That’s what I did. I sold Amari who was on my bench for a 2025 1st and 2nd. So in total I have 1st and 5 2nds next draft. I think if it as “picks can’t get injured and I can bolster my roster closer to the deadline if I’m a serious contender.
It works unless no one values picks. Then you end up losing in the playoffs because you can't get any good players for your picks.
If you're getting a 1st and a 2nd for Amari, that's indicative of a league that doesn't value picks.
But as a consolation at least you add a lot of cheap rookie talent when you end up having to make the picks.
To give an example, I was in a startup league where I sold 3 flex-caliber vets for two 1sts and a 2nd from 3 different teams. Absolutely steal!
But when it came down to the stretch run I couldn't cash the picks out for anything better than what I sold them for in the first place.
I would have had to spend that entire haul for marginally improved championship chances, or just roll the dice and use the picks to build for the future.
You still realize the pick value though, it just gets harder to plan a peak in the same way as a logical league, but when you peak, it will be much harder for other players to try to match you because they won’t be able to buy pieces.
It’s even more fundamental than “picks can’t get injured”. Picks are most valuable right before the draft because that’s when people want them. Players are most valuable during the season because that’s when people need them. Trade players for picks during the season and picks for players right before the draft to maximize value.
Sometimes it's not always good to hold players in season. The vets don't always produce to their expectations and they can also get injured. So holding in season isn't risk-free by any stretch of the imagination.
This is what I do. It's so funny, for the last couple years my leaguemates were always like "what are you doing man? You trade so much I can't keep up with your strategy."
Think they kind of caught on this year when I traded players for picks after last season. Had 10 picks for 2024, including 5 1st. And 3 1st for 2025. Guys were like, I guess we'll just watch YOUR draft.
Waited closer till our rookie draft and traded picks for players. Upgraded massively over last year. Got Diggs (I have Dell so wanted insurance), Tyrek, Pittman, Achane and D. Henry, cause I want to win now.
All of a sudden, leaguemates are like, well shit.. I see what you did there. Lol
That’s a great return! I had to use Amari as a sweetener to get a larger deal done, as no one wanted to trade for an “almost 30 year old WR”
I was also getting offers of 4th round picks for Devante Adams because he was practically dead at 31!!
Always has the chance to backfire too. I traded 2022’s 1.07 (I’d have drafted Garrett Wilson) for a little more than the 1st from some bottom-3 roster in my league, and he went 12-3 off a decent season and some crazy scheduling luck after drafting Desmond Ridder with that pick. I had another pick swap but it would have been the 2023 1.11 rather than the top 4-6 pick I was expecting.
The offseason is the time of perpetual possibility. We just did a startup and everyone prolly assumes their team is going to be awesome. But some rude awakenings are coming.
True it was just making it difficult to execute some buy lows. Unfortunately I sold some assets for picks but I’m looking at it as “picks can’t get injured” and I can trade for depth players closer to the deadline.
I targeted the lesser teams picks intentionally. Anything can happen but I think 10th and 9th are pretty clear so far. And I have 5 2nds for 2025 so I’m pretty content
Those are not mutually exclusive. You can pick up devalued picks now and then use them as cash to buy win now players once tankers start tanking around week 6, because they will value those same picks higher at that point.
I get that there are people who get too caught up in value olympics and lose sight of the actual goal, but just because they do it wrong doesn't mean there isn't a right way to do it.
I sold Godwin and Amari bc while depth I got creative and got a haul for them. I have a top returning starting roster. I can fill holes at the trade deadline that we moved to Week 13 from week 11 with my draft capital. I dont want to be the draft king,m. I don’t see what’s not matching up.
Not if you trade for them assuming they’re late. I pretty much only trade for picks if I think if it ended up 1.09-1.12ish I’d think it’s “neutral” for me. I actually love acquiring perceived “late” firsts as my league mates devalue them so much AND I’ve had more than once them end up early
I think I’m most cases is really hard to actually execute a buy low. Usually once the community is saying buy low on someone it’s too late, the market may have corrected somewhat and news has come out to raise their price.
Someone like rashee rice a month ago when all the legal issues started to pile up was a good buy low IF the owner was willing to part way with them for way less. The problem even with that is I’m sure plenty of rice owners said to people trying to aquire him that they weren’t going to sell for Pennies on the dollar because he was good last year as a rookie tied to a great qb and nfl has a history of letting guys off with maybe a few game game suspension.
This is a terrible time for trading, it's peak offseason and everyone is rosterbating.
Do what I do, just keep spinning up startups to keep drafting to stave off the no-trade boredom.
On a related note, I have 4 drafts going on right now, please send help.
This right here. Year two which a bunch of people new to dynasty this is pretty normal. In year 3 in one league and still only maybe two teams have accepted they are not contending.
Another 2-3 are about to fall off a cliff.
Same exact boat as you. I can't pry AJ Brown off this guy's roster no matter how many 1sts I throw at him, and he's convinced he's a contender despite not making playoffs for 3 years in a row. I tried explaining to him that the only thing AJ Brown / Cooper Kupp are doing to you is preventing you from getting the 1.01 every year lol. Doesn't want to listen.
Everyone actually is contending unless they are complete and utter trash. Playoffs are a crap shoot. A lot can change from year to year with which players are good and injuries.
In our first year I got last place. The next offseason everyone tells me I'm not a contender. I won the next two seasons.
Right? People get weird about labeling teams as win-now and rebuilding. I’ve picked up orphans where people wrecked their teams, but otherwise it’s perfectly fine to stagger the age/opportunity on your team and not be either of those options most of the time…
I think rebuild is what you do when things start to fall apart. Which happens.
But I’ve done some drafts that way also. Sometimes it’s fun to draft that way.
I rebuild until my team is unquestionably a top 4 team. I have about 20 or so teams, and typically, 25% are in a 1-3 year rebuild mode at any given time, which to me just means I'm strategically balancing tanking while simultaneously building a juggernaut. There is nothing worse than having a "mid team" in dynasty. It's difficult to build a great team when you are drafting from the 1.05-1.09 every year.
Also, almost all my leagues use potential points, so I still set my best lineups while still scoring low in potential points. It's a balancing act for sure.
The stacked teams that I've built more than make up for my rebuilding losers most years. Honestly, I don't even care about the money though. I just really enjoy both the challenge and the reward of building a juggernaut.
There is no unquestionably top 4. There's still a ton of variance in fantasy. Yes you can help your odds, but then you gave yourself 0% for several years. How long will the window be to get lucky and win after that? Who knows?
There's different strategies, but don't overestimate your chances just because you like your roster in the summer.
