5 Dynasty Tips To Win Your Fantasy Football League
One form of fantasy continues to attract true diehards. Y’know, the real sickos. The sort of people who take no days off because deep down inside they are terrified that their competition might not be affording them the same break.
I’m talking about dynasty leagues. The deepest, most time-consuming, all-encompassing … and, ultimately, rewarding form of fantasy football out there.
If you’re ready to dip your toe into the dynasty waters, we’ve got five general tips for anybody who’s looking to join their first dynasty league this offseason. Check out the dynasty section of FantasyLife.com for rookie profiles and more fantasy football content.
1. Triple-check your league rules
Wonky league settings are incredibly prominent in dynasty leagues. Whether it’s Superflex, TE premium, or some other madness, scoring settings and overall roster construction should influence your draft strategy as much, if not more, than simply evaluating players.
Take Superflex or two-QB leagues, for example. It’s all fun and games punting the position in order to load up on dope skill-position talents until you’re entering Week 1 with Gardner Minshew and Jacoby Brissett under center.
Early-round ADP will naturally be sharper than what’s available in the later rounds. Don’t feel the need to be a hero and go too far against the grain early either on purpose or — even worse — simply because you failed to understand exactly what type of league you signed up for.
Speaking of league rules, you can set up a new dynasty league on Sleeper Fantasy and ALSO get a 100% deposit match of up to $100 to try out their Over/Under game by signing up for a new account below!
2. Age matters, but varies by position
Elderly QBs and TEs are far more likely to keep on keeping on than RBs and WRs playing into their 30s.
Seriously: Having Leonardo Dicaprio’s 25-or-under dating outlook makes a lot of sense when applied to dynasty RBs.
I broke down all the intricacies of how age and experience impact a player’s fantasy production; long story short is that younger is generally better – especially for RBs and WRs who arguably rely on their pure athleticism more than any other position.
3. Draft capital is your friend
History tells us the higher a player is drafted, the better chance they have of putting up big-time fantasy numbers relative to later-round picks.
Over 70% of top-performing fantasy scorers across all positions were originally drafted inside the top-three rounds, regardless of experience. Madness.
Rookies don’t usually put up top-performing fantasy numbers, but the ones who do are even more condensed into the first three rounds. Draft capital is a rather fantastic tool for evaluating NFL prospects of all shapes and sizes, but be careful about chasing late-round exceptions to the rule.
However …
4. High-performing RBs are easier to find than other positions
RB is the only position to demonstrate any sort of consistent supply of undrafted goodness: There have been 22 instances of formerly undrafted RBs putting up top-24 PPR per game numbers compared to 23 combined-such seasons from top-24 WRs, as well as top-12 QBs and TEs over the past 10 years.
Furthermore, seven high-performing rookie RBs were NOT drafted inside of the top-three rounds over the past 10 years compared to only one QB (Dak Prescott), one WR (Tyreek Hill), and zero TEs.
RBs have the shortest shelf life and are more dependent on their offensive environment than any other fantasy position; don’t be afraid to take a page out of the real-life football playbook and not overly prioritize the position in the early rounds of dynasty drafts.
5. Friends come and go, but banners hang forever
Shoutout to the Black Mamba himself.
We’ve established that age matters more in dynasty than redraft leagues, but sometimes things go a bit too far and high-performing veterans are relegated to extreme late-round status.
Whether it’s Keenan Allen regularly being ranked outside the position’s top-36 options despite the reality that he’ll continue to be an upside WR2 at worst as long as he’s one of Justin Herbert’s top receivers, or Alvin Kamara occasionally falling out of the position’s top-24 talents because of age and a potential 2023 suspension. There are plenty of elite veterans at every position being ranked far behind younger, yet objectively inferior, talents looking at specifically 2023.
There’s a balance to find between building a contender to win RIGHT NOW and maintaining some level of future upside; just don’t put all of your eggs in the latter basket. It’s not illegal to compete for the title during your first dynasty league season after all.
