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Dynasty startup questions on Sleeper platform

#1

Hello!

I am looking to start a dynasty league on Sleeper and I had some questions about the settings. Apologies to those that are looking to join a league, we’re not quite at that stage yet! I just wanted to pick the brains of the people that have done dynasty leagues before, and those that have leagues on Sleeper particularly as that’s where I plan to host this new one. Anyways, here’s what I have so far for the league’s settings.

Scoring and Rosters

12 teams, .25 per first down, .25 ppr, 4pt pass TD, 2 pt INT. All other scoring standard.

2 QB

2 RB

2 WR

1 TE

2 Flex

14 Bench

3 Taxi (max 2 years)

2 IR (suspended players eligible)

Will a 2 QB dynasty league with 12 teams mean there aren’t enough QBs to go around? Would it be wiser to go 10 team because of this? Is a 14 man bench about average for a league like this?

Rookies and Taxi Squads

This is an area I have little knowledge about. I plan to have the league’s initial draft be vets only, and then closer to the start of the season have our first rookie draft. The rookie draft would be 3 rounds long, each team can have 3 players on their taxi squad, and the max NFL experience a player can have on the taxi squad is 2 years.

Does this make sense, 3 rounds of rookie draft for 3 taxi squad spots? If I set the league to allow non-rookies on the taxi squads but still require <2 years experience that would mean someone could move an active player back down to their taxi squad if they’re only in their 2nd year in the league correct? Would this be a good option for owners to have or not? I also currently have the taxi squad deadline to be the start of the regular season. With the possibility that people get hurt in any preseason games, I don’t feel like it makes sense to push up the deadline for no reason. Is this the usual setting?

Waivers and Trading

We’ll be going with 100 FAAB to spend throughout the year

Waiver Settings

Are these the correct settings if I want the first bids of each week to go through Wednesday morning at 8AM PST? What settings do you find best for the waiver wire in a dynasty league? Does your dynasty have a trade deadline, why or why not? If so, what week is it? I assume that as soon as the fantasy season ends in a dynasty league that trades are back on the menu but is that how Sleeper works?

Playoffs and Schedule

With 12 teams, I am kind of stumped on the schedule. With 12 teams and the regular season lasting til week 13, each team plays three teams twice and all other teams once. I don’t know if I like any of the other options better however. My main league is split into two divisions because the owners come from 2 different cities so our rivalries with our division-mates are tenser. In this new league however I don’t really see the point of divisions outside of it making more sense scheduling-wise. And hey maybe rivalries do form if we were to make 2 divisions, but even then there still isn’t a good setup for 12 team, 2 division leagues. What are my options if we instead parse it down to 10 teams instead? Help?

Drafts

As stated earlier I believe I want to have the league first draft vets only, and then have a rookie draft near the end of the summer. What time makes sense for the startup draft? Does it really matter considering we’re only drafting vets? For rookies, when is your dynasty league’s annual rookie draft? Is 3 rounds enough or should it be more like 4-5? That would mean the taxi squad would probably have to increase in size as well no?

Other Questions

Does your league have a constitution? What’s in it that you feel is important? What do you wish was in it that is missing in your league?

What’s the best way to keep track of traded draft picks, etc.? I have that setting enabled on Sleeper, and am not sure if there’s anything else I need to know. How exactly does it work on Sleeper, trading picks for players or just picks for picks?

I am sure that I will have more questions but that’s all that is on my mind at the moment. Huge thanks for anyone that read through all of that and can offer up any advice for me going forwards.

Cheers!

#2

Love how thorough your post is!!

With a 2 QB dynasty league with 12 teams mean there aren’t enough QBs to go around? Would it be wiser to go 10 team because of this? Is a 14 man bench about average for a league like this?

I would suggest a SuperFlex position as opposed to a second QB. It essentially removes the question. If a manager needs to start a WR or RB on one week where they have a QB bye or QB injury Apocalypse - this allows for that. If your intention is keep the league 2QB, than yes. I would limit to 10 teams.

14 player bench is fine. Typically you want 1.5 to 2 times the starting lineup. You’re starting 9 players so a 14 player bench works. However, I would suggest starting a third flex if you limit to 10 teams. If you do, I would increase bench to 15.

Rookies and Taxi Squads

So I have some strong and possibly unique thoughts on this topic. Please take what I mention below as info only. Each commish and league can build a league as they please.