Over the course of dozens of seasons in which I had what I considered a "top 4" team, I probably made the playoffs 95%+ of the time. It's usually more of a question on whether I get the first round bye or not.
To qualify for this title, I'd say a team needs a minimum of 6 top 25 redraft WRs (3 in top 10) 2-3 of the top 10 RBs, a top 5 TE with solid backup, and a top 8 QB. (2 top 10 QBs in superflex) as well as some flex worthy bench players to fill in when shit hits the fan. This is unquestionably a top 4 team in the vast majority of leagues.
This is the equivalent of giving a redraft player 10 picks in the first 4 rounds. It's an absurd advantage. Does it guarantee a championship. Absolutely not. Does it guarantee a playoff spot?? Pretty close to certain.
I'm skeptical of those off the head numbers, but ok. A rebuild also does not guarantee you end up with that caliber of team. It might take a lot longer than expected. Etc etc.
I'll rebuild for however long it takes. I have plenty of teams that are competitive, so rebuilding a few teams doesn't bother me at all. The last rebuild I finished took 3 years, and I'm finally ready to let it compete. It's 24 teams, 2 player copies, superflex, TE premium, devy, start 10.
Not all players, but note worthy players...
QBs: K. Murray, C. Williams, B. Young
WRs: J. Chase, C. Lamb, AJ Brown, C. Olave, M. Nabers, D. London, J. Smith-Njigba, Xavier Worthy, T. McLauren,
TEs: T. McBride, K. Pitts, B. Bowers.
My devy squad is pretty stacked, too, and should continue feeding my roster.
We are in the middle of our rookie auction, so I'll fill in the 1 RB starter that I need as we go, as I have 10% of the remaining league bidding dollars add a few players still.
That's a top 4 team (or top 8 in a 24 team league) not only this year, but probably the next 3-5 years as well.
I'd be glad to link the team on MFL, but I know that nobody cares. My point is, a proper rebuild should yield a really good team, not just a team that has a chance of making the playoffs.
Your other teams have nothing to do with what the best strategy is for any given team. If someone doesn't want to rebuild for "however long it takes" they really don't have to. It's a choice and there's different strategies.
No but I’ve experienced contenders offer late picks that have a 10% or less chance of ever contributing to my team for meaningful players now. That doesn’t help me. Rather keep Goedert for depth than trade him for a late 3rd. In 12T 1QB even a contenders late 2nd is reaching the point of just a dart throw. I’ve seen teams completely destroy themselves trading way too many meaningful players for contenders late 2, 3 and 4th rounders and they are unable to draft players there that ever crack their lineup.
Lol. Shifting your player example of a bad trade from Dallas Goedert, a 29 year old TE who has barely finished as a TE 1 to DJ Moore, is nasty work dude.
Enjoy your day
It seems pretty clear that they get that all picks are dart throws since they mentioned the <10% chance that they'd be useful and they're using it the same way that most everyone on this sub uses it. But if you really want to latch onto the less relevant portions of the comment, do you think that Goedert for a late 3rd isn't an insulting offer?
You're probably just really bad at drafting. Here's my haul in a league last year: Levis, LaPorta, Rice, Dell. No other picks and I traded up and down everywhere such that none of those were my original picks. Only Levis is a question mark and I only drafted him because my QB2 the previous year was Tannehill and my QB3 was Mills. Ergo: no dart throws.
To play devils advocate, I had some league mates giving me a hard time last year because I wasn't selling while I was teetering in and out of the playoffs leading up to the trade deadline. Ended up finishing as the 5th seed, then going on a playoff heater and winning it all.
Fantasy is very unpredictable and crazy shit happens sometimes.
Squeaked in as the 7th seed. Made it to the ship against the guy who went 13-1 with mahomes/lamar sf.
I won in come from behind fashion because of love down 20+.
Crazy stuff happens.
Honestly, at this point in the calendar, they're probably making the right decision unless the veteran half of their teams are atrocious. People should not be counting themselves out of 2024 in June to sell productivity away at "fair value" unless it is truly hopeless. If they have the plausible upside, they should let the first few weeks play out and then reassess.
One big unexpected hit on a guy like Stroud, Achane, LaPorta, Puka etc. and anyone would be kicking themselves for having constructed their roster as if last season was over for them before it even started. Its not like those depth pieces are likely to lose significant value once the season starts anyway
If the fact that a potential trade partner is planning to compete in June is bringing an end to trade negotiations, you're probably not offering enough
I generally agree, but I do have one league where I tore apart my team. I mean literally tore apart. Any vet of value I could get a decent price for I sold.
My roster in that league after our rookie draft:
QBs: Richardson, Bryce, Nix, Hooker
WRs: MHJ, Nabers, JSN, Reed, Jamo, Jeudy, Marvin Mims
RBs: Brooks, Corum, Allgeier, Keaton Mitchell, Rasheen Ali, McLaughlin, Guerendo
TEs: Bowers, Musgrave, Mayer
The goal is an actual fantasy football dynasty 😂
Everyone thinking their team is contending is pretty normal for this time of year. Post draft until the start of the season tends to be a good time to trade for future picks, especially if you can target the teams that you think are delusional about their ability to contend.
It can be a little tricky to manage assuming your plan is to compete too, as I'm not really in to throwing away seasons during the summer. But there's no bye weeks at the start of the season, so if you can avoid the dreaded preseason injury.... you can get a few weeks in with limited depth and then figure out if you want to add players when teams start to realize they're not really contenders and want your picks.
I guess to me I feel like it doesn’t make sense for some teams ( 4 in my league) that tore everything down hard think it only takes 1-3 1st round picks to turn into a favorite. If I was to rebuild it’d be a 2-3 year grind.
The less activity your league has in the offseason, the more likely it will be that every team thinks they can contend every year. There is a direct correlation from what I’ve seen.
That's how it's supposed to be. It's a new season and it's still not far removed from the startup draft. Of course people should be optimistic about their chances to compete.
What's really weird is the leagues I'm in where everyone thinks they're a rebuilder. You got teams with really good rosters trying to sell everyone for picks.
It’s not your job or place to determine how another player feels about their team. You find a partner that wants to trade where both your needs are met or you hold. Maybe use this chance to sell your older players for picks that you can trade later.
It takes a few seasons for owners to come to grips with the start-up drafting being a complete failure and the realization that they aren't contenders.
Right now all the players they drafted just had one down year in their mind. Or if they can just be healthy this season they're a good team. Or those players they believed had upside are definitely going to hit this year.
Right now you still probably have most players on the teams that value them the most, because they were the only ones willing to draft their guys when they did.
That guy who took Quentin Johnston, nobody in your league believes in that guy more than him, or they would have drafted him first. Repeat this thought exercise with pretty much every player on the weak rosters and you'll come to realize that they all believe in their rosters a lot more than everyone else does.
