Making the Case

• No Deadline Encourages League Activity
• Benefits Rebuilders AND Contenders
• Playoff Trades Don’t “Guarantee” Anything
• No Such Thing as “Buying” a Championship
• Fantasy Playoffs a Key, Extended Window for League Re-Balancing
• Future Fees Can Still Be Collected

Trade deadlines should NOT exist in dynasty!

Let me tell you why.

Trade deadlines make sense in traditional “redraft” leagues: The worst teams can be eliminated weeks before the playoffs start – so it makes sense to bar them from trades at a certain point; there are no incentives for “next year” for them to play for.

Dynasty leagues are TOTALLY different.

The worst teams can “be eliminated” before the season even starts & making playoffs may not even be a goal for them. Yet there are still incentives for them to trade – year-round.

Rebuilders should be encouraged to improve their teams for “next year.”

Trade deadlines discourage activity & promote inactivity.

Rebuilders have no reason to pay any attention at all post-deadline if they’re banned from trading.

NO DEADLINE encourages activity for every league member through the end of WK17.

The fantasy playoffs are also the BEST TIME TO TRADE as a rebuilding team.

Rebuilders will never have more leverage over contenders than they do DURING the fantasy playoffs.

I have seen people suggest that a trade deadline “creates urgency” for rebuilding teams to capitalize on.

I find that claim to be absolutely absurd.

Trade deadlines in dynasty do not “create urgency” for rebuilders to capitalize on.

Contenders are often hesitant to make moves at the deadline as they aren’t *certain* whether they will or won’t need that asset *at some point in the future.*

1 week is also a very short window.

Contenders have much more “urgency” DURING the fantasy playoffs – when there is a level of absolute certainty as to whether or not they “need” a particular asset for that week’s matchup.

That’s when they’re easiest to “leverage.”

If you wanted to “create urgency” for rebuilders to capitalize on – you would remove the deadline altogether…

& create a 3-week window for them to “leverage” contenders DURING the fantasy playoffs.

It is MUCH easier for rebuilders to leverage contenders during a 3-week playoff period where needs are CLEAR each week than it is to leverage them before the playoff period when needs are not clear.

No deadline also benefits contenders who may lose multiple players to injury DURING the fantasy playoffs – something they may not have been able to predict BEFORE the fantasy playoffs.

Why should injury be the determining factor in who wins?

It’s at this point in the conversation people usually say “trading shouldn’t be allowed during the fantasy playoffs because teams shouldn’t be able to buy a Championship.”

I also find this narrative to be completely absurd.

There is no such thing as a “guarantee” in fantasy football.

If two consenting parties agree to a trade – why should we stand in the way of contenders? Or rebuilders?

“Because teams shouldn’t be able to buy a Championship!”

Is often what I hear… Which I also find to be completely absurd.

Contending teams trade future value in the form of younger players, injured players, and future picks for contending assets ALL THE TIME. That’s literally a FEATURE of the game – there’s nothing wrong with that.

If you don’t consider a contender trading future value for current value *early in the season* to be “buying a Championship” then why are you using that framing when the playoffs roll around?

“But what if someone trades their future 1st & then quits the next year?”

Again – an absurd reason to institute a trade deadline.

Spoiler alert but if someone is the type of person to trade all their picks and then quit the next year – a trade deadline is probably not going to stop that activity. They can do that exact same thing even WITH a deadline.

You should also be collecting future fees anytime someone trades a future 1.

It is NOT hard to put safeguards in place to address those “issues.”

While everyone comes up with these hypothetical “negatives” to support enforcing a deadline – there’s a much more clear positive to NOT having one: League rebalancing.

The fantasy playoffs are the BEST time for league rebalancing.

That’s when strong contending rosters are most willing to overpay for win-now assets.

& when weak rebuilding rosters are most likely to “leverage” future value out of contenders.

This is GOOD for the league’s long-term standing.

Instituting a deadline makes it more likely that the weak teams stay weak and the strong teams stay strong.

That’s counter-productive to maintaining healthy long-term league balance.

There’s really no “good” reason to have a trade deadline in dynasty.

But there are plenty of good reasons to NOT have one.

• No Deadline Encourages League Activity
• Benefits Rebuilders AND Contenders
• Playoff Trades Don’t Guarantee Anything
• No Such Thing as “Buying” a Championship
• Fantasy Playoffs a Key, Extended Window for League Re-Balancing
• Future Fees Can Still Be Collected

Once you go no deadline – you will never go back!!