Dynasty Record-Keeping and Organization

Now, I bet you’re wondering. What on earth are we talking about with this title? This article doesn’t sound like it will provide any statistical analysis or a deep dive into a player. However, sometimes, we like to give practical advice about the day-to-day process of playing dynasty.

Here, I’ll go into depth into my process for managing and tracking my dynasty teams, scouting and taking notes on opposing managers, how to create your own rankings spreadsheet and draft board, and finally, how to track league history in fun ways.

Let’s hop into it!

Managing and Tracking My Dynasty Teams

It’s essential to stay organized when managing your dynasty rosters. If you aren’t organized, you will miss out on vital free agents and lose track of your team’s overall picture. Additionally, I know that some of you have many, many dynasty rosters, so keeping track of your player shares could also be relevant.

First, I recommend using the myDLF import tools. You can import any league on Sleeper, MFL, Fleaflicker, or FFPC there, allowing you to use DLF’s tools in your league’s context. Specifically, you can import rosters into the DLF trade analyzer, which helps construct trades given your league’s rosters. Also, you can compare your roster to DLF’s dynasty ADP and rankings, filtering out free agents and rostered players. If you’re reading this article, you have access to myDLF, so give it a try.

However, I do have an additional suggestion beyond the myDLF tools. Those tools are excellent, but they don’t truly allow you to view all of your teams simultaneously or to view your teams in the way that I like to see them. Therefore, I also like to write out my dynasty teams in a “forum signature” format. I first saw this format in the DLF forums back in 2018, and I’ve used it ever since. Here’s my template, using my Trade Addicts 8 roster as an example.

As you can see, it has the league format up top, followed by a list of players at each position in order of their dynasty value. Then, there is a section called “roster bubble,” which denotes my first cuts with the first cut on the right. That section allows me to easily do waiver pickups, especially during the craziness of the NFL season and shows me how many easy cuts I have for rookie draft season. And last, there is a list of all of my future rookie picks, separated by year, to keep those organized. I’m not saying that you have to do it exactly this way, but I wanted to provide an example for anyone interested.

Scouting Opposing Dynasty Managers

This tip is more second-level. Track what your opposing dynasty managers think. That advice applies both to specific players’ values and their overall strategy. Certain managers like stockpiling draft picks, whereas others always trade them away. Maybe a dynasty manager likes a particular NFL team, and they overvalue players from that team.

If you’re playing against a content creator like me, all my takes are publicly out there. If you hear a league opponent on a podcast hyping a player, mark that down. Perhaps you can trade that player to them. In contrast, if they mention that they dislike a specific player, then check their roster, as they may want to deal him away.

If you’re in multiple leagues, I understand if it’s too difficult to track on a complete basis. But at least keep it in mind. There’s nothing wrong with having a separate document with some notes on your opponents, even if it’s just a few things. It’s one of those little edges that can help differentiate between a good and an excellent dynasty roster.

Creating a Rankings Spreadsheet

I often mention that dynasty managers should create their own rankings to take ownership of the rankings and player value processes. However, while the suggestion is old news, I want to give a bit of detail on constructing such a spreadsheet.

The rankings themselves aren’t particularly important, but I wanted to show my spreadsheet as an example. I also import the DLF ADP data into my spreadsheet for easy cross-referencing. Additionally, I like making tiered lists, which you can see on the right for the quarterbacks in superflex. I also have a separate sheet for rookies, and use rookie picks as placeholders in my rankings until the NFL Draft.

Once again, there’s no reason that you have to do your spreadsheet the same way I have mine. The important part is that you are comfortable referencing it for trades, and you update it regularly. Overall, I find a rankings spreadsheet extremely helpful, and I suggest that everyone at least gives it a try!

The Wonders of League History

For this final section, I want to take more of a fun spin on this idea of organization and record-keeping. The most fun dynasty leagues are those where the managers all come together and have fun. I think dynasty managers can have a lot more fun by doing some cool things with their league history.

First, any league should at least track who won previous seasons. Many platforms do that for you, but some, like ESPN, reset some data from year to year. If your platform doesn’t track that information in detail, I suggest recording it on a group Google Doc that everyone can access.

For extra fun, the whole league could splurge on a trophy with each winning team engraved or placed on the trophy. I know it might seem a bit dorky, but I think it’s a fantastic way to make your league more fun. None of this affects the ins and outs of playing dynasty, but fantasy football is supposed to be fun. Often in life, it’s the little details that make the most significant difference.

Dynasty Record-Keeping and Organization