Beginner's Guide to Fantasy Football, Part 9 - Footballguys

Photo: Peter van den Berg, USA Today Sports

In the last section, we took a look at how to properly analyze your fantasy roster following a draft to determine the strengths and weaknesses of your roster. We also touched on using the Draft Dominator to break down the strengths and weaknesses of the other squads as well. This section will take a look at the two ways you can improve your roster before and during your fantasy season. Part A will break down trading in fantasy football, how to target potential trading partners and how to ultimately close the deal. Part B will touch on the free agent market and how to target potential breakout players available via the waiver wire.

THE ART OF THE DEAL

Step 1: Evaluate your team weaknesses

No matter how strong of an owner you are when it comes the fantasy draft and waiver wire pickups, there are always improvements to be made to your roster. Take a good look at your squad and determine what needs to be added to reach the top and stay there. Perhaps one more starting receiver or a better quarterback will put you over the top. Discover exactly what you need to improve. We will use the example from the prior section here.

Example roster from the previous section:

Step 2: Breaking Down Your Opponents' Rosters

Your league starts 1 quarterback, 2 running backs, 3 wide receivers, and 1 tight end. You have a solid quarterback duo, tremendous wide receiver strength, a couple of hopeful RB2, and solid starters with no depth at tight end, kicker and defense. Furthermore, you have a potential problem at receiver with three off on bye during week five. An obvious move for this owner is to move one of his big-name receivers with a week-nine bye in order to strengthen his running back spot.

There are not many foolish owners anymore in fantasy football with all the information that is available to help the casual owner. Therefore it is crucial to find an owner desperate to add talent to a particular position on his team. Find an owner that is weak in a position in which you have a wealth of talent and you are well on your way to completing a deal. Just remember that the only deals that will be made in this day and age are the ones that help to strengthen both squads going forward. Don't try to cheat your fellow owner and fleece him in the deal, but rather go for fair value.

Potential trading partner: One owner has good running back strength in David Johnson, LeSean McCoy, and Joe Mixon, good quarterback strength in Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan, and a solid tight end in Delanie Walker. This owner, however, has very poor receiver talent in Alshon Jeffery, Jarvis Landry, Cameron Meredith, Allen Hurns, and Curtis Samuel. Let's say for the sake of this study that to make things worse, Jeffery is injured and out for the year. This team has lost two games in a row and having three strong running backs doesn't help him when his receiver corps is in shambles. At this point, he will likely be more than willing to trade a running back for a strong receiver.

Step 3: Approach the Owner

You have identified the owner who will be the most likely to deal with you. Great. Now what? This is the most important part of the trade. You need to approach this owner and propose a deal to him. It has to be good enough to grab his attention but not so strong that you ultimately hurt your own chances to win the league. You are going to have to offer strength to get strength back so you need to decide which player you ultimately want to offer up via the trade route.

Make the deal look as fair as you can to begin with, or it may kill any trade talks between the teams. Also, make sure to stress the fact that it doesn't do him any good to have two of his running backs sitting on his bench. In addition, you are aware of your deficiency at receiver and how unlikely it is he will make a run to the title without improved receiver play. A great strategy is to drop a name player on him that is a known commodity but not likely to start on your roster.

"Hello Owner X, this is Chris of the Footballguys. I was looking at your roster and noticed that you are in big trouble at the receiver position. I happen to have an overabundance of talent at that spot and perhaps we can reach a trade that can help both of us get to the playoffs.

I will give you Allen Robinson and Duke Johnson in return for LeSean McCoy and Allen Hurns. This is a trade that immediately makes both of our rosters stronger going forward. You can still start a great duo at running back in Johnson and Mixon, and adding Robinson to the mix will give you a legitimate WR1 that your roster solely needs while I get a starter that could make my running back starters more explosive going forward. Let me know what you think."

This will not be an easy trade offer for the owner to accept. McCoy is a top fantasy weapon. He could possibly counter with an Adam Thielen or even a Keenan Allen substitute for Robinson, but being desperate, he may indeed agree on the original trade offer. It all depends on the owner and their tendencies. If he does counter with an offer like the one suggested, it can be accepted, improving the talent at running back, or an owner can play hardball and stand firm, hoping the desperate owner will buckle.

FINAL STEPS

What you write to the fantasy owner should not completely mirror your own thoughts. This owner is desperate and he knows he must upgrade his receiving core. The reality is getting a great running back such as McCoy for a receiver would be a major coupe and he knows that as well as you do. He must, however, upgrade his receiving core to have a chance at playoffs so there is a very strong possibility that a trade gets done here.

Changes to Starting Lineup After Trade

Looking at the starting lineup before and after the trade, it is clear to see how wheeling and dealing can help your fantasy team reach the ultimate goal - your league championship. Many times it takes determination to make a trade like this happen. The end result, however, is so fantastic that it is well worth the frequent emails, phone calls or banter back and forth when trying to wrap the deal up. The key is to always make the deal look as great as you can to the other owner while getting exactly what you want on this end. The Art of a Deal can be the difference maker from being an also-ran to the kingpin of your league. Give it a go!

PRESEASON FREE AGENCY

Free agency will be discussed in greater detail in Section X. However, in the preseason, it should be approached a little differently. When trying to fill a preseason gap, there are a couple of things that you need to focus on.

Teams with training camp battles should be your main focus. If the rookie has a chance to beat out the veteran starter by the end of camp, you need to keep an eye on the situation to see if someone emerges as the clear favorite. Grab them before they are named the starter. This way you stay ahead of the pack. Focus on your area of need, but don't be afraid to increase an area of strength as well. If you can add another quality player to your squad, you can leverage this depth in the future to trade with a weaker team.

If a team loses a starter to injury, even a short-term one, you need to be ready to pounce. Grabbing a short-term backup can help you trade with the team that holds the starter, or give you a quality starter for a good part of your season. Taking advantage of a player's injury may seem like a dark approach to the game, but injuries happen all the time in the NFL. It is something that every team owner needs to deal with throughout the season.

Above all else, remember why you drafted these guys in the first place. If you really think a particular player is going to be someone special, don't cut or trade them unless you really have to. A lot of things can happen during the early part of the season, and it may be better for you to ride the bumps and see what happens in the long run.