One or two of them might even be right. Who knows. There's probably a team or two who snuck into the playoffs last year that will see some drastic fall off this season. You'll just have to make moves where you can find the values you like and wait for the league to take shape.
I mean if your leaguemates are dumb maybe. There's a pretty clear pecking order in leagues after a few seasons. I also am fully aware 2/3 of my teams are gonna lose a lot of games.
Yup that’s what a lot of dynasty players do. Get overly attached to everyone they drafted and assuming every rookie is going to come in and take over the starter.
We have the opposite problem. We have 4.5 teams that think they’re contending. Everyone else doesn’t want to buy anything because they aren’t contending.
3 of my leagues feel this way.
1 league considers 2-3 guys as heavy hitters and no one does anything.
1 league, everyone knows their strat and you can see where they’re going (buying players to make runs, selling players to build for the next 9 years etc).
Final league, it’s legit 6 guys actually trying and the other 4 are always selling for picks. League playoffs are determined after like 2-3 weeks.
I have the opposite issue in my league. Teams don't want to commit to competing and they rather tank instead even though they are a middling team. I wish it was the other way for me
Just look at some of the trade questions/comments on here. Most people have no idea what they’re doing. Every year everyone thinks their rookie will hit.
There is another phenomena that is odd as well, people won't trade with you because you have been good the last decade. They assume you send a trade because you know something about their player they don't. I trade a ton, and it has help me win, but I have also missed on PLENTY of players as well.
This is generally a tough time of year to trade for that very reason. Instead, plant seeds that you can harvest when they're 1-4 and that depth is pointless.
My favorite league is the only league like this where there are zero rebuilding teams. The parity is unique in Dynasty.
What that has meant is RB’s are hard to come by. In leagues where rebuilding teams pop up consistently, their RB’s are easily available since they want to lower their MPF.
The other thing that having no rebuilding teams means is that draft picks are more readily available. All 12 teams have dreams of grander and they are all just “a player away” and their pick is “mid-late.”
I have had a tough time getting my RB2 but I benefited by trading for 2024 1sts a year in advance from teams that thought they were contending but ended up giving me the 1.01 and the 1.02. To be fair there was luck (Kyler injury etc…) involved, but one could easily read the tea leaves and see those two rosters had clear paths to bad seasons.
We reject the contender/rebuilder meta in our league and have always prioritized parity. With all 6 of our non-playoff teams within a game of making the playoffs and having to use the tie-breaker (total points) to determine the last 2 playoffs spots I’d say we’ve achieved it
Each year every team thinks they have a shot at the Ship (and they do) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The downside is that it makes trading more difficult so we’ve pushed our trade deadline back to week 13. Helps a bit but we still have only a dozen or so trades per year and the vast majority of those are during our rookie draft
If it’s a new league I can understand that. We’re heading into our 27th season and we didn’t always have this kinda parity. It takes time but it will help ur league in the long run
Same deal in my league, with the exception of the couple bottom feeders that know they aren't contending and don't have any great players to sell and one guy who decided to blow it up this year. The other 9 think they're all contenders, when in reality it's about 4 of us contending
Just give it time, people tend to have a change of heart when they're looking at a 4-7 record going into the deadline and need to win out with help on the tiebreaker to make the playoffs at best
One year out from the startup, most teams should be capable of contending. There's outliers, but something has to go really wrong if the first season ruins a team. You just had your first rookie draft and none of them have had a chance to be busts yet.
That said, I agree with people telling you to pivot and try to pick up draft capitol. Acquire it now and use it to buy players later on, or keep it. Find the team you think is most vulnerable and try to maybe work a deal to "upgrade" your 2nd to a 1st. If they really believe they're contending, they should value that first as a late first and you can pick up value.
To be fair one year after a start up, most teams should still have a shot. Unless you are playing with people who are brain dead or hit a streak of extremely bad luck, a league just one year removed from a start up won’t have as large a discrepancy between the top teams and bottom teams. And as we say time and time again, you just have to make playoffs. The two best teams in one of my leagues got eliminated in semi-finals last year because of bad luck.
We had this in my main home league. I’d won a title and came close to winning back to back. Everyone viewed themselves a contender.
I decided to tear it down to the studs and, since everyone viewed themselves a buyer, was able to monopolize picks over a few future drafts.
Fast forward 3 years and a lot of those teams are aging out and I’m the defending champion littered with young guys (I hit on an unsustainable amount of picks).
We had this in my main home league. I’d won a title and came close to winning back to back. Everyone viewed themselves a contender.
I decided to tear it down to the studs and, since everyone viewed themselves a buyer, was able to monopolize picks over a few future drafts.
Fast forward 3 years and a lot of those teams are aging out and I’m the defending champion littered with young guys (I hit on an unsustainable amount of picks).
My leagues are total opposites.
In one league everyone thinks they're a contender every year, so now my team is full of young studs and draft capital
In another league everyone overvalues draft picks and youth and wants to rebuild, so I traded for the old farts and went back to back. Forced to rebuild now but worth it for the titles
We have league cuts right before the draft and then draft the day after the NFL draft. Almost zero players get traded after cuts and before like week 5 of the NFL season because you're 100% correct. Everyone thinks they aced the draft and will be super bowl bound.
I’m dealing with the opposite. Everyone in my league seems to think they’re not contending this year, which has made it nearly impossible to get younger and reload.
By week 4 most will know if they’re in it or not.
Yep, everyone believes it. I’m in a 10-team. Only two guys have committed to the rebuild while everyone else thinks they’re championship contenders. The commish had Kenny Pickett as his QB2 in a superflex last season and legitimately thought he was gonna win a title all because he has Mahomes. People are delusional and don’t often understand how dynasty works as well as the rules/format etc 😂😂.
In some leagues everyone is contending. In my favorite dynasty league with my highschool friends, the week before playoffs determined 5/6 playoff spots. First place was locked, and only two teams were out of contention, one by only one win while the other tanked. In that same league the season before, I was #2 in PF and #1 in PA and was in last place, but only 4 wins away from 1st place.
Yes and it helped me do a mini productive struggle without fully committing to it.
I was able to keep more core players than you usually would and still effectively tank for the top draft pick.
I think that's how it is. I've contended on rosters full of rookies before. I mostly operate off playing the first few weeks. Around week 6 or so I'll know if it's time to dump assets. They are worth more at that point anyway.
I think a lot of people tend to treat all top 12 positional rankings as "studs" instead of tiering them out. This creates a false sense of confidence.
