The
best part of the challenge of a non-redraft league in Fantasy
Football is the challenge of climbing to the top and trying to
sustain success. When you don’t get to hit the reset button each year
can you make the right moves to improve your team or to keep it
improving and moving towards championship contention. While there is
nothing I enjoy more than winning in Fantasy Football, trying to
build from my 11/12 place finish the first year is the most fun I’ve
had in any league.
Last
year was a 7th place finish, just one spot out of the
playoffs, and this year looks to have promise, but what is the best
way to get out of the cellar. For me it was to think like baseball
and not football. The teams that are trying to bounce back in
baseball tear and down and focus on youth and assets. Set a period of
realistic time and move anything that has value that will fall short
of that window. So for my team I identified older players that had
very short windows and pushed to turn them in to more long term
assets. As the quote goes ‘It’s better to move a player one year
early than one year too late.’
Year
one I was able to trade LeGarette Blount for Jimmy Graham. In the
offseason I picked up Marshawn Lynch and was able to trade him and
Graham for Golden Tate and Kenyan Drake. This offseason again I
picked up Adrian Peterson and flipped him and Tate for a 2nd
round pick and a 3rd round pick for next year. That was
how I was able to keep moving assets to finally get something useful.
Even with Tate having a great season I also identified him as a short
term piece and took advantage of buyer needing help this season.
That
was also an example of how I gathered assets to look to move. Lynch,
AP, Tyreek Hill, Ty Montgomery (who I moved for a pick this
offseason), Jimmy Garoppolo (traded this offseason for a pick) are a
few of the players I’ve been able to pick up, and most of them have
been moved. Being active on the Waiver Wire is key for success in any
league but you need to do whatever you can to find good pieces,
especially anything you move for young players or draft picks.
Roster
construction comes in to play as well. Of course you should never
give up what could a usable or tradable piece, but when it comes to
it you should definitely target younger players. My approach was
always a shotgun one. The more young pieces I can acquire the more
likely I would find one that would be a longterm piece. Someone last
year was not smart enough to hold on to Patrick Mahommes and a
selling team grabbed him prepared to wait him out and now that team
looks way smarter. Backups, handcuffs, rookies who may be out for a
bit just be aggressive in gathering possible future talent.
You
can ride out a productive player, especially if you feel like you
have a chance to go the distance, but that is a philosophy choice for
each person to make. I decided that I’m more likely to lean towards
moving a player sooner rather than got caught wasting an asset. Tate
is a prime example beause he is having a great season, but he is
approaching 30 and free agency. It definitely was a bit of an easier
decision because I think I’m in playoff contention and not
championship contention. The first year a team had Frank Gore how was
having a top 20 season and yet rode him out and then ended up not
rostering him in the offseason, what a waste.
The
challenge is being able to think more than just this year. In my
Dynasty League a lot of people made reasonable moves in the
offseason, but then once we start playing games they go back in to
win now mode. As a bit of a seller, though I did recently make a huge
move, it made it easier to attack the market and really set my own
price. Other sellers have found it tough to make moves now because of
how aggressive I was early. Always be thinking about assets and more
than just this year.