If your relationship with season-long fantasy football has become stale because of the monotony of your own constant victories, we strongly It inspires you to take the next step in your personal fantasy journey.
It's time to join a Keeper or Dynasty Fantasy Football league.
Nearly every hardcore fantasy player would agree that while they find all formats entertaining, it's dynasty leagues that really get them hooked.
Essentially, the concept is about committing to a fantasy team for more than a single season, or more accurately, discarding your worst ideas and committing to your best fantasy decisions for multiple years.
In keeper leagues, each manager is allowed to retain a set number of players from one season to the next, usually in exchange for corresponding draft picks. In dynasty leagues, you keep your entire roster each year (or as many as you like), and the league's annual draft focuses on rookie players. Both formats allow the league's managers to be active and involved throughout the year, not just from September to January.
(Of course, Yahoo provides tools to help you with keepers and dynasty play, so you don't have to worry about tracking every detail in a spreadsheet.)
Generally speaking, when a league moves from redrafting to keeping and dynasties, no one involved regrets that decision. There's nothing like the bond that exists between a dynasty manager and the players they keep for multiple seasons. It's no exaggeration to say that players you keep on your roster for three or more years start to feel like family. immediately They're not family, but more like a nice cousin who would be welcomed into your home for a quick visit.
Seriously, you need to add a dynasty league or two to your fantasy portfolio, it's the best version of fantasy football there is.
As a way to demystify the format and get new managers on board, the Yahoo Fantasy team (and various fantasy friends) got together recently to create a mock draft for a dynasty startup using a common setup (half PPR, one QB, two flexes).
Complete results from each round can be found here:
From the first ten picks above, it should be perfectly clear that the guidelines that work in a startup dynasty draft are not the same as in other leagues.
First, none of the players selected in the first round were over 25 years old, and none had more than four years of NFL experience. These players are not even close to reaching the waning years of their careers. This fact is not all that surprising, because we are signing these players to unlimited, multi-year contracts. We are not simply drafting the 2024 version of Marvin Harrison Jr., but every upcoming season of his career.
But the process of evaluating players for a dynasty very It can be as simple as crossing out old players' names from your redraft cheat sheet. This serves as an important reminder for all dynasty managers…
It is true that we are aiming to win the championship this year.
Oddly enough, this fact is overlooked by many longtime dynasty players: Don't get so caught up in dreaming about back-to-back championships in the distant future that you completely ignore the current season. who You could be the one to win this year's title.
In our mock, coach Dan Titus was most aggressive in drafting veterans and players in their 30s. Of course, that could be an issue in 2028, but they're clearly one of the favorites in 2024. His starting backfield of Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry boast a combined 14 years of NFL experience and over 3,200 carries, but they're also arguably one of the best running back duos in this mock. Dan's receiver corps includes Cooper Kupp (31), Davante Adams (31), Deebo Samuel (28), Keenan Allen (32) and first-round draft pick Ja'Marr Chase (24).
Team Titus is clearly in good hands. His team won't look so good in three years, but hey, championship flags fly forever. I respect the fact that he's committed to 2024.
Unlike Dan, I started out with a more age-focused dynasty build, focusing primarily on players under the age of 25, but strayed from that course as advanced veterans landed in the wrong rounds. Tyreek Hill, the WR1 overall in the redraft, slid into the middle of the second round, which would be a gift in any format. I also picked Travis Kelce in the sixth round and Stefon Diggs in the eighth, two players who remain elite options at least this year.
My fifth-round pick, Patrick Mahomes, can also be viewed as a veteran player, but he’s also a player I’m more likely to keep on my mock roster longer than anyone else because…
Different roster positions have different time frames
One of the most fun and informative aspects of managing a dynasty roster is that you start thinking about position values and timelines just like you would with an actual NFL team.
While running backs are often on the cusp of age at 28, quarterbacks are just getting started. Consider the fact that Todd Gurley is 29 as of this writing, just one year older than Mahomes.
Also, due to the nature of the running back position, you probably shouldn't be looking at anything more than a two-year window when ranking them in dynasties. In fact, you can rarely go wrong if you choose to completely ignore the keepability aspect when evaluating running backs. Christian McCaffrey, despite his age (28) and mileage, shouldn't get a significant downgrade compared to other backs in dynasties because no player at the position is guaranteed multiple years. It's a position with a short shelf life.
Mahomes is 28 years old and has seven seasons of NFL experience, but he still could be considered a player worth investing in for a 10- or 12-year period in a dynasty format. I'm not normally one to draft a QB, especially in the early rounds, but I'm willing to make an exception in leagues where you can make a difference-maker on the roster for a decade.
Wide receivers and tight ends don't typically hit their stride until their late 30s, but the best ones often remain active well into age 31 or 32. You can bet that any or all of the first-round receivers selected in our mock will remain relevant in fantasy for the next six to eight seasons.
Before we reveal the full mock roster, let's touch on one more big topic.
Dynasty startups draft based on value and cap size, regardless of position (and without any consideration of schedule).
The Startup Draft is a foundational event that only happens once in the league's existence, so it's exactly the wrong day to be thinking about roster balance, schedule rigors, bye weeks and other short-term concerns.
If you finish the draft and feel like you're a few short running backs, that's OK. It's not a big deal if you draft three tight ends in a league where you only need one starting tight end. It's also totally OK if you feel like you've got one too many quarterbacks.
Don't be too worried if your roster is a little uneven on day one in a dynasty league. It probably means you took the right approach in the draft – acquiring as many talented players as possible without the burden of excessive planning. You'll have plenty of time in the coming months and years to reshape your roster to fit the demands of a particular season. Make sure you have as many overall value players as possible in your first draft.
Team results
If you want to see the complete team lineup, flip through this table to see each of the 10-man rosters.
