# SDMB Fantasy Football DYNASTY League: Year 18 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [August 14, 2026, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336 "2026-08-14T13:51:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2026, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/221 "2026-09-06T04:51:11Z")
I am partial to the current draft model, but if we want to tweak it in this direction I suggest making it closer to the real game. - Roster limit is 25. - Everyone must reduce to 25 before the draft - Each round, you pick one and drop one. Or you pass. - Passing one round presumes passing in future rounds (to save time) but a player can opt back into a future round simply by expressing that desire. - There is no more “last pick” in a draft to trade in order to balance rosters. All picks must be in a specified round ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/222 "2026-09-07T03:46:34Z")
Like a said not a big deal at all. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/223 "2026-09-07T18:24:25Z")
I’d definitely prefer starting immediately after the 3rd preseason game. But even if we started on the 4th of July, I’m sure I’d still grab some running back and think that this time it’s different! ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2026, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/224 "2026-09-07T21:05:02Z")
Just a quick reminder for everyone to be sure to set their starting lineup. I spaced mine until last night. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/225 "2026-09-08T02:19:26Z")
This is a more detailed (and better) way of saying what I had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/226 "2026-09-08T16:27:36Z")
I don’t have any major disagreements here, but I’m not understanding how this is “closer to the real game”. In the real game, rosters are not capped at 53 in the offseason. You only need to get to 53 after the draft and right before week 1. Also the number of draft picks are not correlated to the number of cuts. I’m not saying that mirroring the NFL is a key requirement here, but the version I shared earlier (and apparently Jules previously floated years ago) looks a lot closer to the real game than this (or our current approach). Can you explain your thinking there a bit more? ---
**Author:** ![Spiritus\_Mundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Spiritus\_Mundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiritus_Mundi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2026, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/227 "2026-09-08T16:50:53Z")
It isn’t closer to the NFL Draft - it is closer to NFL roster management, IMO. We don’t manage rosters in the off season. Most of us have more than 25 players on our roster during teh offseason do to IR carryover. But Roster in the NFL have a size limit. That is true always, it is just larger until just before the season starts. Draft picks are not given a roster exemption - they need to be singed inside the roster limit. We try to put our fantasy drafts as close to eth actual season starting as we can, so we have as complete an information picture as is available. So the experience I was marking against is actually roster management in the days prior to season kickoff: - Cutdown to roster limit - If you sign someone new, cut someone to make room - Make as many moves as you want. - React to players dropped from other teams during the process The “like the NFL draft:” elements (taking turns, trading slots) are the ones that fall outside that roster management realm. I don’t have any way to reconcile those with “push the draft later so we can have more information” requirement. What I dislike about the Jules/Omni proposal is the roster bloat throughout the draft meaning fewer non-rookies are available to teams during the draft process and then being served through waiver process right before the season starts. I also don’t like the set # of draft picks “forcing” a team to pull prospects from the draft pool that they don’t want just to cut them later. It diminishes the value of the pool for teams that have more needs. But I say again - I am actually happy with teh draft process we currently have. I’m not advocating that we change it. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/228 "2026-09-09T00:23:13Z")
That makes sense, I see the angle now. > [@Spiritus\_Mundi](#): > > What I dislike about the Jules/Omni proposal is the roster bloat throughout the draft meaning fewer non-rookies are available to teams during the draft process and then being served through waiver process right before the season starts. I also don’t like the set # of draft picks “forcing” a team to pull prospects from the draft pool that they don’t want just to cut them later. It diminishes the value of the pool for teams that have more needs. This is my big issue as well. How large a problem this is and whether we’re actually solving any other problems by making that tradeoff is the real question. Certainly possible that our current approach is already the optimized approach. Figuring out a way to allow unbalanced trades and allowing the cuts and draft to start after the league cut down date are the primary goals in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/229 "2026-09-13T23:24:47Z")
