Step One:
Finding Team Needs
Don’t trade just for the sake of it or to mix up your
roster. A successful trade in fantasy football must be one that improves your
team in a previous area of weakness. If your team has many areas of weakness
perhaps consider playing fantasy golf next year instead.
Step Two:
Players that Help your Team Needs
Once a need is discovered, such as touchdowns from your
receiving corps, a player must be located who improves upon that weakness. A
key of successful trading is finding a little-known player who is performing
exceptionally well or who you expect will perform above his current status as
the year progresses. If you are in the unfortunate position of having many
areas of weakness on your team and thus exhibit very little fantasy football
acumen, perhaps take someone else’s advice other than your own on finding a
player expected to perform above their means.
Step Three:
A Trade Partner
Finding a trade partner is not as easy as it seems. The key
is to find someone who has an obvious need you can exploit…err, help fill. If
someone is starting a very weak quarterback and you have a backup quarterback
on your bench who serves no purpose to you, this can be deemed a win-win
situation.
If no obvious needs jump out on teams that have players you
desire, take another course of action.
Step Three
(Alternate): Find a Sucker
If finding a compatible trading partner is becoming
cumbersome, find a sucker, i.e. someone who is near the bottom of the
standings, has made very questionable roster decisions in the past and a person
who the rest of the league talks about behind their back as sucking or being a
sucker.
If you are not privy to these conversations or are not aware
that they exist, and your team has many notable weaknesses, paraphrasing what
Matt Damon once famously paraphrased, you are probably the sucker. Perhaps
consider taking up fantasy horse racing next season.
Step Four:
Gaining Acceptance
Just offering a “fair” trade is not always enough. Sometimes
a fellow owner must be coaxed or convinced into dealing. Even if a trade seems
even, some players are hesitant to deal away someone they were relying on or
drafted from the beginning. It becomes necessary to explain what they will gain
from this trade and how they can afford to give up whatever you desire.
Aftermath
Fantasy football is such a luck-based activity that not all
trades, even the most well thought out, will work in your favor. Sometimes
drafting the best player in fantasy over the past three seasons at a fair price
to start the year turns into your roster relying on Chris Johnson in 2011 and
you not being able to/not wanting to bench him.
In much the same way, trades can go awry. It is important to
boast and brag about this never being the case however. Even if a trade seems
to be teeter tottering against you, always talk up how you hustled the other
owner and how you are in great shape heading towards the fantasy playoffs.
Even though no one can be “psyched out” in fantasy sports
since no defense is played against a matched up opponent, it is important to
display confidence and bravado in the face of your league mates. Otherwise,
come next season, a number of trade offers will find their way towards you
because, despite your best efforts, everyone seems to think you are some sort
of sucker.
