Fantasy
1/24/24
4 min read
Dynasty Tips To Prepare for the 2024 NFL Rookie Class
We’re officially in the dynasty offseason, which, believe it or not, is when the process to win next year’s championship starts.
That may sound like an exaggeration, but the offseason is the time to reshape your roster into a juggernaut. However, there isn’t one simple strategy that creates juggernaut rosters, rather a combination of many strategies, theories and ideas.
Between now and the NFL Draft, there are plenty of ways to give yourself an even better chance at winning the next championship, such as rookie picks, buying veterans and building lineups. Finding advantages with each of these helps set your team up for success next season.
Rookie Picks Offer Owners Leverage
Just possessing rookie picks for the coming draft is likely to improve your roster. But there is plenty of nuance involved with how to handle these rookie picks.
One common mistake managers make is believing picks are only meant for drafting rookie prospects. In reality, you should view rookie picks as a valued asset. A rookie pick can turn into anything from a rookie prospect to a 10-year veteran because it doesn’t necessarily have to be used to draft.
If you have the seventh pick in your rookie draft, you could it use on rookie prospects such as Rome Odunze or Troy Franklin, for example. You could also trade that pick to another manager for players such as Brandon Aiyuk, De’Von Achane or Kyle Pitts, all of whom have proven they have elite ceilings.
The most important part of maximizing rookie picks is understanding the timing of them.
Often, as shown by KeepTradeCut value charts, rookie picks aren’t at their peak value until April or May when rookie drafts are taking place. That makes sense because rookie prospect hype is at an all-time high then with the draft taking place and no football being played.
Leveraging draft picks at their peak is one of the first strategies that begin to build a juggernaut.
Now is The Time To Buy Veterans
Once fantasy seasons end, players near or older than 30 begin to lose their appeal. That directly results in them being cheaper on the dynasty market.
Just one month ago, Tyreek Hill was the 14th-highest-valued asset in dynasty, according to KeepTradeCut. Today, he is the 27th-highest-valued asset.
Hill isn’t the only star losing value because of his age during the offseason. Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara, Davante Adams, Stefon Diggs, Keenan Allen, Travis Kelce and others have lost considerable value as well.
Despite their ages, their production shouldn't decline sharply right away. I wrote an article last offseason that addressed how the age cliff is real, but it’s not one size fits all. Highly productive players, such as the ones mentioned above, don’t fall into the age cliff that an average player does.
Simply put, there is no better time to buy veteran producers than right now. When fantasy points start being scored again — and consensus realizes those players didn’t lose their powers just because they’re 30 — the veteran producers' value won’t be as cheap as it is now.
Don't Rush To Build Lineups
Everyone wants to build the perfect lineup during the offseason, but there's no need to set a lineup in January. No fantasy points are scored at this time of year, so it shouldn’t matter if you have a plethora of quality wide receivers and a scarcity of quality running backs. Everyone has zero wins and zero losses in the offseason.
This, in turn, means that you don’t have positional needs. Searching for a certain position at this time of year is meaningless — it should always be a search for value. Typically, when managers have positional needs, they are willing to give up value to get the position they are searching for. Those are the managers we prefer to make deals with.
The offseason is all about accruing value, and if you can come ahead on a trade because a team needs a specific position, you should take advantage of that.
Don't Hibernate During The Offseason
Some managers see the dynasty offseason as time off, but that’s a detriment to their rosters. During this time of year — if we're maximizing rookie picks, buying veteran producers and building position-less lineups — we can set ourselves up with a much better chance to win the next championship.
Don’t let the offseason be an off season.
