Dynasty League Spotlight: Trial By Fire League

Ryan McDowell Posted On September 2, 2015

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If you hang around #fantasytwitter long enough, you’ll see many specific dynasty leagues discussed. In the past few weeks, I saw a new league being talked about by many in our dynasty community. The league is called Dynasty Trial By Fire and I quickly figured out the concept was a league filled with dynasty first timers. I had to know more.

I reached out to the commissioner, Kevin O’Brien, a dynasty writer for TheFakeFootball.com to ask him about the idea of an entire league for dynasty newbies.

DLF: What inspired you to start this dynasty league for first time players?

KO: Actually, Doug Green from DLF inspired me with his Beginners to IDP leagues. I had done some basic dynasty articles for The Fake Football and received a lot of positive feedback, with many long time redraft players asking how to get into a dynasty league. I tweeted a feeler to my followers to gauge interest for anyone who had never played dynasty, and wanted to start a league with other first timers, and I was overwhelmed with the response.

DLF: Since you are the only player in the league with dynasty experience, do you feel you have an advantage over the others in the league? If so, what advantages come from dynasty experience, in your mind?

KO: Yes, I do think I have an advantage. The major advantage I feel is in startup draft experience, however with 11 other beginners I didn’t know what to expect in terms of when certain players would come off the board. Now that the draft has completed, I can say I was very impressed with the group. I periodically would check dynasty ADP by position and gauge how differently the draft was developing. For instance, I would check which players were taken as the QB5, RB20, WR30, TE5, etc. Typically found that we were drafting within normal standard deviation of general ADP. Something to keep in mind is that most, if not all of the owners are engaged redraft veterans. There are a couple of writers, one for Rotoviz and another for 12thmanrising.com, covering the Seattle Seahawks. Generally, I chose first come first serve, but I also browsed who they were already following and how engaged they were into fantasy football. This helped in choosing beginners to dynasty, but not casual redraft players.

DLF: What do you see as the future of this league and the idea in general? Do you expect to expand and create more Trial by Fire leagues?

KO: The future of this league will be just like any other dynasty league, with the hope it stands the test of time. I have full intentions of running this league as long as I can. If anyone decides to not continue, they will be replaced just like in any other league. Ideally, the replacement owner will also be a beginner to dynasty.

As for expansion, nothing has been decided yet, depending on how this current league works out, I will look to commission another for the 2016 season, either as a commissioner/owner or possibly just as a commissioner. I’ve also received an offer of assistance from other veteran dynasty players to help commission future leagues.

As a lover and supporter of the dynasty format, it’s clear we will always be behind redraft as the most popular chosen format, but what I’ve noticed in the past year or two is some very experienced and successful dynasty owners stepping away to focus more on daily fantasy sports. While I enjoy DFS as much as anyone, we must continue to work to spread the word about how great dynasty football really is, if we want it to grow. That’s the main reason I love what Kevin is doing with this league.

The other interesting slant on this league is observing how inexperienced dynasty players attack the startup draft. As we gain experience in any area, we often look back at our first time and cringe. After reaching out to Kevin to learn more about the general idea behind the league, I wanted to hear what the participants had to say about their first dynasty startup experience.

I asked each of the 11 owners the following questions, and got some excellent responses that we can all learn from, regardless of our experience level.

Being new to dynasty, what other formats have you played in the past?
What made you make the leap and join your first dynasty league?
Prior to the draft, what was your overall strategy/plan?
Looking at your team now, what would you say is your biggest weakness? How do you plan to address that?
What would you predict your team to look like a year from now?
What are the main resources you have used/are using related specifically to dynasty leagues?
What have the biggest differences you’ve already encountered in the dynasty format compared to others?
What is one challenge you’ve faced, or expect to face in this league that may be unique to dynasty leagues?

[inlinead]Here’s a look at some of the responses I received, along with my thoughts on each question.

Being new to dynasty, what other formats have you played in the past?

I’ve played in everything from pick ’em pools, to redraft, to DFS. My main league (I think everyone has a league they consider their top priority) is a league I’m in with a bunch of high school friends and is a 12-team PPR auction league.
I have played in redraft and keeper leagues.
I’ve played in a home league, 2QB format for five years but it is difficult to find enough committed people up here in Canada. That league has since ended. I also did ten MFL10s each of the last two seasons because I love a good draft.
Been playing redraft for several years, started to get more into DFS last year.
I’ve played a ton of redraft as well as a few basic keeper leagues (keep one-three players). I also play DFS.
Redraft, same league nine years
Mostly redraft. Standard and PPR. I’ve been in a keeper league for about 10 years, which has up to four keepers per season. I’ve done about 30 MFL10s this season and played some DFS last year. I also joined a best ball dynasty league around the same time as this startup draft (Nasty 26).
2QB, non-PPR redraft, one QB, standard scoring, basic two keeper league, thefakefootball.com reader’s leagues, Always on Yahoo!
I have always played redraft leagues (PPR & standard) over the past 15+ years. I’m just getting into my first dynasty & keeper leagues this year.

