Doing Dynasty Startups Correctly
So we’ve identified all of these differences in how a league and a startup operates, so what now?
Now, it’s time to map out how you should approach the draft in all of these scenarios.
League format and scoring has a profound effect on what players have more value. And this… this is where people are doing startups wrong.
Identify which positions matter for scoring. If you play on Sleeper, you can look at all available players before the draft and see how their scoring would have looked based on last season’s stats. Use this; it is absolutely crucial to build your strategy and board based on this data. It is the only context you will ever get on a league that’s never had a snap recorded yet.
Standard Leagues
Players who score the most touchdowns at every position. That’s it. Touchdowns far out-weigh yards, catches, all of that. And touchdowns aren’t very predictive. But you can get a good idea of who should score them. Star Quarterbacks, Running Backs on good offenses, and stud Wide Receivers and Tight Ends. Everyone else is random, and every player who doesn’t fall into these categories is a pure coin flip in your starting lineup on a given week.
- Contender Targets: Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry, Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, George Kittle, Mark Andrews
- Rebuilding Targets: Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze, Tet McMillan, Sam LaPorta, Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland (notice there are no RB targets)
Half PPR Leagues
Touchdowns are still king, but pass-catching does at least enter the conversation as a secondary bonus for players. This opens the player pool a little bit more than Standard leagues.
Star Quarterbacks, Running Backs who either earn a lot of targets, or are on good offenses, and Wide Receivers/Tight Ends who earn a lot of targets. In Standard leagues, a 4 for 60 game gets you 6 points. In Half PPR, that becomes 8 points. Those small increment increases can add up, especially as you add more and more catches. Big play receivers are valuable if you catch touchdowns, but that’s the only way. And since that isn’t predictive, they’re not great bets to make besides as bench players to start in a pickle.
- Contender Targets: Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Breece Hall, DeVon Achane, Christian McCaffrey, Chris Godwin, Jaylen Waddle, Davante Adams, George Kittle, Mark Andrews
- Rebuilding Targets: Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Marvin Harrison Jr., Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Jaylen Waddle, DeVonta Smith, Brock Bowers (good luck), Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland (Running Back counter: still 0)
Full PPR Leagues
Now we’re talking strategy. One whole point per-catch opens up a lot of possibilities that the previous leagues didn’t have. Now, target earners are king. In Full PPR, you actively want to avoid Running Backs that don’t catch passes. Receivers and Tight Ends that aren’t volume-based are nothing but roster cloggers. Stud QBs are still valuable as always, but now the element of stacking them with their primary pass-catchers comes into play. The more they feed their star receivers, the more you benefit. You start to double up your wins, without necessarily getting hurt if the QB looks elsewhere in this game.
- Contender Targets: Jalen Hurts, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Christian McCaffrey, DeVon Achane, Ashton Jeanty (again, good luck), Alvin Kamara, TrayVeon Henderson, Devin Neal, Cooper Kupp, Davante Adams, Chris Godwin, Rashee Rice, George Kittle, Travis Kelce, David Njoku, Evan Engram
- Rebuilder Targets: Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Michael Penix, Marvin Harrison Jr., Xavier Worthy, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Rome Odunze, Marvin Mims Jr. (look at his targets/route run in 2024), Kyle Pitts (yes, still), Dalton Kincaid, Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland, Brock Bowers (for this amount of PPR and above, I would be fine selling all 2025 and 2026 rookie picks if needed to get him) (Running Back PPG required: 0)
Tiered PPR and/or Tight End Premium Leagues
Pay very close attention to how big of a difference the tiers are. A half point per-reception between each position is good, but does not affect strategy too much. A full point or more between any of the tiers? Now we have the primary focus position. The more extra points a Tight End gets, the closer that position is to mattering. Anything over 2 PPR makes the position essential to compete (or rebuild) with. BUT, this is the catch that most people lose sight of. The Elite Tight Ends matter in TEP or Tiered PPR. NOT the bums.
A replacement-level tight end is not averaging more than maybe 2-3 receptions per game, hence why they are considered “average.” That doesn’t really make much of a difference for points compared to a receiver who catches 3-4 receptions with more yards. But the truly elite Tight Ends who can earn upwards of 6+ receptions a game with a good chunk of yards that inevitably comes with that? Those guys are pure gold now, especially if they’re younger. They can play in your Flex spots easily.
Always remember, Tight Ends only matter if they do at least one of two things: Catch a lot of passes, or consistently earn red zone targets that (usually) translate to Touchdowns. If your rostered Tight Ends don’t do those things, they are effectively useless to your team. Period. Any random schmuck on any random Sunday can give you 6 points at Tight End. Only the elite can give you 20 even semi-consistently.
- Contender Targets: Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Saquon Barkley, Jonathan Taylor, Breece Hall, Josh Jacobs, Tyreek Hill, Mike Evans, Davante Adams, Keenan Allen (depending on landing spot), George Kittle, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, Trey McBride/Brock Bowers (these two could win you your league if you’re ready to go all in)
- Rebuilder Targets: Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Michael Penix, Marvin Harrison Jr., Rome Odunze, Xavier Worthy, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Marvin Mims Jr., Kyle Pitts, Dalton Kincaid, Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland, Michael Mayer (good prospect stuck behind a great one, new situation could be a boon) (I hope you’re taking Zero RB fully to heart by now)
Superflex and/or Two + QB Leagues
Much like Tiered Scoring/Tight End Premium Leagues, pay attention to scoring. For QBs, the main stat that matters is how many points they get for TD Passes. This affects the types of QBs that are valuable. Before we get into the scoring breakdown, something needs to be addressed. Elite QBs matter in these leagues. No one else.