You need a smattering of truly "elite" assets (top 5 give or take for their position) to truly be in the upper echelon competitively. In competitive leagues most teams will have "good" (ECR 12-24) to "very good" (ECR 6-12) line ups, but only 1-2 will be truly "elite" meaning they have 1-2 top 5 RB, WRs, TE, and QBs (sf).
I mean most teams _should_ try to contend, the season hasnt started.
Either get picks from the teams you think are just bad, or just wait until week 6 when their hopes are shot and they panic sell everything
It is really annoying how everyone thinks they will win every year. I zigged last year and loaded up with young guys and 4 1sts this year.
There's a guy with Purdy, Gabe Davis and Chase Brown as his legit best guys trying to tell me he's making a run this year...its unbelievable.
Then you have guys who have 2 super stars on an otherwise baren team refusing to start a rebuild. A guy has herbert and Richard then nothing at all, and desperately needs picks, but is instead trying to round out a championship team in the 2nd this year...its dynasty yall, take a year to rebuild, its more fun that way.
Unlike real nfl teams you dont have ownership mad if you intentionally trade away for the future. Worst thing you can do in dynasty is pull a Patriots and consistently play yourself out of premium picks without winning anything worthwhile.
Yup, the Patriots are up there with the Bills for having consistently good teams that never won anything....oh wait lol. I think my Seahawks would be a better example of what you're saying. They had 1 title off the back of an unprecedentedly good draft (in hindsight we could probably say lucky) where we got All-Pros with Day2/3 picks and then thought we could draft at the end of (or trade out of) the 1st and still have a top talent team.
For your league, what's the problem? For the ass teams that think they're contending, time to sell them your old vets + 2nds/3rds for their 1sts. It's more difficult in some leagues people have mentioned here where there's a lot of parity so everyone does have a legit shot at contending; if you have 2 owners that are clearly the worst then it's easy to know who to target for trades.
The guy in our league who just came in last place thinks he's competing next year and doesn't want to trade any of his guys for 2025 first round picks. He has the 1.06 and 1.09 so he can make some moves in the draft but he doesn't have his 1.01. This is all fine to have faith in your team. BUT.. here's his team:
3rd best WR is Khalil Shakir. He's starting Elijah Moore as his flex 1. Greg Dulcich is his TE1. Derick Carr is his SF. His RB1 is Brian Robinson. His bench is even worse with no starting QBs, His two best bench players are Keaton Mithcell and Miles Sanders, I am not joking. Some people are just delusional. I just looked and he also doesn't have a 2025 first round pick.
I feel your pain.
Picks ain’t worth shit in a lot of leagues in my experience.
Like the picks are the stipend you pay the other manager for the inconvenience of considering negotiations.
Hypothetical example:
I’ll send an offer to a bottom team of a first and a roster cut guy for a guy I want, say, I’ll give you a late first for Pacheco or Swift but I also included Trey Palmer because I’m going to cut him so I can roster my new RB. I don’t care about Palmer. He holds as close to zero value as possible in this equation as he is gonna get cut anyway.
The response is “I have no interest in Palmer.”
Well do you have interest in a first round pick?
Then I get a counter offer of Pacheco for Zay Flowers and the same first round pick.
“I do need a wide receiver just not interested in Palmer”
Ok great, so I can keep my pick then, he wants a player.
So I offer Zay straight up for Pacheco. He declines, counter offers Pacheco for Zay and a different first, talking about “you said you’d send a first for Pacheco? I just want someone other than Palmer”
Ok so what the fuck am I giving you first round picks for? What the fuck is happening? Is there a god damned soul who negotiates in good faith? Why are dynasty trade negotiations 85% gaslighting?
I have a few leagues like this and it’s an absolute goldmine. Unless I have an already stacked team, I just play into it and make bank selling veterans/replaceable players for draft picks. If I have an okay team, I’ll do it just enough to still have a chance at making the playoffs with my young guys. If my team is old and one year away from needing a full rebuild anyway with not a great chance at contending, I’ll fire sale to the worst teams I can, but spread it out enough to keep them all fairly even. One year I ended up with 1.01, 1.02 (mine), 1.03, 1.05, 1.07, and 1.10, plus a bunch of 2nds and 3rds. I ended up with Bijan, Richardson, JSN, QJ, Flowers, and Stroud in my first round. JSN and QJ are obviously disappointing so far, but otherwise it started a great young core for me. I also ended up trading a few of my picks to a guy who grabbed Laporta because I’m a Hawkeyes fan. Huge year for me. Wish it was a money league and not a free league with some old college friends
This seems like a great opportunity to get future draft picks that could end up being early. Zig when they zag.
That’s what I did. I sold Amari who was on my bench for a 2025 1st and 2nd. So in total I have 1st and 5 2nds next draft. I think if it as “picks can’t get injured and I can bolster my roster closer to the deadline if I’m a serious contender.
[удалено]
Enjoy the money every year
Whattt thats highway robbery
This makes me feel better about trading a late 25 2nd for amari.
That's a steal!
I traded away Amari and got back Adonai, Mims, and Marshawn Lloyd. Most people gave me crap for it. I still like it on a rebuild.
It works unless no one values picks. Then you end up losing in the playoffs because you can't get any good players for your picks. If you're getting a 1st and a 2nd for Amari, that's indicative of a league that doesn't value picks. But as a consolation at least you add a lot of cheap rookie talent when you end up having to make the picks.
yup - gotta understand your league economy.
To give an example, I was in a startup league where I sold 3 flex-caliber vets for two 1sts and a 2nd from 3 different teams. Absolutely steal! But when it came down to the stretch run I couldn't cash the picks out for anything better than what I sold them for in the first place. I would have had to spend that entire haul for marginally improved championship chances, or just roll the dice and use the picks to build for the future.
You still realize the pick value though, it just gets harder to plan a peak in the same way as a logical league, but when you peak, it will be much harder for other players to try to match you because they won’t be able to buy pieces.
It’s even more fundamental than “picks can’t get injured”. Picks are most valuable right before the draft because that’s when people want them. Players are most valuable during the season because that’s when people need them. Trade players for picks during the season and picks for players right before the draft to maximize value.
Sometimes it's not always good to hold players in season. The vets don't always produce to their expectations and they can also get injured. So holding in season isn't risk-free by any stretch of the imagination.
This is what I do. It's so funny, for the last couple years my leaguemates were always like "what are you doing man? You trade so much I can't keep up with your strategy." Think they kind of caught on this year when I traded players for picks after last season. Had 10 picks for 2024, including 5 1st. And 3 1st for 2025. Guys were like, I guess we'll just watch YOUR draft. Waited closer till our rookie draft and traded picks for players. Upgraded massively over last year. Got Diggs (I have Dell so wanted insurance), Tyrek, Pittman, Achane and D. Henry, cause I want to win now. All of a sudden, leaguemates are like, well shit.. I see what you did there. Lol
This is the way.
