Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of a three-part series from our own Andy Miley. The Dynasty Basics ran this month and explored taking over a new team, these roster management issues and trading tactics.
I love dynasty football. There is something about the decisions you make right now affecting your team for the next two to five to ten years and beyond, if you are lucky. I rarely see articles about what to do with your team outside of, “take Player X and trade for Player Y.” How you set up your team is extremely important. It’s your dynasty team, so let’s break down dynasty roster management down into four steps:
- Taking care of your starters.
- Deciding on how much and what kind of depth to have.
- Using the rookie draft to your advantage.
- Scanning the waiver wire and always be closing.
Lock Down Your Starters
In dynasty, just like any other league, it’s key to have the best starters possible every single week. Finding players who excel in your league’s scoring system is crucial. For example, if you are playing points per reception league, RBs like Jamaal Charles are more valuable than Stevan Ridley, because Charles will catch a lot more passes. When playing in an IDP (individual defensive player) league, scoring either favors big plays or tackles. Clay Matthews, Jr. is a better LB for a big play league and Stephen Tulloch is better to have in a tackle-heavy league. Some silly rabbits still think fantasy football scoring is universal and in my younger days I was one of them – lesson learned.
Make sure you have enough starters to play each week. This means watching bye weeks and making sure you have those covered well ahead of time, especially if it is a position that is scarce on the waiver wire. Don’t get caught without a starting kicker or defense because you weren’t paying attention to bye weeks and then lose your game by two points.
Make sure you read the injury reports and get daily information on all your players. You don’t want to be surprised at game time that a player isn’t playing. Keep your starters strong every single week. I love fielding those calls/texts from league mates “hey is this guy starting?” while they are in the middle of a kid’s birthday party or hiding their phone in the hymnal during church.
Stay at Proper Depth
Teams often have two different philosophies of handling positional depth. Some owners load up on certain positions and only keep a minimum of others, such as a kicker, defensive linemen, etc. Depth can be a huge factor due to the potential injuries that occur during the season. It is a tricky balance. In leagues with 8-12 teams having limited rosters (20 players or less), there is usually a sufficient amount of free agents to handle depth issues – you can pick up and drop when needed. Players like Andrew Hawkins can be found and used in shallower leagues. Teams with too much depth may find there is not a great deal of separation between the amount of points scored by the starters and the non-starters. These points are wasting on your bench week in and week out. I always streamline my roster, but get a feel for your league. Watch out for those position hoarders and you peeps know who you are!
Also, teams with great depth will play the “who should I start? (WDIS)” almost every single game of the year. I like to choose healthy players not on bye, but that doesn’t always happen. Chances are that after playing that WDIS game, many teams will be wrong almost as many times are they are right. The argument can be made that it is better to convert your team to one with a great starting lineup and limited depth. Positions with the greater chance of injury like RBs are the ones to have several backups, but other positions such as TE will do just fine with a starter like Jason Witten and then maybe a backup like Jermaine Gresham. Maximize your starting lineup by limited depth.
Advantage Rookie Draft
The rookie draft is the best way for a team to stay young by reloading talent. A good owner should always be looking for talent above opportunity or position. Don’t try to fill your starting positions using the rookie draft unless your team is rebuilding. Take the best available rookie and hold them for the year with no expectation of playing them unless you need bye week help. When you have some starters who are getting older/too many touches, select players to backfill their position in a year or two. Be careful not to reach for them. Last year I selected Lamar Miller and Bryce Brown later in a rookie draft, because I had Maurice Jones-Drew and LeSean McCoy. MJD and McCoy receive an enormous amount of touches and both broke down last year, so I was glad I had invested in lower cost young running backs. Use the roster space to grow young players. Make sure you have strong starters so you can let your rookie picks develop. PLEASE don’t go rookie crazy! Collect those younger players like Chris Ivory and Brown by trading a second or third round rookie pick.
Waiver Wire and Potential Trades
Every year there is someone who was not drafted in your league who will make a huge impact. Last year, Alfred Morris came off the waiver wire to make many teams’ starting lineups. Research in the summer and watching the waiver while everyone else is watching baseball or enjoying the beach can have a positive effect on your team. There are a lot of missteps that can be taken on the waiver wire as well. Keeping your eye open to injuries can help make trades to improve your team’s starters. Don’t stop trying to improve your team ever. Get on Twitter. Follow team beat writers and the guys here at DLF as they will break team news and give you an edge on whom to pick up first.
Conclusion
Once you have your team, either by taking over an abandoned one or by drafting your own, it’s time to manage your team. Get your starters in place, keep the right amount of positions stocked, use the rookie draft to build young depth and use the waiver wire and trades to build a better team. Last but not least…DOMINATE!
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Chris Ivory is a first or second year player you want to target? Huh.
Fixed
Agree w everything said. I’ve been loaded for the last 8 years in one 16team league with very solid depth. We only can keep 17 keepers, (IDP – 3-DL, LB, DB starters per week) One thing I try to do is trade depth for youth at certain positions. This year, im gonna try and snag C.Campbell (26) and give up E.Dumervil (30) and R.Broyles, or maybe J.Baldwin. Im not gonna be able to keep Broyles, Baldwin, Hankerson, anyway, so I just use them to upgrade some with teams that need positions like WR..Campbell is alittle better then Dumervil in IDP, but the age factor is huge. Also have J.Allen who im gonna have to look to trade by 2014, and Chandler Jones was my 4th rd pick last year that im hoping turns into a top 5 DL soon? Any gut feelings people on who is some good young DL to target now, that may be tomorrow’s J.Allen’s, J.Peppers???
