You have been looking at all of the articles, tweets, and conversations about dynasty leagues and you really want to jump on the dynasty bandwagon. Below is an introduction to dynasty leagues and how to do them right. What factors do you need to look at in order to start or join a successful dynasty league? How different are they from standard redraft or keeper leagues? What sites are the best to set them up on?
Types of Leagues
First, in dynasty leagues you are generally keeping most, if not all, of your roster from year to year. There are generally two types of dynasty leagues, regular dynasty and devy leagues. Regular dynasty leagues tend to have a rookie draft held sometime after the NFL Draft. If your league doesn’t have you keep your entire roster, free agents can be incorporated into the rookie draft. Devy leagues will incorporate college football into your roster. These leagues will have a college draft once a year where you will choose players still in the NCAA that will be graduated to your pro roster when drafted. Devy leagues are clearly more challenging it forces you to not only pay more attention to the college game, but also try to predict which players will have their skills translate to the pro game. Tim Tebow was an amazing college quarterback, but clearly that didn’t matter when he made it to the NFL. Success in a college game doesn’t always mean pro success, especially on teams that run offenses that aren’t typical in the NFL.
Taxi Squad
Another unique, and fun, aspect of many dynasty leagues is the taxi squad. This is a number of roster spots that technically aren’t roster spots. These are additional players that you do have control of, but technically don’t count against you. Generally there are rules of who can be on your taxi squad, and it is usually players in the first two to three years of their time in the NFL. In devy leagues, this is also where you would house your college players as you wait for them to be drafted. This helps you still “roster” players that you are taking a flier on but are unsure of the role that they may have on their NFL team. Do you like a rookie wide receiver that was taken in the sixth round of the NFL draft but he might be sitting fourth or fifth on his team’s depth chart right now? Stick him on your taxi squad, and who knows an injury or two and he could be starting by Week 8. Promote from your taxi squad (at which point you will have to demote a player or cut a player to make room), and boom you could have a weekly starter. Taxi squads add more flair to your league, and rewards those active, knowledgeable owners even more.
Owner Characteristics
Perhaps the most important factor in having a successful dynasty fantasy league is having acting owners. These leagues are not like redraft or keeper leagues in that activity for the year is all done between the draft and the league championship. Sure, in some keeper leagues there could be a keeper trade but even that is generally at the keeper deadline or near the yearly draft. However, between December and August the league is basically dormant. Dynasty leagues are very different. There are always trades in the offseason, and many times they involve trading draft picks. Some leagues allow free agent moves during the offseason. Did a player change teams during free agency and now has a much better outlook for the coming season? Those paying more attention will always be rewarded. Having owners that pay no attention to college or rookies also could make the league less fun. Sure, you would be able to secure yourself a better roster, but doesn’t everyone like good competition?
Where to play the league?
There are many sites that are geared towards setting up successful dynasty leagues. While this article will not offer any recommendations of which is the best to use, here are some options for you to research. Of course, My Fantasy League has been around the longest. The ability to customize your league basically any way you want it has been a calling card of this site since its inception. Flea Flicker is another site that has been around a while and definitely prides itself in the dynasty format. Importing your league rosters from another site is done easily, and endless customization makes it another great site to host your dynasty league from. There are a couple of newer kids on the block that are also getting into the dynasty game as the popularity of the format continues to grow. Fantrax burst on the scene in the recent past and is now offering dynasty leagues fit to your needs. Finally, Sleeper.app has really come on strong in the last year. Offering user friendly setup and use, Sleeper appears to be trying to take some of the complications out of your league. All four sites also have mobile apps for you to use, with varying degrees of success.
Choose Settings Wisely
If you are looking to start a dynasty league, create the settings carefully in Year 1. Once a league gets going, everything should stay the same from year to year when it comes to roster size, point system, and rules. Changing settings from year to year is even more complex than in redraft and keeper leagues because you keep most, if not all of your roster. Making the shift from starting three wide receivers each week to four, or perhaps changing from standard to PPR scoring would not be taken lightly. People should have their roster built not just for the current season or even the next season, roster should be built to not only win now, but put yourself in a position to win four or five years down the line. Any changes to settings, scoring, or rosters should be done by a full league vote, and in many people’s opinion should have to be unanimous to be put into effect. Don’t put your league in that kind of predicament. Think through your initial settings very carefully.
Trades
The final important factor to be discussed about dynasty leagues is trading. In redraft, and even in keeper leagues to an extent, trades are pretty cut and dry. Both owners are likely trying to better their team this year, or perhaps in keeper leagues they have next year in mind. It is pretty easy to see if the two owners are making a fair trade. Dynasty is a bit of a different animal given the fact that owners not only need to think of the current year, but also way down the line. Teams can often decide that they realistically don’t have a shot this year and could look to drastically change their roster to look towards the future. Some of the dynasty trades might look unfair at the time they are done, but could pay off handsomely for an owner two or three years later. It is important to set forth how trades will be handled. Will it be a league vote? Will it be solely on the commissioner? This could be one of the more important decisions when setting up your dynasty league. However, if you are worried about two teams in collusion or one owner dumping players to another team, they probably shouldn’t be in your league anyway. This goes back to how important it is in selecting who will be in the league with you.
That should get you started with jumping into the dynasty game, sure there are other factors to decide like roster size, starting positions, and more, but those are pretty easy. Dynasty is a great way to enjoy fantasy football, especially if the concept of redraft leaves you wanting more. Dynasty is for the real fantasy football junkies, and rewards those who eat, sleep, and dream fantasy football. By making the correct decisions on getting one started it is a great way to scratch that year long fantasy football itch.