NFL Dynasty Strategy: 5 Steps to Tank and Rebuild a Dynasty Football Team

We all know that one guy who enjoys tanking and rebuilding more than he enjoys actually winning in dynasty fantasy football. Actually, I might be that guy, if only because my two favorite dynasty football leagues are ones that I joined after they'd already been up and running for more than half a decade. 

In both cases, I inherited a struggling team and opted for a full tank job within the first two years, aggressively deploying the dynasty fantasy football strategy that's been said to end friendships. I've since won two titles in each league, compared to just one title from the three start-ups I've done during the 2020s. (No comment on the friendships.)

RotoWire co-worker Joe Bartel happens to be embarking on his own rebuilding journey at the moment, with the help of RW's dynasty rankings (which will soon get a facelift, BTW). Joe joined a league where a tanking team owns half of the 2027 picks, making it difficult to acquire premium draft capital. He pivoted toward 23-year-old RB Omarion Hampton and 25-year-old TE Tucker Kraft as his building blocks, kicking off a rebuilding process that he'll provide updates on throughout the summer.

Joe will have more on his rebuilding strategy as the summer progresses. For now, let's take a look at my tried and true methodology to tank, rebuild and launch a 1,000-year dynasty: 

1. Trade aggressively, but don't rush it.

It's nearly impossible to extract full value for assets if we're determined to sell them off as fast as possible. We want to kick our rebuild off with at least one significant move, but that doesn't mean we then need to sell the rest of the team the same week. It's also fine, and perhaps preferable, to create the impression that we aren't dead-set on selling all of our veterans (even if we very much are).

The urge to immediately empty out a roster and load up on draft picks is understandable, if not optimal, especially in-season when there's more risk for huge value swings that could harm our trade assets. That's why we'd ideally start our rebuilding process during the NFL offseason as a pre-planned thing, not in September at the start of the regular season or in November before fantasy trade deadlines.

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If we have a few months to work with before Week 1, it's fine to demand a premium for the top assets that we're trying to sell off. A deal accepted in March or May comes with the opportunity cost of any superior deals that might otherwise have been completed in July or September. There's nothing wrong with selling a guy for what rankings and trade calcs say he's worth, but it does mean we can't later sell him for more than what he's worth.

During the offseason, it's fine to ask "too much" and then circle back a few weeks later with a lower price if there's been no interest. Just be aware that league mates will get annoyed if we try the same approach with mediocre players they don't want.

There's a way to let everyone know what we're selling and what we want, without turning it into a clearance sale or making our league mates hate us. We never want to be that guy who wastes everyone's time trying to drum up interest in roster cloggers. We want to get the best prices possible for our top assets, not spend a ton of time haggling over the difference between bench scrubs and late-round picks.

2. Tank for an earlier pick (if it's an option).

The best fantasy leagues allow tanking, as long as the tanker regularly sets the best lineup they can with the garbage that's on their roster. The other equally good option is to go all the way in the opposite direction and create rules that eliminate most/all of the value incentives from tanking (e.g. use a draft lottery).

The worst leagues are ones where last place gets the No. 1 pick (obvious tanking incentive) and there's nothing explicit to stop people from tanking... but then if anyone actually does it in an aggressive way, league mates get all upset. I've been guilty of commissioning a league* like that, where I allowed tanking but failed to establish boundaries (or specify lack thereof) because I wanted a group discussion (that never really materialized) to hear what people wanted to do**.

Anyway, assuming we're in a league where there's incentive to finish in last place and tanking/rebuilding is permitted... we should go all-in and do the thing as best we can. There may be one or two league mates who get in their feels about it — usually the ones who perpetually finish between 4th and 10th place — but the vast majority of dynasty players accept tanking as a fun and viable strategy as long as it's not done via lineup sabotage.

If we're going for the bottom of the standings, we do want to make sure we land at the very bottom — which might be tougher than it sounds if 1-2 other teams are also tanking and some of our young players are already strong producers. We don't want to ditch blue-chippers like Carnell Tate and Tetairoa McMillan just to (potentially) gain future draft position, nor do we want to be the shameful soul who benches a healthy McMillan just to keep our points down (which can impact other people's playoff chances and create a race-to-the-bottom effect among non-playoff teams).

Fortunately, there is a less ugly way to out-tank our competition. We pick a position, usually QB and/or RB, and intentionally allow it to remain as a clear weakness that drives down our odds of winning all season long. We aren't intentionally starting bad options over better ones; we just don't have good options available.

I often choose my RB room as the principal weakness, though that's not quite the slam-dunk some may have viewed it as 3-4 years ago, when the conversation about positional aging curves looked really ugly for RBs. It's fair to say that concern over RB longevity was exaggerated at its peak, 3-5 years ago, but even the biggest advocates of RB-heavy builds will acknowledge that fantasy assets at the position still produce earlier and have shorter lifespans (relative to QBs, WRs and TEs) on average.

