Beware of Paying a High Price for Dynasty WRs

Photo: Jerry Habraken, USA Today Sports

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One of the best parts about dynasty fantasy football leagues is the year-long commitment to the team. The ongoing nature of dynasty teams creates a lot of advantages for GMs who use good strategy and roster construction. Free agency, trades, the NFL Draft, and the different news cycles lead to different strategies for different positions. This series will focus on different moves to make this month.

Be Cautious on Paying for Upgrades

Trading for elite wide receivers has three benefits: longevity, higher odds of production, and more optimized roster construction.

There are two rules to follow when using full measures at the wide receiver position.

First, do not pay elite prices for very good receivers.

Dynasty GMs too frequently settle for imposters or incompletes when paying elite prices at the wide receiver position. The early career production of D.J. Moore, Amari Cooper, and DK Metcalf vaulted them into the elite prices of the position before they leveled into the WR2 range of production and failed to meet the price expectations. WR2s do not give your roster an edge and can be acquired for significantly less than top-five wide receiver costs. Making these types of trades also limits your ability to address premium positions in other trades.

Dig Deeper: See our complete wide receiver projections here >>>

Instead, only pay elite prices for players who have shown they are elite.

Actual elite wide receivers have a top-six finish on their resume and a seasonal finish with more than nine targets per game.

The difference between good and very good is big at the position. The difference between very good and elite is even bigger. Truly elite wide receivers are those who have sustained elite workloads with elite production. Do not pay the price until a wide receiver has shown they can do both. Paying elite prices for a very good wide receiver is subjecting yourself to the whims of variance and rules out other options for a trade.