Dynasty Fantasy Football Strategy: How To Evaluate Your Team For Future Success
Sam Wallace breaks down how to appropriately evaluate the current state of your dynasty roster depending on how you finished in the previous season.
One of my favorite offseason exercises is to conduct a team audit of each of my dynasty squads. I take a look back at how last season went and use that evidence to make informed decisions about what that team needs moving forward.
Did I deal with significant injuries? Was I unlucky in my matchups and gave up a ton of points throughout the season? Am I looking to defend my title?
Let's break down a few approaches you should consider taking based on how your team finished last year.
How To Evaluate Your Dynasty Fantasy Football Teams
To stay up to date on all of our latest dynasty fantasy football analysis, subscribe to the free Fantasy Life Newsletter, where every Saturday is dedicated to dynasty coverage:
Premium
Go FantasyLife+
Your league is unique. Your advice should be too. Get personalized tools, rankings, and projections tailored to your fantasy football league settings.
Finished 9th-12th
If you finished in the bottom four last season, you missed the playoffs. That could be for a few reasons:
- Your team is bad
- You dealt with injuries
- You had a tough schedule
The answer is very likely a combination of varying factors. The key now is nailing your draft picks (if you have them) and making pertinent moves this offseason/upcoming season.
If you have an aging roster, sit tight for now. You might be tempted to start overhauling your team, but over a dynasty calendar year, veteran player values are at their lowest right now.
Once you get into the season and get closer to the fantasy playoffs, then you can start capitalizing on your veterans' productivity by swapping them for future draft picks.
For now, make the best picks you can to start bolstering your roster and pay attention to the waiver wire. As stronger teams start focusing on the top-tier of players, you can bargain hunt for players who might initially be overlooked but could accrue value in the future.
Finished 5th-8th
Maybe you made the playoffs, maybe you didn't. Either way, if you made it to the postseason, you were quickly bounced, and now you have some big decisions to make.
This is the worst tier for dynasty managers to be in. Your team wasn't able to make a legitimate push for a championship, but you also don't have an early first-round pick. Yes, there are some great players in the middle portions of the first round, but you never want to be stuck with a middling dynasty squad.
As I said, you need to make a decision about the direction of your team.
If you look at the rest of the league and feel you're in a strong enough position to take that step forward into the upper tier of teams, then draft accordingly.
If your honest assessment is that your team has peaked, you went on a good run, and came up short, consider pivoting off of your best assets this upcoming fall and retool for the future.
Never sell just to sell. Don't move off players just because you didn't win a title or make it to the championship matchup. If you have a solid core of young, ascending players, don't break them up for the sake of rebuilding.
Finished 3rd-4th
You made the playoffs, won a matchup, and were within a game of the final weekend. You might have even recouped your buy-in if you finished in third place.
Like each of the tiers before, you need to be honest about how you got here.
Is your team legitimately good? Did you get hot at the right time, or have some matchups that were easier than expected? Or was this the last chance your team had before your key players reached their age cliff?
Regardless, finishing inside the top four is exciting. You won't have an early draft pick, so you'll have to make what draft assets you have count.
Let's assume your team is still within a win-now window. Now is the time to start pushing the chips in. See if you can trade up into the earlier portions of your rookie draft to snag a top-end player. Trade away some future draft capital for veterans (like I lay out here) who could help bolster your team for that extra push.
Whatever your decision, be definitive in your approach and try not to waver too much. As previously mentioned, getting stuck in limbo is the worst place your roster can be. Try to avoid wasting prime years of production (and value) while you tinker with your decisions.
When I'm in this spot, I generally try to push forward that extra bit instead of tearing things down, as long as my roster is in a realistic spot to support that decision.
As an added detail, in this spot, I like to target players who I think can massively outperform expectations this year while also holding value. My favorite players who fit that mold this year are guys like Trevor Lawrence and Bryce Young.
Finished 1st-2nd
Congratulations! You are either the champion or the runner-up. Regardless, hopefully, you made some money for your efforts last season.
Now it's time to run it back.
Just like in the NFL, it's incredibly difficult to win in fantasy football. There can only be one champion, and there's never a guarantee you make it back this far again.
That's why, if I ever find myself in this position, I do everything within my power (within reason) to keep this championship window open for as long as possible. Since your own draft picks won't be worth a ton, it could be a good idea to trade them for young, established players who can be counted on to score points right away.
Remember, banners hang forever.
There's admittedly a target on your back once you're the champion, as no one wants to see you run it back again. At the same time, you can over-leverage yourself if you're not careful.
Anecdotally, I won three straight championships in a dynasty league a few years back. After I won the first one, I continued to be aggressive in building around my team to keep putting myself in a position to win another one. I sold essentially every future pick I had to build a juggernaut of a team (hello, prime Cooper Kupp).
While it certainly worked, once my run was over, my team fell apart pretty hard. I wasn't as intentional as I could have been about trading away veteran players because I told myself my window was open more than it realistically was.
Now, my team is still old, and I don't have a ton of draft picks. That's not a place where you want to find yourself, if possible.
Regardless of how you finish, there's a path you can forge to help better your team for the future. The long-term strategy element is what makes Dynasty so much fun. Let me know how I can help you level up your dynasty squads!
Premium
Go FantasyLife+
Your league is unique. Your advice should be too. Get personalized tools, rankings, and projections tailored to your fantasy football league settings.
