Improving a dynasty team.... (1 Viewer)

[pyite76]

I am a fairly inexperienced dynasty player and have a little dilemma, or maybe not.

We are currently in the second year of our league and our rookie draft is approaching quickly.

Now that we are in the postseason, I am constantly tinkering and scheming to make my team better. To take it over the top. I am always targeting players to trade for and draft, and racking my brain...

Is there a time that this normally happens in dynasty leagues, and should dynasty players fight the urge to tinker with their teams when nothing might need to be done?

Is this a stupid question?

 

[cscmtp]

Trading is always good for dynasty leagues. Its fun, it keeps teams more involved in the league year round, and its the best way to make a pretender a contender.

 

[Our Gang]

I am a fairly inexperienced dynasty player and have a little dilemma, or maybe not.We are currently in the second year of our league and our rookie draft is approaching quickly.Now that we are in the postseason, I am constantly tinkering and scheming to make my team better. To take it over the top. I am always targeting players to trade for and draft, and racking my brain...Is there a time that this normally happens in dynasty leagues, and should dynasty players fight the urge to tinker with their teams when nothing might need to be done?Is this a stupid question?

Trade your older veterans to playoff teams towards the end of the season for draft picks or young players that are holding spots on theor roster. then draft well. also look to trade for players that had injuries the previous season but should be fine...ie steve smith with his broken leg. Finally...work the waive wire...look at the past few nfl drafts for players that where taken in first 3 rounds or so, but havent performed yet...they may just need the opportunity...Good luck!

 

[noneother]

i thinker all the time..my team last year...

peyton, rivers

Maroney, Reggie Bush, Caddy

Chad Johnson,Plaxico, Darrel Jackson, randy moss, VJ and Chris henry

whitten

this year

brady

portis,Sjax, maroney, AD Peterson, booker, rhodes

boldin, VJ, Chris Henry, crayton, Calvin Johnson

need aTE

its fun.. and thats the key we sometimes forget... have fun..

 

[Biabreakable]

No I think paying attention to small details and looking deeply at possible moves, major or minor is what makes a Dynasty team better.

Comparing bordeline players on your roster with available free agents and tinkering with the balance of your lineup are a couple examples.

Being an active trader. As long as you are not just trading to trade (I have seen a few owners like this) but have clear goals and reasoning behind the moves you make is another important key to honing and refining your team. Especialy in Dynasty trading becomes more important. Rookie players do not often have an instant impact on your rotation. So trading and free agency moves are the main ways you adjust to change.

I experiemented with just staying put with what looked like a strong roster at the time. I missed the playoffs for the 1st time as a result of that. That proved to me that no matter how good things may look you can always get better. And you should always be looking to get better. Your compitition is.

Now some will say you can overthink things and mismanage because of that.. but really that just depends on the moves you make. If you have a clear plan and reason for every tweaking you do I think you will make good decisions more often than not.

 

[fsufan]

have good rookie drafts and trading is 2 very important keys in dynasty leagues

 

[Mister CIA]

I am a fairly inexperienced dynasty player and have a little dilemma, or maybe not.We are currently in the second year of our league and our rookie draft is approaching quickly.Now that we are in the postseason, I am constantly tinkering and scheming to make my team better. To take it over the top. I am always targeting players to trade for and draft, and racking my brain...Is there a time that this normally happens in dynasty leagues, and should dynasty players fight the urge to tinker with their teams when nothing might need to be done?Is this a stupid question?

Patience is a virtue, just don't fall asleep.Never try to force a deal, just for the sake of making a deal. That is a fast-track to mediocrity. My best recommendation is to keep up with the latest football news, and familiarize yourself with the needs of teams in your league, and soon enough the deal will reveal itself. Also, know your league mates - this will save you a LOT of time. For example, identify those who undervalue rookie picks; identify those that overvalue them. Deal appropriately.Or you could just make low-ball offers and hope something sticks.Edited for clarity.

 

[pyite76]

Being an active trader. As long as you are not just trading to trade (I have seen a few owners like this) but have clear goals and reasoning behind the moves you make is another important key to honing and refining your team. Especialy in Dynasty trading becomes more important. Rookie players do not often have an instant impact on your rotation. So trading and free agency moves are the main ways you adjust to change.

