With the 2021 fantasy football season officially in the rearview mirror, it’s time for fantasy managers of dynasty rosters to put in the legwork that will provide them with a successful rookie draft. Player values ebb and flow, and most rookie drafts won’t take place until after the NFL Draft concludes, so there is still plenty of time to make moves with your roster to help make sure you’re as prepared as possible to dominate your rookie draft in 2022.

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Analyzing the Current State of your Roster 

Before you can craft a plan on how to attack your upcoming rookie draft you will want to take a good long look at the current state of your roster. Whether you’re heading into your first offseason in dynasty after doing a startup draft a year ago or a dynasty veteran, the premise remains the same. Take inventory of the players on your roster and come to a determination on whether or not you can contend for a championship in the 2022 fantasy season. 

If the answer to that question is anything other than a resounding yes, it may be time to consider making some changes to your roster. Similar to how player values can shift throughout an offseason, so can rookie draft capital. Rookie picks will continue to increase in value up until the day of your draft. As people become enamored with the incoming rookie class, some of the allure of veterans currently rostered by teams in your league will fade. Savvy managers for contending teams could be wise to see which veterans could be available for picks that could fall towards the back end of round one or round two while rebuilding managers should be working to acquire as many picks as they can.

While we are now entering the period where picks will continue to increase in value as we work through the pre-draft process and approach fantasy rookie drafts, there is still time to make offers for draft picks that could be available. Now is the time to do so before it’s cost-prohibitive. 

Know your League and What Other Managers Value

Equally as important as knowing the current state of affairs for your fantasy roster is to familiarize yourself with what the rest of the rosters in your league look like. Analyzing incoming rookie talent is only a piece of the rookie draft equation. You need to be able to make the most calculated assumptions possible about who fantasy managers ahead of you in the draft order could potentially target. Let’s walk through a hypothetical scenario.

Say you are set towards the back half of round one but have a desperate desire to address your need at running back through the rookie draft as you covet one of Texas A&M’s Isaiah Spiller or Iowa State’s Breece Hall. You look at the current lay of the land of which rookie picks belong to which managers in your league. Perhaps you identify that one the managers set to pick within the first few picks has a need at wide receiver and also happens to be an Arizona Cardinals fan. You happen to be rostering DeAndre Hopkins and also have a plethora of young wide receivers on your roster, and would be happy to move on from the aging Hopkins if it means you can address your lack of running backs. You reach out to the opposing manager and they are agreeable to either swapping their earlier first-round pick straight up for Hopkins or trading back to where you’re positioned currently.

This is just one broad stroke scenario about how you can manipulate the draft board in a way that is advantageous to you. Use the knowledge that you have about the people that you are in the league with to your advantage. If you know a manager is a fan of a certain team and could value a player from that team more than you do, go ahead and send an offer their way. While it’s always ideal in the name of fairness to find a deal that works for both managers, there’s nothing that should stop you from identifying key advantages like the one outlined above and attempting to use it to your advantage. 

You Can Still Buy Picks for 2022, but Act Quickly 

We’ve reached the portion of the offseason where rookie draft picks will continue to appreciate up until the day of your rookie draft. With that said, now is the time to try and accumulate capital for 2022 if you’re trying to replenish your rookie draft ammunition. Fantasy managers who are still sitting on a war chest of draft picks know that those picks are going to increase in value as the rookie draft approaches, but that should not prevent you from making offers. While it may already be cost-prohibitive to acquire first-round rookie selections from some of your fellow fantasy managers, picks in the second and third rounds (and potentially even later) could still be available. If you are in the midst of a rebuild, you should still be trying to acquire those mid-round picks for 2022.

When looking at future picks, it’s important to remember that 2023 picks have been very highly valued for over a year now. The 2023 draft class is already receiving incredible amounts of buzz, but the main focus is on the headliners of that class who are likely to be selected in the first round of rookie drafts. When making your last-ditch moves now to try and acquire capital for the 2022 draft, kick the tires on whether or not you can successfully acquire mid-round capital in the 2023 draft. Remember – those picks are only going to continue to increase in value throughout the next season.

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