle of the pack
This trade is looking especially good right now, but I loved it when it occurred as well. I had a team that was 7th in points for and ranked 6th in the league. In Dynasty, we never want to be in the middle. So, I had two choices. The first is to sell my productive assets that are making me mid to drop in the rankings to get a better pick and shoot for next year. The other option was to bolster my lineup and make a push for this season. I tried selling assets for picks earlier in the year but couldn’t get a good deal done. I noticed there were a lot of pretty uncompetitive teams, so I should have a solid chance to make the playoffs if I go that way. So I started talking to the lower-ranked teams with competitive pieces, and I got a deal done for Tyreek. I am now 6-3 and fighting for a bye, and it is in large part thanks to this trade.
10/5/2023 – 12 teams, Start 3 RB, PPR, Empire League
Gave Away: My 2025 1st and 2024 2nd
Received: Keenan Allen
Team: Strong Contender
Brief intro to Empire Leagues if you are not familiar. An Empire League is a form of Dynasty where everything is the same as a traditional Dynasty league, except the pot is not paid out every year. The buy-ins from each season accumulate until one person wins the league twice. That person then gets all of the money, and the league resets with a new startup draft. I was a strong contender in this league, but I wanted to see if I could find some value in a productive veteran to help ensure I get the bye. I started at the 12 seed, checked their team, and worked my way up the standings, sending offers for any stud producers. This deal ended up getting done for Keenan Allen, who has greatly helped me this year.
10/5/2023 – Same league as Keenan trade above.
Gave Away: AJ Dillon, Jaleel McLaughlin, My 2025 2nd
Received: D’Andre Swift
Team: Strong Contender
In this deal, I am looking to bolster my RB position with startable pieces, as they are hard to come by in a start-three format. Dillon was consistently riding my bench, McLaughlin had just started getting some hype, and my ’25 2nd wasn’t helping me score points. So, I turned three assets that aren’t currently helping me into something that can be useful and make a difference in my starting lineup. I think Swift is pretty easily a top-15 RB for the rest of the season, and I was thrilled to pay this price for him in a start-three RB league. When contending, you need to be careful and not ship off too much depth or future value, but when you can, it should be used to make a legitimate difference in your starting lineup and scoring potential.
10/5/2023 – 12 Team league, Superflex, start two TE, TE Premium, PPR Dynasty League
Gave Away: Tank Dell, Treylon Burks, my 2024 1st
Received Davante Adams
Team: Contender
This is another trade in which I am selling a position I have depth in to upgrade my starting lineup. I have a lot of functional depth in this league, and I wanted to pick up a stud WR for my starting lineup. At the time, Adams was still producing at a great rate, but that has certainly fallen short in recent weeks. This is one I may end up regretting, as Tank Dell is currently looking excellent. But Burks has gone to basically zero, and my 1st should be late, so we will see if it works out for me.
10/8/2023 – 12 Team Superflex, PPR Dynasty League
Gave Away: Jaleel McLaughlin
Received: 2024 2nd
Team: Rebuild and Contender
After McLaughlin’s first start, he looked good, and many people thought he might be the guy going forward for the Broncos. I capitalized on this and sent McLaughlin for a 2nd to every owner in every league I had him. I ended up getting two done on the same day, one on a contender and one on a rebuild. It is just like earlier with Ford; if you can ever get a 2nd round pick out of these spot-start RBs, I am doing it every time, no matter the league settings and no matter what the state of my team is.
10/11/2023 – 12 Team Superflex PPR Dynasty League
Gave Away: C.J. Stroud, Mike Evans, 2024 3rd
Received: Anthony Richardson, Josh Downs, my 24 2nd
Team: Tear Down
I went into the season here with lofty expectations, but they sadly came crashing to Earth after I started 1-4. At this point, Anthony Richardson was out for the year, and I was looking to get points off my roster. I think Richardson has the potential to be a top-5 QB in Dynasty, if not higher. His rushing ability is amazing, and his passing ability as a rookie was already good enough to sustain massive fantasy performances and execute an offense for the Colts that could score points and move the ball. Stroud is playing very well, but to me, he will never eclipse Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert. His ceiling outcome is that he joins them in the tier under the rushers. That’s the main section of the deal. The rest was to get old but productive Mike Evans away to help my draft position improve since we use max points to determine draft order.
10/11/2023 – Same league as above
Gave Away: Travis Etienne, Diontae Johnson, Tank Bigsby
Received: My 2024 1st
Team: Tear Down
It is pointless to tank without having your own first-round pick, so I knew I would need to buy that back at some point. I had tried hard to get my first before making a deal that showed my cards to help keep the price down, but even before I made the previous deal, this owner was well aware I was in a bad spot. He knew I was trying to buy my pick back so that I could start to tank. With this pick potentially becoming Caleb Williams or Marvin Harrison Jr, I had to pay up, which is crucial in these trade negotiations. If we think about it, at most ETN will be the Dynasty RB three or four at the end of the year? That would put him about mid to late second in startup drafts. Then Diontae is just a mid-round pick, and Bigsby is always a handcuff unless ETN goes down, so there’s a value tradeoff where you can consider them the same asset. Then we have my pick. If it becomes Caleb Williams, it will be a top-eight startup pick immediately, and I gained a lot of value. If it becomes Marvin Harrison Jr, that will be a mid to early second-round startup pick immediately, with the upside of joining Chase and Jefferson in tier one. So, at first glance, this trade may seem awful for me, but we need to consider the value this pick could hold when making deals. A lot of times in your other leagues, you can almost target the lower teams and try to buy their first for “high prices”, keeping in mind what it can grow into. And you can get good deals this way if the manager does not understand what they truly hold.Â
10/10/2023 – 12 teams, PPR Dynasty League
Gave Away: Garrett Wilson, Quentin Johnston, my 2024 1st, My 2025 2nd
Received: Justin Jefferson
Team: High-Value Contender
I had a spoil of riches in the league. I tanked the startup for the 2021 rookie draft, and I hit on a lot of players. My weekly starting WRs were ARSB, Ja’Marr Chase, Keenan Allen, and Garrett Wilson. I also had a lot of functional depth in guys like Marquise Brown, Gabe Davis, and Elijah Moore. I was also sitting at the third seed with the most points for in the league (we have a rule that the top-five record makes the playoffs, and then the highest-scoring team remaining makes the playoffs, so I am very likely making the playoff already). Jefferson got injured and was on a mid-tier team. I didn’t think this created a discount, but it opened an opportunity to purchase Jefferson. Whereas previously, the door would almost immediately get closed in your face. Wilson wasn’t helping me score since he was catching passes from Zach Wilson this year, and Johnston was looking awful but still held early-second value. And then the picks should be late because my team is solid. Then, in a few weeks, I will start a fearful duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. These two alone could win me many matchups, and I am now pretty set at the position no matter what going forward.Â
That was a review of some trades that I have made so far this year. Take your time to look at them, what I was trying to accomplish, and the structure I used to execute, and hopefully, you can apply it to your leagues! In Dynasty, if you aren’t trading, then you aren’t trying.
Wow, you read all the way through! Thank you, I appreciate you using your time to enjoy my content. If you would like to talk to me about my article or ask me any generic Dynasty or trade questions. You can find me on Twitter @ChrisMiles1017. Shoot me a DM; they are always open. Come join the #DFFArmy, where I provide #Dynasty, #Redraft, and #Analytics content for @DFF_Dynasty. Thank you so much!
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