This is what I meant.Clearly I did not write this question very well....

i've tinkered and traded, and always watch the wire. I really don't have too many older veterans to get rid of.

I feel that I have reached the apex, if you will, of where I can get prior to the draft coming up. But I still am offering trades that I then rethink and withdraw. I traded my first round pick already, and have stocked up on early seconds. I can't really find anything else I could imagine to improve without knowing which rookies go where.

I feel like I might be trading just to trade, and was wondering if anyone else catched themselves doing this.

 

[fsufan]

also get as much talent of your team no matter what position they are. You can always trade depth for a starter.

started this thread back in April

http://forums.footballguys.com/forum/index...=234534&hl=

 

[Our Gang]

also get as much talent of your team no matter what position they are. You can always trade depth for a starter.

Trade your low draft picks for proven vets...i gave up the 1.04 for javon walker....also, don't draft based upon the situation a drafted player ends up in, draft based upon talent. Most people drafted Kevin Jones ahead of steven jackson and we all can see how that ended up.

 

[SCGiants]

IMO if you are balsy now is the time to trade for your sleepers.. get em cheap. Denvers Marshall comes to mind...V Jackson another.. Cutler maybe too.. depending on the skill level and participation level of your other owners you can get some top upcoming talent cheaply. All depends on your leagues skill level and dedication. One league I am in has about 2 trades daily and another the commish is on a 2 month hiatus telling us his priorities are not us ..and needs a vacation from ff (not that he is anywhere near active the other 10 months). UGH! Anyway you get my point.

sidenote: I was actually scolded in that league for complaining that trade offers go unanswered and some members dont even vote nor have a clue what the votes were about when it pertained to league scoring

 

[SCGiants]

I traded away a lot of picks for proven vets also.. why take a flier on a 1.8 or in thsi years draft anything past the 1.5 imo when you can get a proven vet that is still young.

 

[redman]

i thinker all the time..my team last year...peyton, riversMaroney, Reggie Bush, CaddyChad Johnson,Plaxico, Darrel Jackson, randy moss, VJ and Chris henrywhittenthis yearbradyportis,Sjax, maroney, AD Peterson, booker, rhodesboldin, VJ, Chris Henry, crayton, Calvin Johnsonneed aTEits fun.. and thats the key we sometimes forget... have fun..

This counts as doing too much.

 

[Rovers]

The waiver wire... it can be your friend, or bleed you dry. Depending upon how the league is set up (my leagues use "fake" dollars to bid on FA's and RFA's whose contracts have expired every April) I have made the mistake of spending league dollars on players that have little no chance of starting in the hopes of getting lucky with one. I look for guys that have a "chance" at starting, but that often turns out to be wishful thinking.

Now, I am much less active with waiver wire moves, instead I like to build my $ balance to bid on studs in RFA instead. I'll spend a couple bucks on an LB like Ellison this year, and a buck on Sensabaugh who might be a starter at safety this year, but it's the true FF studs that win championships. I'd rather spend 50 league bucks on a LB like Crowell than on a bunch of long shots that don't pan out.

Crystal balling the rare exception like a Colston is not easy to foretell. I've seen people go after long shots that are unlikely to ever get into a starting line up. TE's are particularly typical of such a move, like a Utecth for instance. Upside is minimal, but the cost can bleed you. I do my best to target top ten scorers, and save my resources for more "sure bets". I try to rely on my rookie drafts to take the long shot players in the mid rounds and later. Brandon Marshall is an example.... I took him in the third round last year.

There are many different strategies one can chose, and it's the execution that makes any one more successful than the next. I think my strength is in the rookie draft, so I align my strategy accordingly. That doesn't mean hording draft picks necassarilly however.... I traded a first rounder (and some other long shots, like Brandon Jones and A Hodge) for DJax last year. That one move got me into the playoffs.

Player research is the key.... and of course, there is no substitute for dumb luck!

