How to rebuild? (1 Viewer)

[3quinox825]

I've heard lots of advice on this topic but I get confused because sometimes it feels vague. When rebuilding a team, what should you look for, what type of player should you be targeting (example, would a late to mid second round WR be better long term than say Terry Mclaurin? How long should a rebuild take and what is your window to shoot for to compete? How have you guys done rebuilds and what was the most successful way to accrue talent (WW, Trades, Drafting)?

 

[ghostguy123]

Trade players you have who's value has nowhere to go but down, and get multiple younger players and picks who's value can go up. That's the short of it

 

[Gally]

I have never needed to do a full rebuild as I typically evaluate on 2 yr windows and treat dynasty much more like a redraft than most of the other people I read about. I want to compete every year and know that there is so much luck in this game that I have been able to utlizlie that evaluation window to my advantage by getting "old" players that most rebuilding teams don't want. Those guys have carried me to a competitive team year in and year out. It also helps that we have a couple teams that are always playing for "next year".

All that to say, I don't think "full rebuilds" are necessary to stay competitive. Ideally getting a couple rookies that turn into FF starters every year or two and/or using those rookie picks to take advantage of the "rebuilders" by turning those into players that have shown they can play in the NFL has worked well for me over the years. Since I don't value draft picks us much as typical dynasty players I have been able to mine value from them quite well. This has been the best way I have found to stay competitive. Rookie picks are dart throws other than the top couple and even then those don't always hit either. Taking advantage of the shiny new toy syndrome to get more proven players is an anomoly you can exploit in many cases.

There is no one way to do this.

 

[Wigglytuff's Gruff]

Pick an arbitrary age. I picked 25. Sell everyone older than that number who isn't an absolutely locked in bonafide stud. Buy draft capital wherever you can.

Picks are liquid and don't really lose value. Once you have enough in a certain year you can basically control a draft, force people to overpay, position yourself to take the best players and take advantage of people wanting to buy back in.

 

[Hot Sauce Guy]

I've heard lots of advice on this topic but I get confused because sometimes it feels vague. When rebuilding a team, what should you look for, what type of player should you be targeting (example, would a late to mid second round WR be better long term than say Terry Mclaurin? How long should a rebuild take and what is your window to shoot for to compete? How have you guys done rebuilds and what was the most successful way to accrue talent (WW, Trades, Drafting)?

I did a full rebuild in a 12-team SF. I made over 20 trades total, giving up everyone on my team over ~28, and keeping everyone young who could help me.

I waited until 3 weeks before the trade deadline and announced to the league the players I was looking to move for draft picks. At that point competing teams see the prize, and are willing to pay more to 1. Acquire players for future picks, and 2. Prevent league-mates they’re competing with from getting them.

I tried to get as many 1sts as possible, whether it was the next year, or the year after. Ended up with 6x 2024 picks, 3-4 2nds, couple 3rds.

Another aspect of that approach is that picks retain and even gain value. They don’t get DUIs or tear ACLs, or beat up their preggo GFs. And you can also move them for elite players. I ended up trading 2x 1sts for AJB (1.04 + 1.10) , dealt a couple 2nds for Monty, and used the rest on rookies.

I now have a 16 team league with some good core pieces that just won the ‘ship. I’m gonna run it back, but if things don’t break right this season & i’m looking like a playoff miss, I’m gonna try to do the same in there. I have some aging talent that could fetch good draft capital (2026 picks especially) and a corps of young players to build around.

A nice benefit to this style of rebuild is you sort of soft tank. You’re not playing a bad lineup deliberately, but if you’re fielding a team of mediocre players because you dealt away a bunch of aging studs, you’re very likely to have a high draft pick. In the 12-team example that’s how I got 1.01 & picked Bijan.

Note: this is a bold method, and requires guts and patience, but I had a lot of fun. You learn to embrace the suck, which is hard if you like winning.

Best of luck!

 

[eighsse2]

I have never actually done anything that I called a rebuild. But I guess I kind of did? I inherited a team with some very good guys at the top (mainly WR), and as they aged I tried to get good dynasty value beneath them. I just always try to make my team better for overall dynasty value. Whether my team is good or bad. Always make it better. Took me several years to get good again after my big guys were gone, but I had kind of a head start at it because I was always collecting draft picks and prospects.