My Takeaway: The amount of experience in this group of “inexperienced” owners is impressive, with many playing redraft, keeper and daily fantasy. My guess is it won’t take long for most of this group to get the hang of this dynasty thing.

What made you make the leap and join your first dynasty league?

There are only so many “Boom or Bust” articles you can read before you go cross-eyed. This spring I told myself I was going to really embrace my love for FF and start writing (just as a hobby). I actually entered the FakeFootball writing contest and that’s about the time I started following Kevin on Twitter. He’s a great follow, very interactive, and never above answering a stupid question. So when he put his feelers out there for a beginners’ dynasty league, I jumped on it. Originally, I saw it as something to occupy my time until the season started. Jokes on me. I’m hooked. I can’t stop thinking about my team and how to make it better. The long-term strategy involved makes everything much more interesting. In redraft, you would never think about trading Adrian Peterson for an unproven rookie RB, in dynasty that’s a legitimate move!
I have always wanted to enter a dynasty league but none of my friends or leaguemates have wanted the same. I’ve been building franchises on Madden since I was five or six years old so joining a dynasty fantasy league was a step above that.
I always wanted to do dynasty, but it’s hard to find leaguemates. Kevin’s tweet came across my timeline right at the perfect time and I jumped at the opportunity. Thanks, Kevin.
To be honest, I’ve wanted to play dynasty for a while. The yearlong aspect and the added age/longevity dynamic really appealed to me. Problem is, it’s hard to find 10-12 people to dive into something as intensive and consuming as dynasty fantasy football. So when I saw Kevin tweet out that he was looking for dynasty rookies to start a league, I jumped at the chance, especially since I knew I wouldn’t be the only novice and would be on a somewhat even playing field with the others.
I follow a lot of FF writers on Twitter – when Kevin mentioned he was starting this league, I was convinced to give it a shot.
Bored in the off season
I love the idea of dynasty but I didn’t know enough people fully invested in FF (like myself) to put together a league that would last more than a few years or be competitive. In my long-time keeper league, I’ve been very successful at identifying talent a year before a breakout. Unfortunately, we would have to give those players up after a year or two (max three year contracts). I figured that the people willing to respond to Kevin’s offer on Twitter would make this league competitive. I’m hopeful that it will last for a decent while as well.
I’ve been playing since FF since 2008 and the last three or four years I have become a much more serious player and taken on multiple leagues each year. I don’t play for big money, in fact, the only money league is my hometown league with high school friends, which happens to be the first league I ever joined, and the one I take the most pride in. Even without money, I fully immerse myself in the experience from the draft all the way through week 16 (or 17). After the fantasy season is over I always feel an unreasonable amount of emptiness and an insane longing for fake football once again. Over the years I have seen many of the pundits I follow on Twitter and through TheFakeFootball.com mentioning dynasty and referencing articles about it. I decided after reading a few of Kevin’s articles this year on thefakefootball.com that this year will be my year. After a failed attempt to start a league amongst friends and acquaintances, Kevin put out the call for first timers – what could be more perfect.
I have wanted to try a dynasty league for several years now, but didn’t really know where to look for one. When I saw Kevin’s tweet about starting this league, it seemed like a great opportunity to join others who had played fantasy football before, but were new to dynasty.

My Takeaway: Most of the league mentioned a long-time desire to join a dynasty league, but never knew where to find one. This is a good reminder that we as proponents of dynasty football need to point people like this in the right direction.

Prior to the draft, what was your overall strategy/plan?

