Down and Dynasty
Let’s Make a Deal!!
Trading is one of the best parts about fantasy football. Trading is even more fun in dynasty, you can trade future assets if you are close to the top of the standings. Team owners at the bottom of the standings are happy to make trades to secure future assets and get better for next year. Sometimes it is like a whirlwind when the trades start popping off. It is a lot of fun to be involved whether you are buying or selling. The tough part can be getting started.
If I am at the top of the standings, I will take a look at the three or four teams at the bottom of the standings and see what veteran players they have that might get me to the championship. If I am a bottom three or four team, I will start to look at the top teams and see what their needs are and what young players and draft picks they have that can help my team next year. Last week in the Private Dicks league I commission, I saw seven trades happen in a three-day span, four of them Sunday morning. The Private Dicks League is a 16 team, PPR, super flex, tight end premium with nine IDPs.
The trade that got it started was Baker Mayfield and Dion Lewis for Cam Newton. The team getting Cam, Jimmy McNulty, went into Week 10 with an 8–1 record, while the other team, Philo Vance P.I., was 5–4. The move for Cam was made to secure a deep playoff run. Only six teams make the playoffs, so staying at the top is important. That same contender made another move to get Marlon Mack, who was coming off two really good weeks. The cost for Mack was a 2020 first round pick.
Since it is a 16-team super flex league, quarterbacks carry premium value. Teams in the middle of the pack will make moves, too. One of the 4–5 teams traded a 2020 first round pick to the 1–9 Jake Peralta team for Alex Smith to bolster his quarterback situation. Since quarterbacks are typically the highest scoring players having two strong quarterbacks can be a league winner. In this case the acquisition of Smith was to make up for Jameis Winston getting benched and Joe Flacco getting injured.
While there are three teams at the top of the standings, there are six or seven other teams vying for the last couple of playoff spots. One of those middling teams, Detective Baby Legs, traded 2019 second and a 2020 third to Delanie Walker Titan Ranger for Kiko Alonso and Julian Edelman. Alonso is LB3 averaging 21 points per game. The IDP scoring in this league is balanced to make the defensive players as valuable as the offensive players. With the scoring set up this way defensive players are nine of the top forty scorers. That also adds another level of knowledge and deal making to the league.
The aforementioned Delanie Walker Titan Ranger is 3–6 decided he was going be a seller and get capital for next year. Also sitting at 3–6, Mike Ehrmantraut decided to become a buyer and try to push for that final playoff spot. Ehrmantraut sent Marcus Mariota, Tre Quan Smith, four first round picks, a second and a third to Titan Ranger for Carson Wentz and Melvin Gordon. It was a bold move and has to pay off in only four weeks.
The final move of that frantic Sunday came from the guy who started it. McNulty seems to have felt some pressure from the moves coming behind him and he sent a 2019 first round pick to Titan Ranger for Marvin Jones.
That was 11 players and 11 picks in the span of about three days. That is not the kind of action you get in a re-draft league. Three teams made major moves with McNulty getting Cam, Mack and Jones to try and secure his title run. Delanie Walker Titan Ranger is looking at next season, and picked up Mariota, Smith, five first round picks, two second round picks, a third round pick and a 2020 third round pick. A pretty impressive haul for Wentz, Gordon, Jones, Edelman and Alonso. Lastly Mike Ehrmantraut, who took the biggest gamble giving a fist full of picks and two emerging young players for Wentz and Gordon. Will these gambles pay off? Two of them we will know in a few weeks. The other gamble, well, we’ll just have to see what he turns all of those picks into. I would not be surprised to see some of the picks get moved for players prior to the 2019 rookie draft.
An update on the big trade I made in Private Dicks a few weeks ago. Since making the move for Kareem Hunt, I have moved from 1–4 to 5–5 and I am pushing for the playoffs. I have moved from the bottom of the standings to the ninth seed, currently tied in record with the sixth seed, but he has outscored me by just over 200 points. In all, there are five teams sitting at 5–5 and fighting for that last playoff spot. It should be a very interesting last few weeks of the season.
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