The amount of points you get from Derek Carr or Gardner Minshew on a given week is the same as you can get from any random WR2/3. It’s a coin flip at that point. So don’t overpay for these guys, especially in startups. They should be incredibly cheap, and rebuilders do not need them at all, period. You’re better off taking shots at rookies or rookie-contract under-performers at that stage in a startup.
4 Point TDs: Rushing QBs, commonly referred to as Konami Code QBs, are king. Touchdowns through the air mean less to all QBs, meaning that TD’s aren’t the main driver of a QB’s scoring. In these leagues, QB rushing yards and rushing TD’s can take an average game to a great game in fantasy. If you can’t get a QB with a consistent rushing floor, the only other QBs who matter in this format are the ELITE ones. And no, that does not include Patrick Mahomes. It’s been 7 years since he threw 50 touchdowns. Let him go. The Chiefs are never again going to be that team as long as Andy Reid is the head coach and Spags runs the defense. If they get a new coach and defensive coordinator, then Mahomes might be valuable again.
- Contender Targets: Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Bo Nix, Drake Maye, Justin Fields, Anthony Richardson, Kyler Murray, Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels (RIP your arm and leg), Justin Herbert
- Rebuilder Targets: Bo Nix, Drake Maye, Anthony Richardson, Cam Ward, Caleb Williams, Justin Herbert, Justin Fields, Jalen Milroe (top 100 real life NFL draft capital or better only)
6 Point TDs: The extra two points per TD truly does make a difference. 20 touchdowns in 4 point is 80 points. In 6 Point, it’s 120 points, a full 33.3% increase (though like Scott Steiner, I got a 141 and 2/3% chance of winning at Sacrifice). And the more touchdowns thrown, the bigger that percentage gets. Pocket QBs actually matter in 6 Point passing TD leagues, though Konami Code QBs still get there just as often, though they don’t separate from the field quite as much.
League Size Caveats
The more managers there are in your league, the less able you generally are to acquire premium assets. With that knowledge, whenever you get the opportunity to draft an asset that is more likely to hold or ascend in value, do it. Getting a good roster is hard once you go past 14 team leagues. 32 team leagues is basically impossible without trades and draft luck (which is why some people see it as the ultimate challenge). Your second round pick in a 32 team league is equivalent to a 5th round pick in a 12 team league, not even accounting for QB scarcity.
Get Your Assets in Gear
With this in mind, it’s also important to address one more aspect of startups that is twofold: trading and rookie picks.
Trading up in a startup has potential to go catastrophically wrong, so it is important to pick your spots. The only time you should ever consider trading up in a startup draft is if you are planning to compete, and if you are trading up for a player who is a true difference maker at a position of value. The only position worth trading up for is an elite QB in Superflex, an elite young Tight End in TEP or Tiered Scoring, and a top tier WR in all other scoring formats. Otherwise, whether you are rebuilding or contending, if someone offers you a (this is the important part) FAIR trade down opportunity, you should accept it.
The second aspect is rookie picks. Hopefully, you are able to either draft rookies or rookie pick selections as part of your startup draft. But even if you aren’t, your goal should be to acquire as many rookie picks as possible, regardless of your team build.
This may sound counterintuitive to contenders, but it’s actually the best way to contend. Especially if you’re drafting rookie picks themselves and can have as many as you are able to take before you run out of rounds. Rookies (and second year players closely behind) are the assets in dynasty that will increase in value the most, and are also the most insulated from losing immediate value, especially at the QB and WR position.
Stay on Target
Think about a Keeper league. Who are the players you usually keep in keeper leagues? Usually a rookie you drafted in the 12th that’s now worth a 2nd round selection in redraft, or a young player who broke out because they or their situation improved over their first off-season. These are also the assets you should be accumulating in dynasty.
It’s hard to imagine leaving a draft with holes at a position group and still consider yourself a contender. But the reality of dynasty is that managers are reactionary, and most players want to rebuild because the idea of it is more “fun.”
Who’s Starting at RB?
It’s not difficult to go into a season, and after Week 1, identify veteran RB’s and TE’s whose jobs are secured and production is on track to be helpful, and trade young end of bench receivers and third round rookie picks for those veterans from a team that took that vet in the sixth round of the startup because they “were falling too far.” Now, your team has two players that are a sixth round value in startups on your roster, and all it took was a player or rookie pick combo that were nearing the 15th+ round of startup ADP.
And as a rebuilder, imagine if on your 20 man roster, you have 11 rookie WR’s. Imagine that six of them hit this year, and are now top 36 WR’s in dynasty, as most early breakout receivers get to going into their second season.
They are far more valuable than they were, and all you had to give up to draft them were the types of players who wouldn’t be helpful on a rebuilding team anyways, because they’d be tradeable for assets like the ones mentioned in the paragraph above. When rebuilding, every asset you have should have the potential to increase in value, and you should be hoarding as many of them as you can until you have enough to compete on any given week in your league.
Stop Doing Dynasty Startups Wrong
No more drafting split backfields, no more drafting the QB 23 because you “need” to start another QB in a Superflex. No more drafting 32 year old wide receivers on new teams with new QB’s in the 12th round in hopes they suddenly become elite again (cough Stefon Diggs cough). And no more drafting Dallas Goedert because, “well I have to start someone usable at Tight End.” Draft with purpose, and draft from a pure value accrual point of view. You don’t need a starting roster in April. And you don’t need a starting RB at all if your plan is to finish last.
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