Around this time each season, the dynasty community seems to grow a little bit bigger. There is a resurgence of enquiring social media posts along the lines of “Has anyone played dynasty fantasy football? It looks really fun but I’m not sure where or how to begin”. Every time I see one of these, I get excited. So excited in fact I have decided to write an article, for you – the enquiring mind. Here at Dynasty Football Factory, we want to ensure that all levels of dynasty players are catered for – from the beginner who has never been in a league, to the most seasoned of players.
This article isn’t a “strategy guide” per se. Its purpose is to help you understand how a dynasty league works and explain some of the jargon, so that when you join one it doesn’t feel as overwhelming – especially if you are playing with a range of experience levels.
What is a Dynasty League?
First and foremost, it is not a “keeper league”. It may sound semantical, but a keeper league is a hybrid between your typical season-long redraft league and dynasty. You may choose to keep a designated number of players and then the league is redrafted from scratch again, less the players that have been kept by the different owners in the league.
In a dynasty league, you typically keep all your players year to year, less any roster cuts you make to accommodate your incoming rookies. In the offseason, there is a rookie draft, where teams use rookie picks to select incoming rookies. The order of this draft is determined based on criteria set out by the league commissioner, but typically the order is set with the “worst” team picking first and the league champion from the year before picking first. These picks can be traded between owners before, during, and after the season, with some leagues allowing these picks to be acquired years in advance.
Where to Begin?
First and foremost, you need to find a league. You can either join a new start-up draft, take over an orphan team, or join a dispersal. That’s a lot of jargon, but they are just different entry points to playing dynasty.
A start-up draft is the genesis of most dynasty leagues. Some will use an auction format, but 99% of beginner players will join a start-up draft as they are familiar with the idea of snake drafts. Draft order is chosen (more on that later), and the teams are drafted.
Unfortunately, owners leave leagues. As much as you hope when you start that all twelve founding members will be there in five years’ time, it just doesn’t happen very often. When one of these teams becomes available, it is known as an orphan and a new owner can assume control. Sometimes, the departing owner may forfeit future fees paid and so taking over an orphan can be a cost-effective way to get into the dynasty game.
A dispersal draft happens when multiple owners leave a league. When this happens, new owners are found but instead of allocating them to existing teams, all the assets on the old teams (players and rookie picks) are thrown into a pool and the incoming owners have a mini snake draft known as a dispersal. Some commissioners will offer remaining owners the opportunity to throw their team into the dispersal and start again!
League Settings
Having a good dynasty experience depends on many things, but the league settings and rules that the commissioner chooses to use are certainly important factors to the long-term enjoyability and sustainability of the league. Of course, these are just one man’s opinion, but if you are looking to join a league, or want to set up one of your own then be on the lookout for these settings and features:
Non Negotiable
These features are the minimum requirement for a league I would want to join. They aren’t overly complicated, but in my experience, these will give you the best dynasty experience possible – even if it’s your first time.
A minimum of 12 teams: This is my personal preference, but if you can only find a 10-team league or nine other people to play with, make sure the rosters are adjusted accordingly by adding two extra FLEX spots.
Deep rosters: A good dynasty league should have deep starting rosters and even deeper benches. A good rule of thumb is to have your bench at least twice the size of your starting roster. 10 starting roster spots? You should have at least 20 bench spots (plus any IR and taxi spots).
Injured Reserve (“IR”) Spots: Hand in hand with deep rosters is the necessity of multiple IR spots. Owners should not be penalized for their players getting injured and having to drop players they are stashing. All good league platforms will allow you to choose the minimum level of injury designation so that players who are ‘OUT’ for one or two weeks can’t be stashed on the IR, but overall any player with a long term injury should be safely nestled away on IR until they are healthy again. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Free Agent Acquisition Budget (“FAAB”): Traditional rolling waivers do not give all owners an equal shot at any players on the waiver wire. Having FAAB gives everyone a shot to bid on the players they want each week. FAAB can also be another tradeable asset to help you get any deals across the line.
