Rookie drafts are still a little over a month away, assuming you have your draft immediately after the NFL Draft, but there are some things you can be doing now to prepare for them. Some of these things we almost take for granted as experienced dynasty managers, but every once in a while, it’s a good thing to be reminded so that we don’t repeat past mistakes — I’m looking at you Clyde Edwards-Helaire owners that drafted him over Jonathan Taylor. So here are four things that you can be doing right now as a new dynasty manager — or an experienced one — to help you prepare for your rookie drafts…

• Dynasty Trade Value Chart
• Derek Brown’s Dynasty Rookie Draft Sleepers
• Dynasty Rookie Draft Pick Trade Strategy & Advice
• Latest Dynasty Rookie Mock Draft

Don’t Overreact to the Combine

The NFL Combine is a fun event for us Dynasty owners, but it can also be a trap for us to move players up or down too much. There have been plenty of players that have gained or lost value in the dynasty world after the combine, only to go on to be great NFL and fantasy players or complete busts.

The No. 1 indicator for fantasy success in the NFL is Draft Capital. NFL teams put a lot of effort and spend a lot of money into scouting these players, and if they slip in the draft, there is likely a reason. The opposite is true as well. If a team spends a Day 1 or Day 2 pick on a player that you thought might go on Day 3, it’s time to pay attention to him. So while 40 times and three-cone drills are fun to talk about in March, it’s the end of April that we really want to pay attention to.

Assess Your Picks

After every season in dynasty, it is always a good idea to assess your team’s weaknesses and strengths and make a game plan to improve your roster — and that includes evaluating the picks you currently have. If you’re a team with a lot of holes to fill, you may want to consider moving back in the draft to accumulate more picks, but if you’re “one piece away” combining your current picks to move up in the draft might benefit you more. And, on the rare occasion that you’re team is ready to compete but you have an overabundance of 2023 picks, trading some of this year’s picks to get more picks in 2024 is also something to consider.

Mock Draft

I like to do a lot of mock drafting, even in March when we don’t know landing spots. This does two things for you. One, it gives you a general idea of who might be available at your current spot in the draft, but more importantly, it gives you an idea of how other people value certain players and that can help you with potential trades. Make sure you don’t always mock draft from “your” spot. Drafting from different places in the mock draft allows you to see how other managers value players.

For example, say you have the 1.04. Try mock drafting for 1.06 or 1.07. If you are continually getting “your guy” at a later pick, and the player going at 1.04 is not someone you’re all that interested in, maybe you move back a few spots and gain another pick later in the draft, or maybe a pick in 2024. This is a way you can still can get your guy, while also adding another asset.

The opposite can be true as well. If you have the 1.07, but the guy you really want keeps going at the 1.04, reach out to that owner and see what it would take to move up.

Obviously, this comes with risk as we know, your real draft will not always, in fact rarely, go the way the mocks do, but it’s still better to prepare for the real thing my mock drafting and be ready for almost any scenario.

You can now complete dynasty rookie drafts via our free mock draft simulator tool.

Know the ADP

Average Draft Position, or ADP, can be very misleading sometimes, but it is still a tool you can use to your advantage. The key to a successful rookie draft is being able to get the players you want, without overpaying. For example, if there is a player with a mid-to-late second round ADP, drafting them at 1.06 would be an overpay. Obviously, ADP will change as we get closer to the draft and ultimately change a lot after the draft, but knowing the players that have gained or lost value leading up to and after the draft is very important when trying to trade your picks to either move up or down the draft board.

Sometimes landing spot can artificially inflate a player’s value or depress it. For example, when the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Clyde Edwards-Helaire, there were a lot of people that moved him up to RB1 and drafted him over a guy like Jonathan Taylor based strictly on his landing spot, not his talent. Conversely, when AJ Brown was drafted by the Tennessee Titans, a run-heavy low-scoring offense, he was downgraded based on his landing spot.

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