“Days of the Offseason” Day 11: Understanding the Market

To read the previous article in my “Days of the Offseason” installment, click here.

Every fantasy football dynasty league is different. When it comes to breaking down a trade it’s important to understand the market of your league itself.

When playing in a dynasty league, look to add value just about anywhere possible. Increasing value in the offseason is one thing, maintaining that value is another.

Whatever your process is, or how you choose to break players down, is all subjective and open to interpretation. While your process can be sound, you should never look to stop adding value. This is especially true in the offseason. This time of year is when football isn’t a part of most people’s daily lives, so it’s important to be gauging your league’s market just about everyday.

The offseason is when draft picks start to get pricy. Nobody wants to sell their picks for cheap and nobody wants to pay a premium. What it becomes is a dance between the seller and buyer. As Draft Day looms, it’s important to understand that your draft picks will only gain value; at least until your rookie draft.

Having stock in picks is huge. Being able to leverage them into trades where you can clearly gain value is important. Every draft pick you have should be on the trade block once April rolls around, as people tend to overpay for those picks during the offseason.

If you use the Sleeper App for your fantasy football league, a great feature they added was the history of the player. Being able to see exactly how that player was traded, and where his value is should help you understand his value in your individual league. It helps you not to overpay, as well as ensuring you don’t have to send a ridiculous offer that doesn’t get countered.

You don’t always have to flip your draft picks, however. It’s okay to hold. It’s okay to sit on a player and pick, and ride their high value into championships. But if a Star player is being touted as a superstar, it’s usually smart to break that player down at his highest value. Making sure you have value across the board is hard to maintain, but once maintained you gain a large advantage in your league.

If you are not involved in a trade in your fantasy football dynasty league, you are losing ground. One way or another some owner won a trade, and is gaining ground heading into the ensuing season. Be active and acquire value where you see fit. Being able to gauge the entire dynasty market is nice, but gauging your individual league market is far more important than consensus rankings.

For example, if you have Saquon Barkley at overall RB3 but someone has him at RB1, it’s smart to see how much that owner will pay. It never hurts to send an offer, but make sure they are fair. Sending bad offers can come back to hurt you, as it makes owners wary to even work with you.

If your fantasy football league has a divide where it’s clear to see who’s trying to contend and who’s rebuilding, it’s easier to choose where you would want to gain ground. Having a multitude of picks and young players mixed with veterans is important come the offseason, as it gives you versatility to work with any owner at any time. Of course the vets will be discounted (and probably for no reason other than them being 27), but buying discounted vets and selling highly touted picks for a haul gives you stability to work and maneuver any which way you want.

Now you don’t have to sell all of your picks. As of course there is some great value within those players. But as soon as that pick is selected, the interest from some owners will drop out. Everybody will be open to acquiring the 1.07, but not everyone wants Javonte Williams or DeVonta Smith. Gauge the market, gauge the values, and really work to maximize every little spot you can.

Understanding your fantasy football league’s market can be tricky, especially with how much values tend to shift in dynasty. Staying ahead of the curve and retaining value gives you versatility within your league.

As always, leave your thoughts and comments below! If you have any questions on understanding the market, don’t be afraid to ask!