Off-Season Agenda: Monthly Breakdown
Now that we have begun a new year, it’s time to map out your dynasty plan for 2016. For some dynasty owners, that simply means checking back in for a rookie draft in late summer, but that’s not how we do things at Dynasty League Football. I’ll share with you the rough template for my off-season plan. While some of these things will be happening consistently throughout the league’s down time, I have chosen a month where they are most crucial. Feel free to adopt this as your own, or borrow pieces that best fit you and your league.
January– While many owners are ready to jump right back into the swing of things are start wheeling and dealing, I like to take a little bit of time during these few weeks to conduct a thorough analysis of each of my teams. This would include identifying the strengths and weaknesses, players I want to trade or target in a trade and setting some off-season goals for each team. I also am sure to record these plans, not just quickly take a look and think about the team. That way, I am able to reflect on these goals later in the off-season.
February– The first major event I’ll be looking forward to happens in February as we get a good look at the top incoming rookies while they go through the drills at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis during the NFL Combine. I’m not one of the dynasty owners who will completely base all of my rankings and opinions on the data that comes from this weekend in February, but I do think it is important. If it wasn’t it wouldn’t draw such a crowd or coaches, scouts and general managers.
As you might know, I am also heavily involved in devy leagues, which allow participants to roster college players before they enter the NFL. February is the time I really begin to dig into some research on these pre-NFL players. This mostly includes some “breakout” players from the previous season I may not have seen much during the college season.
February is not just about the exiting college players, but also about the first time college players as National Signing Day will hold the attention of all major college football fans, as well as the most dedicated devy dynasty participants. I’ve seen some recent data that a very low percentage of top ranked high school players ever have NFL success, and while this is probably true, it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t consider all available information.
March– It’s time to really start acting on that plan for each dynasty team. There are likely many actions necessary to complete this, but one area that gets a lot of my attention at this time of year is trading. More specifically, making consolidation trades. In short, I try to package multiple depth players for one player who could make a strong impact on my starting lineup. That’s not always easy, but it’s an important part of the process. [inlinead]
Another event taking place this month involves a rule I created for a few of my leagues called second chance. I’ve written about it before, but it basically allows each owner to make the choice between continuing forward with their team as it is or making all of the assets (players and draft picks) available for the second chance draft. If more than one team opts for this, then a sort of a dispersal draft is held between those owners. This has become a way to reinvigorate my leagues at a time that many view as a dead period in dynasty leagues.
April– Spring is here and that means it’s time to truly focus on the NFL Draft. Of course, the draft will be held at the end of this month. If you need to find me anytime this month, just look over at Draft Breakdown. I’ll likely be there getting one final look at the top incoming prospects before they hear their name called on draft weekend. Once we do know the exact landing spots of the incoming rookies, it is important to quickly develop rookie rankings as well as inserting the rookies amongst veterans in dynasty rankings.
May– I’m not sure how your league does things, but for me, May is all about rookie drafts and auctions across each of my numerous dynasty leagues. At this point, I’ve put in weeks, if not months, or studying, reading, and watching these new rookies and its time for that work to pay off by improving my team and checking off another part of the off-season plan I created back in January.
June– This is probably the quietest month on the NFL calendar, but competitive dynasty owners can’t take a break. In June, I will be spending my time scouring the waiver wire in each of my leagues. While some of my leagues keep the waiver wire open year round, a few wait until the conclusion of the rookie draft to make these castoffs available. This means there are likely some player who have gained value through free agency or even the draft who are now deserving of a roster spot. Be ready when your wire opens and scoop these players up. Also, making some of those consolidation trades can free up empty roster spots for these waiver wire darlings.
July– Another, and the last, somewhat slow month in the NFL circles. Training camps haven’t fully kicked off yet, so I will be using the month of July to revisit my plans and goals created in January. By this time, most of those team specific targets should have been accomplished. If not, I know exactly what needs to happen in the final few weeks before the regular season begins.
August– Training camps are now in full swing and by the end of the month, it will nearly be time for the Hall of Fame game, our first look at actual NFL game action in the past several months. It’s crucial to follow the action and news coming out of each team’s training camp and we’ll have you covered at DLF with plenty of updates on camp battles and more.
[ad5]
- DLF’s April 1QB Trade Value Chart - April 24, 2024
- Monday Mocks: Expert 2024 Rookie Mock Draft - April 22, 2024
- Monday Mocks: 2024 Landing Spots - April 15, 2024
