The Re-Draft Roundtables Series
The Footballguys staff looks at various strategies to help you in redraft leagues.
Participating in a redraft league is a process that starts with the draft and hopefully ends with a championship. The Footballguys staff has answered several questions about various strategies to help you achieve your championship dreams. From the beginning to the end and everything in between, we've got you covered to give you the tools and knowledge needed to dominate your redraft league.
Do you often seek trades in your draft or during the season? Walk through your process of how you approach a trade. What do you look for? What tools, if any, do you use to determine a trade's validity?
BEN CUMMINS
I generally trust my drafting and free agency skills and don’t overreact to the beginning of the season, even if I start with a losing streak. However, if things don’t improve, I seek trades during the season. Mainly, I look to improve a certain position and evaluate my leaguemate’s teams to learn who has a surplus at that position. At the same time, I examine which teams could use an upgrade elsewhere and put my trades together in that way.
JASON WOOD
If we simplify the fantasy football player acquisition process into three facets -- drafting, free agency, and trading -- I can confidently say trading is both my least favorite and least effective component. I dislike selling aggressively to others, and I think you have to enjoy reaching out proactively with frequency to be an effective trader. That's just not my style. I do openly discuss and accept trades when others initiate them but always attempt to counter initial offers until it gets to a point that genuinely benefits my team as much, if not more, than the perceived benefits to my trading partner.
Determining value is a bit easier if you have consistently updated projections and ranking, as I do (and any of our subscribers can have by accessing our tools).
CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS
Allowing trades to come to me is a preferred method in redraft leagues. I've found that any overreaction to early-season struggles is traditionally rooted in unusual circumstances, and panic trading is exactly how to further kill chances to make the playoffs. The most important component of trading is making both teams better, though. When someone sends a trade my way, I want to improve at one position and understand that I will be weakening a different position group. Weighing the viability depends on how I feel about the depth of that position group. I typically avoid trade calculators and value charts because each fails to incorporate the human element of attachment to the players. Fantasy managers will often feel more strongly than a calculator or value chart if they've drafted and found success with the player; this makes gauging value difficult, and because of that, knowing your league mates is the best way to complete trades.
WILL GRANT
During the draft, trades are not my thing. Between people on the clock, tracking who my next two or three prospects might be, and enjoying the general banter in the room is more than enough to keep me busy. Even if I'm drafting on a turn, I generally would rather focus on who the best value is rather than can I swap a player or a pick for someone else. In-season, I look for players that will fill gaps in my roster - especially during the playoffs. With tools like the draft and league dominator, it's easy to stay competitive all season. I try to look for players who might take me over the top or add depth where I'm thin and susceptible to injury. I look at projected points for the rest of the season and compare that with my current roster. Then I look to see how those players are projected to do in weeks where I face a key opponent or how they are projected to do in the playoffs.
ANDY HICKS
I am always open to trades at any stage of the process. That said, some leagues have a large proportion of unrealistic or reluctant trading partners. It gets tiring real quick when someone thinks they can trade you, Tyler Higbee, for Najee Harris. You have often thought it's a win/win for both of you, but they think you are trying to screw them. Ultimately though, if you can improve your roster, you leave no stone unturned in doing so. Even if beneficial trading has a low success rate, it needs to be attempted. If you are in the fortunate position of strength at a particular position, trading away a non-starting asset for a starter at another position that will increase your overall score are options you have to seriously consider.
CRAIG LAKINS
The best trade offers are ones that help both teams. Player trade values are generally subjective, but nothing makes me want to end a trade conversation more than when it feels like someone is trying to pull a fast one on me. If I'd like to address a need on my roster, I'll first evaluate who I can do without and whether they have value on the trade market. For example, if my WR4 has a couple of big games in a row, the time may be right to move him to a wide receiver-needy team and address a weakness in my starting lineup.
CHAD PARSONS
I rarely trade in redraft leagues and find them difficult to foster a deal. First, the lens is short-term as it is the current season only plus the void of future picks to use to level a deal is a game-changing absence in the market. In general, trading from a strength to address a weakness is the methodology.
GARY DAVENPORT
The problem with trading in fantasy is that far too many managers approach any deal with an adversarial mentality—with the need to win the trade. No one wants to give more than they are getting, even if their team is teetering because of a glaring hole at one position. I'm all for any reasonable offer that will help my team, but those don't come along often.
VICTORIA GEARY
In redraft, I don't trade as much as I'd like. Part of that is due to the short-term nature of the season. I also find that most fantasy managers in home leagues are reluctant to trade, as they are more worried about being fleeced than helping their team. If I attempt to trade, I am always looking for a trade partner with an unbalanced team in the opposite direction from mine. If I am weak at RB2, for example, and have a stronger wide receiver core, I am looking for a team that needs receiver help and has a running back they may be willing to part with for a good offer. This approach is where I typically have the most success.
SAM WAGMAN
I’ve always liked to trade, though it’s a little more complicated in a normal redraft without draft picks to fill in holes. Approaching a trade is all about figuring out the best way to improve your roster while simultaneously giving up someone another player needs to improve their team. Looking for value is important, but knowing that not everyone values each player the same way is a key part of negotiations. I am not a huge trade calculator user, but I have occasionally used them to figure out where I am in a deal.
ZAREH KANTZABEDIAN
I tend not to seek out trades in redraft formats primarily because value seems to fall every year.
JEFF BELL
I consistently probe for value in trades. Trade types I typically explore are players I want to move off due to concerns, players I wish to acquire due to ascending value, or flipping surplus positional talent to fill a deficit. In home leagues, preexisting knowledge of your leaguemates’ guys is a way to explore value. In leagues with people you do not know, shift toward trendy players. In redraft, I do not use any trade tools.