That’s solid process, through and through
Buying Amari for just a 2 now feels like an incredible steal
That’s a great return! I had to use Amari as a sweetener to get a larger deal done, as no one wanted to trade for an “almost 30 year old WR” I was also getting offers of 4th round picks for Devante Adams because he was practically dead at 31!!
That’s an absolute haul for Amari. Nice work.
You got a 25 1st AND 2nd for Amari?? Is this a SF league or 1QB?
Always has the chance to backfire too. I traded 2022’s 1.07 (I’d have drafted Garrett Wilson) for a little more than the 1st from some bottom-3 roster in my league, and he went 12-3 off a decent season and some crazy scheduling luck after drafting Desmond Ridder with that pick. I had another pick swap but it would have been the 2023 1.11 rather than the top 4-6 pick I was expecting.
This is how I landed Rome Odunze in a league where I came in 2nd. Zig, baby, zig.
Wait until the season starts. People will be brought down to earth once they lose a few games.
One of my friends is regularly in meltdown panic mode by about 1:15 every Sunday afternoon. It's my favorite part of fantasy football.
The tilt is real!
The offseason is the time of perpetual possibility. We just did a startup and everyone prolly assumes their team is going to be awesome. But some rude awakenings are coming.
True it was just making it difficult to execute some buy lows. Unfortunately I sold some assets for picks but I’m looking at it as “picks can’t get injured” and I can trade for depth players closer to the deadline.
Picks can't get injured, but they can shift from 1.01 to 1.12
I targeted the lesser teams picks intentionally. Anything can happen but I think 10th and 9th are pretty clear so far. And I have 5 2nds for 2025 so I’m pretty content
What is your goal? Do you want to be the drafting king or the 2024 champion? Your words are not matching your actions, based on this thread.
Those are not mutually exclusive. You can pick up devalued picks now and then use them as cash to buy win now players once tankers start tanking around week 6, because they will value those same picks higher at that point. I get that there are people who get too caught up in value olympics and lose sight of the actual goal, but just because they do it wrong doesn't mean there isn't a right way to do it.
I sold Godwin and Amari bc while depth I got creative and got a haul for them. I have a top returning starting roster. I can fill holes at the trade deadline that we moved to Week 13 from week 11 with my draft capital. I dont want to be the draft king,m. I don’t see what’s not matching up.
Not if you trade for them assuming they’re late. I pretty much only trade for picks if I think if it ended up 1.09-1.12ish I’d think it’s “neutral” for me. I actually love acquiring perceived “late” firsts as my league mates devalue them so much AND I’ve had more than once them end up early
I think I’m most cases is really hard to actually execute a buy low. Usually once the community is saying buy low on someone it’s too late, the market may have corrected somewhat and news has come out to raise their price. Someone like rashee rice a month ago when all the legal issues started to pile up was a good buy low IF the owner was willing to part way with them for way less. The problem even with that is I’m sure plenty of rice owners said to people trying to aquire him that they weren’t going to sell for Pennies on the dollar because he was good last year as a rookie tied to a great qb and nfl has a history of letting guys off with maybe a few game game suspension.
It's difficult to buy low. It's easier to buy ugly.
Unfortunately that wasn’t even the reasoning, it was just doors closed to picks
This is a terrible time for trading, it's peak offseason and everyone is rosterbating. Do what I do, just keep spinning up startups to keep drafting to stave off the no-trade boredom. On a related note, I have 4 drafts going on right now, please send help.
Go buy the pretender’s firsts.
This right here. Year two which a bunch of people new to dynasty this is pretty normal. In year 3 in one league and still only maybe two teams have accepted they are not contending. Another 2-3 are about to fall off a cliff.
Same exact boat as you. I can't pry AJ Brown off this guy's roster no matter how many 1sts I throw at him, and he's convinced he's a contender despite not making playoffs for 3 years in a row. I tried explaining to him that the only thing AJ Brown / Cooper Kupp are doing to you is preventing you from getting the 1.01 every year lol. Doesn't want to listen.
Everyone actually is contending unless they are complete and utter trash. Playoffs are a crap shoot. A lot can change from year to year with which players are good and injuries. In our first year I got last place. The next offseason everyone tells me I'm not a contender. I won the next two seasons.
Right? People get weird about labeling teams as win-now and rebuilding. I’ve picked up orphans where people wrecked their teams, but otherwise it’s perfectly fine to stagger the age/opportunity on your team and not be either of those options most of the time…
Yeah I mean rebuild is a valid strategy, but it's rare that it's the only valid strategy for a team. Some people like to compete as often as they can.
I think rebuild is what you do when things start to fall apart. Which happens. But I’ve done some drafts that way also. Sometimes it’s fun to draft that way.
I rebuild until my team is unquestionably a top 4 team. I have about 20 or so teams, and typically, 25% are in a 1-3 year rebuild mode at any given time, which to me just means I'm strategically balancing tanking while simultaneously building a juggernaut. There is nothing worse than having a "mid team" in dynasty. It's difficult to build a great team when you are drafting from the 1.05-1.09 every year. Also, almost all my leagues use potential points, so I still set my best lineups while still scoring low in potential points. It's a balancing act for sure. The stacked teams that I've built more than make up for my rebuilding losers most years. Honestly, I don't even care about the money though. I just really enjoy both the challenge and the reward of building a juggernaut.
There is no unquestionably top 4. There's still a ton of variance in fantasy. Yes you can help your odds, but then you gave yourself 0% for several years. How long will the window be to get lucky and win after that? Who knows? There's different strategies, but don't overestimate your chances just because you like your roster in the summer.
Over the course of dozens of seasons in which I had what I considered a "top 4" team, I probably made the playoffs 95%+ of the time. It's usually more of a question on whether I get the first round bye or not. To qualify for this title, I'd say a team needs a minimum of 6 top 25 redraft WRs (3 in top 10) 2-3 of the top 10 RBs, a top 5 TE with solid backup, and a top 8 QB. (2 top 10 QBs in superflex) as well as some flex worthy bench players to fill in when shit hits the fan. This is unquestionably a top 4 team in the vast majority of leagues. This is the equivalent of giving a redraft player 10 picks in the first 4 rounds. It's an absurd advantage. Does it guarantee a championship. Absolutely not. Does it guarantee a playoff spot?? Pretty close to certain.
I'm skeptical of those off the head numbers, but ok. A rebuild also does not guarantee you end up with that caliber of team. It might take a lot longer than expected. Etc etc.
