Dynasty Startup Draft Strategy for Fantasy Football

Finding the right 2024 dynasty startup draft strategy for fantasy football can be challenging. There are so many paths to take, and it’s so different from seasonal leagues that normal rules don’t apply.

The draft lays the foundation for your team’s success for years to come. If you screw up the draft, you’ll likely be left trading picks and players for one year (if you’re good and lucky) or 2-3 (in most cases) to rebuild.

So let’s run through some of the top dynasty startup draft strategies you can use for 2024.

Draft Strategies for Dynasty Startup Leagues

You absolutely need a strategy. Otherwise your team will have no direction and will not be well put together. Trust me on this. It’s OK if you don’t go crazy mapping out every round and every possible player, but you need some semblance of where you’re going.

If there’s one thing to take away: Hodgepodges can win the league in a random year, but they will not become dynasty dynasties.

Here is a brief overview of some of the most popular strategies:

Draft Young in Dynasty Startups

This strategy focuses on drafting the youngest players with the most potential for future growth. The idea is to build a team that will dominate in a few years once these young players hit their prime.

In this strategy, you might exclusively draft first- and second-year players. Maybe you add third-year players to your draft pool, but make sure you stick to the plan.

You will probably not win this year, but that’s okay. You’re trying to build a dynasty.

• High Upside: Rookies and second-year players have the most room to grow and can provide the highest returns on investment.
• Patience Required: This strategy requires patience, as young players might not produce elite numbers immediately.
• Trade Value: Young players often have higher trade value, giving you flexibility to adjust your roster in the future.

Punt Year One

An even more extreme twist to “Draft Young” is … to not draft at all. At least not this year. OK, not literally “don’t draft” — but forgo a good roster in 2024 (and probably 2025) for a dominant one in 2026.

This has the potential to make your team both exceedingly overpowered and self-replenishing if you have the patience. It can be self-replenishing because if you delay long enough, you’ll always have excess rookie picks this year to trade for even more next year.

(Obviously, only do this in leagues you know will be around for a while.)

• Long-Term Value: Rookie picks, especially first-rounders, are incredibly valuable in dynasty leagues. Securing future first-round picks can set you up with potential stars for years to come.
• Flexibility: Having additional rookie picks gives you flexibility in future drafts. You can use these picks to select top-tier rookie talent or package them in trades to acquire established (but still young) players.
• Capitalizing on Rookie Classes: Certain draft classes are projected to be stronger than others. By acquiring picks in advance, you can position yourself to take advantage of particularly strong classes.

If you’re doing this, try to find teammates that are focused on winning now. They will be more likely to trade away future picks. And if you trade current assets at the right time of year (like immediately after the NFL draft or during the preseason when hype for this year is at its peak), you can maximize your return and end up with some awfully lopsided trades in your favor.

Not all rookie picks will pan out. There is always the risk that the highly anticipated rookies you draft may not live up to expectations. But if you stockpile enough ammo, it would be difficult not to build a good team with this strategy within a few years.

Even Mix of Young and Old

OK, we got the exciting strategies out of the way. Now onto the more boring, but more manageable, strategy: Just draft a good mix. This strategy reduces the risks associated with relying solely on unproven rookies or aging veterans.

• Balanced Roster: By mixing young talent with experienced players, you maintain competitiveness while building for the future.
• Reduced Risk: Diversifying age reduces the risk of your team being too dependent on either aging players who might decline or young players who might not develop as expected.
• Veteran Deals: This approach allows you to draft some good players for the next 1-2 years that are possibly devalued as your leaguemates chase youth. Think of someone like Travis Kelce or Christian McCaffrey.

Win Now

The “Win Now” strategy focuses on drafting players who can help you win in the short term, often at the expense of long-term potential. There are two primary paths to this strategy:

1. No Rookies: Avoid drafting rookies who might not contribute immediately. Instead, focus on proven veterans.
2. Trade Future Draft Picks: Trade away future draft picks to acquire additional picks or players who can contribute immediately.

This strategy gives you an immediate competitive edge and likely makes your team one of the best in the league right out of the gate. You’re maximizing your chance at a league championship within the first few years.

The risk, obviously, is that vets can quickly fall off a cliff (see Austin Ekeler in 2023). And it goes without saying that this strategy hurts you in the future too if you trade away future rookie picks.

For example, drafting players like Derrick Henry, Davante Adams and Travis Kelce can give you a strong chance to win now, but if you had to trade away picks to do it, you might be hurting in 1-2 years.

My suggestion if you go with this strategy: Only trade future picks for youth. If you want to go vet-heavy for a win-now chance, that’s fine, but don’t mortgage the future on it. You should be able to draft a solid win-now vet team with your startup picks anyway without having to spend future draft capital on top of it.

Other Notes

• I’m a fan of drafting a QB early in dynasty leagues. If you get a good one, you might not have to think about the position for another 10 years.
• Ditto for an elite TE. There are good WRs and RBs in every draft class. That’s not the case when it comes to TEs.
• Age considerations: 27 is the peak for RBs, be wary of WRs over 30, TEs usually last to about 32, and QBs are a bit broken now thanks to Tom Brady; 35 is usually pretty reasonable for them, though.
• Handcuffing in dynasty leagues is a viable option — more viable than in season-long leagues, in my opinion. However, I’d only handcuff RBs that have the potential to be a starter in 2-3 years. Think Tony Pollard back in 2019 and 2020 behind Ezekiel Elliott. Don’t roster a backup RB that has no realistic shot of having standalone value in a few years. That’s handcuffing just for the sake of it and provides you with no additional upside.