Dynasty Team Evaluations: Part One

The greatest thing about the dynasty format in Fantasy Football is that there are so many ways to build a winning team. Some managers believe in totally gutting a team and rebuilding through the draft. Others like to trade those draft picks and develop their team with veterans. Just like my adaptive style of drafting in redraft leagues, my dynasty strategy changes depending on the team involved, the rules of the league, the size of the league, and many other factors. Each league is unique, so each team needs to be managed differently. The only constant in my approach is that I play to make the playoffs and attempt to cash every year. Starting this week, I will look at three different teams each week and show you how I manage my fantasy football teams.

Winning Team of the Week: Multi-Flex Insanity League

In dynasty Fantasy Football, it often takes patience to turn a team around. This league is unique because we start with 1QB, 3 WR/RB/TE Flex, and 5 WR/RB flex. My Better Than Zero roster build theory for redraft leans RB-heavy, and this was my first draft in which positions didn't matter. This type of league is a 14-team with 11-player benches, so the waiver wire talent is never too deep any given week. We also trim rosters to 16 players total before the draft, which does a great job of helping someone rebuild in a hurry. 

The league's first year was 2022, and I finished dead last year. Last season, I also finished dead last. But I knew I had some solid young talent to build around, so I only traded away veterans for draft picks. I also knew I would be more than one draft pick away entering the 2023 season, so I dealt away my first pick in that draft to gain players and more picks for the future. My "Next Man Up" concept added Jordan Mason on waivers before Elijah Mitchell was lost to IR. This season, I am off to a perfect 4-0 start, sitting in 2nd place and 3rd in overall points. Let's look at my roster.

QB: Jalen Hurts and Baker Mayfield

RB: Kyren Williams, Jordan Mason, Devin Singletary, Justice Hill, Ray Davis, Alexander Mattison, Trey Sermon, Ty Chandler. TAXI: Rasheen Ali, Isaac Guerrendo

WR: Marvin Harrison, Dionte Johnson, Jakobi Meyers, Zay Flowers, Andrei Iosivas, Michael Wilson, Keon Coleman, Demarcus Robinson., Joshua Palmer, Jameson Williams. IR; Rondale Moore. TAXI: Jonathon Mingo, Xavier Legette.

TE: NONE

Future Draft Picks: 2025 Three 1sts, 2026 Two 1sts

Scoring Rules: This is a NON-PPR league, but it does reward a bonus point for a 40-yard-plus play and gives a ½ point for first downs. The rest of the scoring is typically 10 yards per point for rushing and receiving and 25 yards per point for passing.

My strategy has been to roster the best players regardless of whether they play WR or RB since the scoring is balanced between the two positions. Despite many tempting offers, I resisted trading away my most talented player, Jalen Hurts. I always got an additional draft pick for each minor deal I made. This method allowed me to rebuild from last to second in a hurry. I already made one attempt to trade 3 of my future first-round picks for Christian McCaffrey. I will continue to attempt to acquire a top older player later in the season to stack a more robust lineup for the playoffs. I might have to move Legette from the Taxi squad into the starting lineup this week, so I would need to drop Demarcus Robinson.

Middle of the Road Team of the Week: Champions League

Last year, I won the championship in this unique 14-team league that relegates the bottom two teams to a weaker league and promotes two new teams to compete in the following season. This league started in 2022, and in my first season, I was in that dreaded "Relegation Zone" for the first half of the season. I would make some significant changes to the team, finish 7-7, get the 7th playoff spot, and finish 3rd place in the playoffs. 

Last season, my team gelled, and I was the front-runner all season, finishing 11-3 in 1st place and winning my playoff matchups by an average of 35 points! I am 2-2 in 7th place this season, but I scored the 4th most points in the league. This league starts 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1 WR/RB/TE Flex, and 1 WR/RB Flex with 11 bench spots. Let's look at my roster.

