I’ve noticed an increasing number of questions in the DLF Forums around Salary Cap/Contract Dynasty Leagues. People want to add even more dimensions and complexity to their fantasy football experience and I think that’s terrific.
I thought it was time to write an article laying out some of my approaches to consistent winning in a Salary Cap format. For those of you unfamiliar with the basics of Salary Cap, please take a look at my post in this thread where I lay out the foundation. I think you’ll enjoy this article more if you have some context.
Recommendation One: Check your age bias at the door
In regular dynasty leagues, I constantly see owners doing all they can to make sure they aren’t left holding the bag when a player is declining and has lost significant trade value. Generally speaking, as players age (think Frank Gore, Michael Turner, Reggie Wayne) their trade value plummets while their production is still relatively robust.
In a salary cap league, you can get the best of both worlds by managing your roster AND your contracts. I’d have no problem owning any of the players I mention above even on relatively expensive deals as long as the contract is expiring in a year or two. Let’s say that I own Reggie Wayne at 15% of my cap space and his contract expires at the end of 2012. I can ride him out this year (which I think will be a terrific one for fantasy production), then toss him back in to the free agency pool. At that point, I can redirect my funds to other free agent auctions or attempt to buy Wayne again on the open market. There’s a good chance I get him cheaper. And on top of that I’m using the funds freed up from his contract.
Recommendation Two: Embrace the notion that relative player values in your league are different than any other league
Player values in a salary cap league are based on the player himself, the salary he’s on, the contract length and the amount of his contract relative other players in his tier. This means that your league is totally unique in terms of which players are the “most valuable.”
In a regular dynasty league, it’s fairly simple to say that Calvin Johnson is more valuable than AJ Green. I doubt that statement would get much, if any, real debate. And it’s universally true across all traditional leagues. This simplifies drafting, makes getting trade advice easy and provides a common set of assumptions for dynasty owners.
In a salary cap league, this is completely different. For example, in my league Calvin Johnson is on a three year contract for 21% of his team’s cap and AJ Green is on a four year contract eating up a measly 4%. Now the debate can really ensue about who is more valuable. Do you want to pay the premium for Megatron’s awesome upside? Would you rather lock in an emerging stud on the cheap? It’s not as clear cut, is it?
Recommendation Three: Rethink how you value rookie picks
Rookie picks are a two edged sword in salary cap leagues. While there is no hard and fast rule here, in my experience the premium on top-tier rookie picks is even higher in salary cap leagues than than in normal ones. There are a few reasons for this:
- Top tier picks are gold. As I mentioned above, stud rookies (AJ Green, Julio Jones, Cam Newton) can set a team up for years of salary cap advantages. Having a weekly starter on an extremely cheap price gives you flexibility. More on this in a minute.
- Because of contract lengths, you only have so much time for a player to develop and contribute before you have to manage his expiring deal. This means that raw, developmental rookies are tougher to justify rostering because cap space is being eaten by a non-productive asset. This issue leads me to do all I can to trade out of the second round (or later) in rookie drafts. I use my seconds as add-ons in trades to move up or to get player upgrades. I’ll let someone else take a flyer on a second, thus using up his cap and a roster slot.
- Rookie QB values are depressed, thus depressing the total market for rookies. In a year like this one, mid-round dynasty picks have elevated value because we expect Andrew Luck and RGIII to go early in our drafts, thereby pushing high quality position players down the board. This won’t always happen in salary cap. The need for immediate contribution often causes owners to shy away from QBs
Recommendation Four: Don’t be stingy when you are loaded with cap dollars
One of the really cool things about salary cap leagues is that just like the NFL, owners/GMs that manage the money well are the perennial playoff teams. Managing the cap well doesn’t mean being cheap and not spending. What it means is laying a foundation of inexpensive, yet productive players and then using the remaining dollars to go after impact studs.
I see it all the time in my league: A team is in a great cap position because they’ve drafted well or maybe they got lucky on a FA pick-up. They have a ton of money to spend, but for some reason frugality kicks in and they don’t do it. A common mistake I see is owners saying Player X is only worth Y dollars. That’s simply not true. There are no universal values in salary cap. It’s determined by the market and the market is a factor of supply, demand and the available dollars people have to spend. If you find yourself in a position where you have more money than the others bidding for a FA or a targeting a stud in a trade, bully them out of the market with your bankroll.
Core players on my team (AJ Green, Hakeem Nicks, Cam Newton and Jimmy Graham) account for a total of 10% of my team’s cap. I could have sat back and trusted that Cam was a solid weekly starter and not worried about QB, but when I assessed the trade opportunities in the league, I decided to go for the brass ring and traded a cap constrained team for an extremely expensive Tom Brady. (He now accounts for 17% of my cap by himself). Because the Brady owner was cap constrained and needed to dump him, I got an excellent deal. Now I go into 2012 with the luxury of choosing between Brady and Newton each week. Plus, I’m insured against the risk that Newton regresses as a sophomore.
The fact that I have my core guys on cheap deals gave me the flexibility to make this type of move. You can’t underestimate the value of getting a legitimate weekly starter like Green or Graham on a great contract. And if you find yourself in this fortunate position, use it to your advantage!
Recommendation Five: Put your redraft hat on
As much as I loath to say this here on DLF, salary cap has some similarities to redraft. Because rosters are more transient, annual redraft rankings (or dynasty competing team rankings) tend to be more relevant than rankings for dynasty start-ups or rebuilds. Steve Smith (CAR) is a UFA in my league and I guarantee he goes for a pretty penny, then the winning bidder will slap a one year deal on him. Essentially they will be renting his production and all it costs them is money – not a draft pick, not a player in trade. And remember, all that money frees right back up the next year for them to do the same on the next Steve Smith.
