Off-Season Advice: NFL Draft Edition
I’ve been offering in-season lineup advice on DLF for many years now. It’s one of our most popular recurring pieces and it allows DLF to interface with our members directly, something we are very much known for. In fact, more than anything else in my opinion, that approach is what sets DLF apart from our competition – Individualized and personalized interaction with our community!
As interest and popularity of the in-season advice offering grew, I witnessed an ever-increasing volume of other questions related to trading, roster building, keepers, free agency, rookies and other generalized strategy questions. If not for the increasing volume of lineup questions, I would have liked to have been able to spend even more time with our members answering these queries. It got me thinking that the popularity and impact of a season-long advice series would be great enough to suggest it now be on the seasonal menu.
Dynasty players surely know, as DLF’s tag line also reinforces: There is NO off-season! In any given month, dynasty players are evaluating rookies, preparing for declaration day, preparing for the NFL Combine and NFL Draft, performing rookie drafts, following training camp(s), engaging in new league start-up drafts, or any number of other activities which help the engaged dynasty coach to prepare for kick-off in Sept. each year. Commitment + Preparation = Long Term Success. This equation is only slightly less known than any one of Professor Einstein’s popular offerings and certainly easier to understand.
Many other sites offer advice as well, but charge for each individual question or larger service such as draft preparation. At DLF, our goal has always been to have a single price which yields everything we have to offer. We always seek to increase our value proposition to you. So, that said, here is the maiden voyage of our “off”-season advice offering. I may quickly find out why others charge for the service or, having answered hundreds of lineup advice questions weekly during the season already, it’s quite possible the volume will be manageable. Truth be told, I don’t know what to expect. What I do know is our community is filled with engaged, committed and passionate dynasty players and sometimes you have questions or need a second opinion.
The service is reserved for our Premium Members. It is you who have helped build DLF with the hope of realizing greater success in your individual leagues. Many refuse to pay for anything on the web, especially when it comes to fantasy football information. We respect that position, too, but without our Premium Members, DLF doesn’t exist. It really is that simple. Hopefully this series will be yet another arrow in your quiver as you build your dynasty teams.
To begin, I’m not putting many restrictions on the advice. Ask what you will. Include anything you think will help me in understand your situation. Please do not post links to your leagues, etc. Instead, add information about your scoring format, roster set-up, rules, etc. which I can use to help you with any decisions to be made. We’ll start there and amend as needed.
NFL Draft 2019
Nothing officially kicks-off a new season like the NFL Draft!
If you’ve been following me this year, you know I’m not high on this draft, at least not for the first half of the first round. While there are good players represented, I could make an argument for eight, arguably 10, of this year’s rookies being a valid 1.01 selection prior to draft day. That makes for far too much risk if you hold the 1.01 in a draft devoid of the normal yearly stratification of players. That’s not to say we won’t have difference-makers in this draft or even at the top of the first round, I’m just far more inclined to allow another coach to take that risk while I take known production in return for those picks.
Ideally, I’d like to have picks outside the top-five, and have been targeting selections six through 15. In fact, should I be able to acquire multiple second round selections in that range, and trade out of the first round altogether, I’d be a happy coach. As is the case every year, once the commissioner starts calling players, fantasy draft selections begin losing value. Players falling to poor situations, either due to existing depth or poor team performance, very rarely do selections outside of the top three rise in value. For that reason, it’s best to trade your draft picks ahead of the draft or, if you are in the market, wait until the dust settles and talented players fall to less-than-stellar situations. Then, strike quickly!
Update: The NFL Draft is now complete and what a draft it was. As expected, this year’s incoming rookies collectively make for a fantasy cesspool of sorts and I can’t remember a year when the positional and Top 50 rankings were so difficult to complete. True to my preparation, I feel very fulfilled I traded out of all possible high selections wherever I could. While I had hoped the early teen selections in dynasty rookie drafts would bear fruit, it’s not looking like the draft may have tightened up a bit to picks 10 or 11 or so with a LOT of variability beyond. That would make a selection of the top quarterbacks more viable early into the second round of 12-team leagues. This is now a situation fraught with a lot of risk, but with reward possible anywhere in the top 35 selections. Draft well and good luck!
Regardless of what situation you are in or what questions you may have, we’re here for you!
Let’s get this party started! Just leave a comment below to ask your question.
You can find Jeff on Twitter at @dlf_jeff
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