In the realm of Dynasty Diaries, where each chapter unfolds with trades, injury management, and the cultivation of a winning culture, the "Season Reflection" emerges as a crucial piece in the intricate puzzle of my fantasy football journey. As the echoes of the season's final whistle reverberate, I find myself at the crossroads of assessment and anticipation. Join me as we embark on a detailed exploration of this pivotal phase, dissecting the successes, challenges, and invaluable lessons learned after each fantasy football season.
The dynasty fantasy football landscape is akin to a dynamic novel, with each season serving as a new chapter in an ongoing saga. The "Season Reflection" is not just a perfunctory glance back; it is an immersive dive into the intricacies of team management, decision-making, and the evolution of a winning culture. It serves as a compass, not merely pointing to the past but guiding us forward with insights that shape the trajectory of our dynasty aspirations.
As I navigate through the pages of Dynasty Diaries, the season reflection becomes a ritual—a deliberate pause amid the fervor of competition. It is during this introspective juncture that I evaluate the successes that propelled my team, the challenges that tested its resilience, and the lessons that will serve as pillars for future triumphs. Let's delve into the core elements of this reflective journey, dissecting the strategic moves, and the very culture that defines the essence of Dynasty Diaries. For reference, this series refers to my dynasty fantasy football league from its humble beginnings in a September 2022 start-up draft until now, two full seasons later.
The triumphs achieved throughout the season form the bedrock of the season's reflection. Success in dynasty fantasy football is multifaceted, extending beyond mere point totals and weekly victories. It's about astute player evaluations, well-timed trades, and the fulfillment of long-term strategies. For reference, here is my team in this dynasty league:
Current Roster And Draft Picks:
QB’s: Brock Purdy, Jordan Love, Kyler Murray, Desmond Ridder, Zach Wilson
RB’s: Antonio Gibson, Kenneth Gainwell, Joshua Kelley, Michael Carter, Sean Tucker
WR’s: CeeDee Lamb, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Rashee Rice, Josh Downs, Tee Higgins, Jerry Jeudy, Wan’Dale Robinson, Treylon Burks, Jalin Hyatt, Mike Williams, Christian Kirk, Skyy Moore
TE’s: Darren Waller, Daniel Bellinger, Hunter Henry
K - Jason Sanders
DEF - New York Jets
Taxi Squad: Jonathan Mingo, Cedric Tillman, Michael Mayer, Marvin Mims
Draft Picks:
2024: 2 - 1sts, 3 - 2nds, 6- 3rds, 4 - 4ths, 6 - 5ths
2025: 2-1sts, 3 -2nds, 4 - 3rds, 6 - 4ths, 6 - 5ths
2026: 1 -1st, 4 - 2nds, 3 -3rds, 4 - 4ths, 3 -5ths
In the Dynasty Diaries, one notable success story unfolds in the drafting of Jordan Love when he was the backup to Aaron Rodgers. During the 2022 start-up draft, I ended up taking a chance on Love knowing that Rodgers was in the twilight of his career as the starting QB of the Green Bay Packers. Simply put, I drafted Love and sat him on the bench for the entirety of the 2022 season. Reflecting on the strategic move to secure a promising quarterback with long-term potential, this move symbolized a strategy of waiting and going after young QBs with high NFL draft capital and waiting them out. Love's journey, from understudy to potential starter, became emblematic of my QB plan. Even though this specific move didn’t pay dividends for an entire year, it set me up nicely going into 2023, as Rodgers was traded and Love became the full-time starter. I now have a young cornerstone QB to build around for years to come.
Strategy Reflection: Don’t be afraid to acquire young backup QBs sitting behind an aging veteran or injury-prone starter. Other than running back, the second most volatile position in the NFL is quarterback, and today’s backup could be tomorrow’s starter, especially if the NFL team that drafted them took the QB within the first three rounds of the NFL draft. With a dearth of solid QBs at the NFL level, most highly drafted QBs will be given every opportunity to succeed at some point in their careers. Even someone like Zach Wilson was handed the reins of the New York Jets offense for the vast majority of the 2023 season after Aaron Rodgers went down with an injury. The moral of the story is don’t be scared away by QBs that are not currently playing but have upside potential.
