Dynasty 101: Developmental Drafts

Steve Wyremski

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Dynasty addicts often find themselves tracking college football throughout the NCAA season to identify the next wave of NFL talent. It’s the best preparation for a dynasty league rookie draft and evaluating the potential strength of an incoming rookie class. That’s not enough for everyone, though. Many want to reap the benefits of advance scouting and successfully identifying a diamond in the rough before the masses (i.e., Hakeem Nicks, Rashard Mendenhall, DeAndre Hopkins, etc.).  The best way to put risk and reward to this advance college scouting is the addition of an annual “developmental draft” to your dynasty league.

The concept is straightforward – it’s an added annual draft where current college players are selected and rostered. Once the developmental players are selected in the NFL Draft, they become part of your official roster. In essence, drafting a college (or developmental) player grants an owner the right to that college player when he enters into the NFL.

Since 2004, I’ve been the commissioner of several leagues that have developmental drafts. More recently, and as this added feature has become more common, I’ve become a member of leagues as an owner that incorporate these drafts, as well. Since 2004, I’ve received nothing but positive feedback about these drafts. In fact, when we started the first league in 2004, it was rare that a developmental draft was included in a league. Since then, they’ve become increasingly popular. People seem to enjoy the added challenge and yet another trade bargaining chip.

Before getting into some of the important considerations needed when looking to add a developmental draft as part of a league configuration, here are some of the positive and negatives I’ve experienced over the last nine years with these developmental drafts:

Positives:

–       Added dimension/layer and challenge that separates certain owner from the masses

–       Added bargaining chip for trading purposes

–       Having two drafts provides the weaker teams with the ability to rebuild more quickly

–       Great excuse to get involved in college football if not currently an active follower

–       Owners in developmental leagues get a head start on identifying blue chip prospects for the following year in their other non-developmental leagues

Negatives:

–       The manual tracking for a commish can be onerous (most held on league message board), especially if managing multiple developmental leagues

–       The annual rookie drafts are diluted. Late firsts become the equivalent of second round picks and second round picks the equivalent of third round picks.

–       Some owners follow college football more closely than others (this hasn’t been an issue I’ve seen despite having owners who aren’t college football watchers or followers; it becomes a research project for them)

What college players will be eligible to drafted each year?

Certain leagues allow any college player (incoming freshman through seniors) to be drafted, while others restrict the pool to all draft eligible players in the following year’s NFL Draft. For example, for the 2013 developmental draft, the only players who can be drafted are those who can declare for the 2014 NFL draft.

The advantage of restricting the pool to NFL Draft eligible players is that it allows certain teams to rebuild quicker. If all players are available in the draft, many of the later round picks end up being sophomore or incoming freshman. That gives the “better” teams a good shot at hitting on some blue chip players and ends up reducing the talent quality pool the following year.

The one negative to only allowing NFL Draft eligible players to be drafted is that many owners don’t realize who is actually available. Certain players who went to a JUCO school end up being eligible earlier than many believe. That one person who realizes all eligibility requirements for all players could have a significant advantage over the rest of the league.

As long as you have the entire league on board with this decision, you can’t go wrong in either case. Three of the five leagues I commish have a draft eligibility restriction. In some of those three, I actually have owners clamoring to implement a rule change to allow any college player to be drafted. The push back from some owners in the league is the reduction of talent pool quality mentioned above.

Can the developmental picks/players be traded?           

Much like rookie picks, in every developmental league I commish and participate in, future year developmental picks can be traded.  People love trading future picks to compete in the current year or enjoy accumulating developmental picks in an effort to rebuild. Dynasty owners are addicted to tradable assets, so this is something that’s highly suggested in any developmental league.

Keep in mind that allowing picks and players to be traded (picks mostly) increases the manual tracking aspect for the commissioner. All trades must be tracked appropriately throughout each season on the message board or a separate Excel/Google docs worksheet. Not allowing future pick trades would certainly make a commish’s job easier, but in removes a strategy aspect from a league that is crucial for any successful league.

As discussed further below, deposit requirements for trading future picks is essential where future developmental picks can be traded.

If developmental picks can be traded, how many years in advance can they be traded?