But yeah. Without just making an outright bad deal (e.g., don't trade Tyreek for pick 2.04), just because it fits the mold, try to get rid of anyone who still scores points who is aging or in that "no longer young" range (something like 25+ RB or 27+ WR, 32+ QB unless superstar-type), for picks and young guys with realistic potential.

 

[phandango]

I was in an FFPC superflex best ball dynasty league where I did a rebuild to either build a possible contender, or to have it be good enough to sell for full price. (I ended up selling it for nearly full price.)

Commit to the rebuild early in the offseason. I've had teams where I'm stuck between "not good enough to compete" and "too good to rebuild," and then I end up with mid-round picks that aren't very helpful. Rebuilding sucks, because you are resigning yourself to commit to losing for a season, but if you start with that mindset early, you will be better off in the long run.

Accumulate following-year draft picks. If you commit to the rebuild early, then that means that at this year's rookie draft, you're already looking ahead to next year. If you're on the clock with a pick that has multiple guys you like, make every attempt to trade down while picking up 2025 picks. Easier said than done, but the draft is when everyone in the league is engaged all at once, and you'll get the most responses.

Target the weaker teams, but also target the oldest teams. Those old teams are going to do everything they can to make one more run, and a lot of times they do that by selling off future picks, so try to trade for those. (Another reason to commit early to the rebuild, so that you can be the first to target picks of the weaker/older teams.)

Be very active in-season, especially regarding injured players. In 2022, during the season, I traded a healthy Chubb for Dobbins, who was slowly coming back from injury. A few weeks later, I then included a healthier Dobbins in a package deal that netted Ken Walker, who I believe was dinged up at the time. (Dobbins then underwent a cleanup surgery, which was lucky timing for me.) A few weeks later, I traded Walker straight up for an injured Jonathan Taylor. Then, at the trade deadline, I traded Garoppolo (this is superflex) and Antonio Gibson for Dobbins again. (By the way, these trades were made with two different teams -- one won the title in 2022, the other won the title last season, so they were savvy teams.) Last year, I made constant offers of older, productive players for picks. Most didn't pan out, but you really only need one or two to accept to make it worth it.

If this is superflex, trade for future second-rounders. Most teams are unwilling to give up future firsts. But, especially in superflex, the second round is where you can make serious strides in team-building, especially if you can accumulate a significant portion of the round. You can use them to move up, or to take advantage of rookie fever by trading them for established young players, or just use the picks.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

My experience in my league is that draft picks are generally overvalued, particularly in the offseason leading up to the draft. If you have quality veterans, you don't have to force a sale for the best draft pick you can get just because you're in rebuild mode. I'm seeing teams at the top stay at the top because they're moving their late 1st or 2nd round picks for established veterans that they shouldn't be able to get for that price. Sometimes these guys aren't even very old

If you get the sense that your league isn't making contending teams pay a fair price in terms of draft capital for star fantasy players, then don't play in those waters as a seller. I know that doesn't necessarily mean you want to buy in your position, but don't dismiss the possibility out of hand, especially if the player has multiple good years still ahead of them. Buy low and sell high applies to your position. The fact that you've identified your team as a non-contender means that you gained the advantage of playing the long game without the burden of having to win now.

If a contending team in your league has a key player go down for multiple weeks with non-severe injury, these are the teams you want to be in position to "service" on the trade market. To do this, you need to have some quality players at every position at your disposal in order to strike. Offer your healthy B+ player for their injured A- player. It will only help you bottom out to get a top pick in the current season. At the conclusion of the season, you're now carrying a superior talent into the next season that will be fully healthy. The best luck that I ever had with this technique was trading Will Fuller when he was making his last charge in Houston. A playoff team lost one of their starting wideouts and traded me an injured OBJ straight up when he still had namebrand appeal. Fast-forward to the following Fall, and the defending champ who had already shoved all of their chips in on the season lost their starting RB to injury (I want to say Gurley, maybe Fournette). To replace their starting RB, he was willing to downgrade Lamb off of his non-1000 yard rookie season to a healthy OBJ, adding K. Hunt in the process. If I had traded Fuller, OBJ, or Hunt for whatever 2nd or 3rd round pick I could get, I'm not sitting here with Lamb today. I've seen another owner in my dynasty league short sell Ja'Marr Chase because he couldn't wait weeks on a relatively minor injury.