I’m guessing this is what everyone tries to do, but my goal was to balance winning now and winning in the future. I know “experts” go back and forth on this, but I just don’t seen running backs as reliable over a five-year span as a good wide receiver. So I figured I would focus on building a core of decent WRs, and then throw a bunch of darts at RBs hoping to land the next Jeremy Hill or CJ Anderson. In the first round I took Demaryius Thomas, followed by Randall Cobb, and then Kevin White. White was the first pick that I immediately regretted. Its not that I don’t think he can be a star, I just haven’t watched much college football in the past. That must change.
Prior to the draft the only strategy I really had was to find a balance between drafting for the present and drafting for the future. I ended up taking Aaron Rodgers first because the wide receivers I wanted were gone and I felt Rodgers was more of a sure bet and would remain a sure bet longer than the short tenured running backs.
Prior to the draft I targeted a number of specific players that absolutely needed to be Yardbots. I draft size/speed/upside guys with measurables and tangibles. I then searched the web for any dynasty startup ADP info I could find and began slotting my guys into rounds. I was glad to have Dez Bryant available at pick five. My second round pick was a big question mark. Knowing that I was going to reach on a lot of high upside young players, I felt that taking a running back with a clear role in Jamaal Charles was a safe (and boring) decision.

Martavis Bryant had an ADP hovering right around my fifth round pick. He was a player that I could not miss out on and feel good about my team going forward. The fourth round seemed like a good spot, but any time I put him in that slot in my own hypothetical mocks I missed out on other essential Yardbots such as TJ Yeldon. Guys like Golden Tate and Kevin White were in play for the third round pick but I decided to bite the bullet and profess my feelings for Bryant by over drafting him.

Picks 4-8 including Jameis Winston were all guys that I needed going forward, I felt bad having to pass up Ameer Abdulah, but I got my guys.

After weeks of listening to podcasts and reading articles, I tried to process everything and come up with what I thought was a good initial approach. I wanted to stay young, obviously, but it’s always been hard for me to put my trust into unproven players, so for the first half of the draft, I tried to stick with guys that have at least shown something. I didn’t take a rookie until Matt Jones (round 15), and I think only took three overall. I admit, I was probably a little too ageist on some picks, ignoring good plays for the sake of taking a younger player. But overall, I tried to look at the top three or four players available, and then take into account age, situation, and position, and pick from there.

The exception to this is with quarterback. I’m a #lateroundQB guy in redraft, so I tried to stay true to that as best I could. I love Sam Bradford this year, and have had him as a target from the beginning for all formats. Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer were also on my watch list, so I figured I’d go with a platoon of sorts for the first year and then reassess from there.

One final note about draft strategy – it felt weird taking Rob Gronkowski with my first pick. I’m still regretting it to a certain extent, but I’m hoping he’ll make me feel better with some ridiculous touchdowns this season. I usually rely on streaming TEs in redraft, and I think I convinced myself that since streaming wouldn’t be as easily done in dynasty, I should take Gronk and get it over with. We’ll see if it pays off.

I’d be lying if I told you I had a plan – while eager to join the league, having a 7-month old at home cuts into my draft prep considerably. I felt a little overwhelmed at the start but began to settle in after a few rounds.
Supply and demand, with only two top tier QBs (Rodgers & Andrew Luck), TE (Gronk, Jimmy Graham then Travis Kelce. Then Delanie Walker) RBs next. I felt WR was the deepest position so I could get good value later on. Also with taking multiple TEs I could use them as trade bait in the future.
I made my own rankings based on a window of about three to five years for each position. I used the RotoViz Dynasty ADP App to get a baseline for where players were being selected and then for the most part planned on taking the best player available.
My overall strategy was a balanced roster of youth and age. I also told myself that WRs typically have longer careers so to favor them early. During the draft I quickly engaged in a youth movement and decided to plan for the future.
I did a lot of research to compile rankings from various resources and tailored them to my liking. Mainly, my goal was to come away with a good mix of veterans and young players that would allow me to be competitive now and into the future. One thing I did shy away from was drafting rookies in the early rounds (I didn’t draft one until Phillip Dorsett at the beginning of Round 10). I did this because there is a good deal of uncertainty surrounding how rookies will pan out. Even those that have been wildly hyped could turn out to be a bust. I instead opted to take players that have proven track records of success to build the core of my team in the early rounds. I also tried to load up on WRs since they generally have longer careers than RBs and are better flex options than RBs.

[inlinead]My Takeaway: I love that many of the new owners mentioned a balanced team as a goal entering the draft. More experienced dynasty owners often get caught up in planting a flag for either younger or older players and lose the fresh perspective these guys have. I hope they can maintain that.

Looking at your team now, what would you say is your biggest weakness? How do you plan to address that?

