Join the Footballguys Daily Update
Start your morning with our roundup of the most important stories in football - with the fantasy insight you need to make league-winning decisions. Delivered straight to your inbox, 100% free.
There are lots of articles out there when it comes to fantasy football, even when it comes to multi-year (Dynasty and Keeper) leagues – but I have found that there are not too many which discuss overall strategy. Sure, there are plenty of Top 10, Top 20, Top 50 or longer lists of players at each position, discussions of rookies, sleepers, deep sleepers – but where are the articles about how to build that franchise? Every fantasy team owner has to have a strategy in how to build their team, and the best owners are ones that have a philosophy and stick to it, no matter what. You would be surprised just how valuable that one piece of advice can be when the clock is ticking on draft day or that trade offer comes in your mailbox. Every move you make with your team matters, and if it does not match your strategy, it can set your entire team back for one or more years.
So how do you develop your strategy? I am glad you asked. First we have to ask a big picture question of the goal of your fantasy team, and then describe it in just the right way.
LET’S BE SMART
For those of you who have ever heard the phrase “Work smarter, not harder”, this is sort of what we are going to work towards. Every fantasy team owner who has a franchise in a multi-year league has to have a general philosophy when it comes to building his (or her) team. Now, I am not going to ask you to go on a corporate retreat with a business consultant to work on your mission and vision statements (we are looking for some fun here with this hobby, not work), but it is important to think for a few minutes what your overall goals are. I understand your general goals of winning, making the playoffs and winning championships, but you have to figure out what will get you there.
Some strategies are not strategies at all, but they may seem like it at first glance. Let me try to explain what I mean here with an example. “I want to build a contending team that gets to the playoffs and wins championships, year over year, and have my team considered to be a true Dynasty franchise.” That sounds good, but that is not a strategy. That’s more of a wish than a strategy. If I replace “I want to” with “I hope to” in the same sentence, you can see how this is more of a pie in the sky statement.
So what makes for a good strategy? Let’s go back to the word “SMART”. I have seen this broken down into five different items that tend to make a lot of sense, and it helps in building your philosophy. SMART stands for Specific, Measureable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-dependent. That’s the kind of strategy we want. We want to have a strategy that we can look at when I trade offer comes in and read to ourselves that acts like an assistant manager when it is crunch time. If you have a strategy that is all five of those “SMART” items, it can really help you along the way to building the type of franchise you really want.
ARE YOU SURE THAT'S SMART?
So what’s an example of a “SMART” strategy in building a Dynasty or Keeper team? Let’s give an example to show the difference between the first and second statement.
First strategy (not SMART): “I want to build a contending team that gets to the playoffs and wins championships, year over year, and is considered a true Dynasty team.”
Second strategy (much more SMART): “I want to have a team built to contend for a league championship by 2015. That team will have a Top 5 quarterback, Top 5 tight end, Top 10 running back and two Top 20 wide receivers on the roster according to Footballguys’ consensus Dynasty rankings.”
If you use the five tests of a SMART philosophy, you can see the differences between the two statements immediately.
Starting with the first strategy, we can see how it is not very “SMART”:
First strategy (not SMART): “I want to build a contending team that gets to the playoffs and wins championships, year over year, and have my team considered to be a true Dynasty franchise.”
Let’s break down this statement according to the five metrics we have for being SMART:
Specific – The strategy has no specifics. What is a true Dynasty franchise? When will you get to the playoffs or win a championship? How many of each?
Measurable – The strategy lacks specifics and any criteria, so it is impossible to measure progress.
Actionable – With the strategy lacking specifics and any way to measure it, there’s no clear path of action. You would be running around in circles aimlessly with every trade, draft pick, cut or add of a player and never know if you were any closer to the goal.
Realistic – It is pretty easy to see that you cannot tell if it is a realistic strategy or not.
Time-sensitive – The strategy lacks any sense of time in the statement. When will the playoff visits and championships happen?
Now let’s look at the second statement and break it down according to the five metrics we have for being SMART:
Second strategy (much more SMART): “I want to have a team built to contend for a league championship by 2015. That team will have a Top 5 quarterback, Top 5 tight end, Top 10 running back and two Top 20 wide receivers on the roster according to Footballguys’ consensus Dynasty rankings.”
Specific – The strategy has five players defined as goals to acquire – a Top 5 quarterback, a Top 5 tight end, a Top 10 running back and two Top 20 wide receivers.
Measurable – The strategy defines how the players will be judged (The consensus Dynasty rankings at Footballguys).
Actionable – This one is a little harder to see, but given the specifics stated above, actions can be taken. First, the team owner can assess if he has any of those five players already. If not, he knows who to look to trade for based on the measureable Top 5-20 lists.
Realistic – This one can also be harder to judge, and that’s where you may need a second opinion. If the team is only one or two players short of having all five of the players specified, then it could very well be realistic. The goal for a league championship by 2015 may not be a realistic one if the team is missing talent and assets to trade.
Time-sensitive – The strategy has a timeline (by 2015) right in the statement. That helps to put time pressure on the goals and to see when you should be accomplishing the task of getting all five of those players.
So, the strategy as stated above has all five components of being SMART, but it is up to the team owner to decide if it is realistic or not. Just like it is not likely for Jacksonville’s General Manager to put out the goal of a Super Bowl in February 2015, it should not be the goal for a rebuilding team that has limited assets with which to build the franchise.
AN INTELLIGENT SECOND OPINION
After reviewing the two strategy statements, it becomes pretty clear which one is "SMART" and which one is more of a pipe dream. Once you have the strategy statement (which could be considered your team's Vision or Mission statement, for all my business guys out there), you can refer back to this over and over to see if you the move you are about to make fits with the original vision you had for your franchise. That’s really important and can help you if you are on the fence with a trade offer or an add/drop consideration. Sometimes when the clock is ticking and you are not sure what to do, referring back to your original thoughts and goals about your fantasy team can be a major aid when it comes to making critical decisions.
I have seen teams go back and forth, round and round and change gears several times over the years, trying to re-invent themselves and build a contender. Quite often, that means that the owner has decided to make a change because the first strategy was not working, so now they are going to do something different. I cannot tell if they have thought the strategy out or not, but I can tell you that if a team has an overall strategy and sticks to it, they have a much greater shot at success. If your strategy is to get 4-6 Top 50 players and use 1/3 of your roster for prospects, using the rest of the roster to round out starting lineups on a weekly basis, then that is great. Now you know what to do whenever you look at your roster or a trade offer. If the move does not match the team goal, then you pass. If it does, then you can accept and know that you are closer to your vision of a Dynasty franchise.
As always, questions, suggestions and comments are always welcome to pasquino@footballguys.com.