Draft Pick Trading: My Strategy and Why I Just Can’t Get Enough
The following is based on a 10-team standard-scoring ESPN league.
In my two main, most important leagues, we have a snake draft. There are many great things about a snake draft, but there is one major flaw: you cannot get the players you’re most excited about.
In other words, say you think Antonio Brown will be the runaway No. 1 fantasy player. You think he’ll be head and shoulders above the rest.
But you can’t get Brown because you were randomly dealt the 10th overall pick. Let’s say the guy dealt the first pick doesn’t like Brown the way you do. He won’t hold him like you do. He won’t love him like you do.
You and Brown share a special relationship, and nobody can take that away from you. He doesn’t want to take him, but he realizes he has to, if only to trade him afterwards. But what is the point in that? People going through a draft just to trade the players they’re forced to pick. Yippee.
There’s a solution: allow draft pick trading in your league. Allow people to get the players they really want and trade out of the spots they don’t want. Don’t let a computer randomizer decide you and your league mates’ drafting fate.
Now for me, I don’t like the early picks. I’m just tired of busts. I want guys at good value who could possibly explode. If they don’t, well at least I won’t be bummed out about it. That’s why, in all my leagues that allow it, I have traded away my first round pick for depth. In my leagues that do not allow it, I’ll be forced to take a first rounder. In some leagues, Brown. In some leagues, AJ Green. But every day after will look the same: I’ll trade them for depth.
Now please explain, draft pick trading haters — What. Is. The. Point. In. That.
Why must I wait to trade until after the draft. Do you think because of some golden rule you heard from a dude who heard it from a dude that draft pick trading is unfair?
Hey, guess what, reader who is definitely judging my terrible comedic mind and lack of any writing skill? Life is unfair. And nothing in life is more unfair than fantasy football.
Hey, draft pick trading (DPT) haters, you’ve cracked the code. You figured out the secret: draft pick trading is unfair. True, but so are all trades. As well as injuries. As well as the waiver wire. As well as how bad my memes are. All unfair. Nobody’s forcing you to play fantasy football. But if you choose to, you’ll find out one thing: it’s pretty damn unfair.
Draft pick trading combines snake with auction. From snake, it takes the orderly, fun, turn-based drafting that we all know and love. From auction, you can get any player you want. Next, I will talk about how to accomplish getting those guys. Obligatory meme.
Okay, here’s how to master draft pick trading, once you get your control-freak league manager to allow it. (Oh, and if you’re that super controlling commish, I hope you’ve hit the “allow draft pick trading” button, because if you haven’t, well, you must’ve disliked my all-over-the-place writing style and incomprehensibly bad memes. And it’s humanly impossible to dislike those.)
First step: What list do your league mates use as a general guide? Do they like the same magazine, are they ESPN consensus rankings people? Matthew Berry super-fans? ADP crammers?
In the case of my league, it’s ESPN consensus rankings. My draft doesn’t allow for any Internet, so they all just print out the rankings and go from there. So, take out a blank copy of this list. For the sake of this “article,” I’ll give you my favorite range of picks: 29 to 42.
If you see a player on this list that you like more than his ranking on the list, give him a circle. If you like him a lot more than his ranking, hit up with two circles.
If you love this player, draw three circles. Falling in love, gotta draw four. I MUST TAKE THIS MAN, five. You catch my drift? Here’s what our original example looks like, after my annotations:
Now here’s where the strategy comes in. I love the guys in this range. As I said, I don’t like my first round pick. So, do some switcheroo and suddenly, you have five picks in this range. Like I do. That’s my favorite range. So now I have lots of picks there. Bingo-bango.
But what about a favorite player, one that is so undervalued and underappreciated you just have to take them? For me, Frank Gore at 73. Philip Rivers at 90. Justin Forsett at 94. Torrey Smith at 96. And my personal favorite, Steve Smith, Sr. at 116. But here’s the problem: these players aren’t all in the same range. So how do you ensure you get your undervalued sleeper studs? Trade for a pick that is between four to nine picks before the rank of the guy you’re trying to take.
Examples: I acquired number 69 to take Gore. 83 to take Rivers. 87 to take Forsett. 89 to take Torrey Smith. 107 to take Steve Smith.
How’d I get these, you ask? Well I gave up the picks I didn’t like. The picks in ranges I hated and near no players I liked. For instance, any of the picks between 43 to 56.
Yes, I like Larry Fitzgerald. But what if I miss on him? Then, I’d have to take Jeremy Hill. Or worse, Latavius Murray. Gag. Baby vomit. I really hate the players in this range. So trade both of your picks in this range for the late rounders necessary to draft your true faves. Your Steve Smiths and your Justin Forsetts.
Conclusion Time.
Convince your LM to enact draft pick trading because it means everyone can get the players they want without losing all the fun parts of a snake draft: draft boards, taking turns getting players, yelling at people to hurry up, etc., etc. Next, trade for draft picks in the range of people you think will have a lot of value. After that, trade for your sleepers. If you don’t snag them in the draft, you’ll be chasing them all season while all your cruel friends hold them over you.
I’m out.
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