January is one of the slowest months on the dynasty calendar. There will still be some trade offers flying around in the most active leagues, but the majority of leagues take a bit of a pause before heating back up in March and April. One of my favorite things to do at this time of year is to start making a list of topics I feel will be important to try to figure out throughout the offseason. We do not need to have all of the answers right now. However, we want to at least be asking ourselves the right questions so we will have a leg up on the competition later in the offseason. To that end, a major focus of this month's Dynasty Trade Value Chart article will be the topics on my mind. These are the things that I hope to figure out before diving into any new startups because the answers will shape my drafting and trade strategy for the rest of the offseason.
In this month's article, we will go deeper into the following topics:
- Turning the page on 2023 by focusing on 2024 Week 1 ages.
- Ideas on improved tools to help you manage your leagues and drafts.
- Re-assessing quarterback longevity in an era dominated by athletic passers.
- The veteran running backs who are most likely to still have something left in the tank.
- The young running backs who are best positioned to step into larger roles.
- Wide receivers with the potential to go from good to great.
- The age curve at tight end.
Timing Note: During the season, the article will post on the first Tuesday of the month. The January trade value chart article was delayed due to holiday travel. During the offseason (the next eight months), the article will post on the first day of every month.
Turning the Page
As we close the book on the 2023 dynasty season, our focus shifts 100% to 2024 and beyond. There can be a tendency at this time of year to remain anchored to 2023 player values. However, those values were taking into account the impact each player would have in the 2023 fantasy playoffs. A productive exercise to help us break free from the valuation mindset that made sense last month and into one that better reflects the current reality is to look at what each player's age will be when we kick off the 2024 season.
You will notice this month's dynasty trade value chart includes a column for the player's age as of September 2024. Having those 2024 kickoff ages in the front of our minds as we enter the offseason provides a better context for trades and dynasty startup draft decisions.
Please note that we are adding eight months to every player's current age. Hopefully, this is not too confusing. The logic behind viewing players this way is that we want to already be thinking about how old they will be when we next see them on the field. If our opponents are still viewing these guys through the lens of where they were in 2023, we get a leg up on the competition by quickly shifting our mindset forward to viewing each player in the context of where they will be when the games next matter.
DYNASTY LEAGUE EVALUATOR AND CUSTOM TRADE CHART
In 2021, we introduced a customizable dynasty trade value chart that adjusts the player values to fit your league size, starting lineup requirements, and scoring. It can be found here:
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