This brings me to a final point. Rookies and draft picks might be highly coveted, but let them marinate one year on somebody else's roster. It could be a disappointing rookie season or even solid production that doesn't move the dial in a big way for fantasy. As soon as they show themselves as human with some warts, the premium on that shiny new toy is completely gone. A lot of the owners in my league are all too happy to re-roll on rookie drat picks at the expense of last year's rookie selection that was missing a true breakout performance. Know your league and take advantage where you can.

 

[FairWarning]

Pick an arbitrary age. I picked 25. Sell everyone older than that number who isn't an absolutely locked in bonafide stud. Buy draft capital wherever you can.

Picks are liquid and don't really lose value. Once you have enough in a certain year you can basically control a draft, force people to overpay, position yourself to take the best players and take advantage of people wanting to buy back in.

I do this with RBs. Definitely sell high on them, few excel consistently after 26.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I was in an FFPC superflex best ball dynasty league where I did a rebuild to either build a possible contender, or to have it be good enough to sell for full price. (I ended up selling it for nearly full price.)

Commit to the rebuild early in the offseason. I've had teams where I'm stuck between "not good enough to compete" and "too good to rebuild," and then I end up with mid-round picks that aren't very helpful. Rebuilding sucks, because you are resigning yourself to commit to losing for a season, but if you start with that mindset early, you will be better off in the long run.

Accumulate following-year draft picks. If you commit to the rebuild early, then that means that at this year's rookie draft, you're already looking ahead to next year. If you're on the clock with a pick that has multiple guys you like, make every attempt to trade down while picking up 2025 picks. Easier said than done, but the draft is when everyone in the league is engaged all at once, and you'll get the most responses.

Target the weaker teams, but also target the oldest teams. Those old teams are going to do everything they can to make one more run, and a lot of times they do that by selling off future picks, so try to trade for those. (Another reason to commit early to the rebuild, so that you can be the first to target picks of the weaker/older teams.)

Be very active in-season, especially regarding injured players. In 2022, during the season, I traded a healthy Chubb for Dobbins, who was slowly coming back from injury. A few weeks later, I then included a healthier Dobbins in a package deal that netted Ken Walker, who I believe was dinged up at the time. (Dobbins then underwent a cleanup surgery, which was lucky timing for me.) A few weeks later, I traded Walker straight up for an injured Jonathan Taylor. Then, at the trade deadline, I traded Garoppolo (this is superflex) and Antonio Gibson for Dobbins again. (By the way, these trades were made with two different teams -- one won the title in 2022, the other won the title last season, so they were savvy teams.) Last year, I made constant offers of older, productive players for picks. Most didn't pan out, but you really only need one or two to accept to make it worth it.

If this is superflex, trade for future second-rounders. Most teams are unwilling to give up future firsts. But, especially in superflex, the second round is where you can make serious strides in team-building, especially if you can accumulate a significant portion of the round. You can use them to move up, or to take advantage of rookie fever by trading them for established young players, or just use the picks.

"Target the weaker teams, but also target the oldest teams. Those old teams are going to do everything they can to make one more run, and a lot of times they do that by selling off future picks, so try to trade for those. (Another reason to commit early to the rebuild, so that you can be the first to target picks of the weaker/older teams.)"

This is really hits the nail on the head for me. In-season, the team who are 'just a player away' ranked 4-7 with older teams tend to be the ones willing to overpay to try to get over the hump.

 

[InDitkaWeTrust]

I also tend to stage my rebuilds in certain ways. For the most part we know that player longevity roughly goes QB>TE>WR>RB. So for a complete rebuild (in Superflex), I will target promising 2nd year QBs first. Their statline (CJ Stroud excepted) is usually the lowest it will ever be and often you can get them near the draft when other teams have rookie fever. From there, I'll target young, 2nd or 3rd year TEs as they ramp up production and get more familiar with the NFL. WRs, I tend to take flyers on high ceiling guys in the later rounds of the draft and look for talented underperformers moving from one team to another (think Hollywood Brown a few years back). RBs, I tend to draft low and scour the waiver wires. This strategy can usually get my team into the playoff hunt in year 3. Yes, it's more of a slow burn and takes some patience, but it's what works for me to build perennial competitors.