For superflex and two-QB leagues, a poor QB room can also go a long way toward landing at the bottom of the standings. Ideally, we'd roster a guy like Fernando Mendoza or Ty Simpson to avoid completely starting from scratch at such an important position. The rookies give us something valuable for the future without messing up our draft position for 2027.

*I've since abdicated my throne and overseen a peaceful transition of power.

**The best fantasy commissioners (definitely not me) have a good sense of when to be Cato and when to be Caesar. It has to be at least a little of both.

3. Pay attention to age and prioritize youth.

We obviously want to rebuild around premium guys like Carnell Tate and Colston Loveland, along with future draft picks, but the reality of starting from scratch is that we have a lot of roster spots and not a lot of blue-chip assets available. It often makes sense to prioritize age over experience, i.e., favoring a second-year pro who is 22 years old over a rookie who is 24.

I'm semi-interested in Bills WR Skyler Bell (24 in July) because his athletic testing is off the charts, but I largely prefer rookies who are under 23 years old (ideally under 22) at the time of being drafted. The older prospects on Day 3 are often being drafted based on the odds they can handle a depth role and play special teams, i.e., a fifth-round pick who is 24 might be comparable to a 22-year-old UDFA in terms of the chances to actually develop into a starter. And that's without considering the obvious longevity argument(s) in favor of younger players.

When looking at the past two draft classes, you may notice that a lot of the guys from 2025 are younger than the guys from 2026. The elite prospects this year are mostly under 22 years old, including some early declares, but the mid-rounders at fantasy positions (like Bell) are mostly products of the NIL era, entering the pro game at 23/24 years old after lengthy collegiate journeys. Notable exceptions include WRs Ted Hurst and Chris Bell, while the list of young prospects from 2025 includes RB Dylan Sampson, TE Harold Fannin and TE Colston Loveland.

Youngest Players from 2025 and 2026 NFL Draft Classes

*Ages as of June 2026

4. "Squat" on Backup QBs and/or RBs.

There aren't many backup WRs or TEs in the NFL who become solid fantasy starters when the guy ahead of them in real life is out with an injury. Running backs are a different story, especially on good teams that provide goal-line TDs and clock-killing work. Mediocre players can produce as RB2s, or even temporarily as RB1s.

In superflex or two-QB leagues, backup quarterbacks can also become weekly fantasy starters if they end up starting in real life for a prolonged stretch. The best backup QBs to target in 2026 for potential injury-dependent value are the ones who can add rushing stats (Justin Fields, Trey Lance, etc.), the ones who might actually be half-decent (Tanner McKee, Ty Simpson) and guys who would be playing with top talent around them (Simpson, Tyson Bagent, Teddy Bridgewater, Nick Mullens).

In a few cases, we might genuinely be mining for future producers for our fantasy team, but mostly the idea is to sell these guys in-season to other teams who are looking to plug weaknesses at QB2 or RB2.

It's a way to pick up third-round picks, or occasionally even a second-rounder, and in relatively deep leagues that mere possibility becomes a better use of a roster spot than adding more Day 3 picks from the past couple of draft classes.

"Handcuffs" to Stash

5. Avoid late-round picks after the initial rebuild stage.

In the early phases of a rebuilding process, we should have room for fringe prospects to see if one or two eventually pan out. By the second or third year of a rebuild, we've hopefully graduated to territory where those fringe prospects aren't significantly more valuable than what's already on our roster, even if we aren't quite ready to compete. And there's no point in making a draft pick if we have to then cut someone who is similarly valuable.

For those starting a rebuild in 2026, it makes sense to add a couple of third-round picks for 2027. Anything else outside of the first two rounds — e.g. a 2027 4th or a 2028 3rd — shouldn't be given real weight in trade discussions.

One thing I've tried, with varying success, is to get those third-round picks tacked on to mega-deals. Teams that are already trading away first-round picks to win right now are unlikely to care much about third-rounders, even if it's from the upcoming draft and the draft class is considered strong (like for 2027). 

How to Pivot When Premium Picks Aren't Available

Hype over the 2027 draft class makes this more of an issue than usual, and it feels especially pronounced after 2026 when there was a near-consensus on the draft class being a kind of stinky one. People rightfully expect a premium for the 2027 picks, especially relative to 2026, but they're often over-charging even if they're directionally correct about the assets being highly valuable.