Separate start-up and rookie draft: This is important if you are having your start-up draft before the NFL draft. As we don’t know where rookies will land, most leagues will have a separate rookie draft a few months after the start-up draft. Instead, rookie picks are included in the start-up, so instead of choosing a player, you select the pick (i.e. 1.01). Some expert leagues will have their rookie draft before the NFL draft, but I don’t recommend this unless you are truly committed to scouting the incoming draft class. Finally, do not just set the rookie draft as an inverse order of the start-up draft:
League fees paid in advance: Speaking of marathons, if you choose to play in a league for money (which I recommend, even if it’s just $10 per season), the Commissioner should require everyone to have paid their league fees before the draft starts. If an owner wishes to trade their future first-round pick, they must pay that year’s league fee before the trade is executed. Having an owner financially committed to future years means they are less likely to quit the league after a year if their trades do not work out.
Potential points (“PP”) draft order: tanking is one of the most hotly debated topics in dynasty. Should owners be allowed to set sub-optimal line-ups and intentionally lose to improve their end-of-year draft position? To avoid this, future rookie draft orders can be set by PP for non-playoff teams. All good fantasy platforms show you the total points your team could have scored if you had played the perfect line-up each week. This gives a better reflection of the strength of the roster and completely removes the issue of teams setting weak line-ups.
No vetoes: Everyone values players differently, and every trade can look different in hindsight. Giving owners the ability to veto leads to squabbling and in-fighting. Most of the time, they are just salty they missed out on a deal. We are all grown-ups here. All trades should be automatically processed if 1) the league fees have been paid, and 2) there is no collusion.
Zero tolerance policy: the hardest job for a commissioner is determining if owners have colluded. It happens more than you think and is difficult to prove. Sometimes it’s just plain obvious though and when it is, the owners involved should be removed from the league. Immediately.
Optional Settings
Superflex: More and more dynasty leagues are implementing a Superflex roster spot. This allows owners to play up to two starting quarterbacks in their starting line-up. The reason for this setting is to increase the scarcity of available quarterbacks and by doing so increase their value. For example, in 2021 rookie drafts, Trevor Lawrence is the consensus 1.01 pick. In single quarterback leagues, he won’t (and shouldn’t) be selected in the first round. Whilst this setting is optional, I would find it hard to join a dynasty league that isn’t Superflex unless there were some other elements to it (i.e. auction, contracts, devy).
Multiple FLEX spots: Many fantasy leagues will require an owner to start a minimum of two running backs and three wide receivers. My preference is to require a minimum of one starter per position and utilize multiple FLEX spots instead. This gives owners flexibility and freedom for how they want to build their team. This setting goes hand in hand with the scoring settings of the league. It doesn’t matter how the league is scored but giving owners roster flexibility means that the sharpest ones can take advantage of any value inefficiencies in the league. Since you’re reading DFF content, you’re going to be one of those sharp owners.
Non-conventional scoring: Almost all leagues use PPR or half-point PPR scoring these days. However, most platforms will give you the option to tweak the scoring to change or equalize position value. Tight end premium scoring is becoming more popular (usually 1.5 points per reception), as well as leagues that implement some kind of points per carry or first down. The idea of non-conventional scoring is to bring balance to all of the positions, which when combined with multiple FLEX spots provides ultimate flexibility in how owners construct their roster.
Taxi squad: A taxi squad is a separate part of the roster that owners can stash rookies on. Think of it as a fantasy practice squad. Some leagues will allow players to be there for one year, others allow two. It’s simply a mechanism to keep rookies on without burning an active roster spot. Commissioners can get creative around the taxi squad and implement things like compensatory picks for stealing players. They aren’t essential, but they add another wrinkle to your league.
Third round reversal: This does what it says on the tin. The first two rounds draft as a normal snake, but at the start of the third round the order reverses. That means that the team drafting 12th in a twelve-team league would start with picks 1.12, 2.01, and 3.01. the team picking first would get 1.01, 2.12, and 3.12. You can read more about it here.
Kentucky Derby Draft Order: The name of this isn’t important. It comes from leagues using the famous horse race to assign draft order, but you can use any method you want to randomize draft order. Here’s the catch – the first overall pick doesn’t necessarily get 1.01. They get the right to choose their draft spot. Each owner takes their turn picking their draft spot in the order their horse (or another proxy) finished, with the last place being allocated the final vacant spot. Depending on the league settings (i.e. Third Round Reversal) there are pros and cons to each draft spot you might pick. Choose wisely!
If you want to take your fantasy football to the next level and have that year-round experience, then dynasty fantasy football is for you. Follow this guide when choosing or setting up your leagues and you are on the path to a whole new world of fantasy football excitement.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article. If you have ANY questions about joining or starting a league be sure to reach out to me on Twitter @FF_DownUnder! My DMs are open.
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