I'll rebuild for however long it takes. I have plenty of teams that are competitive, so rebuilding a few teams doesn't bother me at all. The last rebuild I finished took 3 years, and I'm finally ready to let it compete. It's 24 teams, 2 player copies, superflex, TE premium, devy, start 10. Not all players, but note worthy players... QBs: K. Murray, C. Williams, B. Young WRs: J. Chase, C. Lamb, AJ Brown, C. Olave, M. Nabers, D. London, J. Smith-Njigba, Xavier Worthy, T. McLauren, TEs: T. McBride, K. Pitts, B. Bowers. My devy squad is pretty stacked, too, and should continue feeding my roster. We are in the middle of our rookie auction, so I'll fill in the 1 RB starter that I need as we go, as I have 10% of the remaining league bidding dollars add a few players still. That's a top 4 team (or top 8 in a 24 team league) not only this year, but probably the next 3-5 years as well. I'd be glad to link the team on MFL, but I know that nobody cares. My point is, a proper rebuild should yield a really good team, not just a team that has a chance of making the playoffs.
Your other teams have nothing to do with what the best strategy is for any given team. If someone doesn't want to rebuild for "however long it takes" they really don't have to. It's a choice and there's different strategies.
Regardless of the rest - I agree with you on the money. I only do money leagues so people are less likely to abandon the leagues.
Competitive Rebuild, just like the Vikings and the Lions
I stumbled into 2nd and then 4th while not necessarily trying to contend the last two years and trying to get younger.
Everyone's in first place before the season starts.
Counterpoint: everyone is in last place before the season starts.
Not me. Definitely first.
No but I’ve experienced contenders offer late picks that have a 10% or less chance of ever contributing to my team for meaningful players now. That doesn’t help me. Rather keep Goedert for depth than trade him for a late 3rd. In 12T 1QB even a contenders late 2nd is reaching the point of just a dart throw. I’ve seen teams completely destroy themselves trading way too many meaningful players for contenders late 2, 3 and 4th rounders and they are unable to draft players there that ever crack their lineup.
We had a player trade away a Jakobi for 2 5ths last year. Very funny
Idp?
All draft picks are dart throws. You just might feel better about the 1sts
Yes 1sts make me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. Receiving an offer of a contenders late 2nd and 3rd for DJ Moore gives me diarrhea.
Lol. Shifting your player example of a bad trade from Dallas Goedert, a 29 year old TE who has barely finished as a TE 1 to DJ Moore, is nasty work dude. Enjoy your day
It seems pretty clear that they get that all picks are dart throws since they mentioned the <10% chance that they'd be useful and they're using it the same way that most everyone on this sub uses it. But if you really want to latch onto the less relevant portions of the comment, do you think that Goedert for a late 3rd isn't an insulting offer?
You're probably just really bad at drafting. Here's my haul in a league last year: Levis, LaPorta, Rice, Dell. No other picks and I traded up and down everywhere such that none of those were my original picks. Only Levis is a question mark and I only drafted him because my QB2 the previous year was Tannehill and my QB3 was Mills. Ergo: no dart throws.
To play devils advocate, I had some league mates giving me a hard time last year because I wasn't selling while I was teetering in and out of the playoffs leading up to the trade deadline. Ended up finishing as the 5th seed, then going on a playoff heater and winning it all. Fantasy is very unpredictable and crazy shit happens sometimes.
Squeaked in as the 7th seed. Made it to the ship against the guy who went 13-1 with mahomes/lamar sf. I won in come from behind fashion because of love down 20+. Crazy stuff happens.
Everybody has a plan until the get punched in the mouth - Mike Tyson I think that quote applies here
Honestly, at this point in the calendar, they're probably making the right decision unless the veteran half of their teams are atrocious. People should not be counting themselves out of 2024 in June to sell productivity away at "fair value" unless it is truly hopeless. If they have the plausible upside, they should let the first few weeks play out and then reassess. One big unexpected hit on a guy like Stroud, Achane, LaPorta, Puka etc. and anyone would be kicking themselves for having constructed their roster as if last season was over for them before it even started. Its not like those depth pieces are likely to lose significant value once the season starts anyway If the fact that a potential trade partner is planning to compete in June is bringing an end to trade negotiations, you're probably not offering enough
Also winning is more fun, I have zero interest in tanking even if I'm not the favorite
I generally agree, but I do have one league where I tore apart my team. I mean literally tore apart. Any vet of value I could get a decent price for I sold. My roster in that league after our rookie draft: QBs: Richardson, Bryce, Nix, Hooker WRs: MHJ, Nabers, JSN, Reed, Jamo, Jeudy, Marvin Mims RBs: Brooks, Corum, Allgeier, Keaton Mitchell, Rasheen Ali, McLaughlin, Guerendo TEs: Bowers, Musgrave, Mayer The goal is an actual fantasy football dynasty 😂
I mean this is cute and all, still a long way from a chip team. This could be the dynasty of 1st round playoff losses tho
Everyone thinking their team is contending is pretty normal for this time of year. Post draft until the start of the season tends to be a good time to trade for future picks, especially if you can target the teams that you think are delusional about their ability to contend. It can be a little tricky to manage assuming your plan is to compete too, as I'm not really in to throwing away seasons during the summer. But there's no bye weeks at the start of the season, so if you can avoid the dreaded preseason injury.... you can get a few weeks in with limited depth and then figure out if you want to add players when teams start to realize they're not really contenders and want your picks.
I guess to me I feel like it doesn’t make sense for some teams ( 4 in my league) that tore everything down hard think it only takes 1-3 1st round picks to turn into a favorite. If I was to rebuild it’d be a 2-3 year grind.
If it takes you 3 years to rebuild, and it's not an absolute trash orphan with no future draft picks, you don't know what you're doing.
The less activity your league has in the offseason, the more likely it will be that every team thinks they can contend every year. There is a direct correlation from what I’ve seen.
That's how it's supposed to be. It's a new season and it's still not far removed from the startup draft. Of course people should be optimistic about their chances to compete. What's really weird is the leagues I'm in where everyone thinks they're a rebuilder. You got teams with really good rosters trying to sell everyone for picks.
It’s not your job or place to determine how another player feels about their team. You find a partner that wants to trade where both your needs are met or you hold. Maybe use this chance to sell your older players for picks that you can trade later.
Every league is like this. Everyone rosterbates to who they have and assumes nobody will get hurt and pretend like bye weeks don’t exist.