Similarly, the waiver wire pickup of Brock Purdy in Week 12 of the 2022 fantasy season echoes as a success resonating with resilience. Similar to Love, I had drafted Purdy in the 2022 startup draft but dropped him due to a roster crunch. Once he became the starter in San Fran, I then used my number one waiver priority to pick him up again. Acquiring Purdy at a critical juncture demonstrates the importance of staying vigilant on the waiver wire. From an unheralded option to a potential game-changer, Purdy's journey symbolized the triumph of seizing opportunities.
Strategy Reflection: I was able to acquire Purdy due to having the number one waiver priority in my league, and this was due to waiting until waivers passed during the season before picking up any free agents. Most leagues process waivers on Tuesdays or Wednesdays during the year, and the strategy here involved not using my waiver claim until it became necessary. In this specific case, the opportunity was there to pick up a starting QB off the wire in a Superflex league. In Superflex, it’s almost unheard of for any starting QB to be available via waivers, and having the top priority enabled me to take advantage and make this move.
This also paints an interesting strategy in Superflex leagues. Contrary to popular belief, my view is that it is entirely possible to win a Superflex league without having two stud QBs, although it is harder. In my specific case, my two starting QBs for 2022 consisted of Daniel Jones and Mac Jones. As part of my QB strategy, I like to roster 2 to 3 young backup QBs who have a chance to start, as there is a good chance that they may become a solid fantasy option at one point or another. Nowhere was this more evident with the 2022 season, as I ended up with Mac Jones via an early season trade at a time when his starting status was up in the air. I ended up winning the fantasy championship in the first year with these two as my starting QB’s. This approach worked because the rest of my team at the time was above average at other positions, thus helping make up for potentially lost points at the QB position.
Another reason the two-stud QB rationale is overrated in Superflex leagues is that all I need is for my QBs to be better than the “studs” for the one week my team goes up against them (or two if our teams meet in the fantasy playoffs). This outlook is similar to a DFS strategy and frees me up to look at alternative ways to improve other aspects of my team for the long term. In 2022, this strategy paid off, and resulted in an 8-6 record and playoff berth with an eventual championship. More proof that this approach has potential is that in 2023, my QBs were BETTER, as I am currently armed with three starting and studly QBs in Purdy, Love, and Kyler Murray (acquired via an offseason trade).
Despite the QB upgrade, my team had the same record (8-6) as in 2022 and missed out on the playoffs in 2023. When looking at 2023 my QBs were better (Mac Jones and Daniel Jones in 2022 compared to Brock Purdy and Jordan Love in 2023), but the rest of my team underperformed and my competition had better records (the league had 6 teams in 2023 with an 8-6 record), which seemed to be more an indicator of bad luck as opposed to poor roster construction.
In an ironic but cool twist, even though I ended up 6th overall in the league in 2023 with the same record as the eventual league champion, I also ended up having the 5th overall pick for our 2024 rookie draft. This positions my team in a BETTER spot for 2024, as not only have I had back-to-back winning seasons, but now also boast a chance to secure a top-5 rookie to bolster my squad even more for 2024.
Reflecting on the 2022 season, where an 8-6 record culminated in a championship, the challenges faced were met with strategic resilience. The journey to the championship, now a part of the season reflection, underscores the ability to navigate obstacles and emerge victorious. However, the contrast in the 2023 season, where an 8-6 record led to a playoff miss, becomes a stark reminder that each season brings unique challenges and demands constant adaptation.
Even though my QB situation is set up well moving into 2024 and beyond, the same can’t necessarily be said of my TE corps. While I do have a potential building block in Michael Mayer, Darren Waller ended up being a major bust and his backup Daniel Bellinger became non-existent in 2023 after having a solid 2022 rookie year.
Strategy Reflection: One of my WORST trades ever was when I bought into the 2022 offseason hype and decided to send a young up-and-coming TE in Trey McBride plus a 2026 2nd-round pick to another owner for the veteran Waller. To improve my TE corps and bring in a proven starter at the position (Waller had been good when healthy), I was willing to mortgage an up-and-coming TE in McBride (who until the 2023 season hadn’t done anything) plus a 2nd round pick. My logic was that Waller would be able to stay healthy and contribute. Even though at the time I had been crowned league champion, I was in desperate need of TE help as I had received little production in 2022 due to a season-ending injury to star Kyle Pitts.