Tight end. I didn’t realize until it was too late that 27 man rosters would diminish the pool of available free agent tight ends. I’ve never been someone to spend a first or second round pick on a TE, so streaming has always been my fall back. Since that is not going to work, I’ll probably be looking at trading for a younger guy. I have Jason Witten for this year, and I’m fairly confident he can hold my team above water. In the event that he can’t, I have my fingers crossed that Kyle Rudolph becomes Teddy Bridgewater’s security blanket.
I would have to say that my weakness is my running backs. I have Melvin Gordon, CJ Spiller and Reggie Bush as my starters now so I am lacking a true work horse running back. I plan on making a trade at some point to strengthen that position.
Clearly I put the smallest value on TE. It’s Gronk and everyone else this year so I decided to wait. I couldn’t believe how early TEs were going and my strategy of waiting at the position only lasted till the twelfth round where I was forced to take Charles Clay. I was hoping to wait till the fourteenth round. My plan is to hope and pray that Buffalo uses Clay an amount which is commensurate with his salary and that teams double team Odell Beckham leaving Larry Donnell open down the middle.
I think my biggest weakness is RB right now. My first two RBs taken were Mark Ingram and Gio Bernard – two guys who don’t have the job to themselves. But by the time I got to my 5th pick, I felt like I needed to grab a RB, and it was between Ingram and Abdullah for me. But remember, I can be more risk-averse when it comes to unproven players, so I shied away from the rookie. With Gio, I felt that I needed to take him based largely on talent, and trust that I could make some use out of that pick eventually.

As for addressing that weakness, honestly I’m not entirely sure yet. I’m hoping Ingram comes through for me and proves to be a good pick. I would also love it if Alfred Blue could keep the starting job while Foster out. I went on the clock about 5 minutes before the Foster news hit Twitter, so that was more of a reactionary pick than anything. I’m hoping I don’t regret it too much.

I think it’s my biggest weakness, but there are a few players that could turn out to be good plays, depending on the week. There’s always trading!

Post-draft, I’d say that I overlooked the TE position – will likely work the waiver wire to try and improve that – I also feel I put too much emphasis on the future with a lot of my picks – not sure 2015 will be a great season.
WR, through the draft or trading a TE
I went with young and somewhat unproven players. I think my biggest weakness right now is finding consistent starters at RB and WR for the 2015 season. I picked some older WR veterans at the end of the draft that might be useful in 2015. Hopefully Breshad Perriman, DeVante Parker and Dorial Green-Beckham show some promise by the end of the year. I may need to trade for a RB if none of my flyers pan out.
I would have to say my biggest weakness is that a lot of my roster consists of unproven players – if they prove to be flops, I am looking at a long, arduous rebuild. To address that I am going to try and be patient and not give up to quickly a rookie or second year player.

My QBs are not dynasty favorable (Tony Romo, Jay Cutler & EJ Manuel), but I figure my team is not built to compete for a top spot this year, perhaps giving me a favorable draft position next season and I will take my QB of the future then.

I’m torn. When I look at the age of my top WRs I get a little concerned. Three of my top four are 28 years of age or older: Calvin Johnson is 29, Julian Edelman & DeSean Jackson are 28. I think these guys have at least a few years left in them, so it’s not overly concerning, but something I will need to keep in mind as time progresses. I am locked in with Russell Wilson as my starter, but the depth behind him is a little weak, in my opinion, thanks to a run on QBs in Rounds 14 & 15 that saw Joe Flacco, Bradford, Derek Carr, Andy Dalton, Cutler, & Robert Griffin III go off the board. I was eyeing a few of those guys, but ended up missing out on them. It may turn out to be no big deal, none of those guys are overly spectacular fantasy QBs, but at least you knew what you were getting. Nick Foles is a bit of an unknown that could excel or fall flat in STL. I grabbed Geno Smith later in the draft (22.01) as a young QB prospect with hopes of a rebound year with new & improved weapons around him. Thanks to IK Enemkpali, those hopes are at minimum put on hold.

My Takeaway: It caught my attention that multiple people listed the tight end spot as their biggest weakness. It can certainly be a tough spot to figure out with the wide gap from Gronkowski to everyone else. With so many good, young tight ends in the game, I’m anxious to see which, if any, can make the leap up to the elite tier. I’m still partial to Zach Ertz and Tyler Eifert.

What would you predict your team to look like a year from now?

