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Tue Jan 21st 2025

Grading My 2024 Trades

Before I begin studying the rookie class, the last thing I do is look back at all the trades I made last year. I consider what I think about the trades now that the season is over and note any lessons I can learn from my trades. Sometimes I have regrets and learn from my mistakes. Other times, I'm thrilled at my success. Let's decide how I feel about my 2024 dynasty trades now that the season is over.

Michael Mayer <=======> 2025 2nd round pick

  • I traded Mayer for a second-round pick in the first week of the season. I could not be more thrilled with this trade now. While Mayer was one of my favorite players in the 2023 class, I dropped him from most of my rosters at the cut date before the season started. I knew Brock Bowers would take over as the top tight end in Las Vegas, so I was willing to give up on my high hopes for Mayer. Now, to have a second-round pick for him is incredible, especially since it ended up being the 2.3 pick. I'm completely rebuilding in that league, and now I have four first-round picks and three second-round picks, including the 1.1.

C.J. Stroud and Nick Chubb <=======> Jonathan Brooks and a 2025 1st round pick

  • In the same league where I am rebuilding, I trade Stroud and Chubb for Brooks and a first-round pick. At the time of the trade, Chubb had returned to action, and Brooks was about to get his first reps on the field. The team that added Stroud and Chubb was hurting at quarterback after Anthony Richardson was injured and sometimes got benched. He needed a quarterback and some hope at running back, but neither player helped him very much this season. He made the playoffs but finished in fourth place. We're transitioning this league to superflex in 2027, so Stoud is the most valuable player in this trade. I needed all the first-round picks I could get, so I saw this as adding two first-round picks since I would have drafted Brooks in the first round last year. It looks like a great deal for me since the trade gave me four first-round picks next year when I could draft a quarterback as we move toward superflex in a few years. That said, the trade looks a lot different now that Brooks tore his ACL at the end of the season, and the Panthers re-signed Chuba Hubbard. Plus, the first-round pick I received was not that of the 4th placed team, but of the four-time-in-a-row champion, so the pick is the 1.12.  So, at the end of the season, I received the 1.12 and a player who likely will not play until 2026 for Stroud and Chubb. I still think my process was right, and I am not disappointed with the trade, but I need to wait a year for Brooks to see if this was a winning or losing trade. At least the 2025 rookie draft will be a blast for me. I have the 1.1, 1.6, 1.9, 1,12, 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, and 3.1 picks, which means I can draft 8 of the first 25 rookies.

Tucker Kraft and Audric Estime <=======> Mark Andrews

  • Early in the season, I traded away Andrews for Kraft and Estime. It's a trade I now regret. Andrews had a terrible start to the season, so I was willing to give up on him for a younger tight end who, by that time, firmly established his starting role in Green Bay and a running back that I was high on and believed could take over the leading role in Denver by the end of the season. Andrews caught fire to end the season, helping the manager who traded for him win the Super Bowl while I finished in fourth place. He got the better end of this trade and is pleased to have Andrews on his roster. That said, Kraft finished 9th in total tight-end points, just four spots and 23 total points behind Andrews, and he's five years younger. Estime, however, never earned a significant role on the roster and was a coaches-decision scratch in the Bronco's playoff game. That's a disappointment, but I'll hold on to the hope that the Broncos do not draft or add a running back this year and choose to let Javonte Williams go in free agency. There are ways this trade could benefit me, but it certainly did not this season.

Blake Corum and Rasheed Shaheed <=======> Tank Bigsby and a 2024 4th round pick

  • In the same league as the previous trade, I made this modest trade near the trade deadline. I added Corum to a team where I have Kyren Williams, and the other manager added Bigsby to a team where he has Travis Etienne. We were both making a playoff run, and I ended up beating him in the first round of the playoffs, where he started Bigsby against me since, by that time, he was playing more than Etienne. I like to handcuff my running backs, so I was willing to give up a player on the rise for Corum, especially after I asked him to add Shaheed to the deal. My starting running backs in this league are Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, so Bigsby was just depth on my roster alongside Ramondre Stevenson, Tyjae Spears, and Jaylen Warren. If Bigsby breaks out in his third season, I could regret this trade, but if Williams gets injured next year, I'll be thrilled to have Corum. I'm pleased with this trade.