 

[fsufan]

I traded away a lot of picks for proven vets also.. why take a flier on a 1.8 or in thsi years draft anything past the 1.5 imo when you can get a proven vet that is still young.

i do this a lot as well. I play in 4 dynasty leagues and do not have a first round pick in any of them. I do not have a second round pick in 2 of the 4. Over the last few years, I have been able to trade picks for players like Bulger, McAllister, Henry, Green, Holt, palmer

 

[DAG]

i thinker all the time..my team last year...

peyton, rivers

Maroney, Reggie Bush, Caddy

Chad Johnson,Plaxico, Darrel Jackson, randy moss, VJ and Chris henry

whitten

this year

brady

portis,Sjax, maroney, AD Peterson, booker, rhodes

boldin, VJ, Chris Henry, crayton, Calvin Johnson

need aTE

its fun.. and thats the key we sometimes forget... have fun..

This counts as doing too much.

I don't know. This sounds like wisdom to me. If taking a chance on a guy in a trade is more fun, in the end that's where I usually lean. Obviously we all want to be competitive, but in the end this is supposed to be fun.

 

[Driver]

I am a fairly inexperienced dynasty player and have a little dilemma, or maybe not.

We are currently in the second year of our league and our rookie draft is approaching quickly.

Now that we are in the postseason, I am constantly tinkering and scheming to make my team better. To take it over the top. I am always targeting players to trade for and draft, and racking my brain...

Is there a time that this normally happens in dynasty leagues, and should dynasty players fight the urge to tinker with their teams when nothing might need to be done?

Is this a stupid question?

Not a stupid question IMO, but you may not like my answer. All teams can be improved, but I don't think that necessarily means that every owner should trade frequently.I think it depends on (1) how sharp and experienced the other owners are and (2) whether it's a fun league or a serious league (whether or not significant money is involved). If you are fairly inexperienced and the other owners are, too, then you probably don't lose much by trading a lot. And if it's a fun league, then you can build good experience (and develop trading skill) by trying to assess the strengths and weaknesses of your team and improving it through trades.

OTOH, if it's a "serious" league and some of the other owners are sharks, then you will be hurting your team by trading frequently because you will likely end up with a slightly lower quality team after most if not all trades. Some trades help both teams, but many trades are zero sum games where one team loses if the other team wins. And sharks will not make a trade unless it helps their team in some significant way, usually by increasing the quality of players in aggregate.

No offense intended but I think the FF corollary to "Sometimes it's better to be quiet and let others guess if you're not informed than open your mouth and prove it" is "Sometimes it's better to take a conservative approach and work through the draft and WW to improve your team, compared to trading frequently with sharks and demonstrating that you're not a good trader."

In dynasty leagues with active trading, the best traders end up with incredibly strong teams. Most of the other teams are weakened because the most astute shark has gotten the edge in many trades, with the net result that his team keeps getting stronger and stronger over time.

If it's a serious league and you're fairly inexperienced, the best thing you can do for the long-term benefit of your team is to identify the 3-4 most experienced and sharpest sharks in your league, and resolve never to trade with them. If you do trade with them, you will rarely improve your team. They know a lot more than you do, and you will be taken advantage of -- not every time, but most times.

Every astute owner is looking to identify the 2-3 weakest or most gullible owners in their league -- and then trade with them as much as possible. Sharks recognize other sharks and are very wary of trading with them, unless they can structure a trade that benefits both teams. As in most things, buyer beware!

 

[Mister CIA]

I traded away a lot of picks for proven vets also.. why take a flier on a 1.8 or in thsi years draft anything past the 1.5 imo when you can get a proven vet that is still young.

i do this a lot as well. I play in 4 dynasty leagues and do not have a first round pick in any of them. I do not have a second round pick in 2 of the 4. Over the last few years, I have been able to trade picks for players like Bulger, McAllister, Henry, Green, Holt, palmer

Likewise, I dealt Caddy for 3 picks last year, that turned into Leinart, Cutler and MJD. I'm happy.

 

[EBF]

It's good to have a plan and to execute trades when you see a good opportunity.

You just have to be careful about the deals you make. I did a couple bad ones last season that ended up hurting my team.

Be aware of buy low/sell high opportunities. If you're constantly selling high and buying low, then you can establish an edge over your competition pretty quickly.

Just be careful not to outsmart yourself.

 

[Biabreakable]

Why such a stonewalling killjoy Driver?

You know you want to trade with the owners who got the goods. Don't be scerred.

 

[-OZ-]

I have been one of the most active traders in my leagues in the past, but have recently gotten to the point where although I like to trade, there isn't much left to do.

trading is a lot more fun than just sitting on your players, but watching guys you drafted develop is satisfying too.