Oh good, if I want my team to win I have to root against the Giants. But I expect the Giants to disappoint me many times this season, so now’s a good time to start if I can get a win out of it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/230 "2026-09-15T21:41:37Z")
Well now you have to reverse jinx them every week or I will blame their first loss on you personally. Fanboys off to a strong start. Kenneth Walker (32.6) from Seahawks to Chiefs is looking like a fantastic move for me. Plus DJ Moore (18.5) from Bears to Bills is solid as expected. Pittman (7.3) from Colts to Steelers not so much, but he is my deep bench. We’ll see how injuries shake out, but so far so good. Sadly, at best, it will all come down to playoff luck. I’m happy that we have “extra” weeks at the end for padding, keeping our 14-game regular season with 2 weeks of playoffs before home-field-clinching teams would normally be thinking about sitting the starters. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2026, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/231 "2026-09-15T21:59:52Z")
Google is telling me that 18 games likely won’t happen until 2031 when the current CBA expires. One might assume a second bye week would be involved, despite how unpopular that was last time, which would mean our current format would have four weeks of padding. Would be fun to revisit our schedule then. Either way, I was curious about the timeframe and looks like it’ll be a while. EDIT: Just pondering the actual NFL schedule with 18 games, they could make the second bye “dynamic” at the end of the season: Week 19 would be all playoff teams and playoff-deciding games, Week 20 only non-playoff teams. Make it so every playoff team gets a bye the week before the playoffs. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/232 "2026-09-16T19:31:13Z")
One week of football. Two players placed on IR. This could be a long year … ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/233 "2026-09-21T01:48:04Z")
I don’t want to hear it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/234 "2026-09-21T08:08:58Z")
I have now immediately fallen back to Earth in week 2. Hopefully these injuries aren’t too serious. Again it’s Puka and Nico as a pair. They both went on IR at the same time a couple years ago, which was brutal. Hopefully Nico is only out for two games and Puka can just muscle through skipping practice. My bench receivers are laying goosegg after goosegg. Quentin Johnston always sucks and DJ Moore fell off a cliff in week 2. I think Pittman might be out for season. Sheesh. At least Kelce has some life left, though I have pretty much committed to LaPorta. 20/20 hindsight I wish I started them both this week. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/235 "2026-09-21T13:40:50Z")
My plan is to start Puka tonight, but if he’s ruled out, my sub is homer pick Malachi Fields. (Yikes.) I intend to make the substitution myself, but just in case, figured I should put it out there. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/236 "2026-09-21T14:12:34Z")
Well that was a close one! I sat down for dinner with a lead that Yahoo projected as practically insurmountable, so I didn’t check the league at all the rest of the night. I login this morning and I see that I instead pulled out a win by the skin of my teeth. Sorry dale! ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/237 "2026-09-21T22:03:21Z")
I’m 2-0 but I have Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams and Alec Pierce (not to mention Omar Cooper and Ricky Pearsall). So I’m in great shape. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/238 "2026-09-22T12:49:51Z")
I’ve been in weekly matchups where I lost a guy to injury early in the game, and have to take a horrible score. I’ve even lost 2 starters to injury like that. I have once lost 3 starters to injury in one week. I’ve never even seen a team lose 4 starters to injury in one game. Damn, @EllisDee, that was a really shitty week for you. Losing Jaxson Dart, DJ Moore, Saquon Barkley to early injury, and starting Puka, you had the worst injury luck in one week I’ve ever seen. Hopefully none of them are out for long. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/239 "2026-09-22T16:12:52Z")
Yeah I went into Monday night already looking like a disaster but then fell off a cliff. Ouch. I have a bunch of RBs producing double digits but can only start 3 of them. I guess I will be pressing both TEs into service and hope I can cobble together two starting WRs to fill out my roster. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, this could all be a 2-week hiccup. Here’s hoping. So I ended up falling asleep before kickoff and Puka didn’t start. Can I get the 4 points from Malachi retroactively? Either way is fine, but if a tight playoff race comes down to points it could end up mattering. Man, what a crying shame that the only backup QB on the Giants is a guy who can’t really throw anymore. And won’t run. What I wouldn’t give for a little Tyrod Taylor action right about now. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336/240 "2026-09-22T16:28:20Z")
Yes, you stated your intentions ahead of time and Puka was officially out, so I swapped in Malachi. As for me, starting off with Josh Allen scoring over 40 points and barely limping to 100 overall and a loss does not bode well for my team this year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-fantasy-football-dynasty-league-year-18/1032336.md?page=13)