10 Lessons That Will Help You Excel As A Dynasty Owner

[Jaysports]

Hey Guys,

I am in the middle of writing an article for the site about the subject title for this thread. I have what I think is a great list so far, but I wanted to pick your brains as well to see if I'm missing anything.

What are some of the top things or characteristics that an owner can do in order be get better at the dynasty format?

I'll be quoting folks in the article as well.

Thanks,

Jay

[IllegalFacemask]

Be polite. It's ok to debate, but it's not ok to call a possible trade partner an idiot.

Go against the trends. Buy cold and sell hot. Something as small as a sprained finger can affect dynasty value. Buy when there's a window.

Study your trade partners roster. If you can't see how you're helping him in some way, don't make the offer.

Buy picks as early as you can, sell them as late as you can.

Put together the team you love. If you hate your team, your activity and productivity will slide. Never buy players hoping to sell them on value, as it can burn you hard.

Do your research. I see many people doing a boxscore analysis. Stats truly account for less than half of a players potential. Look at them. Do they look good?

If your player struggles to catch the football, don't buy him. That's something that can turn a hyped player into a true bust.

[Jaysports]

Be polite. It's ok to debate, but it's not ok to call a possible trade partner an idiot.

Go against the trends. Buy cold and sell hot. Something as small as a sprained finger can affect dynasty value. Buy when there's a window.

Study your trade partners roster. If you can't see how you're helping him in some way, don't make the offer.

Buy picks as early as you can, sell them as late as you can.

Put together the team you love. If you hate your team, your activity and productivity will slide. Never buy players hoping to sell them on value, as it can burn you hard.

Do your research. I see many people doing a boxscore analysis. Stats truly account for less than half of a players potential. Look at them. Do they look good?

If your player struggles to catch the football, don't buy him. That's something that can turn a hyped player into a true bust.

Awesome stuff here Dwayne, appreciate the feedback!!!

[Ice]

Should be a good article.

Young owners need to ultimately research like a GM with a long range plan then Coach their teams weekly. The best GM's research talent and do not discount actual GM thought processes when players are selected. The best dynasty coaches know offense and defense to put the best team on the field weekly.

A few things I see from less experienced owners:

The herd mentality of undervaluing the QB position. When I go back in time one evident reality is top consistent winning teams have a stud QB. The redraft mind thinks about waiting but in dynasty, owners need to go get a stud even if it requires a bit of a short term overpay. The consistency at the top is crucial. 3 points on average as an advantage is huge weekly.

Owners need to understand what I call "Balanced Consistent Scoring" I see it annually that owners go after players with big points but how a player scores points on consistent basis is a real key to success in fantasy. Players that can put up 40 one week followed by 3 ten point efforts or worse then another huge game are sucker plays. Players that are more steady in the 15 range weekly in this example are far better players even though the average is a bit less.

Inexperienced owners that sell their 1st round picks for well seasoned players rarely succeed. Savvy owners target the weak teams and go after picks very early with eye candy of past performance. Young owners need patience in this game. Players short term are better than picks in general but early 1st round picks need 3 year projections figured into team plans especially at WR/TE.

Play Dynasty around "Chess Principles" : Any deal made needs to have a longer range plan behind the acquired asset. One trick I use is looking hard at my roster and plan my next few moves as if this player is on my team prior to the deal. I look at trade value of this asset and team make up before pulling the trigger to avoid being boxed in.

[buckeye]

Inexperienced owners that sell their 1st round picks for well seasoned players rarely succeed. Savvy owners target the weak teams and go after picks very early with eye candy of past performance. Young owners need patience in this game. Players short term are better than picks in general but early 1st round picks need 3 year projections figured into team plans especially at WR/TE.

That's a great one. Too many people overvalue their team and think they are selling a late round pick when they're really selling an early one. I take an unbiased redraft look (using someone else's rankings) at every team's starters in the league each spring to attempt to get an idea of that year's potentially strong and weak teams. Targeting the weaker teams' 1sts is the cheapest way to acquire future studs. It also gives me a more realistic look at my own team's weaknesses, forcing me to take a second look at areas where I may have overvalued some players.

[Dobby]

Stockpile up on young talented upside players(around an hopefully existing core of young and proven players) - the more you get, the better the chances are you hitting on some. Let them develope and then go for the value or actually insert them into your longterm plans for your team. Either way, you´ll building up the overall strenght and value of your team.


Work the waiver wire/FA market, there´s always some kind of value waiting to get picked up. You dont pay anything for possibly improving

[buckeye]

Don't roster players with mediocre ceilings. Using that spot for high risk/reward types will likely have a better payoff.

Agree with Ice about QBs. Once you have a Luck/Rodgers type guy, it allows you to divert a backup QB roster spot to another position, like RB or WR.