Note: I have a comprehensive set of salary cap/contract dynasty rules that I make available to members of the forums. If you want a copy, private message me with your e-mail address and I’ll be happy to send them your way.
Editor’s Note: Tim Stafford can be found @dynastytim on twitter and in the forums as dlf_tims.
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Great article I miss playing salary cap now.
Great article, Tim!
Reading the article, I assume you wrote it with an IOP only in your mind.
Since I’m in a 16 team IDP salary cap league, the latter round rookie picks hold more value IMO, because they can be used to pick up defensive ” top” talent, after the top four or five tier offensive players are gone…
What are your thoughts/opinions about rookie picks regarding to IDP salary cap leagues?
IDP league draft picks are much more valuable then IOP only leagues. IDP rookie depth in talent is deeper and they typically pay off quicker then IOP. An IDP league has talent in rounds 3 through 5 that can be day 1 starters. It’s actually safer to by pass the offensive flyer talent that would be taken in the second round of a normal IDP or IOP only draft and take a top LB. You are strapped to the player for years, so it’s better to make a value choice and take the player that will contribute to your starting lineup week1… instead of waiting for some WR that is raw or a Rb that buried on a depth chart. DE’s take 2-3 years. LB’s and safety’s are solid investments in a salary cap league. Take a LB in round 2 over that flyer WR and take a top safety or the top DE in round 3 for a better investment then the typical IOP talent that will be there. In a 16 team’r, you are going to be taking IDP’s up to a half rounder sooner then the above. Salary cap leagues are the only one’s I would consider taking a LB in the first 12 picks, because the top LB is a much better “investment” then the IOP after the typical talent at pick 1.08. Hope that helps.
Great article Tim! I’ve really appreciated the help I’ve gotten from you while getting introduced to the Salary Cap world.
Those in dynasty leagues that scoff at the thought of salary cap leagues are missing out big time!
In our league we use the taxi squad for all rookie players. Our taxi does not count against the cap so as long as the rookies remain on the taxi you can let them develop (as many years as you want up until the contract ends). We found this gives more value to the later round picks.
To get around the hoarding of good talent on our taxi we set a point level per position that if reached automatically gets them promoted to the roster the next season. Also if you promote a rookie they can never go back on the taxi. So for example if Trich is killing it in his first couple games and the owner promotes him then he comes back to reality for the rest of the season there is no going back. His salary is part of the CAP moving forward.
Great article Tim! I would love to see more content around Salary Cap leagues as player value is definitely looked at differently.
Guys,
I appreciate it. More is coming. Just so happens I am putting the final touches on an in-depth three year planning article as we speak. I’ll submit later today so it gets in the queue for publication.
Tim
Does anyone here have a salary cap league like mine, were you don’t bid on players. Each player is just assigned a price and you have to stay under the salary cap?
We do have contracts of 1,2 and 3 years along with many other rules, but the reason I ask is because I was wondering if you do, where do you get your player values from?
I currently get my league values customized to my league scoring through rotowire, which is fine and it’s been working. I’m just curious if there is anything else out there.
So, if you pick up Victor Cruz last year, for a dollar, and assign him a contract…after the year, his value is “fixed” based upon how the guys at rotowire determine his worth?
Forgive me, but that league sounds incredibly boring. It doesn’t reward the owners who put in work.
We have the same thing, only after initial players values are set, they rise based on performance (we have crazy formulas). So if someone signs Cruz off WW to a $1, 1 year deal and he blows up and that GM wants to sign him long term, he can but will pay his current value. player contracts can be restructured anytime, but after week 11, noone can be resigned. GM’s have one Franchise tag, and all other 1 years drop off into the FA/Rookie Draft (snake).
I prefer the auction startup and allowing the market to set player values, but we started up as a snake using a 3rd party site’s AAV’s. We’ve developed quite the system though, it’s pretty neat.
Thanks, Keith. That sounds similar to mine.
What site do you use for the values?
I’m not sure you can say its a “boring” league without knowing all the rules of it. I’m happy to send you our bylaws.
And your comment about Cruz would be incorrect. If you signed him after last season his value would be far from a dollar. An owner get rewarded by taking chances on a player prior to the season and signing a player to a low value, but if you sign a player after the season, it is at next seasons value. Ex: I signed Chris Johnson for a dollar coming outbid the draft and I enjoyed three years of his stats for a $1 hit in my cap.
Sorry if you feel it’s still boring but we enjoy it and plenty of people I’ve spoken to really like the idea.
Thanks Tim, great article. QB’s are devalued in our league too but for a different reason. With short benches, and in a 12 team league, everyone things they got a potential top 5 QB, so roster spots are spent on other upside players. Rookie QB’s are devalued even further. For instance, Cam Newton went in the 5th rd of our rookie/FA Draft.
The “Newton” effect is in full force and RG and Luck will be drafted in the first round this year, especailly with the addition of a 3 payer taxi. But still, Locker, Dalton, Cutler, Flynn, all FA’s at the moment due to short benches. Roster spots are invaluable resources and so i really like your advice to make them count.
Thanks again and looking forward to the 3 year plan article. I’m holding off on resigns until then! hah
Note: my username on DLF has changed to dlf_tims. I’ve received a couple of PMs indicating I’m hard to find since the article has my old username. Submitted it a while back before the change. Sorry for any inconvenience.
Fixed it