Fantasy Football is a year-round hobby for a lot of people, but the vast majority still think of it as a seasonal thing. These people primarily play redraft only, totally unaware that you can play in a league that never really stops.
Redraft is a ton of fun, don’t get me wrong, but true degenerates tend to fall into the dynasty trap at some point and find it hard to get out. With that in mind, here are some ways that you can use redraft season to your advantage in dynasty leagues.
- More Dynasty Articles & Advice
- Dynasty Startup Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Dynasty Rookie Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
- Dynasty Draft Simulator
Using Redraft Season to Your Advantage in Dynasty
Dynasty becomes redraft during the season
First things first, once football season starts, dynasty leagues become redraft leagues. Sure, trade values are different, and you’re given some future assets you can move, but on a week-to-week basis, both leagues operate very similarly. Good redraft players tend to be good because they’re great at making lineup decisions, waiver choices, and trades to help their team win. All of this can translate to the dynasty format if you think of them in the right context.
Lineups are identical between the two formats. You want to start the best players available. Waivers are a big difference though. In redraft leagues, rosters are usually smaller. Most leagues have a one-to-one ratio (at most) in terms of starters to bench players. In dynasty, that ratio is usually something like one-to-two or one-to-three.
If you start ten players, you might only have seven or eight bench spots in redraft but you might have 15 bench spots in dynasty. These deeper benches mean waivers are much thinner in dynasty leagues. That being said, you can still use redraft waiver advice to help you in your dynasty league.
Using waivers and streaming options to help your dynasty roster
Most waiver articles are geared at the shallower leagues and include players that are almost always rostered in dynasty. You won’t find many candidates to add to your dynasty roster, but you can use those names as options to trade for or trade away. For instance, if Jaylen Warren is being hyped for redraft, that means he might be a great option to trade away in dynasty. You might be able to get more for him now than if you waited a week or two.
The same basic thought goes for streaming options in redraft as well. They, too, could make for great trade candidates on your dynasty team. Again, as an example, if there are articles out there saying that Week 4 is a great time to stream Derek Carr in 1QB leagues, maybe he’s a good candidate to trade away at the max value in dynasty as well. This isn’t always true, but doing your redraft research can sometimes be useful in dynasty if you think of the info in that different context.
Injuries can hurt in redraft but help in dynasty
Another thing I often find myself doing in dynasty that is the opposite of redraft is trading for injured players. In redraft, if your RB1 goes down, your season might go down with him. You spent a lot of your draft capital on a player that is now not likely to score you many points as the season goes on. That is still true in dynasty, but depending on the injury, and depending on your dynasty roster, you can use these injuries as a way to add a ton of future value to your team.
I talk about this every year, but on teams where I am rebuilding, I love buying injured players for pennies on the dollar. In redraft, no one wants them, obviously, but the same can translate to dynasty as well. Again, since both formats are similar during the season, win-now teams might be looking to move an injured player for someone they can put in their lineup immediately. This redraft info can be very useful for dynasty players, although this isn’t exactly something new.
Using the schedule to your advantage in dynasty
Last, but not least, I love using bye weeks and matchups to my advantage in dynasty whenever possible. “Oh, your top two receivers are both on a bye? Let me offer you my WR4 for a better future pick since you need a starter so badly.” Sometimes trades like this can look very lopsided even weeks later and allow you to exploit your knowledge of the weekly game as much as possible.
Matchups are fun like this too. There are just some games that you know will be barnburners, and I love offering specific players for future picks at specific times to try to capitalize on that. If you read redraft advice that says that Stefon Diggs is set up for a prime week due to the matchup, now might be a good time to sell him for way more than he’s really worth. The opposite is also true too. If a player is looking at being locked down or on an island, maybe you can wait until the week ends to send a lowball offer and get him on the cheap after a low fantasy performance.
Ultimately, while the two formats are definitely similar, exploiting the differences between them can lead to more winning, more titles, and more fun if used correctly. Redraft and dynasty are both a lot of fun in different ways, but if you’re going to study for one, why not get value for both? If it helps you win then it’s the right decision, and every edge matters in this day and age. Good luck!
Andrew Hall is a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Andrew, check out his profile and follow him @AndrewHallFF.