First and foremost, to those of you who are getting ready for your first Dynasty Football Start-Up Draft, welcome! You’ve entered the forest and, with a little help, we’ll get you started on tracking your first ring.
And to those of you who’ve already run through dynasty startups, well, I’d imagine the experience will likely have you aiming to correct course from past mistakes.
Let’s try our best then to figure out exactly where it can all go wrong. Even as exciting as the draft is, the idea of flailing together a weak team can create a fair bit of anxiety.
After all, this is a big commitment. It’s not just a one-season fling. Some of these players will, hopefully, be by your side for the next decade.
So keep the following in mind. With patience and luck, you should end up with a team worth growing old with.
Keys to Winning Your First-Year Dynasty Football Startup Draft
Let the draft come to you
There are a ton of dynasty startup guides out there that will suggest the optimal path. Punt the first year and reap the benefits in 2029! Or maybe they say to go all-in now and zag while everyone bets on rookies!
Sure, there are merits to those approaches. But they often depend on rosy outlooks and static propositions on how your team will develop. Going all in on a youth movement doesn’t guarantee anything other than reading a ton of hype.
Similarly, taking discounts on a ton of expiring assets isn’t as inspiring as one might hope. Miss on the upside of a rookie exploding onto the scene and your team might look more like a pretender than a contender.
The reality is taking a 22-year-old JuJu Smith-Schuster in the first round didn’t guarantee teams that they were building for the future. And previously betting the same on a pre-injury Michael Thomas didn’t make a team a win-now juggernaut.
There are always going to be misses in the first and second rounds. Don’t let a couple of picks determine the direction of your entire future. Take players where the value makes sense and read the tea leaves on your team after the draft.
Trust quantity over quality
The landscape of football changes a lot more quickly than you might think. Take a look at our Superflex Rankings from just three years ago. Predicting what the rankings will look like in 2027 is a fool’s errand.
Don’t get swept into narratives about how Kyler Murray is the next Lamar Jackson. That Najee Harris is a slam dunk. Or even that Jonathan Taylor is undoubtedly the number one asset in fantasy football.
Instead, hunt for traits. I’m not here to tell you what those parameters should be. It’s really up to each dynasty manager to determine the risk profile they like in both individual players and as a collective.
I would suggest being intentional with the balance you’d like. Certain players may present better fits for your team if they help balance your risk profile. Too many high-floor players and you don’t have a ceiling. Too many high-ceiling players, well, you get it.
Once you understand what you want to see in potentially successful players, stockpile them. Be agnostic about the names and hype surrounding players and follow your criteria. If you find your results lacking, reevaluate your criteria.
Long-term reliability is a premium trait
Methodological approaches like this will lend itself to consistency. And what’s going to give you the best chances of winning consistently is acting consistently.
That means trusting your process and aiming for big fish. The most premium assets for a dynasty startup team are potentially elite players who are set to impact their position for the next five or more years.
Given that wide receivers are potential decade-long contributors and quarterbacks can even reach fifteen to twenty years of service, these assets command the most value.
After all, imagine in redraft having several wide receivers and quarterbacks before the rest of the competition even starts to draft. That’s what it can be like if you keep stockpiling long-term assets.
As running backs expire, most teams generally have the same opportunity to acquire the new blood that replaces the current crop. Unless you feel your team is ready to become a favorite with the right stable of running backs, they shouldn’t be a priority.
Consider where your window is and make a play from there
As you pluck quantity, trading down as necessary if other managers get overzealous, you should begin to see the direction of your team.
That doesn’t mean it’s time to overextend. Trust your consensus board and take the best values available. Remember, your team isn’t complete after the draft is over. It’s hardly complete after Week 1.
Trust your general manager hat and that you can feel out the market when the time is right to tweak. The important thing is to have ammunition when you head out to deal.
But once you’ve loaded up on the long-term assets that match your profile, see where your contending window might be. This will inform whether you should be hunting currently productive running backs or aging vets, uncertain prospects who might need a year or two to prove themselves, or no short-term assets at all.
Constantly seeking to improve your long-term prospects doesn’t need to define your team. There will be times when you need to push your chips in, but be flexible when planning the future.
Seeking steady progress is a reliable way to get into the playoffs regularly. From there, given the injuries and breakouts by Week 15, anything can happen. Just get in and enjoy the ride.