Trade Strategy
The art of the trade is one of the most fundamental aspects of fantasy football. Trading gives each player the ability to strengthen their starting lineup, create a deeper bench, or insure their stars with handcuffs. When it comes to trading, it really breaks down to three aspects of confidence - Confidence in your team, confidence in a player, and confidence in yourself and your decisionmaking. These pieces will ultimately shape the how or if you will trade and shape your team each season.
As someone who has played fantasy for a long time, I’ve seen all different kinds of strategies when it comes to making trades. While fantasy trade charts are a great guideline, it really just boils down to someone's opinion of a player and assigning a number value. In this article, I want to explore those three areas and the strategies you can implore to help build the best possible fantasy roster.
The Downgrade: Let me take you back to week 1 of this season. You’re sitting down to watch your number 1 overall pick David Johnson lead you to 1-0 on the way to your fantasy title when suddenly……. The unspeakable happens! In less than a week, you’ve gone from never needing to worry about your RB1 to desperately searching for answers. Hopefully you had an insurance policy, but in a deeper league, you might be sitting there in week 4 playing the waiver carousel. Fast Forward to week 5. Now you’re sitting there at 1-3 or 0-4 on the brink of a losing season and endless ridicule from the pack of hyenas that is your league. What do you do now? Instead of throwing in the towel and going on autopilot for the rest of the season, take a long look at your roster and see where your assets are. Were you lucky enough to draft a stud like Carlos Hyde, Gurley, Fournette, or Hunt? Awesome! Are they helping you win? Doesn’t look like it. Based on your team as a whole, it might be time to “downgrade” one of your other studs. This is where the first of the confidence pieces come in. If you feel like you have had bad luck and things will turn around, stay the course. On the other hand, if you have gaping holes in your roster, there is no reason to hang onto these assets and continuing to lose. In this situation, Why not take your best or second best player and try to turn it into two or even 3 players that will improve your weekly point total? Everyone wants to hang onto their best players, but it should never be at the expense of your season. DOWNGRADING IS NOT A DIRTY WORD! There is something to be said about a captain going down with the ship, but sometimes all the captain needs to do is find a new ship.
The Upgrade: A strategy that plays well with the previous situation is trading to upgrade your starting lineup. Generally in this scenario, your team is in good shape and has some depth. The biggest challenge I generally get from top teams is, “I’m winning, why would I change anything?” As strong as that argument that is, does it really hurt to add another stud to your lineup? There is a chance if you draft well, you don’t need to make a trade. Maybe this year you were able to draft Todd Gurley, and Kareem Hunt. You’re sitting in first place looking down at your league and what do you know, the last place team owns Le’Veon Bell. Knowing what Todd Gurley has coming up with his schedule, would you really turn down Le’Veon Bell for Gurley and a WR2? I personally wouldn’t, and in my opinion, it makes your team better while helping both sides. Upgrading in fantasy is the ultimate goal. When you’re able to upgrade, that means you’ve shaped a deep team that can be condensed into some top tier players. Every team wants to have depth, but at the end of the day, you are only able to start a finite number of players. Why not try to put the most points in your starting lineup on weekly basis.
When to Make a Move: Many times throughout the season, you’re going to look at your roster and think, “I need to make a move.” Here is a list of things I think of when debating trading a player or players during the season…
Do I need to win now?
Can I get a player that is equal value now that will increase value throughout the season?
Is a player that I like underperforming and can I get him at a discounted price? What are the reasons they are underperforming?
What is this players upcoming schedule?
Is there something that will eventually decrease my players value?
These all seem like “buy low, sell high,” but these are all things you must take into consideration before making a deal.
When making a trade, you’re looking to improve your team by giving the other player assets that will help them as well. There will be times you give up more than you get in return to improve your roster. To go along with that, you shouldn’t shy away from deals that would help you improve your team just because you’re giving up “the best player” in the trade. At the end of the day, it’s all about making YOUR team better. Trading is just one tool in your toolbelt to win a fantasy title. I find that it all comes down to your league and how everyone plays, but having an active trade market can provide a great resource for the struggling teams, and the top teams as well. Just remember, your team is only as strong as the points you score. It’s great to have the best player in fantasy, but that won’t do you much good if you don’t make the playoffs.