Adopting An Orphan Dynasty Team

It's just not for everyone. Owning a dynasty team is a lot of work, especially if your league is full of competent and competitive members. Call it bad luck, divine intervention or it's just not your thing - we all know someone that has backed out of a league, or even worse, continues to be in the league and doesn't manage their team. Usually, this results in swift removal. So what now?

A barren wasteland of a roster left floating in an endless loop of losses without a captain to right the ship. Make no mistake, taking a team like this on is the ultimate test for a fantasy GM. Challenging as it may be, the satisfaction will be boundless when you take this Oliver Twist of a team to the mountaintop.

Below I've listed the most crucial steps one must take to successfully rebuild a dynasty roster and be competitive without undergoing "the process" of losing for years before finding success.

How To Adopt a Dynasty Team Successfully

Step 1: Evaluation 
If you're new to a league, this step is especially critical! Look at the league's scoring rules; this will be fundamental in reshaping the roster. Clarify whether it's a PPR, Half-PPR, or Standard league, how many keepers slots, etc. Next, look at your team. Is there anything good about it? Perhaps a top-10 running back or wide receiver? Since the team was left unattended, it's safe to assume your draft pick will be pretty high as well. An exercise I like to do when reinventing a team is comparing the championship team to yours. Go position by position and compare their yearly positional ranks. What does that team have that yours does not? When you can answer that question, you're ready to move to the next step.

Step 2: Acquisitions
Now that we know our team's weakness, it's time to address it. Waivers are always the best place to begin, but don't get your hopes up. It's rare to find a good starter for years to come off waivers, as they tend to get snatched up immediately. All is not lost if your answer can't be found in the free agent pool. Finding a trade partner is very important at this point and the sooner, the better. Now is where I look for the opposite of my team. Whatever team is the strongest where I am weakest that's who we want to trade with. If during the evaluation process you found that your team has a "centerpiece"--think Zeke, Bell, Gurley, etc., now is the time to seriously consider trading them. Make sure the players you get in return will be valued starters. I only advise this if the player you're trading is the lone bright spot on your team. If you believe you're only a couple of players from being a contender, you should hang on to him. Choose which players you pursue carefully consider things like QB play, offensive game plan, offensive line play, competition for targets/carries and even age. At any rate, acquire players that will help you be successful for years to come.

Step 3: Draft
This is the singular most important part of rebuilding an orphan dynasty team. Getting valuable rookies and free agent players through the draft is the quickest way to turn a roster around. Think about how awesome it would have been last year if you were savvy enough to nab Leonard Fournette in the first round, and then scoop up Alvin Kamara in the third! Those are the drafts we all hope to have and can flip a roster from worst to first in a season. As a general rule NEVER trade draft picks if you're rebuilding a team. The only exception is if you think you can get a player whose value exceeds that of the player you would have gotten in whatever round your trading. Emphasize drafting rookies as they provide the most long-term upside. Hopefully, at the end of this step, you've rounded out your roster and have added enough depth to march through the season and into the playoffs.

Step 4: The Season 
Keep your eye on the waiver wire! Over the course of the season, several players will be forced into significant roles due to injuries, suspensions, and sometimes there is the unknown player who is so good he finds his way on the field. Whatever the case, maybe you don't want to miss out on them. Do not get wrapped up into doing trades at the deadline unless your team is under .500 and you're stocking up on picks for next year. This is the hardest part of the process.... trusting it. If things don't work out this season, don't panic! Rinse and repeat steps 1-3 year after year, and you will eventually have rebuilt an orphan dynasty team and with any luck ended the season the champion.

More 2018 Dynasty League Strategy