The beauty of dynasty style fantasy football is that you can win a championship many different ways.  Some go for the quick hit drafting veterans that are productive now, some draft young to develop a core of producers for many years.  Whichever you choose depend on many factors but one thing is for certain, to win a dynasty championship you have to find producers at every position. I have commisioned a dynasty league going into our 9th year. I gave you some great insight on how to start a dynasty league with our "Basics of Dynasty Football" series located here.  It's time to discuss how to build a winning team.

Since the dynasty format usually means that you keep your roster from year to year, typically there is an initial veteran draft followed by annual rookie drafts.  The initial dynasty draft is a bit different than a redraft draft in that there tends to be a premium on younger productive players.  If you were doing your initial draft in 2010 who would you rather have, Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers?  Rodgers of course, because he will be productive for years while Favre, while still productive, only has a year or two left. Here are some strategies on winning your inital draft and setting your foundation for years to come.

The "Win Now" strategy

The "Win Now" strategy involves focusing on players that are producing now, regardless of age.  The benefits of this strategy are that you will be productive right out of the gate, you have a productive core that you can fill your depth with young players and if you play your cards right, you can pick off some great veteans in later rounds who can help you now.  Our initial draft was in 2002, it was 35 rounds.  I picked Daunte Culpepper in the 3rd round but also picked Rich Gannon in the 31st round. At the time Culpepper had a couple of great years and he was young with a ton of potential and necessitated a high pick.  Gannon on the other hand, was pushing 40 and had a good team around him but had a young unproven coach (John Gruden) and had been productive for several years but was on the downside of his career and nobody thought he was going to be very successful anymore.  He was unwanted.  Of course, that season Culpepper did well but Gannon came out of nowhere to be the #1 fantasy producer in 2002.  So if you have a keen eye, you can pick off talented players later than you typically would in a redraft league and ride those players all the way to the championship. The downside of course is that your highly productive team will not be that productive for more than a year or two and assuming you are doing well, your draft picks will be lower and it will be harder to reload.  It may take many years to refill your roster through rookie drafting and free agency.  Trading could also be difficult because not many people will trade for veterans that don't have many years left in them.

Bottom Line: the "Win Now" strategy is a great way to take advantage of the bias toward younger players in initial dynasty drafts.  You can win a quick championship or two, then spend several years rebuilding.

The "Emerging Star" strategy

As opposed to "Win Now", the "Emerging Star" strategy has it's foundation in choosing young and unproven players that have a lot of potential.  The benefit of this strategy is clear, you may not be a winner out of the gate but you have a nucleus of young potential that develop onto a team that can win championships for many years. During the first few rounds in the initial draft you target players who are young, in a productive situation and who have broken out in the last year or two.  In the later rounds the goal is to pick youth but also to pick guys who either currently start or can be a starter in the next 12 months.  If you pick well your initial production won't be great but in a year or two you should have a very productive team that is very young.  You'll also have the advantage of picking a lot of young talent prior to when others are thinking about taking them, so you can cherrypick the players you really want.

The downside of course is that your team will not be productive at first so you'll have some down years at the outset.  The other issue to consider is that if you make bets on the wrong guys, you'll be stuck at the bottom for a very long time!

Bottom Line: The "Emerging Star" strategy is a great strategy if your goal is long term domination.  You take some lumps up front but if you pick wisely, your team will develop into a dominant one for many years.

The "Win Now/Win Later" strategy

Finally, I present to you a hybrid of the two strategies above that I personally like the best and worked very well in my dynasty league.  The concept here is to pick the best players available regardless of age, much like the "Win Now" strategy.  The difference is that after your initial success (which hopefully means a championship), you trade those veterans at their peak for a few top draft picks and reload with great young talent. This worked to perfection in my initial draft strategy back in 2002.  My first 5 picks in 2002 were:

• Ahman Green - #3 RB in 2001
• Marvin Harrison - #1 WR in 2001
• Daunte Culpepper - #14 QB in 2001 (#1 in 2000 but was injured in 2001)
• Priest Holmes - #2 RB in 2001
• Joe Horn - #7 WR in 2001

I won the first two championships in 2002 and 2003 with these 5 guys (Plus Rich Gannon as I mentioned above) as my core. In 2004 I then traded away Ahman Green, Priest Holmes and Marvin Harrison in order to trade up to the first pick in the draft and take Larry Fitzgerald (It was a tough choice between Fitz and Steven Jackson, but in hindsight I am happy with the pick).  Within two years all three players numbers were significantly reduced and I was able to pick up a premium player in their wake.

The next 3 seasons my team dipped a bit as I turned over older players and picked up younger ones.  My first round picks in 2005 through 2007 were Cadillac Williams, DeAngelo Williams and Adrian Peterson (2006 was my low point and I had the first pick in the draft).  With Fitz, DeAngelo Williams and Peterson as my core in 2007, I won another championship and my team has consistently been a top team since that time.  There was a bit of a dip between those championships as my team developed, but it was well worth it as I already had 2 championships in my pocket and I came back soon to win another.

Bottom Line:  Using the "Win Now/Win Later" strategy bridges the gap between picking too young a team and picking too old of one.  You get production early but you must manage your roster and be willing to let go at the peak of a players career in order to move up in the draft to get some premium players.  It's a strategy that worked for me and if you play your cards right, it can work for you too.

No matter what strategy you choose, make sure you commit to it and try to find value at every position and in every round.

Good luck and happy drafting!

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