If you ask the opinion of a lot of people involved in fantasy football, they’ll tell you the dynasty league format is the best. While everyone is different, people who love this format feel like it ups fantasy football and makes it both more realistic and more challenging.

A dynasty league plays like a re-draft or keeper league, which are standard. The big difference is that you keep your players on your roster from year-to-year. When you have an expanded roster, you can keep your young and developing talent, but it’s not going to have a negative effect on your starting lineups.

If your favorite part of fantasy is drafting, you get the chance to draft rookies every spring, so you don’t have to give it up.

The following are things to know about dynasty leagues and why some do think they’re the best way to play fantasy football.

How Dynasty Leagues Work

When most people play fantasy football, they’re using the redraft format. That means that their teams are single-season, and they draft right before the start of the actual NFL season. Then at the end of the season, your team is dismantled. This is a good introduction to fantasy if you’re new to the game, but over time as you learn more, it can become less challenging.

A dynasty league doesn’t reset every season, unlike a redraft league. In a dynasty league, you have ownership of players spanning over multiple years with larger roster sizes. Some rosters have more than 30 players per team.

That means in order to be successful, you have to have an intimate understanding of the NFL depth charts, and you always have to be on the lookout for sleepers.

Since waivers have fewer options with an instant benefit, trading is very important. This means more owner interaction.

Winning and losing trades also have long-term impacts, so there are more rivalries among the teams.

In a keeper league, you are limited in the number of players you can carry from season to season. The limit is usually three or four players.

There’s not any compensation in dynasty to keep players, and some leagues require you to give up the equivalent round in the next redraft to keep a player. In dynasty, rosters are kept throughout the season, but still, there are similarities between keeper and dynasty leagues.

Setting Up a Dynasty League

Many of the things you need to initially do to set up a dynasty league are similar to setting up a redraft league.

You find a group of people who are excited to compete against you and trade with you. You set rules, including roster size and scoring format.

Then, one of the best parts of setting up a dynasty league for a lot of players is the startup draft.

If you opt to start a dynasty league, you have to keep in mind that if someone leaves, it gets a lot trickier than someone leaving a redraft league. You have to find someone to replace them who will inherit their league.

The Offseason

Along with a more challenging experience that a lot of fantasy players prefer, one reason that some people say a dynasty league is best is because of the action in the offseason.

In a redraft, when the NFL season comes to an end, a fantasy title is given, and then you’re not involved with your league mates again until June.

That is not the case with dynasty leagues. With dynasty leagues, you’re involved year-round. You have a lot to do during the offseason, so you’re always immersed, if that’s what you prefer.

The startup draft only takes place at the start of a dynasty league, which is usually in the first few months after the NFL season. This keeps rookies out, and it’s the basis for new leagues.

The rookie draft happens every year for the new class of players, and the order is often determined as it is in the NFL, based on the previous order of finish from the last season.

A lot of leagues will do this after the NFL draft, but there are challenges that come with choosing rookies before you know their NFL landing spot and draft round.

At the end of each dynasty season, a waiver will close, but there are still players who might be valuable as the offseason begins. In some dynasty leagues, there’s the inclusion of free agents in the rookie draft, and other leagues will have a separate draft to add them.

Another reason some say dynasty is best?

The offseason trading is a big one.

There’s a lot of activity all year, with much of that culminating in trading. Most leagues will leave trading open throughout the year.

Other Reasons Why Some Feel Dynasty Is Best

Along with what’s above, other reasons that dynasty is becoming an increasingly popular option among fantasy players include:

• You get to play general manager. You aren’t just creating a roster. You’re replicating the duties of real general managers. You’re assessing the value of players, drafting them, making cuts to your roster, and negotiating trades. Fantasy football managers get to do all the fun things and simulate the job.
• We briefly mentioned this above, but dynasty is simply more challenging. Since you’re keeping your roster from year to year, each decision becomes more significant. The value of a player isn’t limited to how he helps you score points in the coming weeks or even months. Instead, it’s years that become relevant.
• You need more skill to play dynasty. As a dynasty manager, you have to pay attention to situations as they develop, and you need deep knowledge of depth charts and the players.

Finally, if you’re in a dynasty league, your trades are more complex. There’s a high level of competitiveness that changes your goals as you make moves. If you’re a top team, you might be on the lookout for developed talent, even if you have to give up draft picks or prospects.