Most dynasty leagues begin the playoffs in week 15, and so following week 11, we only have three more weeks of the regular season. Many leagues have that week 12 or week 13 trade deadline, which means if you are already eliminated or three games back, you are a deadline seller. Lots of owners do one of two things that I hope you don’t do.
The first is simply quitting playing, as the season brought so much frustration you simply stop following it. The second is that you think that tanking is selling any piece of your roster that has value. Suppose your team is bad, it’s smart to look at why it is bad. I would suggest it’s not because you are the Chase owner. It’s certainly not because you are the Bijan owner. These two are likely to be the RB1 and WR1 next year in Dynasty startups, so they are probably not a player you want to sell in almost every case.
I want to look at the players on my roster who are having a career year or a player that I believe will have significantly less value next season. Do I own Aaron Jones or Cooper Kupp? I play in a lot of leagues where I own most of the league’s QBs, so I get to set the market. A player I’ve been selling lately is Baker Mayfield. I’m only doing this if I feel that my QB room is full without him, and I think I can really get 1st round rookie picks plus another potential roster situation handled. I don’t view trades as good or bad or winning or losing but merely accomplishing something with regard to my roster. The goal is to build a dynasty. Getting someone else to weigh in on your trade can be a help, but each league has a unique economy and many trades look far different in a year.
I currently have 13 teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs, so I’ve been looking to see what I have that might be of value to other teams. Today, I found myself buying Dan Jones, but the key was it was basically free on a team that I have extra roster spaces. I think that Jones might get a chance to be a Darnold or possibly a Baker. I received an offer for Purdy, but he seemed like a QB that might be on a team I try to win with so I asked if Baker might be of interest. Selling Baker leaves me with Daniels, Purdy, and Caleb as my top 3 options going forward. All young, so now it’s important that I get some value out of Baker, and I got an offer of Christian Watson. I’m not a fan of Watson, but others like him, so I looked at the roster and thought about what would help my team that is similar to Watson, I found Doubs. This is PPR, and he gets more targets. I then looked at what I needed and noticed I was picking up Krull just to have a TE this week. So I got him to include Calcaterra in the deal as he’s young, and he could get some playing time in Philly in years to come.
He’s a throw-in, so I decided to include two backup QBs to entice the situation to get completed and prevent me from needing to actually cut players. I gave away Trask as the backup to Baker and also included Tyrod since he has Rodgers, who might be a zero after this year. Some would say this trade is lopsided in that I didn’t get enough for Baker, but looking at a six-seed team that could win all three weeks getting into the playoffs but also might not win, and then this becomes a top 6 pick, and all of a sudden have a strong draft class. When you decide you’re a seller, it’s still ok to hold your pieces as I have missed the playoffs with players like CMC and then just come back the next year and win with CMC. I’ve missed the playoffs with Kamara and then came back the next year with Kamara and won. I have a share of Aaron Jones, who may miss the playoffs, and I just haven’t received an offer that I feel is better than just watching what he does next year. Last year, lots of owners sold Mixon at the deadline, and this year they are regretting the trade. Be thoughtful with your trades and look to see how it will benefit the other party. Would you make the trade the other way if that was your team? If so, you probably have a good deal. Good luck as you set your team up for the offseason.