Justin Rosser July 3rd 2021
Is trading back, actually a good strategy? Trading back takes patience, knowledge of your teammate’s “guys”, and willingness to lose on higher ADP players for the depth of your roster. This only works in slow draft formats where you have time to negotiate your trade options.
My favorite time to trade back is when I see some popular players or specific ones I know certain members of the league are eager to draft, these will be the first people I approach for a trade. If I am leaning towards reaching for a guy that I might be able to get later in the round, this is a perfect time to make your move to trade back. Look at the upcoming team’s needs and make a prediction on who they will take (ie: be able to read the draft board), to make sure that your player is still there. I find in so many drafts I want someone, but it would be “reaching” compared to their ADP, this is the perfect time to make a move.
Redraft and Dynasty are very different styles, below I will walk through two examples of drafts I have done this year, where I have traded back up to 8 times, and will briefly break down my thought process and how the deal got done.
Trading back is not for everyone, you can mess up your roster if you do it wrong, the key is to be proactive and try to keep your messages to direct messages(DM’s) instead of the main chat. Keeping it in the DM’s, prevents other GM’s from trying to offer their picks for trade at the same time, starting a “who is giving the better deal” option for the GM’s you are negotiating with for the trade.
Note: In both leagues the teams drafted below are projected for the most points week 1 in their respective leagues.
REDRAFT
This particular strategy works best in larger lineup formats, like 3 WR with 2/3 Flex positions. The key is to get value and increase the volume of your picks early on in the draft. This draft was done by two Marksmen, Dave Carey and myself.
Note: LEFT SIDE WE RECEIVED THE PICK, RIGHT SIDE WE TRADED AWAY.
Format: 1 QB, PPR, non-te premium, 12-Team
Roster: QB, 2RB, 3WR, TE, 3RB/WR/TE
Josh Jacobs was on the board and we wanted to get more picks in the earlier section of the draft. We sold on Jacobs(3.12) and moved to the back end of the next round, also getting another pick 3 positions after, increasing the early round volume of high-tier players.
With the next pick on the turn, Patrick Mahomes was still on the board, so we sold again, acquiring even more draft capital in the early rounds to an eager GM wanting to snap up the great value of the top ranked QB.
We did a very similar trade before moving to the back end of the round getting another pick just 5 spots behind that one.
We loved the talent in this area of the draft so we traded back 5 spots from 5.02 to 5.07, moving up a round and half in the 14th and 2 rounds from 10 into the 8th round. The talent here was good enough that moving back 5 spots was a no brainer in our opinion.
Call us crazy right? With the 5.03, we traded back again 8 spots(5.11) and moved back 9 spots in the 13th rounds and 2 rounds in the meaningless rounds of 20+. The key here for us is we would move up 4 whole rounds from 11.12 to 8.02, which is a monster difference in value.
Another great situation had us moving back 7 spots to move up a round and half in the 18th and a whopping 4 rounds from 14 to 10.
This spot we wanted to get more picks to fill out better guys with great potential or situations that might turn gold.
We gave up a late round dart throw pick to move up 1 spot as we really wanted Logan Thomas as our TE1, which was taken just before us (We traded up once!!!).
We always look ahead and see who we will be looking at if we trade back, and a lot of times we would have “reached” and took those players anyways. Essentially it’s a win/win scenario.
See Below for our final roster as we are the week 1 highest projected total:
DYNASTY
This is my favorite format to trade back in, Dynasty has future rookie draft picks that can leverage a deal or push it past the finish line, but be careful, some people seriously undervalue their future picks, first-rounders are gold, especially in Superflex, so don’t be that person that gives them up lightly.
When trading back in Dynasty, I try to acquire more 1st round rookie picks and use picks in rounds 2-5 as my leverage, which I care much less about than my 1st rounders.
Format: Superflex, PPR, non-te premium, 12-Team
Roster: QB, 2RB, 3WR, TE, RB/WR/TE, 2RB/WR, SF
This trade happened before the draft, I was sitting in the 1.07 spot with some elite RB’s/QB’s choices, but I was very comfortable moving back to the 2.02 and moving up 6 rounds into the 5th round as well as getting a rookie first-round pick. (P.S: I got the guy I was targeting anyways in Dalvin Cook)
This pick happened based on me being a big Rams fan and deciding between Akers and AJ Brown. The GM behind me wanted Akers, that was the way I was leaning, so I contacted him and he decided to pay up to lock in the young potential stud.
I moved up 3 rounds into the elite picks only to move back one spot and still get a guy I wanted… this bolstered my roster.
I was proactive here and actually traded for this pick, giving up 2 rookie second round picks and my 15th rounder.
See my plan unfold with next trade…
I took the pick I just acquired and flipped it for a rookie first and 3rd (much more valuable than 2 2nds) AND I also got an early 10th round pick in this draft when I gave up a 15th of my own just before. Another big win and increase in value for my roster.
Taking the 3rd round rookie pick recently added, plus a third of my own and a late round pick at 20.06 to grab a late 9th round pick sniping Noah Fant as my TE2 with huge upside as I saw a lot of TE needy teams about to pick.
Jumped the curve and the TE run.
A classic trade back a round and move up a substantial amount behind that.
Here I wanted early rookie draft capital, at this point in the draft the players are not nearly as elite and the potential in a 2022 “Javonte Williams/DeVonta Smith” type player, who is worth more to me for future years.
See Below for my final roster as I am the week 1 highest projected total:
Trading back takes time, but definitely has its perks, just be careful and don’t get swindled trying to be a hero, if the right offer isn’t there then just pick your guy.
I hope this helped and if there is any questions direct them to my twitter account @Justinrosser10. Appreciate for coming and checking us out @FantasyMarksmen and be sure to come back soon.
Justin Rosser July 3rd 2021
Fantasy Marksmen 