I would say that the size of the Taxi squad and the number of rounds in your rookie draft are independent values. To expand on this, you mentioned keeping players up to 2 years. So in year 2 of your draft - you draft 3 more rookies - what is your intention? To place the new rookies on the squad or mix new and old rookies?

The first question I would ask is why do you need a taxi squad? The initial purpose of this feature was for devy leagues where you could draft college and even high-school players. Those player sit on your Taxi squad because they are unable to be started on a weekly basis. This is truly the only thing a Taxi squad does… prevents you from starting the players on it. I would challenge (analyticalally not to a fight) you or anyone who is building a league to decide whether they need a taxi squad or just roster space for appropriate amount of rookies per team.

Finally, creating a taxi squad means that those roster spots can only be used for rookies (typically). This means If I decide to build a vet team - trade away all my rookie picks - I’m potentially at a disadvantage. I say build a league with a sufficient roster space and let managers play and build and win the way they want.

Waivers and Trading

If you’re planning to do an annual budget, I would recommend $200. It changes literally nothing except for the granularity of bids.

My preference is to run waivers Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. Something to look forward to every day and doesn’t penalize those who can’t make claims when news breaks.

My preference is also to only restrict trading throughout the playoffs, weeks 14-16. Up to an after is ‘Game on!’

Playoffs and Schedule

I agree that divisions help dictate the schedule and create rivalries. Both are very important parts of a successful league.

In a 12 team league with 2 div (6 teams per) my preferred schedule would be:

  • play each other team in div twice = 10 games
  • play 3 random games against other div opponents = 3 game
  • total = 13 reg season

In a 10 team league with 2 div (5 teams per) my preferred schedule would be:

  • play each other team in div twice = 8 games
  • play each other div opponents = 5 game
  • total = 13 reg season

Drafts

Typically do rookie draft in mid may, couple weeks after NFL rookie draft which occurs at the end of April. I like 4 rounds.

I’m OK with doing the vet draft anytime. This question was brought up in another topic and you can see my thoughts there.
https://community.thefantasyfootballers.com/t/optimal-time-for-dynasty-start-up-draft/107008

Other Questions

A league constitution (or bylaws or rules doc) is a MUST. I won’t join a league without it.

I would suggest looking at other established leagues to see and steal what they are doing. Give it your own touch if want.
Some suggestions:

The more thorough the better. However, it does not need to be 20 pages.

The best way to keep track of trades and draft picks (this is my opinion) is to use MFL. It does it all for you. I can expand if needed. If you are using anything but - I would suggest you create or locate a document to track all necessary info.

Using Sleeper you can trade picks for players. I have not used Sleeper for dynasty so I can’t speak further to any details.

#3

good post! I can tell you are one of the better commishes, Im in a 12 team 1qb 2superflex league and there is no qbs other then backups and the high end backups are still taken, It makes the draft interesting since the 3rd threw 5th rounds its just qb after qb, I like it because it makes them super valuable. I think what you want can be done

#4

Thanks for all the thoughts! Do you suggest the startup draft be all players, or split it up into two separate ones?

#5

I’m good either way. However, I would not draft “picks” in the the vet draft. As in “with my 3.01 pick I choose the 2019 Rookie 1.01” But that’s just a preference.

If you’re doing a snake draft -my preference is vet now and then rookie later. Rookie should be inverse order of vet draft.

Once you have all managers. I would decide vet draft order randomly (there are some websites that can do this for you) or have a competition. Some people have had managers fill out a March madness bracket to decide order. Your competition could also determine who gets to pick their spot in the vet draft. “I choose the Vet draft spot 3 (1.03, 2.10, etc in a 12 team)” and that person would get the 1.10, 2.03, etc rookie picks.

After all picks are assigned. Allow for a window of trades. Just pick tradings. This was a huge deal in one of my leagues and I think set the table for a very active league. Trades started slow and then went fast an furious. Once players were drafted - trading has never been an issue in this league!

#6

If we split the startup draft into a Vet only and then Rookie only, there’s no way to do that within the one League on sleeper correct? We’d have to make a separate draft for one of the two and then I manually input those players onto people’s rosters?

#7

I’m told you can do that on Sleeper. I don’t know that it is in fact possible. Would rely on members from the FootClan to confirm??