Redraft Strategy, Trading

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The Re-Draft Roundtables Series

The Footballguys staff looks at various strategies to help you in redraft leagues.

Participating in a redraft league is a process that starts with the draft and hopefully ends with a championship. The Footballguys staff has answered several questions about various strategies to help you achieve your championship dreams. From the beginning to the end and everything in between, we've got you covered to give you the tools and knowledge needed to dominate your redraft league.

Do you often seek trades in your draft or during the season? Walk through your process of how you approach a trade. What do you look for? What tools, if any, do you use to determine a trade's validity?

BEN CUMMINS

I generally trust my drafting and free agency skills and don’t overreact to the beginning of the season, even if I start with a losing streak. However, if things don’t improve, I seek trades during the season. Mainly, I look to improve a certain position and evaluate my leaguemate’s teams to learn who has a surplus at that position. At the same time, I examine which teams could use an upgrade elsewhere and put my trades together in that way.

JASON WOOD

If we simplify the fantasy football player acquisition process into three facets -- drafting, free agency, and trading -- I can confidently say trading is both my least favorite and least effective component. I dislike selling aggressively to others, and I think you have to enjoy reaching out proactively with frequency to be an effective trader. That's just not my style. I do openly discuss and accept trades when others initiate them but always attempt to counter initial offers until it gets to a point that genuinely benefits my team as much, if not more, than the perceived benefits to my trading partner.

Determining value is a bit easier if you have consistently updated projections and ranking, as I do (and any of our subscribers can have by accessing our tools).

CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS

Allowing trades to come to me is a preferred method in redraft leagues. I've found that any overreaction to early-season struggles is traditionally rooted in unusual circumstances, and panic trading is exactly how to further kill chances to make the playoffs. The most important component of trading is making both teams better, though. When someone sends a trade my way, I want to improve at one position and understand that I will be weakening a different position group. Weighing the viability depends on how I feel about the depth of that position group. I typically avoid trade calculators and value charts because each fails to incorporate the human element of attachment to the players. Fantasy managers will often feel more strongly than a calculator or value chart if they've drafted and found success with the player; this makes gauging value difficult, and because of that, knowing your league mates is the best way to complete trades.