Fairly similar to my team today. Last night I made a big trade (big from my perspective) and gave someone Tevin Coleman, Brandon Coleman and my 2016 1st for Melvin Gordon, Albert Wilson and their 2016 2nd. I was really skeptical to make the trade, as I’m not quite sure how to value future picks. In the end, I decided that I like my team this year and am fairly confident my 1st round pick will be towards the end, lessening the number of picks between my first and his second.
I predict my team to be towards the top of the league unless my running backs do not produce at all. Gordon could emerge, which I’m starting to think will happen later rather than sooner, while Spiller and Bush could be PPR monsters but are also getting older and haven’t been the healthiest of backs throughout their careers.
I am hoping that my team looks much the same a year from now. My guys have been performing well in early pre-season. I feel my team will struggle to get wins this year but could be quite a lot better next year.
Well, I hope that Bradford and Palmer stay upright, and that the Chargers stay in San Diego so Rivers stays with them. If that happens, I feel like I’ll be in pretty good shape. I feel really good about my WRs. The young guys are all shaping up to be stars, and I think my stretch of Eric Decker-Mike Wallace-Pierre Garçon was pretty solid value for the next two or three years, and I don’t hate going Kenny Britt, Justin Hunter and Terrelle Pryor later on. Hey, it’s worth a shot when it’s that late, right?
This depends on how the season goes – I can foresee a situation where I deal Cam Newton/Colin Kaepernick plus LeSean McCoy plus Andre Johnson and begin to load up for 16-17. Then again, if a few of my longer shots pan out, I may be tempted to go for it this year.
Older, I have quite a few guys towards the end of their career. Hopefully my young guys pan out. I like Tyler Lockett as a prospect
I would expect that most of my roster will remain the same. I selected three, second year players with my first three picks. I’m planning on a window of dominance starting next season.
Where I took a massive core of young players, I expect it to look much the same – with the addition of a rookie QB. Perhaps, I can trade Romo later in the season to a contender and take on another young player or draft pick.
Better, I hope? It’s hard to say. I’d like to think that through careful management and well-planned player transactions, I can build around some of the key young pieces I already have in place.

[inlinead]My Takeaway: This is one area that can be both tough to predict and equally tough to prepare for as a new dynasty player. A second year dynasty team might look much the same, depending on the level of success and activity of the league and owners. It could also be drastically different if the players aren’t afraid to make some moves.

What are the main resources you have used/are using related specifically to dynasty leagues?

I read through some strategy articles in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the finer intricacies of this type of league, mostly on DLF and TheFakeFootball. Other than that, I relied mostly on DLF Expert Ranking and DLF ADP reports. I generally don’t pay a lot of attention to rankings, FF is supposed to be fun and letting others dictate your moves based on their opinions is silly. But in this case, I wanted to get a feel for how the experts weigh current scoring potential with future potential.
My main resource is NFL Gamepass. I watch all the games during the season and then sometimes twice in the offseason. I had a film session before the draft trying to decide on a second round pick, I watched the coaches film on a bunch of WRs and ranked them as such: Randall Cobb, DeAndre Hopkins, TY Hilton, Sammy Watkins, Jordan Matthews and Allen Robinson.

I used dlfstg02.dynastyleaguefootball.com for their ADP and also printed out the MFL website dynasty startup ADP list to cross-reference.

I listen to most podcasts (always looking for more) Draft Sharks, Football Guys, Fantasy Feast, Rummy and Ray, Move the Sticks, etc.

I work in Washington, DC and have about an hour commute each way, so I have lots of time for podcasts. Faked Goods and DLF have been the main ones I’ve plugged into for dynasty purposes. As for websites, I’ve tried to use a lot of the sites that I’m already familiar with – Fantasypros, RotoViz, Rotoworld, The Fake Football, to name a few. I’ve also added some bookmarks like DFW and DLF, but haven’t done a subscription for either so they only get me so far. Of course, my favorite resource will always be Twitter. I’ve gotten A LOT of use out of the “search from people you follow” function when looking for info on specific players.
Once I committed to the league, I started listening to the DLF podcast, as well as reading dynasty-related articles on the web. It’s a different mindset than I’m used to (compared to DFS/redraft), so it’s taken some time.
My draft board is a derivative of FFtoday, my eyes are my biggest resource though. I try to go off of what I see, there are so many varying opinions across the board it can be misleading. I use twitter for injury updates and current news
RotoViz, DLF and com
Pretty much only thefakefootball.com, although I did use fantasypros.com during the draft.
I’ve started following a few dynasty experts on Twitter, and look at some of the content they link to. Right now, I don’t really have a “go-to” resource.

My Takeaway: I love to see a vast array of websites and resources mentioned here. This goes to show that dynasty is growing is many ways, considering all of the content that is out there for new and old dynasty players.

What have the biggest differences you’ve already encountered in the dynasty format compared to others?