I’ll admit, this is only my second year managing a Dynasty League team, so please accept my take with the proverbial “grain of salt.”
With that being said, it became apparent to me that while evaluating the offensive players in “fantasy,” you simply can’t hide/disguise talent. If a player is solid, they will produce points regardless the “scheme.” With the exception of the extremely few (i.e. Wes Welker), there’s just those that can ball and those that seemed to have the potential, but just don’t show to the dance. Nothing really changed at Cincinatti, but AJ Green puts up the points.
The defensive side, on the other hand, is where I’ve found it necessary to understand the defensive scheme and reap the rewards of the opportunities it may present.
The best example I can think of is Cameron Jordan (DE/Saints). Two years ago, New Orleans ran a 3-4 under DC Williams. In this situation, it’s too easy to double-team a targeted d-lineman if you don’t have an outside linebacker that can occupy the Tight End and/or Tackle. In this scheme, the primary role of your DE is to push the line and occupy a blocker. Actually attempting to clog the middle and force the action around the line and more importantly, the ball to other defensive players; primarily the outside linebacker. If you check the stats, Jordan was a starter his entire first year, but for “fantasy,” he was entirely non-existent.
Last year, New Orleans changed to a 4-3. In this situation, Jordan’s role was to rush the outside and/or contain, putting him in better position to have opportunities to make a play on the ball. Because of the two Defensive Tackles in this front, teams were forced to block Jordan one-on-one more often, which allowed him the luxury of only one obstacle to overcome before making a play on the ball. I think his stats speak for themselves.
Now New Orleans is switching back to the 3-4. My prediction “sure to be wrong” is that Cameron Jordan owners are going to be sorely disappointed at how he performs this year. Look to “steal” him from these disgruntled owners for cheap, and keep him as back-up. It’s not that he lost any of the talent, but my bet is he’ll eventually move back to a team through free agency and/or trade that implements the 4-3. When he does…? Gold mine.
Just take a look at the “shemes” associated to the “stats” of those players that had played under multiple coaches or with extended careers. Andre Carter or Willie McGinnist in the 4-3, versus not in the 4-3.
As such, I personally look for DEs that are in 4-3 schemes with a coach that seems to have some security and you feel will be there for the long haul. The four teams I like best for “value” players at DE include New England (if Ninkovich is still listed as an “LB” in your league, as he is mine, there’s no reason he shouldn’t be reassigned before next year, making him an immediate value pick), Seattle (I know he’s small, but Bruce Irvin isn’t on many radars as far as I can tell, and as he develops, will only get better), Minnesota (I know Robison has EARNED the starting spot, but Everson Griffin has looked solid whenever he’s gotten the chance. Look at Minnesota’s last three games when Robison was out. And I know the Vikings must like him as well since they continually try to get him in either on special teams or even trying to play him out of position at LB), and Cincinatti (Michael Johnson and Carlos Dunlap are great for “fantasy” stats). Pretty much any team that primarily features a four-man front will get you point opportunities. Also, with the hiring of Monte Kiffin in Dallas, look for them to incorporate the 4-3 scheme, blowing up the value of a player like Demarcus Ware if he’s “reassigned” in your league.
Personally, I LOVE this year’s draft potential/depth specifically at this position. It is loaded with a poop-load of talented players whose defined positions are entirely dependant on the team that drafts him. As an example, if drafted to a 3-4 team, Barkevious Mingo is nothing more than recent Demarcus Ware and/or Clay Matthews. He will be played/labeled as an outside Linebacker. He’ll still be awesome, but in the “fantasy” world, he’ll be a mid-level backer. However, if he’s drafted by a 4-3 team, you now have the Mario Williams “PRE-Phillips” of Houston. His stats didn’t decline, but Mario scoring 140 pts/season at DE puts him at the top of the category, but as a “Linebacker,” it’s nothing much.
Anyhow, it’s all relative in the “scheme” of things, ESPECIALLY when it comes to IDP players. Just my worthless take.
Peace.
Great post. My perspective on building a dynasty IDP team is to focus on offense because, as you say, it is harder to hide talent. I think offensive players are much more consistent year to year.
Therefore, I focus on offense as a whole and put a premium on consistent IDP players. I love acquiring Campbell, if you have the opportunity, as I did last year and think he is one of the most consistent DE’s.
Unfortunately for me, I haven’t had great luck with targeting consistent IDP guys. A few years ago I had both Campbell and Dockett and cut Campbell. I tend to wait until someone is consistent and then trade for them, albeit at a premium. Traded for Campbell, Beason, Mayo, etc.
Only IDP position I am great at finding is safety. I grabbed Tyvon Branch before he was big and had William Moore and Malcolm Jenkins on all my teams before last year.
I was one of the lucky ones who got Alfred Morris off the waiver wire after week 1. This is a 16 team league so finding value off the wire is tough. The best advice on this article is to ALWAYS review your league’s scoring system. Good article.
And then promptly sold him for Forte and your 1.06 pick.
In one of my leagues, a start up, Helu went at 63, Royster at 145, Torrain at 252, and Hightower at 265.
And I got Morris from the waiver DURING the 3rd preseason game. Watching preseason games really sucks time, but it leads to occasional gems.
Really know the scoring system in each league and think in terms of VORP (value over replacement player).
I tried to trade for him after that preseason game, but the owner did some research after nearly accepting a 3rd round pick. He ended up selling him for a 1st rounder, but I nearly nabbed him after watching that preseason gem he threw up. So close!