Dynasty League Strategies: The Punt Year One Approach

Dynasty League Football Strategies: The Punt Year One Approach

The punt year one strategy is one of the most popular strategies in dynasty leagues. Punt year one is a strategy where during the start-up draft you draft talented young players who have to most upside for the future, and you take year 1 as a mulligan. What’s the upside of punting the first year? With this strategy you will have a roster stocked with players who are very talented, but they are in their developmental period of their career. The fantasy output is very meek generally for the first year or two during a player’s career. Basically, you are tanking year one in hopes that you get one of the top picks in the rookie draft for the following year. The goal of this strategy is to build a dynamic dynasty team that is stacked for the future by having a roster of players who are young that will develop around the same time. If you are successful at this strategy you will be a juggernaut in your dynasty league for years.

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How It Looks

During the first round of the startup draft you want to target the elite wide receivers like Dez Bryant, Julio Jones, and AJ Green. The 2^nd round is when the fun begins. You will be selecting the young talents like Sammy Watkins over the older players like Jordy Nelson in the 2^nd round. In every tier of the player rankings you will be selecting the younger players with the most athletic upside. Also, you will be leaning more heavily to wide receivers early in the draft, because wide receivers have more longevity in the NFL compared to running backs. The goal here is to have a core of young wide receivers that will produce for your team for years. The wide receivers in rounds 2-4 that best fit this strategy are; DeAndre Hopkins, Brandin Cooks, Jordan Matthews, Allen Robinson, TY Hilton, Keenan Allen, Davante Adams, and Donte Moncrief. The pool of young wide receivers will dry up around rounds 5 and 6. Then you will focus on patching up your holes at running back, and drafting high upside developmental talents like Green Bay Packers WR Jeff Janis. Quarterbacks that you will be targeting for this strategy will by Ryan Tannehill, Derek Carr, Blake Bortles, and Teddy Bridgewater. Tight end is very stacked in the later rounds with high-upside talents like Austin Safarian-Jenkins, Eric Ebron, and Tyler Eifert. Hopefully, at the end of the draft your team is full of promising young players that are on the verge of blossoming into studs. One thing to note is if an older player that you value like an Aaron Rodgers were to fall in the draft then you should draft that player. Even when you’re trying to go build your dynasty team with youth you have to capitalize on the values that fall in the draft.

The Positives

The great thing about this strategy is that your team is going to be relevant in the league for a long time. If you hit on a lot of your picks you could potentially dominate the league for years. Even if you don’t hit on your picks your players will maintain their value on the trade market going into years two and three of your league, so you can sell those players for something of value. From my experience in dynasty leagues, after the first season there will be a few teams in the league that will look like an abominable mess of players that hold very little value. In a year’s time you can go from a team that you are in love with to a team that you have to blow up and rebuild. Blowing up a team usually takes years to rebuild, and that’s something you want to avoid at all cost. By drafting the younger, more athletic players your team will hold more value in the future compared to a lot of the teams in your league. The exciting thing about this strategy is that your team is going to be filled with young talent, and then you will have a top pick in the upcoming rookie draft where you can draft one of the top prospects to add more value to your team.

The Negatives

The odds are very slim that you will compete during the first year of your dynasty. That means the first year’s premium to play in the league goes down the drain. You’re more likely to compete during year two, but the odds are still going to be against you to win the league. Unless you bust on a bunch of rookie picks and make some bad trades year three is usually the year where the plans for your team will start to come to fruition. If you are not patient then this is not the strategy for you. Like most drafts, if most of your top picks bust then you are going to be looking at a long re-build. The strategy isn’t bullet proof and there are risks, so make sure you research before you attempt this strategy.

Owner Type

Like I said, earlier patience is key with this strategy. You have to be willing to wait on your prospects to develop, and take the losses in the first couple years. The perfect owner for this strategy will need to put in the work scouting for the rookie draft. The first couple of rookie drafts you are going to have high draft picks from punting the first year. If you are not knowledgeable about the rookie class then it’s a waste. The odds of you selecting the most optimal prospects are less likely to happen if you are not calibrated to the new batch of rookies. You have to be willing to watch a lot of tape and read up about almost every prospect possible to get the most bang for your buck in your rookie drafts. To be a successful owner with this strategy you have to be willing to sell certain prospects when their stock is too high in comparison to their talent. That way you can load up on other prospects and picks. A good example is selling Cordarrelle Patterson when his stock went through the roof last summer, and if you sold him for an established player or for a bevy of draft picks then you are ahead of the game. Usually, if a player’s stock is higher than their talent then the odds that the player is going to fall in value will come sooner or later. I don’t recommend this strategy for a first time dynasty player, because dynasty is game that takes a year or two to get a hang of. There are a lot of errors that could be made by a beginner if they aren’t prepared and those errors could set them back for years.

I have done this draft strategy in a lot of dynasty leagues. Surprisingly, I have made the playoffs about 50% of the time during the first season while implementing this strategy. The teams I drafted last year all have top 5 rookie picks and are going to be serious contenders this year. I really enjoy drafting my teams this way. I think this strategy is fun watching my players develop year by year. It’s also fun watching the value of your fantasy team increase, while most of your league mate’s teams are depreciating in value.

If you read through this article and feel that this strategy isn’t for you then please take a look at an article I wrote a few weeks ago about the Win Now Approach. https://fansided.com/2015/03/24/dynasty-fantasy-football-strategies-win-now-approach/

Need Help with your dynasty team? Contact me on Twitter @bmatz08 and I will give you the guidance you need to make the best decisions on trades, drafts, and the waiver wire.

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