Are you getting ready for a fantasy football draft?
What if I told you that using a unique style of draft pick trading, you could essentially move your 3rd- and 5th-round picks up into the 2nd-round, while still keeping your 1st- and 2nd-round picks?
You’d probably call me nuts, because what I’m essentially suggesting is that you could have these picks:
What Trading Up Can Get You?
1.02, 2.01, 2.04, 2.05, 4.05, 7.09, 9.03, 16.11, 17.02, 18.11, 19.02, and a whole bunch of 20+ round picks received as a part of all the trade-ups, etc.
… all while only moving the following picks down: 6th, 8th, 10th-15th round picks down….
Because all of this pick trading movement is hard to imagine, I have mocked-up what owning these selections would look like (post-trade selections represented in blue):
* Keep in mind this is a PPR dynasty start-up draft, with line-up requirements of 1QB, 2RBs, 3WRs, 1Flex, 1TE, 1DST and 1K
Even if you are a conservative drafter, which I’m not, and you like depth, the layout of draft selections above doesn’t seem possible, right? Well, it is, because these are the exact draft selections that I acquired in a recent start-up dynasty expert league, and I maneuvered into these picks through a series of 7+ trades, all of which I have listed below:
Trade History
Trade 1
DraftCalc.com gets: 2.04, 15.09
www.ProFootballFocus.com gets: 4.11 & 5.02
Trade 2
DraftCalc.com gets: 2.05, 3.08 & 7.08
www.DynastyFootballWarehouse.com gets: 2.11, 3.02 & 7.02
Trade 3
DraftCalc.com gets: 2.01, 12.01 & 16.01
www.DoAWildThing.com gets 3.08, 6.11 & 7.08
Trade 4
DraftCalc.com gets: 4.04, 21.09 & 22.04
www.ProFootballFocus.com gets: 8.11, 9.02 & 12.01
Trade 5
DraftCalc.com gets: 7.10 & 22.03
www.FantasyFootballHelpDesk.net gets: 10.11 & 11.02
Trade 6
DraftCalc.com gets: 4.05, 11.08 & 12.06
www.DynastyFootballWarehouse.com gets: 4.04, 12.11 & 13.02
Trade 7
DraftCalc.com gets: Vincent Jackson, 14th, 15th & 16th
www.SecondCityFanatics.com gets: Michael Turner, 20th, 21st & 22nd
The Theory
As you can see above, it’s not like any one of those trades was extremely in our favor, except for the first trade, where we acquired the 2nd-round using our 4th- and 5th-round picks… in many of the other cases, some would suggest we gave up way too much depth… it’s almost like a pyramid-style concept, well, in a way… you move one pick (let’s say a 4th up to the 2nd) up a TON using another later pick… then you keep moving your next pick back up in the current mix using two later picks, just like the example I just cranked out… once you do this 4-6 times, you will run out of suitors, no question, so be prepared for that, and of course you will eventually run out of attractive draft selections to even trade… but the concept is to give a little extra here, and there, in order to continue moving your most current pick up in the draft.
I can’t tell you how many times I’d be left without a pick for what looked like 5-7 rounds, but through the sending out of mass trade offers, I managed to do more 2-for-1-type trades and move back into the current mix of picks (ex: 8th and 9th for a 6th, and so on). Yes, you continue to lose more and more depth throughout this process, but as I mentioned, I’m not a conservative drafter, and as you can see below, our line-up still filled out quite nicely. Take a look:
Our Roster
Ok, it sounds great, right? But, what could our line-up possibly look like after trading away so much middle- and late-round depth? Take a look at our team below, but keep in mind that this draft is still ongoing, but it’s winding down, which is where a lot of our picks are coming up. And remember, this is a start-up dynasty league, so we will have these big name players for years to come. View the draft log here.
Roster
QB1: Michael Vick (4.05)
RB1: Arian Foster (1.02)
RB2: Darren McFadden (2.01)
WR1: Julio Jones (2.04)
WR2: Dez Bryant (2.05)
WR3: Vincent Jackson (acquired in a trade using our 7.09 selection)
Flex: Santana Moss (16.11)
TE: Jermaine Gresham (9.03)
K: TBA
DST: TBA
Bench: Kevin Kolb, Tim Tebow, Knowshon Moreno, Armon Binns, Chris Polk… view all rosters.
Talk about this trading style, and this draft, on our fantasy football forums!
Smitty, it was a damn interesting philosophy that you were trying in the draft. Just curious on your thoughts now that the draft is almost over. Do you have enough depth? The starting lineup looks good for sure just concerned on the bench for bye weeks and injury’s is all.