QB: Patrick Mahomes, Jameis Winston, Tyler Huntley

RB: Kyren Williams, Bucky Irving, Josh Jacobs, Jordan Mims, Carson Steele, Samaje Perine, Zamir White. TAXI: Sean Tucker.

WR: Tyreek Hill, Nico Collins, George Pickens, Brian Thomas, Andrei Iosivas, Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson. IR: Brandin Cooks. TAXI: Michael Wilson, Jamari Thrash.

TE: Dalton Kincaid, David Njoku, Dalton Schultz.

Future Draft Picks: Normal allotment of picks.

Scoring Rules: This is a NON-PPR league, but it does give a ½ point bonus for first downs and one entire point for 40+ yard plays. The rest of the scoring is typically 25 yards for passing points and 10 yards for receiving/rushing points.

Week six will be a tough week with Patrick Mahomes on bye, but so far, he hasn't been putting up a large number anyway, which is why I am 2-2 this season. Patience has been a massive virtue with this team's WRs like Nico Collins and George Pickens, who started their careers slowly. I had been trying to trade one of my TEs for an RB or backup QB, but the Njoku injury hampered that effort. After the Chiefs Bye Week, I will add Carson Wentz to have some insurance at the QB position. I added Carson Steele on waivers before week one and tried to get Kareem Hunt on waivers, but I was outbid. I attempted to sell Tyreek Hill to gain an additional asset, but the injury to Tua immediately ended that effort, with Hill's perceived value dropping. This team should make the playoffs, so that I won't make any radical changes now.

Bottom of the Barrell Team of the Week: Goodells Gladiators

This unique 12-team Best Ball Superflex league competes highly with many Fantasy Football Twitter community players. I won this league in year one using my strategy of not worrying about the age of the players drafted and building a winning team with veterans that others let slip. Last season, I finished 3rd in the regular season despite losing two of my QBs to retirement. The injury to Tua left me with just one starting QB, which has helped get me off to a lousy 1-7 start in 10th place. (Matchup each week plus play against the league median) This league scores 1QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1 SF, 3 WR/RB/TE Flex with 20 bench spots. There are no Taxi or IR slots in this league.

QB: Matthew Stafford, Tua Tagovailoa

RB: James Conner, Joe Mixon, Nick Chubb, Ty Chandler, Samaje Perine, Carson Steele, Jamaal Williams, Emari Demercado, Eric Gray, Issac Guerrendo, Dylan Laube, Audric Estime, Hassan Haskins.

WR: Jamaar Chase, Stephon Diggs, Jakobi Meyers, Tyler Lockett, Ray Ray McCloud, Stephen Shepherd, Tu Tu Atwell. Greg Dortch, Jonathon Mingo, Darius Slayton.

TE: Travis Kelce, Noah Grey, Jared Wiley, Josh Oliver.

Future Draft Picks: Standard Allotment of picks.

Scoring Rules: This is a NON-PPR league but is TE premium with a bonus for each TE reception plus bonuses for long passing, rushing, or receiving plays. The standard is 25 yards passing for points and 10 yards for rushing/receiving points.

My strategy of going for the win with veteran players worked great in year one and kept me in the running in year two. My team is aging fast after I gave up a first-round pick in the 2024 draft to acquire Joe Mixon that first season. The lack of QB strength and an option at TE other than the Chiefs' TE room will hurt me this season. 

This team will be in for some massive changes this season. The only players I will keep are the QBs, Chase, Diggs, and probably Kelce. My goal will be to have underachieving rookies on other teams, and each trade will be for a player and at least one draft pick. In dynasty leagues, it never pays to swap one asset for one asset when attempting to rebuild.

Conclusion

I trade less in dynasty fantasy football than many other team managers. My goal is to patch and fill a weakness for that particular year but not to do a total rebuild unless it appears I will not make the playoffs. Even then, I rarely trade away young players unless I can get multiple young players and high draft picks to replace them in the deal. Each week, I will look at three different teams from my Dynasty fantasy football roster, and I hope you learn more about dynasty strategy from my examples. Good luck in week five!