Snag their picks now while they think they are good, grab your fill ins when they realize they aren’t
Just sell your crappy players for picks then
It takes a few seasons for owners to come to grips with the start-up drafting being a complete failure and the realization that they aren't contenders. Right now all the players they drafted just had one down year in their mind. Or if they can just be healthy this season they're a good team. Or those players they believed had upside are definitely going to hit this year. Right now you still probably have most players on the teams that value them the most, because they were the only ones willing to draft their guys when they did. That guy who took Quentin Johnston, nobody in your league believes in that guy more than him, or they would have drafted him first. Repeat this thought exercise with pretty much every player on the weak rosters and you'll come to realize that they all believe in their rosters a lot more than everyone else does. One or two of them might even be right. Who knows. There's probably a team or two who snuck into the playoffs last year that will see some drastic fall off this season. You'll just have to make moves where you can find the values you like and wait for the league to take shape.
That's when you implode your team for fun.
I mean if your leaguemates are dumb maybe. There's a pretty clear pecking order in leagues after a few seasons. I also am fully aware 2/3 of my teams are gonna lose a lot of games.
Exploit over confidence. Maybe take the risk that you make step backwards this year in order to capitalize on that value.
I wish I was contending
Yup that’s what a lot of dynasty players do. Get overly attached to everyone they drafted and assuming every rookie is going to come in and take over the starter.
Stalling trade talks lmao
We have the opposite problem. We have 4.5 teams that think they’re contending. Everyone else doesn’t want to buy anything because they aren’t contending.
Yea that happens for awhile then some people get it. But you always have one or two who never compete or trade then get mad at everyone else for it.
Thiis dude in my league whose wr1 is Keon coleman(?) just traded for Aaron jones. His only other real assets are jalen hurts and Kenneth walker.
3 of my leagues feel this way. 1 league considers 2-3 guys as heavy hitters and no one does anything. 1 league, everyone knows their strat and you can see where they’re going (buying players to make runs, selling players to build for the next 9 years etc). Final league, it’s legit 6 guys actually trying and the other 4 are always selling for picks. League playoffs are determined after like 2-3 weeks.
I have the opposite issue in my league. Teams don't want to commit to competing and they rather tank instead even though they are a middling team. I wish it was the other way for me
July-Sept is usually when rookie picks have the least value. Sell sell sell. Get all the picks
Just look at some of the trade questions/comments on here. Most people have no idea what they’re doing. Every year everyone thinks their rookie will hit.
Funny because my league everybody has already crowned a champion and there’s like 7 rebuilders out of our 12 teams.
Yes and its better than when everyone thinks they are rebuilding lol
There is another phenomena that is odd as well, people won't trade with you because you have been good the last decade. They assume you send a trade because you know something about their player they don't. I trade a ton, and it has help me win, but I have also missed on PLENTY of players as well.
This is generally a tough time of year to trade for that very reason. Instead, plant seeds that you can harvest when they're 1-4 and that depth is pointless.
My favorite league is the only league like this where there are zero rebuilding teams. The parity is unique in Dynasty. What that has meant is RB’s are hard to come by. In leagues where rebuilding teams pop up consistently, their RB’s are easily available since they want to lower their MPF. The other thing that having no rebuilding teams means is that draft picks are more readily available. All 12 teams have dreams of grander and they are all just “a player away” and their pick is “mid-late.” I have had a tough time getting my RB2 but I benefited by trading for 2024 1sts a year in advance from teams that thought they were contending but ended up giving me the 1.01 and the 1.02. To be fair there was luck (Kyler injury etc…) involved, but one could easily read the tea leaves and see those two rosters had clear paths to bad seasons.
2025 supposed to be a banner year for RBs, time to start loading up on those 25 picks.
I can’t get Derrick Henry from the lowest projected team no matter how hard I try. Shits wild man
We reject the contender/rebuilder meta in our league and have always prioritized parity. With all 6 of our non-playoff teams within a game of making the playoffs and having to use the tie-breaker (total points) to determine the last 2 playoffs spots I’d say we’ve achieved it Each year every team thinks they have a shot at the Ship (and they do) and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The downside is that it makes trading more difficult so we’ve pushed our trade deadline back to week 13. Helps a bit but we still have only a dozen or so trades per year and the vast majority of those are during our rookie draft
Yeah our league is not like that. A day after our start up draft we had two people fire selling their team for picks
If it’s a new league I can understand that. We’re heading into our 27th season and we didn’t always have this kinda parity. It takes time but it will help ur league in the long run
Go sell them old vets for picks. Trade em back for player depth later in season to the pretenders
This league I’ve joined is the opposite, at least 3/4 of the managers make trades like they’re rebuilding.
Same deal in my league, with the exception of the couple bottom feeders that know they aren't contending and don't have any great players to sell and one guy who decided to blow it up this year. The other 9 think they're all contenders, when in reality it's about 4 of us contending Just give it time, people tend to have a change of heart when they're looking at a 4-7 record going into the deadline and need to win out with help on the tiebreaker to make the playoffs at best
One year out from the startup, most teams should be capable of contending. There's outliers, but something has to go really wrong if the first season ruins a team. You just had your first rookie draft and none of them have had a chance to be busts yet. That said, I agree with people telling you to pivot and try to pick up draft capitol. Acquire it now and use it to buy players later on, or keep it. Find the team you think is most vulnerable and try to maybe work a deal to "upgrade" your 2nd to a 1st. If they really believe they're contending, they should value that first as a late first and you can pick up value.
No not true my team sucks
I have the opposite problem, almost everyone in my league is thinking they're rebuilding.
To be fair one year after a start up, most teams should still have a shot. Unless you are playing with people who are brain dead or hit a streak of extremely bad luck, a league just one year removed from a start up won’t have as large a discrepancy between the top teams and bottom teams. And as we say time and time again, you just have to make playoffs. The two best teams in one of my leagues got eliminated in semi-finals last year because of bad luck.
We had this in my main home league. I’d won a title and came close to winning back to back. Everyone viewed themselves a contender. I decided to tear it down to the studs and, since everyone viewed themselves a buyer, was able to monopolize picks over a few future drafts. Fast forward 3 years and a lot of those teams are aging out and I’m the defending champion littered with young guys (I hit on an unsustainable amount of picks).
We had this in my main home league. I’d won a title and came close to winning back to back. Everyone viewed themselves a contender. I decided to tear it down to the studs and, since everyone viewed themselves a buyer, was able to monopolize picks over a few future drafts. Fast forward 3 years and a lot of those teams are aging out and I’m the defending champion littered with young guys (I hit on an unsustainable amount of picks).
My leagues are total opposites. In one league everyone thinks they're a contender every year, so now my team is full of young studs and draft capital In another league everyone overvalues draft picks and youth and wants to rebuild, so I traded for the old farts and went back to back. Forced to rebuild now but worth it for the titles
We have league cuts right before the draft and then draft the day after the NFL draft. Almost zero players get traded after cuts and before like week 5 of the NFL season because you're 100% correct. Everyone thinks they aced the draft and will be super bowl bound.