Trevor Lawrence, George Pickens, Aaron Jones <=======> Bo Nix, Jayden Reed, and David Njoku

  • These following three trades were all made between me and the same other team. Our leaguemates were cracking up on our message board, saying that we might as well swamp entire teams. We traded eleven players to each other within a two-week time span midway through the season. It's a superflax league, so the first trade involving quarterbacks was the most substantial. I traded away Nix, Reed, and Njoku for Lawrence, Pickens, and Jones. The only part of the trade I regret is the Nix for Lawrence side of the trade. I should have given Nix more time to develop. At the time of the trade, he was really struggling in the passing game, but he figured it out by the end of the season and became a scoring machine. I regret trading him, as I now have Nix ranked as my 7th quarterback while Lawrence is ranked 19th. Still, Lawerence could close that gap if Jacksonville hires a great coach, and I love that he has Brian Thomas as his WR-1 for years to come. I still have Jordan Love and Baker Mayfield as my starting quarterbacks in this league, so I'm not hurt too much by the regrettable part of this trade. While I regret the quarterback side of the trade, the other pieces of the trade even out the trade for me. Pickens is far more consistent than Reed, and he's a WR-1 in Pittsburg, while Reed became more of a gadget guy in Green Bay after his hot start to begin the season. I was not worried about giving up Njoku because Trey McBride is my starting tight end, so I added Aaron Jones, who, while he's an old running back, was a more needed player for my roster. I am less disappointed when considering the trade as a whole, especially given the other pieces I added in the following trades with this team.

Malik Willis and Dallas Goedert <=======> Luke Musgrave

  • The next trade we made was a small one where I acquired Goedert and Willis for Musgrave. I wanted Willis as a handcuff to Jordan Love and much prefer Goedert over Musgrave. This trade was a big win for me, even though Goedert and Willis are backups on my team with Love and Trey McBride. The other manager has Tucker Kraft on his roster, so he now has a tight-end handcuff, as if that were a thing. I'm thrilled about this small trade, even if it is just for roster depth.

Drake London <=======> Zay Flowers

  • I fleeced the other manager on this trade by trading Jones for London. London finished the season 5th in wide-receiver points compared to Jones's 21st-place finish, and London scored 55 more points than Flowers. Both players are WR-1s, but Baltimore is a far less pass-heavy team. London was targeted 48 more times than Flowers this season. I could not be more happy with this trade. After trading eleven players in two weeks, the sum of the trades looks like this, and I much prefer my side of it. 
  • I have Trevor Lawrence, Malik Willis, Aaron Jones, Drake London, George Pickens, and Dallas Goedert
  • He has Bo Nix, Zay Flowers, Jayden Reed, David Njoku and Luke Musgrave

Kirk Cousins and Jaxon Smith-Njigba <=======> Chris Olave and a 2025 1st round pick

  • In a league where I am rebuilding, I desperately wanted another first-round pick. So I made this trade for Olave and a first-round pick for JSN and Cousins. It's a superflex league, and I drafted Bo Nix and Drake Maye last year in the first round as phase one of my rebuilding strategy. This year, I can improve by drafting positional players. I have the 1.1, so that's great news. Sadly, the team I traded with won the Super Bowl, so it's the 1.12 I received in this trade. That's a bummer. I hated giving up JSN for Olave, but thought I needed to take the loss there to get another first-round pick. I really to hit on the 1.12 pick to make this a trade I won't regret. I had two first-round picks last year, have two more this year, and have two in 2026, too, so I have a little time to work on my rebuild. Looking back on this trade now, I regret giving up JSN, who was my first-round pick in 2023. You win and lose some, but I won more than I lost this year. What about you?

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