So you’re a big fan of fantasy football but you’re looking for something more. You don’t just want a four-month experience; you want this to be a year-round competition! If those are your thoughts, it may be time to switch from redraft to dynasty. Joining a keeper league is another option too, but dynasty is where it’s at if you want a more permanent experience. I’ll try my best to prepare you as you transition to a dynasty league.

What is a Dynasty League?

Whereas redraft leagues reset every season, dynasty leagues are ones where you keep your roster from year to year. There’s a startup draft at the beginning, and from then on, all drafts are just for rookies.

Why Dynasty?

I’m not going to say that dynasty leagues are better than redraft leagues, but there are some differences that make it more enjoyable.

The first, as mentioned before, is that it never ends (unless your league dissolves). There may not be as much action in the off-season, but you can make moves any day of the year.

The second is that you need to think about longevity. Age, contract situations, teammates, coaching, injury risk, and other factors like these need to be considered. Because of this, some people don’t play to win the championship that year. Some may play to win the championship ASAP, while others may focus more on future years.

Finally, drafting rookies and trading picks is an added feature. Being able to trade for future picks and only drafting from the rookie pool rather than the entire league definitely adds a twist to the game. Redraft is great, but I love being able to play year-round with some added variables.

How Do I Start?

As with any league, you can either start a league yourself as a commissioner or join a group of people. The difference when joining a league is that you can either join a league that’s starting up, or you can join a league that already exists, but maybe had a manager drop out. If it’s the latter, you’ll be taking over an existing team. I’d rather join a dynasty league from its inception so that my team is fully my team.

Many popular fantasy sports platforms do not support dynasty leagues. This means that if you use them, the commissioner may need to do a lot outside of the app. That’s why apps like Sleeper are growing in popularity. They have features like vet drafts, rookie drafts, draft pick trades, etc., built-in.

One warning is to find a good group for a dynasty league. Because of the long-term commitment, being stuck with people you might not enjoy playing with may make this less enjoyable. Another issue could be having flakes to the point where you’d need to find new players regularly. So try to some solid managers to form a league that’ll be fun for years to come.

Strategies for a Transition to Dynasty

Your mentality around the value of players will shift drastically when you switch to a dynasty league. Older players like Julio Jones may not be valued as high as younger studs like Justin Jefferson. Also, many dynasty leagues use different roster setups like Superflex or two QB settings, where quarterbacks can be valued above top wide receivers. Others may be TE premium leagues, where many tight ends go from being streamers to locked-in commodities.

There is no way I’ll be able to cover all the strategies you’ll need, but here are a few keys to help you in transition to Dynasty in Fantasy Football.

Know Your Settings

Most redraft leagues have starting rosters of 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2/3 WRs, 1 TE 1 RB/WR/TE FLEX, 1 K, and 1 DST. Dynasty players often like to spice things up.

The most common variation is Superflex or two QB. A Superflex league is one where there is a Superflex spot. It’s like an RB/WR/TE flex spot except you can also add a QB in there. You can probably also figure out what a two QB league is. So you can probably understand why QBs rise in value so much in these types of leagues. In a regular 12-team one QB league, you can only start one QB per week. That means two-thirds of the starting QBs in the NFL are not in starting lineups each week, so there is a lot of room for streaming. However, if teams can start two quarterbacks, then teams are more likely to have at least one extra quarterback on their bench for bye-weeks as well. If that happens, quarterbacks have all of a sudden become much more scarce and are therefore valued much higher.

Other variations include TE premium leagues where there may be two TE roster spots or where TEs may get two PPR (two points per reception). Dynasty leagues may also remove kickers and DSTs and instead use IDPs (individual defensive players). Now on top of needing to know offensive weapons, you need to know guys on the other side of the ball as well as how often they get tackles, sacks, interceptions, etc. Bench spots also tend to get a lot deeper. Taxi squads are sometimes involved as well, though we won’t get into that now.

Settings drastically change the way players are valued. Make sure you check those before making any moves. You can imagine bad moves also have long-term consequences in dynasty leagues.

Value Trumps Needs

In a redraft league, you need to make sure you balance all your starting roster spots. That’s because you may not be able to rely as much on trades and waiver pickups as you only have a few months with your roster. In dynasty leagues, trades tend to occur much more often as people tend to have different strategic needs. Additionally, positional needs can be filled a year later. If you make a bad trade just to fill a roster spot, it’ll be much more difficult to get that value back, and your team as a whole may suffer because of it.

Honestly Evaluate Your Team

In a redraft league, it doesn’t matter how bad your team is, you always want to win the Championship that year. In a dynasty league, though, that may not be the wisest idea. I’m not recommending tanking (I’d recommend leagues to have policies that prevent that), but you need to decide if you have a win-now team or a win-later team.

If you have a win-now team, you may want to sacrifice young players and draft picks to get players who can help your team take the trophy. However, if you know you might not be able to win right away, you may choose to focus on acquiring those draft picks and young prospects while using players at or past the peak of their careers as bartering pieces. This is partly why trades are more common in dynasty leagues.

Learn Draft Value (Startup vs Rookie)

Dynasty players don’t just trade players, they trade rational numbers like 1.02 and 5.12. These numbers represent upcoming draft picks. Dynasty leagues also often allow for the trading of picks during drafts. This can be intimidating, so make sure you learn what their value is.

First of all, a first-round draft pick in a startup draft is worth significantly more than a first-round draft pick in a rookie draft. In a startup draft, you’re picking the best of the best in the NFL. In the Rookie draft, you’re picking from a more limited group of players who haven’t even played in the NFL yet. Another note is that rookie draft values differ from year to year depending on the rookies coming into the league that year.

Looking at mock startup drafts, mock rookie drafts, and past rookies can give you an idea of the value of what those numbers represent.

Research

Age, contract situations, teammates, coaching, injury risk, and other factors like these need to be considered in dynasty. Don’t overvalue those factors (Travis Kelce is still a stud) but it does impact player valuations.

Because benches also tend to be deeper, you may need to look into lesser-known players. Look at their situation, and see if you think they have the potential to break out. The fun thing with this is you end up following lesser-known players. It becomes much more rewarding if you manage to find these breakouts before they become known in the redraft world.

Wrap-Up

Transitioning to a dynasty in fantasy football can come with some challenges but I’d definitely say it’s worth it. I’ll still play in redraft leagues as it’s nice to have some variety, but with a dynasty team, it feels more like your baby. And plus, now you never need to stop playing fantasy football!

If you found this article helpful, check out other Belly Up fantasy sports articles at Belly Up Fantasy Sports and you can follow me at @liuac.