Due to the recent passing of the NFL trade deadline, and the fact that the deadline for most fantasy leagues is quickly approaching, I thought I'd share some thoughts on how to negotiate and analyze trades.
If you apply these skills, you'll make better deals for your fantasy team, and you might save a few bucks at the car dealership, too.
Information is power:
When you walk onto a new-car lot, don't you want to know how much the dealer paid for the car? Salespeople will often try to trap customers into talking about monthly payments.
You'll hear the question "How much can you afford to pay a month?" Never answer this question. It's irrelevant to the price of the car. Why negotiate down from the maximum that you could possibly spend, when you can negotiate up from the minimum that they would take for the car?
Therefore, I cannot express the importance of talking fantasy football with the other players in your league enough. This is how you find out their "dealer invoice" on fantasy players.
Each individual owner has their own method for valuing players. It's important that you know what the other owners think of their players and yours, and the fastest way to find this out is by talking to them.
Talk to them on Monday mornings. We are emotional about our fantasy football teams, and no matter the result, do you know any emotional people who don't like to talk? Ask the question "So how do you like your team these days?"
Owners will tell you their problems. Then it's up to you to devise a trade that solves their problems for them. The best listener, not the best talker, almost always wins negotiations.
Have A Plan:
It's important to develop a system for judging what impact any trade is going to make on your team. The question you are trying to answer is: “How many more points am I likely to score per week if I make this move?”
The first thing I consider is the impact on my starting lineup. What weapons am I going to choose to deploy if I have this new roster?
Look at some projections, but be careful to apply common sense. The computer models don't always take the latest news into account.
Know Your Needs:
Because your lineup points are the only ones you get to keep, my favorite trade to make is trading away depth at one position for a significant upgrade in talent at another.
For instance, on my team I have Plaxico Burress, Brandon Stokely, Marques Colston and Anquan Boldin…far too much talent for a league that starts only two wide receivers.
The Wildcat offense in Miami is giving Ronnie Brown 15 touches per game at quarterback. Plus all the hand-offs he'll likely get. Because his touches are being built into the game plan, he's going to score consistently more points than most other running backs. He could even have five touchdown passes this year. Why not trade two wide receivers I don't need for a running back stud?
My overall roster score will go down, but my starting line-up score will go up.
Conclusions:
If you know what other owners think of their players and yours, you’ll find expected value in more of your transactions. Visualizing the impact on your future line-up will also help your decision making process. After all, if you don’t know what you want, you’ll never learn how to get it.
Happy Trading!
Edited By Matt Gilmartin
Image license can be found here
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