The Art of Trading

Oh how complicated Fantasy Football truly is. One of the most stressful parts of Fantasy Football is trading. Here is how it works: 

1. Evaluate your team and players
2. Find the weakest link
3. Find a player that will fill that weak spot 
4. See who you can win without 
5. Negotiate with a team
6. Make the trade 

If it only it was that easy. 

The hardest part about trading in fantasy football is neither side wants to get ripped off and both sides want to get the better deal. How does that work? Everyone has a different method. Here are a few: 

• The Nag - Someone who constantly harasses a league member until they agree to a trade
• The Sweet Talker - Someone who makes the other league member feel good about their team, their players they are about to get, they compliment on life choices, points out recent weight loss, new haircut, and anything to make the person feel good about themselves so the negotiation process goes smoothly 
• The Shopper - Someone who offers a player to another league member and then withdraws the player when he finds out their is interest to get the maximum deal (If you really like Randall Cobb give me AJ Green, Demarco Murray and Andre Ellington) 
• The Weekly Standard - Once a week you get an offer from this player but no further discussion
• The Diver - Someone who picks up Free Agents and immediately attempts to trade them to you
• The Drafter - The guy who uses draft position to argue for a player rather than talent

These are some of the different methods of trading in Fantasy Football. While I have used everyone at least once, I have found success in the top three. While everyone uses what works best for them it also depends on how bad you want a deal. I can tell you that the Sweet Talker requires about a week to really talk the other person up and The Nag takes time to make the other person crack.

Now what is another reason that makes trading hard? You spent all offseason doing research on players that have been unreal and everyone wants him but nobody is willing to pay what you value him or your prized possession has been garbage (LeSean McCoy) and you want to dump in but don't want to give him away considering you paid a high price for him. Finding the perfect deal is hard to come by and it often takes more that a few days but when you pull the trigger on the deal it feels great...until you hear the members of your league react. Nothing is worse than agreeing to a deal and hearing your league mates laugh at how you got ripped off or as The League calls it "Trade Rapped". 

Please, please do research on all players involved on each team and try and steal a player off the other guy who has been under the radar. 

My inspiration for this post was I've just completed two trades I've been working on for awhile. 

Trade 1 (2 week process) I had to wait until the other guy was willing to part ways with Shady. Received- LeSean McCoy and Michael Floyd, Give up - Keenan Allen and Justin Forsett. 

Trade 2 (1 week process) I had to wait for AJ Green to get hurt before I could reel him in 

Received- AJ Green, Gave up- Matt Asiata, Doug Martin  

Were these good or bad trades?