You can never have too many RBs. Don't roster the RBBC capped guys unless you are forced to use them. Instead, fill those spots with potential 4 down RBs.

[the_captain]

Manage your team like you would manage investments. There is no such thing as an "untradable" player. Successin dynasty is the ability to recognize when your assets have peaked where other owners are still paying the best price. And this means being willing to unload players at the peak of their careers for players still on their way up. Do not trade for aging players in an effort to "win now" as the short term win rarely happens and it is a guaranteed long term loss.

[mcirish]

One thing I am working on /trying to get better at is trying to follow (and value) coaches/offensive philosophies and team situations just like I would track players. Sometimes individual talent trumps all (OBJ), but obviously a very talented player stuck in a dysfunctional franchise or in an offensive scheme that doesn't properly utilize talent (Kelce/KC) can possibly have his performance (and therefore value) minimized for several years.

As an example, I own Brice Butler and Denarius Moore on a couple teams. Brice because I believe he has the most talent and upside of any of the Raider WRs and DMoore, because at one time he was thought of as the best WR on the Raiders just a couple years ago and he could possibly move to a featured role playing for a better team next season.

I am hoping the Raiders will soon begin an upswing here as a franchise, possibly with a coach like Harbaugh taking over, but it's possible that the Raiders are just Factory of Sadness West. We'll see.

[jordanzs]

Runningbacks win championships! Yes, they really do. Look in your league, you'll see that the worst team went into the season with Spiller & Montee Ball as their 1-2 punch. The winner probably has Jeremy Hill & CJ Anderson.

And if you think of your dynasty team as house, the WRs are your foundation, and the RBs are your finishing touches.

Although RBs win championships, the ones that will deliver the championship have such a huge swing from year to year.

WRs (especially elite ones) are a much more solid currency to park your investment in, while waiting for the in-season rankings baseball bat to beat half of the RBs while giving opportunity for others to rise.

So IMO the best way to win is to load up on WRs, try to acquire an abundance of stud ones. More than you need. And then don't be afraid to trade some away for the RBs that will complete your team. But do it once the season shakes the tree. Otherwise you might end up with a 2014 LeSean McCoy.

A dynasty team with 6 stud WRs and zero good RBs will be a losing team. I've seen lots of owners who get stuck in that rut. Although sometimes it is their master plan, to acquire high draft picks & then work the WR for RB trade "next year", and that's respectable & can be a solid strategy. But sometimes when "next year" rolls around, they stay stuck in the rut.

[jordanzs]

Also, during the startup, I like to form positive trade partnerships. Not collusion of course, but accommodating.

Example:

You're on the clock in round 6 & there's a huge run of QBs. You already have yours, but there's an owner who's 6 picks away & doesn't have one, and there's only 1 remaining QB1. Reach out to that owner with an ultra fair offer. Like he gives you a 2nd round pick for a 3rd round pick, or he bumps you in later rounds in order for him to move up in round 6 & grab his QB. Use that to establish a working relationship, as later on in the draft, you might need a similar move-up, and that owner should hopefully be the kind who will fairly accommodate you.

[the_captain]

Draft for value. Trade for need. This includes during startup drafts. There is no reason to reach for someone because there is a run at a position or because you don't have your #2 RB or starting TE yet.

[jordanzs]

Play the overload & eject game on your team's weakest position.

If Rodgers is your QB, you're set. Overload on other positions.

If Flacco is your top QB, then roll in the offseason with 5 QBs and play the numbers game that one will emerge. Owners who did that during the past couple of years wound up with a very useable Rivers or Rothlesberger in their lineup, and were able to eject the Geno Smiths, EJ Manuels, Bradfords, etc from their team.

[the_captain]

Above all else - Patience!

We are going to start seeing threads (and we already have) about moves owners should be making for next year. Stop and don't make ANY moves right now. There is way too much uncertainty with any number of players that it is all too common to end up overpaying. I do like to sell off guys who have a limited future (if you can) but the window on them probably closed before the trade deadline passed in most leagues.

This is particularly the wrong time to sell off your 1st round picks. Generally speaking the players who will come at that kind of value are going to be this year's Amendola or Decker...two players with MAJOR red flags that plenty of owners ignored all of the warning signs and cautions some of us threw up. There will be more of them this season. Buyer beware.

[IllegalFacemask]

Above all else - Patience!

We are going to start seeing threads (and we already have) about moves owners should be making for next year. Stop and don't make ANY moves right now. There is way too much uncertainty with any number of players that it is all too common to end up overpaying. I do like to sell off guys who have a limited future (if you can) but the window on them probably closed before the trade deadline passed in most leagues.

I dissagree. Now is the time to buy the players you have faith in rather than wait and have the crowd catch up to the hype train. Be the conductor, not the passenger.