If you have a solid defense with ageing players such as Ray Lewis, Donnie Edwards, Derrick Brooks when do you start to replace such players with youthful players such as P. Willis and P. Puslouzsny?
If you are struggling with offensive help but are in an area within a draft where you are gambling on an unsure thing such as Lorenzo Booker, Kelly Irons, Ted Ginn or Greg Olsen (Does he have the skills to be a top 10 TE?) do you decide to stabilize your LB core or take a shot on an offensive position?
If you are struggling with offensive help but are in an area within a draft where you are gambling on an unsure thing such as Lorenzo Booker, Kelly Irons, Ted Ginn or Greg Olsen (Does he have the skills to be a top 10 TE?) do you decide to stabilize your LB core or take a shot on an offensive position?
If you have a defensive player crossing out of his primary athletic years (27-29), then you need to consider shopping him. From personal experience I can tell you that a blue chip defensive player can net a 3rd round draft pick or, perhaps, a very low 2nd round pick. Again this is speaking strictly to my experience from the Zealot leagues. Coincidentally, that is the same area that new, blue chip prospects tend to get picked, which brings up your next point. You can quickly turn it around if you are looking to swap out position for position. Rebuilding & ValueShould you decide to start selling off your veteran defensive players you will either have to target replacements or begin to roll the dice on lottery ticket offensive players. It is a slippery slope. Those rookie defenders tend to come in handy. They produce quicker and do not necessarily bust at the rate of their 3rd-6th round offensive peers. It is a safe course of action. You can win with your defense. It will make your team competitive. You can build great depth on your team defense over 2 drafts and switch your focus to the offensive side of the ball. It goes without saying that your first few picks will be used on obvious offensive players if they are availble. Conversely, you have to start taking chances on late round offensive talent at some point. Some guys will tell you to always take offense over defense. Others will say take BPA at or after a certain point in the rookie draft. My feeling is that you build a plan around 2-3 rookie drafts because at some point you have to start taking the J. Hill, J. Higgins or D. Wrights of the draft vs. the Beasons, Andersons and Nelsons. The reason being is that it is very hard to trade away defensive talent...very hard...and trading defense for offense rarely, if ever, happens. If you are in fact starting over, then use a draft or two to focus on blue chip defensive players at or after that point in the draft that the defensive players represent the best value. Take the MLB over the freshly drafted 4th round WR. Take the DE over the 2nd round TE. Take the SS over the 5th round RB. Get picks with a quicker and higher ROI. For example, would you rather have D. Ryans or D. Hagan on your team right now? If memory serves, their ADP was fairly close last year. Go where the value is at and get healthy. Trade away veterans for extra picks in this part of the draft. Load up. You can replace all of your LB, DB or DE in 1-2 drafts if you make the right selections. Once that is complete you can take an entire rookie draft or drafts and focus on the low end, long shot offensive prospects. It works or at least I have found it works. Each of my teams have good to great defenses. This year I can focus entirely on offense and, most likely, next year too. That is not saying I will let a great LB fall past me, if the price is just too good to pass. I might still take that guy but I can elect to draft some random RB prospect, while knowing he has little shot at sticking, due to the equity built within my defense over the last few drafts. Also, if you manage to build and lock down a tight defense in a short period of time you will begin to see offensive players drop in your rookie drafts. Sooner or later your peers have to address their defense. It is a good feeling to have a young foundation at LB or DB about the time half of your league realizes their same positional players are past their prime. That is when you start to recover on offense. It is happening in one of the rookie drafts I am participating in right now. Several decent offensive players have slid just about a round past their ADP, as other owners are starting to grab defensive players. They are zigging and I plan to zag, if I ever get back on the clock. It is possible to build your draft plan or rebuild against the normal operating rhythm of your league. That statement is specific to IDP formats. In traditional offense only leagues everybody is essentially doing the same thing. An IDP draft and or team is far more intricate and has a greater depth and level of challenge. I expect some folks to have different advice but this is what worked for me.
Certainly, trying to trade them straight up usually yields nothing. Typically, the only way to trade them is as part of a larger deal centered around other (usually offensive) players.
If you have a defensive player crossing out of his primary athletic years (27-29), then you need to consider shopping him. From personal experience I can tell you that a blue chip defensive player can net a 3rd round draft pick or, perhaps, a very low 2nd round pick. Again this is speaking strictly to my experience from the Zealot leagues. Coincidentally, that is the same area that new, blue chip prospects tend to get picked, which brings up your next point. You can quickly turn it around if you are looking to swap out position for position. Rebuilding & ValueShould you decide to start selling off your veteran defensive players you will either have to target replacements or begin to roll the dice on lottery ticket offensive players. It is a slippery slope. Those rookie defenders tend to come in handy. They produce quicker and do not necessarily bust at the rate of their 3rd-6th round offensive peers. It is a safe course of action. You can win with your defense. It will make your team competitive. You can build great depth on your team defense over 2 drafts and switch your focus to the offensive side of the ball. It goes without saying that your first few picks will be used on obvious offensive players if they are availble. Conversely, you have to start taking chances on late round offensive talent at some point. Some guys will tell you to always take offense over defense. Others will say take BPA at or after a certain point in the rookie draft. My feeling is that you build a plan around 2-3 rookie drafts because at some point you have to start taking the J. Hill, J. Higgins or D. Wrights of the draft vs. the Beasons, Andersons and Nelsons. The reason being is that it is very hard to trade away defensive talent...very hard...and trading defense for offense rarely, if ever, happens. If you are in fact starting over, then use a draft or two to focus on blue chip defensive players at or after that point in the draft that the defensive players represent the best value. Take the MLB over the freshly drafted 4th round WR. Take the DE over the 2nd round TE. Take the SS over the 5th round RB. Get picks with a quicker and higher ROI. For example, would you rather have D. Ryans or D. Hagan on your team right now? If memory serves, their ADP was fairly close last year. Go where the value is at and get healthy. Trade away veterans for extra picks in this part of the draft. Load up. You can replace all of your LB, DB or DE in 1-2 drafts if you make the right selections. Once that is complete you can take an entire rookie draft or drafts and focus on the low end, long shot offensive prospects. It works or at least I have found it works. Each of my teams have good to great defenses. This year I can focus entirely on offense and, most likely, next year too. That is not saying I will let a great LB fall past me, if the price is just too good to pass. I might still take that guy but I can elect to draft some random RB prospect, while knowing he has little shot at sticking, due to the equity built within my defense over the last few drafts. Also, if you manage to build and lock down a tight defense in a short period of time you will begin to see offensive players drop in your rookie drafts. Sooner or later your peers have to address their defense. It is a good feeling to have a young foundation at LB or DB about the time half of your league realizes their same positional players are past their prime. That is when you start to recover on offense. It is happening in one of the rookie drafts I am participating in right now. Several decent offensive players have slid just about a round past their ADP, as other owners are starting to grab defensive players. They are zigging and I plan to zag, if I ever get back on the clock. It is possible to build your draft plan or rebuild against the normal operating rhythm of your league. That statement is specific to IDP formats. In traditional offense only leagues everybody is essentially doing the same thing. An IDP draft and or team is far more intricate and has a greater depth and level of challenge. I expect some folks to have different advice but this is what worked for me.
