It’s the weekend! What better way to spend it than drafting a fantasy football team? You can always do that using our FREE mock draft simulator, but maybe you also have a dynasty rookie or startup draft to prep for. In that case, let our dynasty rookie primers guide you through the process of considering first-year NFL players. Derek Brown breaks down each position, including his rankings, tiers, and overall strategy.

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• Dynasty Trade Value Chart
• Dynasty Startup Draft Primers: QB | RB | WR | TE
• Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator

Dynasty Draft Primer

Before you start drafting in a dynasty startup, chart a course and then build a coherent draft strategy around it.

Dynasty Startup Draft Strategy

Charting a course means deciding when you expect your team to establish its dynastic reign over the league. Here are the three primary options:

• Win now: Establish your dominance immediately. While your competitors focus on youth in the startup draft, scoop up proven veterans at discounted prices and build a roster that will be a favorite for the league title in Year 1.
• Win in Year 2: Focus on youth but mix in some proven veterans. Your young roster might not have the juice to win right away, but you’ll have a collection of players likely to have increased in value after Year 1, positioning you to contend in Year 2.
• Productive struggle: (Hat tip to Ryan McDowell of Dynasty League Football for coining the term.) Commit to a slow build that will put you in title contention in 2-3 years. Focus heavily on youth in the startup draft and be willing to trade startup picks for picks in future rookie drafts.

Quarterback Strategy: 1QB Dynasty Startup Leagues

How many quarterbacks should you carry on your roster in a 1QB league? It depends on roster size. With rosters of 30 or more players, it’s fine to carry three QBs, especially if you don’t have a star. You’ll have more flexibility to play matchups with your subpremium quarterbacks. Don’t feel compelled to draft more than two, however. In 1QB leagues, there are usually a few starting quarterbacks available on waivers, and you’ll be able to grab one if an injury puts you in a pinch. With rosters of 28 players or fewer, stick with just two quarterbacks and throw an extra dart at the all-important RB and WR positions.

The goal is to get a top quarterback at a reasonable price. If your competitors are overdrafting the premium QBs, or if you’re missing out on them by a few picks because of where you’re positioned in the draft, it’s fine to settle for a non-premium quarterback (especially if you’ve charted a course for a productive struggle).

The value of quarterbacks can vary based on the lineup configuration your league uses. If your league requires you to start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 2 WRs, 1 TE and 1 FLEX, your quarterback represents one-seventh of your starting lineup and is more important than in a league with, say, 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE and 3 FLEX, where your quarterback represents one-tenth of your starting lineup. The fewer the starting lineup spots, the more important quarterbacks become.

Let’s sort quarterbacks into three baskets based on where they’re likely to be chosen in startup drafts. Estimated round values are based on league formats that require you to start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE and 1 FLEX.

Quarterback Strategy: Superflex Dynasty Startup Leagues

The QB position is an obsession in superflex dynasty leagues. Quarterbacks drive the economy in superflex leagues. The value of all players in superflex leagues is filtered through the prism of QB value.

While the QB supply is abundant in 1QB dynasty leagues, quarterbacks are a scarce asset in superflex leagues, and the market reflects that. Quarterbacks will dominate the first round of a superflex startup draft. Once the draft is over, good QBs will always be expensive in the trade market. Prying one away from one of your rivals will require you to part with one or more good young players and/or premium picks in rookie drafts.

The hard truth is that you might have to overspend for at least one of your quarterbacks in a startup draft. Value-seeking is the No. 1 objective in startup drafts, but you may be forced to set aside that objective in order to survive, because the consequences of punting the QB position in a superflex dynasty league are frightful. It’s hard to win games in a dynasty league when you’re starting Jimmy Garoppolo and Desmond Ridder, and your opponents are throwing Mahomes/Prescott and Hurts/Lawrence combos at you.

Ideally, you’ll draft an anchor quarterback in Round 1 or Round 2. If you’re picking in the top half of the first round, you’re obligated to take a quarterback. It’s simply the right thing to do.

Beyond the first two rounds, things get tricky. The goal is to draft opportunistically at the QB position in order to maximize value, but also to not get left out in the cold. It’s a difficult balancing act, because quarterbacks are almost always overdrafted from Round 2 on in superflex startups. You may be required to temporarily abandon your value-seeking principles when addressing the QB position. The alternative is ending up with Sam Howell as your QB2. Not great, Bob.

And let’s be clear: Having an inadequate QB combo in a superflex league is unpleasant. It’s not impossible to win a superflex dynasty league with below-average quarterbacks, but it’s a herculean task. The rest of your roster would need to be a war machine. The more likely result of inadequacy at the QB position is also-ran status in your league and a daily preoccupation with fixing a hard-to-fix problem.

Let’s once again sort the quarterbacks into baskets, but the superflex baskets are going to look different than the 1QB baskets.

Running Back Draft Strategies

Let’s discuss three popular RB strategies and their applications for dynasty startups.

