Rebuilding: The Value of Trading a High Rookie Pick

Doug Veatch

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If you’ve never looked at your dynasty team and honestly thought to yourself, “it’s time for a rebuild,” the future is now.  It means you’ve looked at your roster over and over (and over) and determined you have a legitimate three year window in which to win a championship – that’s what this game is about after all, isn’t it?  Winning?

Now that we’re on the subject, I’ve got an idea.  Since you already have your laptop, smart phone, tablet or whatever in your hands right now, do me (and yourself) a favor.  I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but stop reading this article (that really hurt), pull up your roster(s), take as long as you need, be brutally honest with yourself and make that determination right now.  We’ll pickup this conversation whenever you’re ready…

Welcome back!

After pulling up my dynasty rosters and doing a thorough evaluation of my own teams, it looks highly probable you’ve come to one of four conclusions:

1.) I’m a legit contender

2.) I’m a playoff team

3.) I’m on the verge of being a playoff team

4.) I’m rebuilding.

Chances are you own multiple teams (since dynasty football is highly addictive) and find yourself in a situation where all four scenarios may describe more than one of your dynasty team. Today, I’d like to focus my attention on the teams that are rebuilding.

Whether you had a poor start-up draft, took over an orphan team, had a series of bad trades or whatever the case may be, your team is clearly in rough shape. The good new is this – the rookie draft is right around the corner!  If you haven’t already traded away your draft picks (since you’re probably sitting with a top three pick), listen up.  You (yes you) are in a position of power. Why, you ask?  Because the teams that are competitive year in, year out want your picks, bad.  So bad in fact, they may be willing to overpay you for them.To put it into perspective, last year I paid Torrey Smith, two first round picks (2013 & 2014), a second round pick and a third round pick to obtain the services of Trent Richardson at pick 1.01.  A player we all thought would be great (turns out we were right), but had never played a down at the NFL level and had some injury concerns.

The team I acquired that pick from had been the perennial basement dweller of our league for five years, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Then, something funny happened.  After our trade, he started becoming a hyper-active owner, which he had never been.  He ended up swindling Drew Brees, committed grand larceny while acquiring Tony Gonzalez (traded Joique Bell straight up for him) and gave up one of my first round picks straight up for Darren Sproles (yes, it’s a PPR league).  It seemed like all he had to do was make one good trade to boost his confidence and he was off to the races.  The difference was he had some additional pieces to work with after trading pick 1.01.

After that, the players he had either drafted or picked up off of the waiver wire over the years like Michael Crabtree, Eric Decker and Antonio Brown started producing at a very high level and kept getting stronger as the season got shorter.

Not only did this former scratching post of the league finish with a 9-4 record and a first round bye, but he also beat yours truly in the semi-finals, earning him a spot in the championship game.  While he ended up falling short in the end of winning it all, it was the biggest one season turnaround I had ever seen in a dynasty league, and it all started by trading away that high end first round pick, which will still be paying him dividends in the 2014 rookie draft.

So the moral of the story is this – don’t put all your eggs in one basket.  It’s time to diversify your portfolio.  Having a high end first round pick can net you so much more than the ONE player you intend to draft.  It gives you bargaining power to go after additional proven players who can stock your roster with young, upcoming talent for years to come.  Do not commit the cardinal sin and trade your high end picks away before the NFL Draft, unless you get an offer that is too good to turn down.  Situation always drives up prices.  Always!

To put it into its simplest terms, you’re taking a risk management approach by targeting multiple younger players like Josh Gordon, Justin Blackmon, T.Y. Hilton and David Wilson while also being compensated with future draft picks at the same time – this is the best way for rebuilding teams to become relevant in a hurry.

If I (as well as thousands of other dynasty owners) was willing to pay that much to latch on to Richardson last year, how much will someone pay you for the pleasure of owning Eddy Lacy this season? That is yet to be determined, but I guarantee you that if you search hard enough for the right trade partner, you will be rewarded handsomely.  I know you’re sick of finishing in the bottom three every year, aren’t you?  One advantageous trade can reshape the entire core of your team.

Do you have a success story like this of your own?

Follow me on Twitter @harahduh2.

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doug veatch
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