Managing Your Emotions
I woke up on Friday morning and did my normal routine: just checking my team’s and my opponents’ scores. I saw two things that were frustrating at face value, but after thought, these were perfect plays. I have a league where I’m back-to-back champions and the winner of 4 of the last 6 years; however, I’ve never had the best team —just a team that got hot 4 times in the playoffs. Each of the four years, I’ve never received a first-round bye, so winning from the 3-6 seeds has become something I’m very accustomed to in this 28-year dynasty league.
It’s a very traditional start 2 WR in a non-PPR format, so each week I have to decide who to start. I’m playing the #1 seed (The Commish), who doesn’t usually win, but definitely has the best team. My frustration began when I looked at McConkey on my bench and saw his number; however, my decision to start Tee Higgins and Egbuka still feels like a preference I had on his bench, and I had already used a starting spot on Addison.
He could still sub Lamb in for Rashee, but either way, he definitely made a mistake, and I believe those mistakes will continue, and I being consistent will come out on top. It’s important to stay very even as most people let these start decision eat them up before, during, and after the game. Have a process in place and keep the process from getting cute.
I do think some might have McConkey higher than Higgins; however, I wasn’t sure how well the pass defense would be on the Chargers, so I thought: if Quenton got his and Allen got some, how much would McConkey get? I looked at the Jets defense, and if Sauce is on Chase, a veteran QB going against his former club will find the open receiver. I think very few people would rank Addison over Lamb this week, so it’s my opponent’s job to start chasing points in the future as well.
The second thing I saw on Friday morning was Vidal on my bench, but he’s my RB 5, and I start 4 in that league. I have Bijan, Taylor, Javonte, & Dobbins as my top 4, all playing ahead of Vidal, so having him on the bench is the right call, but looking at my opponent needing to start WR at the flex, which gets about half the projected points and also having Kareem Hunt at RB2 puts him at a distinct disadvantage toward getting a win.
He tried to make a trade: a WR who would be on my bench for Vidal, who has a short shelf life—but realistically, having another WR on my bench and giving him 30 more potential points vs me this week. This does make the other owner angry; however, it’s important to keep the main thing the main thing —winning each week.
The edge I consistently get in the dynasty game is that I try to manage my emotions above and avoid impulsive plays I later regret. I try not to chase points every week and also try to get better continually. This positions my teams to never rebuild but simply build, no matter the record. I also have never had success pushing my chips all in, as some injury tends to derail the process, so I find myself building slowly since I don’t have the pieces to stay young and fluid.
The next point I bring up is very controversial, for sure, as I use the message board to become the league villain, but ultimately point the finger at something I’ve already done to take the focus off what I’m currently working on with team building. So for example if I have a large QB room with 6-8 starters and only 2 positions to put them in I have a competitive edge as I simply have more of the highest scoring position than some other teams however when injuries occur and good teams can’t score they get very frustrated so I may stoke that fire so I’m out working on putting Bond on my team or strengthening my RB core through waivers.
I tend to build my rooms when you start four different positions, and I try to see if the draft allows me to begin with QB and end with RB, just to gauge the shelf life of each position. Getting the league to discuss my 17 QBs takes away the focus on what I’m doing and, in lots of cases, has the other owners fill their benches with QBs, allowing for more WRs and RBs to be available for the rest of the league.
I make roster moves to assist the other owners in making impulsive decisions, hopefully missing on value elsewhere while attempting to spend faab and roster players that really have no purpose on their team, so there is less competition for me acquiring the players I want. There is really no secret here; this happens with stocks on Wall Street every day. I view players on a dynasty roster as simply assets to my portfolio. I try to sell when the asset is high and buy when the asset is low. In a TE premium league, selling Gadson is a great idea while buying an asset such as Bowers. This isn’t because I love Bowers and hate Gadson, it’s because Bowers is hurt and Gadson is playing ceiling football.
Another example is selling Tyler Warren for Bowers and a 1st. Is this trade out there in your leagues? I would say you’ll be able to make that trade now, and then, at some point in the future, trade Bowers for Warren and a 1st. So what happens is you have the same player you have right now, and you really gain only two first-round picks by timing the market.
I can’t state how many times I’ve done the Pat Mahomes for Lamar Jackson, including a first-round pick on my side. Ultimately, honestly, I want to end with Pat Mahomes, but it doesn’t have to be right now, so if I could get Lamar and a 1st right now for Mahomes, I will make that trade.
My record isn’t important as I view this trade as a free first. Last year, I bought all the Pat Mahomes for Lamar and a 1st. Making these trades also helps your league mates play a lot more emotionally, and you begin to see the players who jump for the next greatest player.
When you do make these trades, you can’t gain age in the trade, meaning you can’t make a trade of McConkey for Adams, but you can make a trade of McConkey for Brian Thomas and a 1st. Rewinding the clock to draft day, you would have drafted Thomas ahead of McConkey, so now to pick up a first for a player we liked more just a few months ago is positive when nothing has largely changed in the role of each player.
The takeaway is to control your emotions and always be looking to capitalize on other players’ emotions and desire to shake things up. Sometimes, when they make trades with others and win, they’ll also make trades and lose, so traders are like gamblers; give them time, and they will usually lose.
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