• Zero RB: Ignore running backs entirely in the early rounds and load up on pass catchers (and perhaps QBs in superflex drafts). It’s a controversial but viable strategy in redraft leagues. It’s an even more effective strategy in dynasty leagues if you’re building for Year 2 or beyond and not trying to win right away.
• Hero RB: Get a top RB in the early rounds, then focus on other positions until the middle rounds. This strategy can work with a win-now or win in Year 2 approach. It doesn’t fit as well with a productive struggle, since RB career arcs are so short your hero RB might be past his peak by the time your team is ready to contend.
• Robust RB: Load up on RBs in the early rounds. For reasons outlined earlier, this strategy is not recommended for dynasty formats, although there’s a case to be made that it’s a viable strategy if you’re in win-now mode.

Let’s sort the top 15 running backs into baskets based on where they’re likely to be chosen in startup drafts. I’m going to include rookies, since a couple of the running backs in the Class of 2023 are highly coveted fantasy assets. Estimated round values are based on league formats that require you to start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE and 1 FLEX.

Wide Receiver Dynasty Startup Draft Strategy

If you’re in win-now mode, Cooper Kupp is a logical draft target. Kupp will be 30 by the time the season begins. He won’t come off the board as early in dynasty startups as he will in redraft leagues because of his age, so you might be able to get him as late as the fourth round of a 1QB startup or the fifth round of a superflex startup. But if you’re aiming to win in Year 2 or committing to a productive struggle, Kupp probably should not be a draft target for you.

If you’re building your team to win in Year 2, favor WRs over RBs in the early rounds. The young receivers you draft in the early rounds are highly likely to maintain or increase their value over the next year, providing a strong foundation for your playoff-ready 2024 squad.

If you’re committed to a productive struggle, heavily favor WRs over RBs in the early rounds. RB value is often fleeting. Travis Etienne is an attractive option in the early rounds. He’s only 24 and seems poised for a fruitful career. But RB career arcs are short, and even top running backs can run out of gas quickly. Just ask the dynasty managers who tried to build their teams around Todd Gurley a few years ago. Pass on Etienne and draft Michael Pittman or Christian Watson instead. You probably wouldn’t make that choice in redraft, but it’s a sensible business decision for productive strugglers in a dynasty startup draft.

Tight End Dynasty Startup Draft Strategy

In the TE-premium format, tight ends are awarded more points per reception than players at other position. If RBs and WRs get 1 point per reception, TEs might get 1.5. If RBs and WRs get 0.5 per reception, TEs might get 1.0.

With the greater rewards for tight ends in the TE-premium format, there are two approaches you can take:

1. Attack the TE position aggressively. With the greater rewards for tight ends, strength at the position is handsomely rewarded, incentivizing you to acquire a top tight end in the early rounds.
2. Cut corners at the TE position. “But why would you want to cut corners at tight end when TE scoring is more heavily weighted?” Well, since tight ends come off the board earlier in TE-premium startups, that means good players at other positions are available later in the draft than they would be otherwise. You can scoop up value at other positions, and if you can figure out a way to get adequate TE production on the cheap, you’ll be well ahead of the game.

OK, back to TE strategy for leagues with conventional scoring for tight ends …

As mentioned earlier, your overall draft strategy should guide your tactics for addressing the TE position. Before you start drafting in a dynasty startup, you need to chart a course and then build a coherent draft strategy around it.

Charting a course means deciding when you expect your team to establish its dynastic reign over the league. Here are the three primary options:

Dynasty Startup Draft Strategy

• Win now: Establish your dominance immediately. While your competitors focus on youth in the startup draft, scoop up proven veterans at discounted prices and build a roster that will be a favorite for the league title in Year 1.
• If you adopt a win-now strategy, going after a top veteran makes sense. One obvious target is Travis Kelce, the undisputed king of the position. Kelce is still a prime target for managers in dynasty startups, but because he’s 33, he’ll be drafted later in a dynasty startup than he will be in redraft leagues. Mark Andrews (age 27), George Kittle (29) and Darren Waller (30) are other logical targets for win-now drafters.
• Win in Year 2: Focus on youth but mix in some proven veterans. Your young roster might not have the juice to win right away, but you’ll have a collection of players likely to have increased in value after Year 1, positioning you to contend in Year 2.
• You’re probably not targeting Travis Kelce or Mark Andrews if you’re taking a Win in Year 2 approach. Those guys will go at a point in the draft where you should be targeting talented young wide receivers and running backs. But young bucks like Kyle Pitts and Pat Freiermuth are right up your alley.
• Productive struggle: (Hat tip to Ryan McDowell of Dynasty League Football for coining the term.) Commit to a slow build that will put you in title contention in 2-3 years. Focus heavily on youth in the startup draft and be willing to trade startup picks for picks in future rookie drafts.

Pitts and Freiermuth are worthy targets if you’re taking this approach. So are promising young tight ends such as Cole Kmet, Greg Dulcich, Chigoziem Okonkwo and Jelani Woods.

Dynasty Draft Rankings, Tiers & Player Notes

Check out the following for detailed player notes, comps, rankings, and tiers for all fantasy-relevant dynasty rookies.

• Dynasty Draft Primer: Quarterbacks
• Dynasty Draft Primer: Running Backs
• Dynasty Draft Primer: Wide Receivers
• Dynasty Draft Primer: Tight Ends

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