The Dynasty Trade Finder

Special thanks go out to DLF Senior Writer TheFFGhost for the initial idea of this new tool and to Mike MacGregor for coding and building the tool. Also special thanks to our friends at MyFantasyLeague.com for providing the best league hosting service anywhere!

One of the great challenges in playing dynasty fantasy football involves player valuation. Knowing how much a player is worth in trade situations is a dicey business. Many factors affect perceived player value, and a couple standard methods attempt to articulate that value.

Player rankings are the most well established method. Dynasty rankings are readily available from many sources, including our own extensive set of dynasty rankings here at DLF. They are a quick way to gauge the perceived value as seen by experienced industry analysts. The are easy to understand but may not always react to rapidly changing player situations.

Average Draft Position, or ADP, has also been a staple of the dynasty fantasy community for many years. DLF Senior Writer Ryan McDowell has consistently and tirelessly collected ADP data over the past several seasons. The data collected reflects player valuation through the lens of mock drafts, and has helped countless owners make informed decisions on trade proposals or aided these owners in developing trade proposals of their own.

Taken together, player rankings and ADP are amazingly useful tools to help owners determine player value, but they each have their strengths and shortcomings. They are valuable tools in the tool belt to be sure, but they are nonetheless singular, imperfect tools. What if there was a another tool that could provide another perspective on player valuation? One which could tap into more real-world data to help make the trading aspect of dynasty leagues clearer or help spur ideas into possible trades?

Now there is!

For the last two months, several members of the DLF team have worked closely together to bring to life an idea that began with an insight I had into the data provided through the premier fantasy league host, MyFantasyLeague (MFL). MFL provides access to a wealth of league information through it’s developer API. This resource can be used to collect a vast amount of publicly available data on league activity. My idea was to collect this information, filter it on league type, and use it to view trade data. Working closely with crack developer and industry legend Mike MacGregor, we were able to turn this idea into a fully functional web application.

Without further ado, DLF is proud to announce the Dynasty Trade Finder.

The Trade Finder harvests information from several thousand dynasty leagues currently hosted at MFL. Each completed trade in every one of these leagues is collected and classified with several criteria such as league scoring, size and starting lineup requirements. The data is searchable via a simple yet elegant interface. Simply type any player’s name into the search box and press the “Search” button and the most recent available trades in the database will be displayed. Furthermore, you can filter the results based on the date of the trade, number of teams, number of starting quarterbacks, touchdown scoring and PPR scoring. You can even search for trades involving draft picks!

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say this tool is going to be your new best friend when it comes to trading and player valuation in dynasty leagues! By drawing upon real-world data across a large and ever-growing sample size of leagues, another valuable perspective is gained into how players and picks are being valued in real life situations. While no single tool is a perfect indicator of player value, the Dynasty Trade Finder does offer a new and unique complement to existing industry standard tools.

Don’t believe me? Check it out for yourself!

Thanks, enjoy, and please be sure to share your thoughts below.