How does Dynasty Fantasy Football work? Breaking down rules and regulations

Dynasty Fantasy Football leagues are the fastest growing leagues among NFL fans!

As opposed to the traditional redraft leagues, in Dynasty you keep your players year to year after the initial Startup Draft.

The Startup Draft can feature virtually every player in the NFL. Depending on your league settings, every roster could have upwards of 50 players on it! You usually have multiple starters in each position, as well as an extended bench for players who are out of favor.

How many people do you need to start a Dynasty Fantasy Football team?

To start a Dynasty league, you need to first assemble a group of friends or family members who are interested.

Be sure to remind everyone involved this is more than a year's commitment, unlike redraft, as you'll have to manage your team for years to come, unless you can find someone to take over it!

As well as this, you should select a 'commissioner' of your Dynasty league prior to getting started. This will be someone on hand to help with any queries and offer support should any issues arise.

How to start a Dynasty Fantasy Football League in 2023

If you're looking for a place to start, sleeper.com is recommended by many as the go-to app for NFL Fantasy Football Dynasty. Sleeper is available on iOS and Android, and its easy layout helps any beginner who's interested in Dynasty.

As mentioned, the startup draft can feature the majority of the NFL's players, from offense to defense and special teams, as they'll all play an important part in your team's future. While its possible for the league to be offense-only, most default Dynasty leagues feature players from offense, defense and special teams.

The draft typically follows a snake-style draft, where by the team picking last in Round 1 picks first in Round 2. Most teams will hold at a minimum 30 players, so if you have a 12+ man league, these drafts can go on for days, if not weeks!

Age is pivotal in Dynasty Fantasy Football, as the majority of your picks will remain on your roster for the entirety of their careers. For example, prior to his retirement Tom Brady wouldn't have been a good Dynasty pick due to his age, but stars like Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow still have many playing years ahead of them!

Trading is massive in Dynasty compared to redraft leagues. In redrafts, there is little impetus to trade as the players get reset every year. However trading is much more prevalent in Dynasty, as some players will trade away assets to gain extra draft picks to build for the future, while others will in 'win now' mode and trade away all their draft picks to acquire current stars of the NFL.

Be sure to check out our Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer tool, where you can see if you're getting a good deal in any trade you're a part of!

Sportskeeda's Fantasy Football Trade Analyzer

Much like redrafts, fantasy expert sites offer plenty of great advice on how to get started in Dynasty, as well as offering rankings on players you may be interested in!

You may want to introduce FAAB (Free Agent Acquisition Budget) into your Dynasty league, where all players are given an equal budget to begin the year and can 'bid' on star free agents each and every week.

Explore the 2024 NFL Draft with our free Mock Draft Simulator. Take charge of your preferred NFL team as if you were the GM, engaging in an immersive experience of mock drafting and strategic decision-making.

When can you start a Dynasty Fantasy Football league?

There's no time like the present to start your Dynasty Fantasy Football league!

If you can pencil in a time as close to the season opener as possible that would be ideal, as some players will suffer injuries between now and the 2023 season kick off!

Once you're all set up and drafted, remember you have an Annual Draft to partake in. The Annual Draft takes place every offseason, and sees the rookies who've just been drafted added to your league via your own draft.

The draft order, much like the NFL, is sorted with the worst team the previous season picking first, and the winner of the championship picking last. Unlike the inital 'snake' draft setup, the Annual Draft follows the NFL's structure, whereby the worst team would also hold the first pick in Round 2.