Before making this decision, it’s crucial to realize the obvious – players who are drafted in the current year developmental draft won’t impact fantasy rosters for a year or more. This is exactly why every developmental league I’ve run or participated in only allows picks to be traded one year in advance.

In my opinion, allowing picks to be traded two years in advance could create a situation where it’s difficult to find an owner for an abandoned team without developmental picks despite the deposit obligation for the trading team. An incoming owner may have a decent lead-time before being able to start rebuilding through the developmental draft.

In all of these leagues I participate in, rookie picks can be traded two years in advance. By only having the ability to trade a developmental pick one year in advance, the rookie pick and devy pick line up in terms of NFL impact (i.e., for the 2014 season, 2014 devy picks generally will enter the NFL the same season as 2015 rookie picks). This seems to make sense and has been a successful practice I’ve experienced for years.

If picks can be traded for future years, will a deposit be required?

This is a resounding “yes.” This is the only way to ensure the league’s longevity is protected. It protects against a team selling out for this season and dealing future picks only for the league to struggle to replace an owner. If your league requires a deposit for trading future rookie picks, it should be required for developmental picks, as well.

My leagues all require one half of the following season’s deposit for trading a developmental pick. The other half is required as a deposit if that season’s future first round pick is traded.

How will developmental players to be rostered?

There are two options here:

  • All developmental players to be rostered on an active roster
  • Implement a taxi squad spot for one developmental player

There are merits to both options, but I’ve always preferred to allow one taxi squad spot for one developmental player. I want to limit how an owner could use the developmental roster spot. I didn’t want to expand rosters and allow certain owners to forgo their devy pick and roster another NFL player. Other commishes and leagues don’t really care about that.

It’s just important to hash this out upfront so all owners are onboard. There isn’t a wrong answer here.

What if an owner has more than one developmental player to roster? How will that be dealt with?

If future picks or devy players can be traded, certain owners will inevitably have the rights to more than one player at any given time. In leagues with a taxi squad spot for a developmental player, the typical rule is if you acquire more than one or a prior season developmental player returns to school and doesn’t declare then any additional player must be placed on the active roster in place of an NFL player.

This isn’t a necessary question to be answered if all developmental players must be rostered.

If a taxi squad is used, how many weeks prior to the annual rookie draft will an owner need to promote or drop the developmental player?

If a taxi squad is used, a line needs to be drawn in the sand for owners to make a decision on what they expect to do with a certain devy player (drop or roster). Other owners also need to know what rookies will be available in the rookie draft.

As a result, my leagues require owners to promote or drop a devy player or any time prior to one week of the rookie draft. If the player is left on the taxi squad, the commish automatically will drop the player into the rookie pool due to an owner’s inactivity and non-compliance with league rules.

Will there be free agent activity for developmental players that may be dropped during the year?

This is a matter of personal/league preference. My leagues do not allow free agent activity and very few owners actually drop devy players prior to the rookie draft anyway.

This is a fairly innocuous rule.

When should the developmental draft be held each season?

Again, this comes down to league preference. I have some leagues where the rookie and developmental drafts are held one after the other, while others that have the developmental draft in August annually and the rookie draft in May.

The advantage of having the developmental draft earlier is similar to the advantage of having a rookie draft earlier. The earlier it is, the more advantageous it is for people who know more about the college prospects than others. There are also fewer outside influences such as message boards or Twitter if the draft is earlier.

How will the drafted players be tracked?

Most leagues use the league message board for tracking the draft as it occurs. MFL based leagues then add the custom players into the system and allocate the players to the respective owners. The alternative way is to use Google Docs, Excel, or a website created for the developmental draft if someone in your league is savvy enough to create something like that.

How will your rookie draft be impacted?

As mentioned in the positive/negatives portion above, the rookie pool is diluted as a result of the addition of a developmental draft. Leagues need to consider whether it’s necessary to cut a round off of their rookie draft as a result. It’s not a certainty to reduce the number of rounds and it will depend on the facts and circumstances of a particular league, but it’s a necessary consideration.

Summary

Developmental drafts are phenomenal. I can’t support them enough. They provide an added dimension to dynasty leagues that’s unmatched. It makes league trading and college football more interesting, while allowing rebuilding owners the ability to accomplish their goal at a faster pace with two top picks each year.

Questions? Suggestions from others who use developmental drafts?

Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveWyremski