Tue Jan 30th 2024

Grading My 2023 Dynasty Trades

One of the things I do every year at the end of the season is analyze the trades I made during the season. Trading is essential to building dynasty teams and growing as a dynasty manager. Reviewing your trades to learn from your hits and misses is vital. In this article, I share my thoughts on my hits and misses from trades I made last year.

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Labor Day Freek Draft-Day Trades

My Freek league is the only league where we wait until Labor Day weekend to hold our rookie draft. Having one league where managers benefit from watching preseason games before the rookie draft is enjoyable. I made three trades in that league just before the season started.

Tee Higgins <=====> Jordan Addison and Tank Bigsby

• I traded Higgins for 1.4 and 1.10, where I drafted Addison and Bigsby. I'm pleased with the two-for-one side of this trade. My post-season rankings have Addison as my 20th-ranked wide receiver and Higgins as 25th, so the one-for-one part of that trade is in my favor even though Bigsby did nothing in his rookie season. The next two players drafted in the rookie draft were Sam LaPorta and Tyjae Spears. The Spears pick was mine, and I debated taking Spears at 1.10 but thought he'd more likely fall to me at the 12th pick than Bigsby would. At least I still landed Spears on my team. I'm glad I made this trade.

Keenan Allen <=====> Elijah Moore and Jayden Reed

• At the trade deadline last year, I traded away Keenan Allen for Elijah Moore and a second-round pick, which turned into Jayden Reed, who I picked with the 20th pick. Moore was one of the players I traded for the most last offseason when the stories of his rapport with Deshaun Watson were rampant. That did not pan out for me, as Moore did not break out last season, and his role did not expand. I bought back a lot of years by landing Reed in the rookie draft, at least, and he can build upon his rookie season and become a reliable starter for me. I'm not thrilled about how this trade worked out, but I'm pleased to have Reed on a team that is already strong and lost in the Super Bowl this year.

George Kittle <=====> David Njoku and Tank Dell

• Just before the rookie draft, I decided I was tired of Kittle's up-and-down fantasy performances and wanted a player with a more steady floor. I traded Kittle for Njoku and pick #28 in the rookie draft, where I selected Dell. I could not be happier after Njoku had the best season of his career, and Dell had a stellar rookie season. At the time that I offered it, a 3rd round pick may not have seemed like enough to close the gap between Kittle and Njoku's dynasty value, but it sure does now.

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Rebuilding Team Trades

I'm in full rebuild mode in two of my leagues. Pretty early on in the season, I decided to be a seller in both of them. In another league, I'm not in blow-it-up rebuild mode but more of a competitive rebuild, and I wanted to shake up my team a bit. I'll know more about how I feel about the trades after I cash in on the picks I acquired, but here is what I think about these trades currently.

C.J. Stroud and a 2024 1st round pick <=====> Josh Allen

• In a one-quarterback league, I traded the best dynasty asset on my team, Josh Allen, for Stroud and a 2024 1st-round pick, which landed me the 1.9. I now have the Stroud, picks 1.2 and 1.9 in this rebuild. This trade was the first one I made in this effort to rebuild, and I made it mid-season before Stroud completely broke out. He won't score Josh Allen-type points in his career, but he'll be an excellent starter for me every week. I'm pleased to have made this trade and start rebuilding with him and two first-round picks. 

Adam Thielen <=====> 2024 2nd round pick

• The next trade I made in that league was selling Thielen for a second-round pick, which netted me the 2.6. I made this trade mid-season while Thielen was dominating, but after that, he fell off quite a bit. A player that old was not going to help my rebuilding team. I'm glad that I have an extra 2nd round pick. Next year, I will have four of the top 18 picks with picks 2, 9, 14, and 18. That's a great start to a rebuilding effort.

Evan Engram <=====> 2024 2nd round pick

• The same week, I traded Engram for a 2nd round pick, which I later traded away in the next trade. In a vacuum, I prefer Engram in this trade, but it provided the context for the next trade I could make in that league.

Alvin Kamara, Josh Reynolds, and a 2024 2nd round pick <=====> Romeo Doubs, and a 2025 1st and 3rd round pick

• I gave back the 2nd round pick I acquired in the Engram trade along with Kamara and Reynolds to add a Doubs and a 2025 1st and 3rd round pick. Kamara was the last valuable player on my roster to trade, and I went back and forth with managers trying to trade for him, but this was the best I could get. My rebuild will take some time, so I am grateful to have a future 1st round pick in the deal and to add a young, rising wide receiver in Doubs. It's still unclear which wide receiver in Green Bay will emerge as Jordan Love's top target, but Doubs was it in the NFL playoffs, giving me hope that I added a future starter to my roster in this trade. I'm happy with the picks and players I acquired this season as I seek to rebuild this team.

Tua Tagovailoa and Romeo Doubs <=====> Jordan Love, Zay Flowers, Luke Musgrave, and 2024 1st and 2nd round picks

• I made this trade for the second team I'm trying to rebuild. It's a superflex league. Early in the season, I traded Tua when he was on a hot streak, and Doubs was doing well, too. In return, I received Jordan Love, a rookie wide receiver in Flowers, a rookie tight end in Musgrave, and two future picks. Jordan Love caught fire to end the season and scored more points than Tua. Flowers established himself as Baltimore's top wide receiver, and Musgrave, who started hot, got injured and lost time to fellow rookie Tucker Kraft. I took a chance on trading for Love in a superflex league, but it has paid off. I have picks 1, 6, 11, 16, and 18 in this league, in addition to Love, Flowers, and Musgrave. This trade set me up nicely.

Keenan Allen <=====> Sean Tucker, 2024 2nd round pick, and 2025 1st round pick

• The pick #18 that I mentioned I have in this league came from this trade, where I sold Allen for Tucker, a 2nd-round pick, and a future first-round pick. Tucker never amounted to much, but I'll likely hold onto him. The picks are what will help my team. As I did with the previous rebuilding team, I also acquired a 2025 1st round pick in this league. This trade sets me up for a continuing rebuild. I got a fair price for Allen, even if it will take another year to pay off.

Dallas Goedert <=====> Nico Collins

• Finally, a competing team that was hurting at tight end gave me Collins for Goedert. This trade was early in the season before Collins completely broke out. Now, it looks like a great trade for me. In my rebuilding efforts in this league, I now have Jordan Love, Zay Flowers, Nico Collins, Luke Musgrave, two 1st-round and three 2nd-round picks in 2024, and a 1st-round pick in 2025. I like my process and how it panned out for me.

Travis Kelce and  Jared Goff <=====> Sam Howell, Jahan Dotson, Cole Kmet, and Cade Otton

• In my competitive rebuilding team, I made the following three trades. I'm not as pleased with these trades, but I was happy to shake my team up. It's a very deep league, so I tried to acquire more players and picks than I gave away to add youth and depth to my team. For context, it's a superflex, tight-end premium league. I gave Kelce and Goff for Howell, Dotson, Kmet, and Otton in this first trade. On the tight end side, I'm pleased to get two tight ends that are young and growing for one that is a superstar but aging out. This league is 1.75 PPR for tight ends, so Kelce is a beast, but Kmet and Otton are emerging, and teams often start two or three tight ends in their lineups. As for the quarterback side of this trade, I mistakenly believed in Sam Howell. While he was scoring far more points than Goff at the time of the trade, I should have considered his job security. You'll see that I made a mistake trading for Howell several times this season. Thankfully, I still have two starting quarterbacks on my roster, so Howell, who will be replaced by Washington's 1st round pick this year, won't hurt me too much in this league. Hopefully, they will draft a quarterback to make Dotson come alive again. I still have hope for him.

Jonathan Taylor <=====> Kyren Williams

• I accepted this risky trade when someone offered me Taylor for Williams. I ended the season with Taylor ranked ahead of Williams in my dynasty rankings, but there is a smaller gap than I thought when I accepted this trade. Taylor is my 4th ranked running back, and Williams has risen to 7th. For now, I am still pleased with the trade, though it's one I may live to regret if Williams is as involved in the offense as he was to end the season. Still, I am sticking with my rankings and relying on Taylor as a far better prospect who has also had a year in the past close to Williams's 2023 season.

Christian McCaffrey <=====> Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Nick Chubb, and a 2025 1st-round pick

• CMC was on the trading block for much of the season, but no one gave me a deal I was willing to take until this one near the very end of the season. I wish I received more for CMC, but I'm glad I at least secured a 1st round pick, even if it is in 2025. I'm confident in JSN's ability to rise after a mediocre rookie season, and wide receiver is my weak point in this league. I asked Chubb to be thrown into the deal because I hope for a healthy return to dominent play next year after his injury was not as bad as suspected. I shook up my team quite a bit in this league by giving away three of the highest-scoring players in Kelce, McCaffrey, and Williams, but I added youth and depth as I intended. I have Taylor, Chubb, Smith-Njigba, Dotson, Kmet, and Otton and a future 1st round pick. I'm not as happy with this rebuild as I am with the others, especially since I lost Goff for Howell. I need Chubb to return healthy with something to prove and my new young wide receivers and tight ends to improve, or I may have to rebuild again next season.

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Competing Team Trades

Tank Dell <=====> Kyle Phillips and 2024 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round picks

• This trade requires a lot of league context. I was the second-highest-scoring team and a clear contender at the time of the trade, so I traded away a lot for Dell. Draft picks in this league are less valuable because the rookie draft is an auction, so each manager gets a certain amount of money for their draft picks. The trouble is the manager can carry over rookie auction money from one year to the next, and three to four of the teams have almost all the auction money and will be able to outbid everyone this year. Because of that, I valued Dell above the three picks I gave away. I'd never get to draft a player like Dell since I don't have enough money, so why not give away picks for the player I love? Sadly, Dell broke his leg the very next week, and I lost in the semi-finals at the end of the season. I'll have to be crafty in the draft and use my little auction money for some of my deep sleeper players, as I did last year in the rookie auction when I won the bid for Puka Nacua.

C.J. Beathard <=====> 2025 3rd round pick

• I agreed to this low-level trade just before the playoffs started. I acquired Beathard because Trevor Lawrence was one of my starting quarterbacks and was questionable to start that week. Lawrence did play that week, but I still don't regret the trade. I like to have my starting quarterback's handcuff. Plus, this trade was made in the same league that does a rookie auction. I prefer players to auction money in that league.

Sam Howell <=====> George Pickens

• I'll end with my biggest regret. I traded Pickens away for Howell. Thankfully, it is a one-quarterback league where I am loaded at receiver and made it to the Super Bowl but lost. Somehow, even in a one-quarterback league, Justin Herbert was the only starting quarterback on my roster. I was desperate for a backup, so I offered this trade. Herbert's season ended due to injury shortly after, so it looked like a wise move, but then Howell started playing poorly and lost the starting role for a few games. My team limped into the playoffs, starting the likes of Tyrod Taylor and Jacoby Brissett. I made it to the Super Bowl still and narrowly lost. It was a good move at the time, but it backfired on me at the end of the season and was a disaster trade from a dynasty perspective. Here's to hoping Aidan O'Connell can keep the Raider's starting role because he's the only backup I have on my team since I added him off waivers last week, which I'll write about next week. 

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