Well, considering this is a pure dynasty league, I tend to take these kind of chances more than ever. Reason being, how many times do you land those free agent players, future rookies, etc? I can build around a core group, and that line-up is a line-up someone shouldn’t have coming out of a fresh dynasty start-up, plain and simple. So to answer your question, I have little depth, but it’s enough given I know I’ll find some gems eventually. It’s not a strategy for everyone, but as I said, I am not a conservative drafter. This strategy, and not knowing where I’ll find that depth and when… all that would drive a very careful drafter crazy
So far I’ve traded my 3.1, 4.12 and 2013 1st for 1.06 and 3.06 in a startup, trying to trade my 5 and 6 for picks in 9-12 to stockpile on some sleepers early. trading draft picks is a lot of fun, but I feel like someone is always getting burned.
Let us know what team you land with these picks.
Hello there,
So we had a slow draft, and are now approaching RD14, so I feel like all the big names are off the board now, but the interesting picks are yet to come. Of course, you don’t put much value into these late picks, but w/e to each their own.
So far there have been 21 trades and I have been a part of 7 of them. Sparing you the details, I ended up with the 1.1, 1.6, 3.10, 4.03, 5.12, 6.05, 7.05, 8.08, 9.05, 9.10, 9.11, 10.08, 11.02, 13.11, 14.12, 15.01, 16.12, 17.01, 18.12, 19.01, 20.12, 21.01, 22.12, and 23.01. This is a 24 round draft, so I’m extremely happy to be getting my last player 24 picks before Mr. Irrelevant, and for that matter I basically view it as getting my last picks a full round early! (In Rd 10 I had 12 players, in Rd 13 I had 14, etc.)
Essentially I targeted A Rod and AJ Green, and avoided some early rounds to stock up on 6-10. I traded up to grab Sproles and Bradshaw at 4.03 and 5.12 respectively, because the value there was just obscene. I generally let other owners reach, and took the ADP gems.
In a 1 PPR league, all TDs 6 points, I’m pretty content with this team:
QB: A Rod
WR: AJG, B Marsh, Lloyd
RB: Sproles, Bradshaw
TE: Finley
Flex: Crabtree
Bench so far: B. Quick, M. Bush, J. Starks, C. Fleener, A. Dalton, and S. Hill. I really tried to trade up and get Dez and or Julio, but it was not meant to be. Also I still have 2013 (1,3,3,3,4) and 2014 (1,2,3,4). So I didnt even mortage my future to get this squad.
Here’s a link to the draft, I’d love some thoughts on how I did or who you think I should target, obviously I’m swinging for the fences here.
http://football9.myfantasyleague.com/2012/options?L=70171&O=17
Nice work. You’re a bit thin at RB, but Sproles is always a touch underrated, and Bradshaw is solid as long as he is on the field. Michael Bush and Starks could really help you out unexpectedly and with Rodgers and AJG and Marshall, you can definitely put a championship run together. I am really high on Finley and Lloyd as well this year, so I think you may eventually get yourself in a position where you can trade one of Marshall or Lloyd with Bradshaw/or Sproles, for one better RB. Or, Starks could gain some serious value soon, and you can trade him and a very productive Lloyd for a Runner.
In my opinion, you need the RB upgrade at some point, but I think you have a ton of hidden talent that will get you into that position later (not now, as you need those guys to develop a bit)… well, i guess you could always test the trade waters, but I am just saying don’t sell low or anything. Nice job, a good core!! You can’t argue with AJG, Rodgers and Finley as your core to build around.
Yeah, I know I’m thin at RB, but I just dont value them very highly since they only last for a couple years, my strategy was get a few for the next coupl (sproles and bradshaw) and then just stock up on RB handcuffs to plug and play when the runner goes down (or, ideally, sell them high to the owner) and then get some underrated starters (so far only Starks, Brown went a couple rounds earlier than I expected.)
At the 14/15 turn I’m tempted to grab Lance Moore and a RB, but I might have to take two RB’s. We’ll see who’s there in 8 picks.
Thanks for the quick response, and keep it coming.
Be ez
No prob. A couple late-round strategies could be to grab the entire back-up crews for highly productive offenses. It’s a waste of roster space sometimes, but if you were to draft both Brinkley and Ronnie Brown over in SD, imagine if Mathews went down (which isn’t all that hard to imagine given his short, but noticeable, injury history. Just a thought, and an actual strategy I have implemented this year in a deep league where i lacked serious running back depth.