 

[Gally]

A lot of the owners in my league are all too happy to re-roll on rookie drat picks at the expense of last year's rookie selection that was missing a true breakout performance. Know your league and take advantage where you can.

Great post but I want to touch on this quote.

These are the owners that are always playing for "next year". They overvalue draft picks and are always willing to stock pile them but typically don't have the patience to let things develop. Identify these guys as soon as you can and let them pay for draft picks while you use those draft picks to stock your shelves with players that are on the rise or that have changed circumstances to now make them useful.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

A lot of the owners in my league are all too happy to re-roll on rookie drat picks at the expense of last year's rookie selection that was missing a true breakout performance. Know your league and take advantage where you can.

Great post but I want to touch on this quote.

These are the owners that are always playing for "next year". They overvalue draft picks and are always willing to stock pile them but typically don't have the patience to let things develop. Identify these guys as soon as you can and let them pay for draft picks while you use those draft picks to stock your shelves with players that are on the rise or that have changed circumstances to now make them useful.

A couple of recent examples that come to mind:

Guy spends healthy draft capital on Tyjae Spears at the 1.12. Fends off all of my in-season pursuits, says that he really likes his future. Trades him to me for AJ Dillon and Musgrave last week. Was he expecting the Titans to make Spears their bellcow? Was Tony Pollard that scary?

Another gets Kendre Miller with a mid-2nd. Is willing to re-roll with my 2.8 in 1QB this draft.

Last August, my friend turned down London and a late 1st for the JSN drat slot. I told him it was a strong offer considering there was a real possibility that London is the better dynasty WR by end-of-season, but he took the shiny new toy.

I made the same mistake going after Bijan last August. Offered AJB and the 1.7 that I ultimately used on Kincaid. Was turned down. Having Bijan wouldn't be terrible, but probably an overpay.

 

[Gally]

A couple of recent examples that come to mind:

I have a guy in my league that hoards draft picks. Every year he thinks "this is the year" as he is flush with a ton of rookies (from all the draft picks) and "upside potential" guys that are all awesome and overpriced. Then he starts out 0-3 and it's fire sale time. He gives up on all these "underperforming" rookies and upside potential guys (all guys that just haven't had a chance yet but since they haven't popped after 2 to 3 weeks time to play for next year and move them for picks).

So he proceeds to acquire many picks for the next draft. So much so that he has too many picks. Yet, he won't move those picks because he values them so much higher than everyone else he can't get what he deems as full value for them. Then the draft comes and he realizes he now doesn't want/need those picks so he starts moving them on draft day for next year picks. This causes him to overstock his next years draft but hey, he can't use them this year and since he has all these new rookies.....this is the year!

Rinse & repeat. It happens every single year. Then he complains that he never wins. I have tried to have conversations with him about draft pick value to explain why he always has way too many picks and he just doesn't understand the supply/demand and that even if he values them highly if other's don't he won't get the "value" he wants so he will never move forward.

I also have tried to explain that going 0-2 or 0-3 to start a season doesn't mean you have to go into next year mode. I even had a recent great example to prove it to him after this last year. I started 1-4 (there was a team that started 5-0 as well). I started making moves to improve this year and made a ton of trades. I started winning and ended up winning the league. I gave him this example and he shrugged it off saying I just got lucky and everything fall into place. I agreed and said, that FF is 95% luck but if you give up and start playing for next year you will never be able to get that "luck" because you won't have the team to capitalize on it. He shrugged it off and "agreed to disagree". I just threw up my hands at that point. There is no changing this guy and he likely won't ever win the league.

All that to say, these are the kind of guys you can take advantage of by exploiting their value discrepancies. "Next year" guy loves picks and hates young guys that don't pop right away or veterans that are "old". Use that to your advantage.

 

[sushinsky4tsar]

^^^ Yep, we have a 5 round rookie/FA draft that requires us to cut down from 24 to 19. We have one guy who always tries to get 9 picks. Consequently, he will have to cut down from 24 to 15. It's okay to do once if you're a rebuild and really like a draft class. However, when you're doing it every single year and valuing a 7th, 8th, and 9th draft picks more than the 16th, 17th, 18th best asset on your roster, you're either not building a very strong back end of your roster -or- you're being way too impatient with the rookies you're drafting.