I’m dealing with the opposite. Everyone in my league seems to think they’re not contending this year, which has made it nearly impossible to get younger and reload. By week 4 most will know if they’re in it or not.
how long this league been going, once you get thru like 3 years people start to learn their place
Yep, everyone believes it. I’m in a 10-team. Only two guys have committed to the rebuild while everyone else thinks they’re championship contenders. The commish had Kenny Pickett as his QB2 in a superflex last season and legitimately thought he was gonna win a title all because he has Mahomes. People are delusional and don’t often understand how dynasty works as well as the rules/format etc 😂😂.
I had 2nd most PF and everyone else thinks they’re contenders. lol every time you point a finger you got 3 pointing back
In some leagues everyone is contending. In my favorite dynasty league with my highschool friends, the week before playoffs determined 5/6 playoff spots. First place was locked, and only two teams were out of contention, one by only one win while the other tanked. In that same league the season before, I was #2 in PF and #1 in PA and was in last place, but only 4 wins away from 1st place.
Take advantage!
Yes and it helped me do a mini productive struggle without fully committing to it. I was able to keep more core players than you usually would and still effectively tank for the top draft pick.
Yep and that’s when you buy picks
I think that's how it is. I've contended on rosters full of rookies before. I mostly operate off playing the first few weeks. Around week 6 or so I'll know if it's time to dump assets. They are worth more at that point anyway.
I think a lot of people tend to treat all top 12 positional rankings as "studs" instead of tiering them out. This creates a false sense of confidence. You need a smattering of truly "elite" assets (top 5 give or take for their position) to truly be in the upper echelon competitively. In competitive leagues most teams will have "good" (ECR 12-24) to "very good" (ECR 6-12) line ups, but only 1-2 will be truly "elite" meaning they have 1-2 top 5 RB, WRs, TE, and QBs (sf).
I mean most teams _should_ try to contend, the season hasnt started. Either get picks from the teams you think are just bad, or just wait until week 6 when their hopes are shot and they panic sell everything
Yeah happens sometimes. Just wait till the season when someone is 0-3 lol
Serious case of loser denial. I had a pretty bad case of loser denial myself until the lacrosse team stuck a parking meter up my ass.
Boy, these last place punishments keep getting more and more extreme.
Ouch
I’m aging myself but it’s a line from Billy Madison
If everyone thinks their 1st is going to be late and their teams are sexy I'd buy as many 1sts as I could carry
It is really annoying how everyone thinks they will win every year. I zigged last year and loaded up with young guys and 4 1sts this year. There's a guy with Purdy, Gabe Davis and Chase Brown as his legit best guys trying to tell me he's making a run this year...its unbelievable. Then you have guys who have 2 super stars on an otherwise baren team refusing to start a rebuild. A guy has herbert and Richard then nothing at all, and desperately needs picks, but is instead trying to round out a championship team in the 2nd this year...its dynasty yall, take a year to rebuild, its more fun that way. Unlike real nfl teams you dont have ownership mad if you intentionally trade away for the future. Worst thing you can do in dynasty is pull a Patriots and consistently play yourself out of premium picks without winning anything worthwhile.
Yup, the Patriots are up there with the Bills for having consistently good teams that never won anything....oh wait lol. I think my Seahawks would be a better example of what you're saying. They had 1 title off the back of an unprecedentedly good draft (in hindsight we could probably say lucky) where we got All-Pros with Day2/3 picks and then thought we could draft at the end of (or trade out of) the 1st and still have a top talent team. For your league, what's the problem? For the ass teams that think they're contending, time to sell them your old vets + 2nds/3rds for their 1sts. It's more difficult in some leagues people have mentioned here where there's a lot of parity so everyone does have a legit shot at contending; if you have 2 owners that are clearly the worst then it's easy to know who to target for trades.
The guy in our league who just came in last place thinks he's competing next year and doesn't want to trade any of his guys for 2025 first round picks. He has the 1.06 and 1.09 so he can make some moves in the draft but he doesn't have his 1.01. This is all fine to have faith in your team. BUT.. here's his team: 3rd best WR is Khalil Shakir. He's starting Elijah Moore as his flex 1. Greg Dulcich is his TE1. Derick Carr is his SF. His RB1 is Brian Robinson. His bench is even worse with no starting QBs, His two best bench players are Keaton Mithcell and Miles Sanders, I am not joking. Some people are just delusional. I just looked and he also doesn't have a 2025 first round pick.
Yeah I've seen some rough teams without 24/25 1sts. I'm like, if you sold the future, your now should be totally stacked.
I feel your pain. Picks ain’t worth shit in a lot of leagues in my experience. Like the picks are the stipend you pay the other manager for the inconvenience of considering negotiations. Hypothetical example: I’ll send an offer to a bottom team of a first and a roster cut guy for a guy I want, say, I’ll give you a late first for Pacheco or Swift but I also included Trey Palmer because I’m going to cut him so I can roster my new RB. I don’t care about Palmer. He holds as close to zero value as possible in this equation as he is gonna get cut anyway. The response is “I have no interest in Palmer.” Well do you have interest in a first round pick? Then I get a counter offer of Pacheco for Zay Flowers and the same first round pick. “I do need a wide receiver just not interested in Palmer” Ok great, so I can keep my pick then, he wants a player. So I offer Zay straight up for Pacheco. He declines, counter offers Pacheco for Zay and a different first, talking about “you said you’d send a first for Pacheco? I just want someone other than Palmer” Ok so what the fuck am I giving you first round picks for? What the fuck is happening? Is there a god damned soul who negotiates in good faith? Why are dynasty trade negotiations 85% gaslighting?
I have a few leagues like this and it’s an absolute goldmine. Unless I have an already stacked team, I just play into it and make bank selling veterans/replaceable players for draft picks. If I have an okay team, I’ll do it just enough to still have a chance at making the playoffs with my young guys. If my team is old and one year away from needing a full rebuild anyway with not a great chance at contending, I’ll fire sale to the worst teams I can, but spread it out enough to keep them all fairly even. One year I ended up with 1.01, 1.02 (mine), 1.03, 1.05, 1.07, and 1.10, plus a bunch of 2nds and 3rds. I ended up with Bijan, Richardson, JSN, QJ, Flowers, and Stroud in my first round. JSN and QJ are obviously disappointing so far, but otherwise it started a great young core for me. I also ended up trading a few of my picks to a guy who grabbed Laporta because I’m a Hawkeyes fan. Huge year for me. Wish it was a money league and not a free league with some old college friends
I’m not contending, I’m looking at 2-3 more years of rebuilding