Fantasy Football Trade Tips By
Brandon Anderson
8/23/07
A Sports Outlaw Exclusive [Part 1] [Part2]
[Part 3] Have you ever been in a league with “that guy”? You know,
the one who makes like 20 trades in a season and somehow ends up with
LaDainian Tomlinson and Larry Johnson by the end of the season not to
mention his WR trio of Torry Holt, Anquan Boldin, and Marques Colston? Yeah,
that guy is me in my leagues. Ok so maybe my lineups don’t always look like
that, but I am always the resident Trade Guy in every league. It’s not the
easiest title to hold over a span of ten years, but I’ve fought hard to earn
it and hold onto it proudly. But this isn’t about me – it’s about you. How do you
become the Trade Guy in your league? How do you end up with those
crazy stacked unbeatable lineups by the end of the season, the envy of your
entire league? Have you ever wanted to be the Trade Guy? Then listen up.
Class is in session. Follow along for 25 easy tips that will have you well
on your way… 1. Be aggressive.
You can’t be the Trade Guy by sitting on your butt and waiting for the great
deals to fall into your lap. Sure every now and then you might get a whopper
of an offer to just come to you without any effort at all, but more often
than not, you’re going to need to get out there and get those deals on your
own. What kind of aggression am I talking about? I usually make at least one
offer to pretty much every owner in my league every single week. It sounds
like a lot, but it only really takes about 10-15 minutes per league per
week. If you are serious about being the Trade Guy, you’ll need to make
time. Situations change week by week, day by day, sometimes even minute by
minute. You need to get out there and keep testing the trade waters. So get
started! 2. Be persistent.
Trade Guy doesn’t give up when he sees something he wants. He pursues it
night and day, e-mail after e-mail, call after call, until the choice prize
is his. You’re not going to get too many trades after one offer, and you’re
certainly not going to get that blockbuster superstar after just one look.
If you want to become the king of trades in your league, you have to start
early, pick out the players you want to go after, and don’t give up until
they are your own. How persistent do I mean? In a dynasty league of mine
hosted here at Sports Outlaw, I wanted Antonio Gates. No, “wanted” is too
light of a term. I coveted Antonio Gates. I craved Antonio Gates. I had to
have him. My team was really good but not as good as it could have been with
Gates. One problem – the Gates owner was just as in love with him as I was.
But I started making offers, and I bet you I made an offer or two a day for
about a month straight, and darn it I finally got Mr. Gates after about four
weeks and 75 or 100 messages. And that is being persistent to get
what you want. 3. Be creative.
Trade ideas are not always easy to come up with. That’s why you need to work
hard at coming up with creative ideas that can make a trade work. It’s
probably easy for you to look at your buddy’s roster and pick out the one
guy you want. But you might not be able to just make an easy one-for-one
swap. You might not even be able to give a two-for-one and make it work. But
maybe you can go three-for-two by adding in another player on his team that
you didn’t think you wanted at first but can find some use for. Maybe you
can add in a draft pick to make it work. Maybe you can take on that extra
player from him and swing him to a third owner for another player who helps
recoup the loss from the first trade. You see what I mean? There are a lot
of owners and a lot more players out there. Be creative. Find something that
works. 4. Be businesslike but congenial.
There’s a careful balance between being too hardnosed and too friendly.
Look, this is fantasy football, it’s not a business you are running on the
side. Yeah you should take it seriously from time to time if you want to
win, but it’s still a game after all. It’s nice to be businesslike by sizing
up your league mate and making a straight up offer, the good old honest and
true approach. But be friendly about it too. Have some fun. If you can make
trading fun and friendly, you develop trade partners who will come back for
more throughout the season. If you’re too rigid, you’re going to turn off
your league mates from wanting to deal with you. But if you’re too friendly
and nice, they’ll think they can walk all over you. Find a happy medium. 5. Know your league mates.
This might honestly be the first and most important rule of them all. Every
fantasy football owner would like to think that he is the unbiased one, an
NFL fan to be sure but someone who takes fantasy football seriously and puts
aside team bias for the big picture. I tell you what though, I’ve played
fantasy sports for over a decade, and I’ve yet to see it. Everyone has some
bias – it’s just up to you to find it. Every owner is a homer of some team,
and maybe it’s a small bias but it’s there nonetheless. Most people have
another team or two that they’ve come to really like for fantasy football
purposes. Some owners are all about building teams stocked with steady
veterans while others would rather shoot for the moon with all-or-nothing
upside guys. Half of the owners in your league are all about building up the
RBs no matter what the cost, while the other group may care more about
finding the best team. Get to know your league mates. Carry on a friendly
conversation – find these things out! Everything I just said is one more tip
toward landing that big trade. Know your league mates. 6. Take the little steps to become the Trade Guy at the
beginning of a league.
You really need to work hard right off the bat to become the Trade Guy. Try
to make a couple of deals before or during the draft. Even if you don’t get
a lot of deals, make sure you are making a lot of offers and letting it be
known that you are trying to be the Trade Guy in your league. And make sure
you are being careful at the beginning too. Don’t make any lopsided offers
that offend people right off the bat and turn off members of your league.
And you won’t hear me say this too often, but sometimes you may even need to
accept an offer or two that aren’t quite in your favor. I don’t recommend
doing that too often, but it gets the trades flowing. If you can become the
Trade Guy, it’ll pay itself back over time. When you’re the Trade Guy, you
are the one your league mates come to all year long when they want a deal.
They know you are available, and they know who to come to when they want to
unload someone they’ve soured on. Being the Trade Guy means opportunity. But
you have to earn the title. 7. Be patient.
This is a tough one to pair up with the first couple of rules. But you
really can be aggressive and persistent while still being patient too.
Sometimes the really good deals for your team take time. Persistence and
patience work well together, but sometimes you have to let an idea drop for
awhile to give that some time too. Maybe Donald Driver really isn’t
available this week no matter how many different offers you put together. Be
patient. Maybe a week or two later suddenly the Driver owner is desperate
for QB help or another RB and maybe you can get that Driver deal to work out
after all. Maybe it still doesn’t work and you have given up the idea for a
dead, but a month later the guy desperately wants a player from you. Well
your patience has paid off. Trades come together if you give them time. 8. Sometimes the best trade is the one you don’t make.
Some of the best trades I’ve ever made were the ones I left at the altar
where it just didn’t feel right. Not every trade is meant to happen. You’re
going to get yourself into trouble if you try to push too hard and try to
make every single trade offer work. Every now and then things just don’t
line up and you have to leave well enough alone. Things have a funny way of
working themselves out. Last season I picked up a hot young WR off waivers
early in the season and stashed him on my bench, trying desperately to
unload him before his value wore off. I tried for two weeks straights with
every team in the league and only got mediocre offers for a good backup QB
or a decent third string RB. So in the end, I decided to just stick with
Marques Colston and let him play for my team. See what I mean? You can’t try
to push every trade through. Know your limit and don’t keep pushing when you
get there. Some trades just aren’t meant to be. Alright that’s 8 rules to get you off on the right foot.
Check back later on this week for the other 17 tips that should set you on
your way to becoming the Trade Guy in your league… | 