Trying not to sound redundant here, but being able to trade future picks changes everything. Trading rostered players in a redraft leagues is difficult in itself because everyone values players differently. In dynasty, you’re adding future trajectories of known commodities, with projected values of unknown commodities. It’s insanity.
The biggest difference in this format is how on point all the other owners are. There are a few players that got snagged from me in the later rounds that I thought were late round sleepers I could wait on. Not the case.
Well, I realized very quickly that rankings are all over the place for dynasty, and it forces you to make a lot more personal and subjective judgments than you might in redraft. Even though it’s always good to make your own decisions regardless of the format, it’s often much easier to fall back on the rankings and projections in redraft, but in dynasty, all bets are off.
How to draft a roster is the biggest one – when do you take rookies you like? How far do you let a Peyton Manning drop? I imagine that ongoing roster management is going to be big as well.
Length of the draft, time between picks and the realization that this is my team for the most part for next season and then after that
This is the first league I’ve been in that you can trade draft picks. I made a few trades during the draft but it was difficult to gauge the value of those picks beyond a year or two.
“Who are these players?” A common question I asked myself as the draft proceeded into the later rounds.

The research done on rookies was more extensive than usual.

I also believe it has forced me to do some more of my own analytical thinking, rather than “ranking regurgitation” or “copy & paste” strategies – which I did in the early years of redraft formats.

Roster size! Each team drafted 27 players…that’s 324 players! You really had to know those guys that are lower down on teams’ depth charts. My pre-draft rankings list was much more extensive than any re-draft rankings I’ve ever worked on.

My Takeaway: This was my favorite set of responses from the entire interview. Go back and re-read those answers again and remember what your first dynasty draft was like.

What is one challenge you’ve faced, or expect to face in this league that may be unique to dynasty leagues?

I feel like I’m one of the only people in our league who has not watched a lot of college football. This rarely matters in redraft, because rookies are generally pretty useless. In Dynasty, knowledge of young players is vital.
My main challenge is to be patient with my roster and believe in my Bots that they can be developed from within the organization and rely on building through the draft.
I have no idea how I’m going to approach trades and rookie draft picks. That’s going to take a lot more reading and listening, but I’m excited to start making moves, and making mistakes. The more mistakes I make, the more I’ll learn – or at least I hope so. I also know that I’ll have to rely more on trades than ever before. I’m usually a hawk when it comes to the waiver wire in redraft, but knowing how deep the rosters are and how thin the waiver wire is in dynasty, I’m going to have to step up my game as far as making deals is concerned.
Seems like I’ve touched on it a lot but the drafting (and where guys get drafted) was a big challenge for me – I’ve spoken about the different mindset needed. It’s been a great learning experience for me and I think it will absolutely help me with my redraft leagues as I now have a much better handle on the league’s personnel than I did before.
Having to over pay to fix an area of weakness on my team.
I think everyone has players they believe in. I would expect that in a dynasty league it will be much more difficult to cut bait with them if they aren’t who you expected them to be.
Evaluating trade proposals and trying to find the value in player “x” versus player “y”

I attempted to acquire Kevin White, but quickly realized I was unwilling to part with any of my rookies. I think by the time the counter offers were near fizzled out I had probably not offered anything of fair value. Again, this part of the game will demand analytical thinking and I will have to make sure not to insult anyone in order to keep owners ears open to my proposals.

I expect injuries to provide a unique challenge. Our rosters are obviously deeper, so we do have some backups that we could sub in if needed, but in other formats you could most likely find a suitable replacement to your starter on the waiver wire. That may still be true for this league, but those guys you would typically find on the waiver wire in other formats are going to be on someone else’s roster in this league. I suspect that trades may be more productive should injuries begin to pile up on your team.

My Takeaway: If you did what I asked and thought back to your first ever startup draft, you are surely remembering learning some of these lessons the hard way. Dynasty football is not a simple game if you want to be successful. Understanding your competitors, “scouting” by watching college football, determining the value of future rookie picks and being willing to stick your neck out and be wrong about a player are all parts of this game we love.

Thanks again to Kevin and all of the members of the Dynasty Trial by Fire league. I know you guys will have a great time in this game we all love.

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Ryan McDowell

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

In addition to his senior leadership role here at DLF, Ryan is also a husband, father of three and PE teacher. Ryan is the commissioner of multiple dynasty leagues, most notably the Kitchen Sink Dynasty Leagues. Here at DLF, Ryan’s focus is on identifying, monitoring and analyzing player value.