While DynastyFootballFan.com strives to provide information for any fantasy football fan, the site is devoted to the concept of dynasty football leagues.  With that in mind, I've decided to write a series of articles on why and how to begin a dynasty league.  For background, I started a dynasty league 8 years ago which I have been the sole commissioner.  In those 8 years I have learned a tremendous amount that will help you navigate the myriad of choices you have in setting up a fantasy football league with a dynasty format.

 

The dynasty league format is for people who want more than a redraft league can offer.  It provides you an experience that is closer in feel to a general manager than just a coach.  You can be as involved as you'd like in following NFL off-season activities and tracking the progress and potential of players getting ready for the next season.

 

back in 2001, I had a core group of friends with which I was playing in redraft leagues for several years.  While I enjoyed these very much, I began looking for a new challenge.  I wanted to be in a league that was deeper, used individual defensive players (IDP), made you think like a general manager rather than just a coach and made you be more involved in tracking off-season activities.  Of the four major types of fantasy football leagues, redraft, survivor, keeper and dynasty, only dynasty offers the depth for which I was searching.  The choice was clear...I was starting a dynasty league!

Why start a dynasty fantasy league?  The dynasty league format is for people who want more than a redraft league can offer.  It provides you an experience that is closer in feel to a general manager than just a coach.  You can be as involved as you'd like in following NFL off-season activities and tracking the progress and potential of players getting ready for the next season.  While redraft leagues can offer the use of IDPs, they do not by definition involve much free agency player tracking, rookie evaluation (only a handful of rookies each year are valuable enough for the redraft format), training camp player tracking (other than injuries) or trade/holdout impact.  Let's take a look at each off-season activity briefly to give you an idea of the impact on a dynasty league and the depth of information available.

• Free Agency period - This is the first major period of activity after the Super Bowl and it starts at the end of February running until the beginning of training camp for Unrestricted Free Agents (UFA) or just prior to the NFL Draft for Restricted Free Agents (RFA).  During this period veteran players who have played out there contracts and have been let go by their team are free to sign with any other team as a UFA.  As an RFA a player is still under contract for one more year but other teams are able to bid for them and the team that owns the contract is able to match or get compensation for the player.  Free agency impacts your players because when they change teams they change coaches and teammates and the situation could be better for them or it could be worse.  For example, if a WR goes from a team with a bad QB to a team with a good QB, the potential of that player improves.  Keep track of free agent movements on dynastyfootballfan.com's free agency page so that you can stay aware of all player movements and know that value of your players.

• NFL Draft - typically in the dynasty format, leagues are keeping all or most of their veterans and only drafting rookies (as opposed to redraft where both veterans and rookies are drafted together).  Therefore, understanding the value of a rookie is one of the most important aspects to dynasty fantasy football.  Fortunately, the NFL draft is broadcast and there are many websites that track and analyze the rookie draft.   Because understanding rookie value is so important we devote quite a bit of effort to helping you understand.  One of the best tools that we have is the rookie evaluation model in our Dynasty Football Master area (Coming Soon).  This tool grades out 10 aspects of every rookies potential and provides a score for each to help you evaluate them.  We add comments in order to help you understand how we came to this conclusion.  The model allows you to sort by total score but also by each category if there is a particular category that you favor.

• Training Camp - Training camp really starts in May with Organized Team Activities (OTAs) that start with just rookies and young free agents and then roll right into training camp and pre-season in August.  During this period it's important to track both veterans and rookies to see who is standing out and who is standing down.  If you are keenly aware of these pre-season performances, you'll be much better and picking up high-potential free agents in your league.  Our regular training camp blog updated and our training camp page keeps you well informed.

• Trades/Holdouts - Trades are fairly infrequent in the NFL compared to many other sports.  When they do occur it can make or break one of your players.  Holdouts are another issue, especially with veteran players.  If you are holding a player that is holding out that players potential is impacted by the length of the holdout and the outcome thereof.

Do you love watching the NFL draft?  Do you find yourself reading the sports page and internet sites in March and June to see what's happening with your favorite players?  If you love watching NFL football and enjoy playing fantasy football, starting a dynasty league is a great option for you and your friends.

In future columns we will tackle other aspects to starting a league including:

• Choosing the right rules and host site to succeed

• Understanding dynasty league scoring

• Making your Dynasty League both simple and challenging

Enjoy football 365 days a year, start a dynasty fantasy football league today!

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