Riding the Dynasty Trade Waves

Photo: Jeff Hanisch, USA Today Sports

Dynasty fantasy football is the fastest-growing form of fantasy football. When you join your first dynasty league, it can be difficult to continually compete year in and year out. Keeping up with player values is tough to gauge, and knowing when to start shopping players is a difficult act to juggle. Sometimes, it can be a bit overwhelming to understand values on a player-by-player basis.

An easier approach to trading and roster construction is to tier your rosters by age and position. Once you do this, it is time to start looking at what positions you need the most help at, and if you are currently a contender or starting a fresh rebuild. When you have this all figured out, the easiest way to start trading and shopping other rosters is to know the right times to offer trades.

I call this riding the dynasty trade waves. If you learn how to ride the waves correctly, dynasty football is an experience like no other in fantasy football. Once you learn the best times to offer trades and who/what to offer, building your rosters becomes much easier. Here are the best times to offer trades in your dynasty football leagues.

Just Before Preseason Starts

We will use this as a starting point and go through the football year chronologically. At this point, fantasy managers are getting fired up about the season. The draft is over, the free agency frenzy has come and gone, and NFL rosters are more clear than they were, say, two months ago. Here is where you look at your roster and see if you have holes that need to be filled. Full disclosure: this point of the season is only good for teams who believe they are contending to start trading.

Why, you ask? Managers are not at the point where they are in mid-season when they are thumbing deep through their roster, looking to fill a void due to injury. Player values are nowhere near as high as they are midway through the year. So, if you are rebuilding, this is the worst time to sell, but if you are contending, it is the time of year to take a few calculated risks to beef up your roster before values spike.

What you want to start looking at is camp positional battles. This is especially so if you are looking to upgrade any of your IDP positions. On offense, most of the NFL rosters are close to set in stone outside of some WR3 battles or potentially a running back camp battle. Either way, find a position you would like to upgrade at and look for some intriguing camp battles. Once you find a higher profile battle, shoot your shot on who you think will win that positional battle. Make an offer on that player now before the preseason starts and the battle begins.

Usually, managers who have some of these players in battles will hit the accept button quicker than normal in fear that if they do not recoup value now, the player will lose all potential value if they lose their camp battle. It is a risk, considering there is no clear indicator of who wins the battle, but it comes at the lowest risk time of the season with the lowest price tag. This is the time of year to take low-dollar risks.

The Trade Deadline

This is the obvious one, I mean trade is in the heading. You still need to know how to manage the deadline because this is when values have spiked and trades start getting whacky. Teams that are at the top of the standings will start tossing out some pretty outlandish offers to land players who they think will get them to the top of the mountain and win the championship. Player values have peaked, causing managers to really push for their guys.

To me, this is the best time to sell, even if you are contending. As mentioned above, this is where contenders start sending some pretty high-profile offers, usually draft picks, to land veterans or players that will vault them toward a title. If I am a team that is looking towards a rebuild, this is when I am looking at my aging yet still productive veterans and am throwing them on the trade block.

A good example from last year would have been trading Stefon Diggs at the deadline. There was obviously some turmoil going on in Buffalo, and the writing was on the wall about his time being done there. This did not stop him from putting up low-end WR1 numbers last year, though. Add the fact that he is 30, and this is the time to try and gain some value for him before his inevitable descent down the dynasty rankings. Find the contending managers who are weak at the wide receiver position. Send some offers looking for some impressive draft capital and see where it goes. Between the ages of 29 and 30 seems to be the right time to start looking to trade players. They are at the tail end of their prime, usually still putting up impressive enough numbers to get a solid return on investment.

With all that said, if you have a team that is littered with high-profile, young players, just go for it. If you have a current roster construction that has a core that remains in its prime for another four to five years, then sell the farm on the season, get rid of upcoming draft picks, land some more talent, and beef up your roster for a playoff run. I would rather sell here, but it is also one of the easier times to acquire players, just potentially the most expensive time.