'Tis the season for introspection. How do you view your prospects for the upcoming fantasy season? Do you have a reasonable chance to hoist the championship trophy come January? Or should you position yourself for a run at gold in a future year?

"If you don't know where you are, a map won't help." - Watts Humphrey, Software Engineering Institute Fellow 

You know where you want to go: to the fantasy championship promised land. But what's the best way to get there?

The answer lies in performing an honest roster assessment (identifying where you are) and making a steadfast commitment to a productive course of action (your map to the destination).

"Begin with the end in mind®" - FranklinCovey

Let's start by identifying the key attributes of an ideal roster (our end state):

• Strong starters
• Deep bench strength
• Youth, with numerous productive years ahead
• A robust set of rookie picks

Starter strength translates to expected wins.

Bench strength provides injury insurance. 

Youth indicates multi-year performance sustainability.

Rookie picks give you the means to improve starter strength, increase bench strength, and acquire youthful assets. Think of rookie picks as cash to remodel your fantasy home. Until you spend it, you're living in the same old place.

How does your current roster stack up against these goals? Your evaluation will inform your next steps.

Are you built to contend for a championship?

To find out, use Footballguys' robust set of fantasy football tools to determine your projected record, starter strength (overall and by position), and bench strength (overall and by position).

Monitor these indicators starting in the pre-season, and use them to guide your rookie draft, waiver wire, and trading strategies as the season unfolds.

Projected record is the clearest indicator of your championship chances this season. The higher your projected record ranks, the more you should consider a win-now strategy. Conversely, the lower your projected record ranks, the more you should consider a rebuilding strategy.

You believe you can win it all.

This is the spot you want to be in every year. Ideally, projections have you as a top-four team. A trip to the fantasy playoffs is in the forecast. Your mission is to maximize your chances of bringing home a trophy while minimizing the damage to next year's prospects of victory.

Here are some actions to consider when you are in win-now mode:

• Shore up weak positions - for example, if you are projected to have the 10th-ranked starting wide receiver corps, prioritize acquiring better wide receiver starters via trade or draft.
• Exploit rookie fever - strengthen your bench by acquiring known producers from squads infatuated with draft picks (there's usually one - if not more - in every league), especially when picks are most highly coveted (rookie draft season).
• Reduce injury risk - increase current-season positional depth, especially at the position most susceptible to missed games due to injury: running back. Have viable backups ready to go.
• Make win-win trades with non-contenders - aging, currently productive veterans may be available in exchange for promising youngsters and/or draft picks. However, be mindful of the effect on your overall roster age profile.
• Exploit bye weeks - during the season, reduce the remaining bye weeks of your starters via trades (or waiver wire, if you are fortunate). Make deals to increase upcoming bye weeks of your chief competitors' starters, especially for the weeks you play them.
• Maximize your playoff victory probability - acquire players with favorable playoff match-ups.

Your overall goal as a contender is to increase your projected margin of victory in every remaining game. Place extra emphasis on playoff week strength.

Dominate

While winning one championship may underwrite your league fees for the next several years, why not create a dynasty juggernaut?

Here are some tips for keeping your championship window open longer than one season:

• Avoid having to replace too many players projected to fall off the productivity age cliff at the same time. Create an age assessment matrix (example below), and make roster moves to maintain a balanced age distribution.

• Replace bench assets with younger, similarly productive players.
• Stock up on rookie picks when they are least coveted.
• Reference our Corey Spala's series on age-out seasons for elite assets. You can find his pieces on running backs and tight ends. Quarterbacks and wide receivers will soon be out.

Cautionary notes

Shift happens. Projections and actuals may differ. There are no guarantees. Variation in player performance keeps us humble (at least it should).

Don't over-mortgage the future. Trading away all your early-round draft picks and young assets may put you in a long-term competitive bind. It won't be fun to play for years to come, and that's bad news for your league vibe.

What if the evidence suggests you should rebuild?

The signs:

• Your projected win total is terrible.
• Your starter strength is bottom third in the league.
• Your rostered players are past their positional peak age (i.e., they're getting old).
• Your players have dynasty rankings that are worse than their redraft rankings.

Your first order of business is to understand the reasons why/how you got into this situation. For example, did you let your roster get too old? Did you fail to have sufficient depth at certain positions? Were you victimized by injuries? Did you make horrible trade decisions?

Then devise a strategy to not let history repeat itself. Losing may test your resolve and build character, but an extended period of failure can cause you to lose interest. Learn from your mistakes.

Steps you can take to get on the road back into contention:

• Trade away currently productive players who will age out before your fantasy team is competitive (e.g., older running backs). Get multiple young prospects and/or early picks in return.
• Acquire (from waivers or at a discount from contenders) promising early-career players who are currently injured, behind aging veteran starters, underperforming, or have dynasty rankings much better than their redraft rankings.
• Leverage your draft picks just before and during your league's rookie draft when they are at peak value.
• Anchor your team with a high-end quarterback who still has a long career in front of him.
• Fix running back last, due to the position's short career arc. In the interim, look to acquire backup running backs to flip to contenders when the starter goes down with an injury.

Conclusion

It's more fun to win than lose. Use these tips to remain in the championship window as long as possible. Should the evidence point to a need to rebuild, embrace the challenge and stay the course.