In those cases, like with Joe Bartel's team mentioned above, we can pivot to targeting young players, 2028 1sts and 2027 2nds as our (re)building blocks. My preferences land toward the extreme ends when it comes to dynasty strategy, so I'd rather pivot toward 2028 1st-round picks (and top rookies) if I can't pry the 2027 picks away from my league mates. In most cases, I'd rather move my timeline back by one year than accept a roster that's far from optimized for a rebuild.

For those who rely on player takes/opinions more so than tracking market valuations, it can make more sense to focus on young players over '28 draft picks. I'm always at least a little skeptical of "my guys" style dynasty players who will gladly overpay for what they want, but there are a few people who can genuinely pull it off, and then others who don't really care as long as they're having fun. Nothing wrong with that!

What Greatness (In 2029?) Actually Looks Like

Now I want to show you the team I'm currently rebuilding (on Sleeper) with the help of many of the principles discussed above. I'm already deep into the process, having sold off QB Lamar Jackson, RB Cam Skattebo, WR Brian Thomas, WR Chris Olave and RB Tony Pollard over the last eight months. I don't have much left of value besides guys who are so young that I'd rather keep them anyway. Now the focus shifts away from flashy trades and toward the less-sexy work of maximizing bench spots and making sure I finish in last place to nab that 1.01 in 2027.

Example Roster For a Full Rebuild (SuperFlex)

You'll notice that I have basically nothing at RB and am squatting on a couple of backup QBs who could come into trade value mid-season. Nearly all of my other players are 21-24 years old, with the main exceptions being return specialists who I'm unsuccessfully trying to trade (it's an accidental return yardage league where only a couple of guys have any interest in pursuing those special teams points).

QB Fernando Mendoza, WR Luther Burden and TE Harold Fannin are the core pieces of my rebuild, along with seven first-round picks and seven second-round picks over the next two years. In a league with three flex spots and a superflex spot, the teams with strong depth actually have a shot against the teams with multiple superstars. My hope is that by sacrificing 2026 and 2027 I'll accumulate enough talent to have the best depth in the league while also fielding at least 2-3 superstars.

If you're wondering about this year's rookie draft... I traded down from 1.01 because I was close to indifferent between Mendoza and RB Jeremiyah Love in a superflex league with six-point passing TDs. First, I traded 1.01 + 2.10 for 1.02 + 1.11. Later, I traded Cam Skattebo + Tony Pollard + 1.07 in exchange for 1.08 + a 2027 1st + a 2028 2nd.

5 Additional Dynasty Rebuilding Tips

1. Pay attention to positional aging and development curves.

Top QBs tend to last much longer than top WRs and TEs, who tend to last longer than RBs. I'm not always doing a full fade on RBs during a rebuild, but it does at least make sense to break ties in favor of other positions when we're undecided on making a certain draft pick, trade or addition.

This relates closely to some of the other strategies I like to deploy while tanking, e.g., intentionally taking low scores at RB to stay at the bottom of the standings.

2. A few veterans to target, if you must...

Ideally, I don't want guys over the age of 24 during a full tank job and rebuild, with the exception of some backup QBs and RBs (as discussed above) who could come into injury-related trade value during the season.

In reality, it's sometimes hard to turn over an entire roster without giving up a lot of value. Plus, we all have those late-breakout candidates we believe in, hoping they'll be worth way more in October than they are now (on the team I'll show you below, TE Isaiah Likely is my personal example).

The idea here is to make bets on players who will gain trade value, not necessarily find pieces who will still be useful when we're ready to compete a few years from now.

Likely comes to mind. Colts WRs Alec Pierce and Josh Downs also have late-breakout hype (Pierce kind of already broke out last year, actually). Ricky Pearsall turns 26 in September, but there's still a not-terrible argument for him being a late bloomer and productive fantasy player.

If you have conviction about one of those guys, it's fine to keep them around during a rebuild (or even trade for them) and make a bet on the future value being much greater. But I do think it still makes sense to cash out with another trade, rather than making a second bet on someone like Pearsall still being useful in 2029+.

3. Be realistic about how long the dynasty league will last.

There's no point in devoting time and money to a rebuild if we don't trust that the league will still be running a few years from now.

4. Stay the Course.

We shouldn't pivot to win-now if we accidentally start off 2-1 in September of a supposed rebuilding year. We should take a realistic look at the team and see if we're making mistakes that might cost us the No. 1 pick. Sometimes it's just bad/good luck and all we need to do is wait for the losses to pile up.

5. Read my future articles on the transition phase from rebuilding to contending.

Stay tuned throughout the summer for additional articles on dynasty fantasy football strategy. We also have some upgrades in the works for our dynasty tools, including dynasty rankings, the dynasty trade calculator and the rookie mock draft simulator.

My next dynasty article will discuss specific strategies to deploy once we get to Year 2 or 3 of our rebuilding process and want to start thinking about winning again.