My lesson learned here is that while offseason news and hype are good, many times there is still a 50/50 chance that the news coming out of training camps is accurate. In this case, while Waller looked good in camp, it was more of the same (good when healthy, but couldn’t stay on the field). Never again will I mortgage the future for a perceived upgrade at any position.
While the trade involving Darren Waller didn’t do much and arguably made my team worse heading into 2023, a few things that have set my team up well moving into the future involve the insane number of draft picks I was able to acquire in the timespan after the rookie draft and before the start of the 2023 season.
Strategy Reflection: After reading ASL founder Leonard LaPadula’s article on “How To Win Your Dynasty League”, I immediately began implementing his strategies for acquiring draft picks. After our rookie draft ended in 2023, every trade I made involved acquiring as many picks as possible, including 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounders for 2024 and beyond. It was amazing to see how many owners undervalue picks past the 3rd round, and I was able to make trades that netted me multiple picks in multiple years. The idea behind this strategy is to acquire 2X the number of picks for the number of rounds in the draft (in this case, I needed to acquire at least 10 draft picks for each year since our draft lasts 5 rounds). When the dust settled, I ended up with almost 20 draft picks for the upcoming 2024 rookie draft and many more for both 2025 and 2026.
One other thing I learned through this process is that it is possible to have a monopoly on draft picks, as there are now a few teams in the league that don’t have any picks at all. The lesson learned here is that if done correctly, there is a huge market inefficiency when it comes to acquiring 3rd round and later picks. Those picks, once acquired, can easily create a monopoly for your team, as now all the other teams have to come to you if they want to draft anyone past the 2nd round. If the other owners in your league choose not to come to you for draft picks, they now run the risk of having to scour the waiver wire after the draft for any leftover rookies, drastically decreasing their chances of improving their roster. This knowledge became incredible and is already starting to pay dividends as the 2024 picks are starting to increase in value.
The heart of the season reflection lies in the lessons learned—nuggets of wisdom extracted from both successes and challenges. It's a process of refining strategies, honing negotiation skills, and deciphering the delicate dance between risk and reward. The season reflection is not a conclusion but a prelude to the next chapter of Dynasty Diaries. It serves as a compass, guiding my dynasty aspirations towards continuous growth, adaptability, and the relentless pursuit of lasting success. The strategic moves, challenges faced, and lessons learned become waypoints on this journey, shaping the trajectory of future decisions.
Final Strategy Reflection: Do not be afraid to be super aggressive when trading. Trading is the lifeblood of dynasty leagues, and the best way to improve your roster is through trades. This also includes trading the same players back and forth to and from the same teams, as the fast-paced nature of the news in the NFL dictates this. Trading is by far the only way to build and sustain success in a dynasty fantasy football league. As the old saying goes, “You can ALWAYS make another trade”, and many times it’s advisable, even necessary, to do so.
Do not let bad trades made in the past hinder your confidence from initiating and making more trades, as a key to getting better as a dynasty trader involves making mistakes and learning from them. As shown above, I’ve made my share of poor trades in the past and may end up making more in the future. The reality is that bad trades will be made, but the key is simply to do your best to minimize the bad and maximize the good. If you can do that, it will go a long way towards helping solidify your dynasty squad for years to come.
As the echoes of the season fade, a new canvas awaits. Until the next season's journey begins, the reflections garnered from Dynasty Diaries will be the guiding stars, steering my team toward triumphs yet to unfold. In our next and final installment of Dynasty Diaries entitled "Future Outlook", I will outline my offseason plans, potential trades, and draft strategies for the upcoming seasons.
May the challenges encountered be transformative, the lessons learned fuel our dynasty ambitions, and the anticipation of the next chapter be met with enthusiasm. Happy reflecting, fellow dynasty enthusiasts—may your Dynasty Leagues be filled with strategic triumphs and enduring success!
