Curtis Patrick evaluates strength of schedule and highlights key scenarios that could help your dynasty team stay alive in November.
Dynasty Command Center 2023: Week 9
The Hunger Games was a popular book series which was later adapted to film and made box office waves throughout the 2010s. My wife and I enjoy dystopian, underdog survival themes and have watched these series a few times over the years, most recently with my 12-year-old son. With a prequel being released later this month, the franchise is on my mind again as we navigate the survival challenges of this dynasty fantasy football season.
While The Hunger Games and dynasty fantasy football are vastly different in terms of their settings and stakes, they share common themes of competition, strategy, player selection, alliances, and long-term planning. Both offer a form of entertainment where the outcome depends on a mix of skill, knowledge, and a touch of luck. Here’s a comparison of these two seemingly disparate concepts:
- Competition and Strategy:
- The Hunger Games: In the dystopian world of Panem, the Hunger Games involve a brutal competition where young tributes fight to the death. Surviving requires a mix of physical prowess, cunning, and strategic alliances.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: Dynasty leagues involve long-term competition where fantasy football managers draft and retain players for multiple seasons. Success requires a blend of player evaluation, strategic trades, and long-term planning.
- Player Selection:
- The Hunger Games: Tributes are selected by a lottery system, which can be seen as a random element that mirrors a rookie draft in fantasy football.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: Dynasty managers conduct rookie drafts where they select young, promising players to build the future of their teams. The success of these picks is akin to finding hidden gems in the Hunger Games arena.
- Alliances:
- The Hunger Games: Tributes often form alliances to increase their chances of survival. These alliances can be fluid and ever-changing.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: Managers often form alliances or partnerships in the form of trade deals to bolster their teams. These alliances may shift as the season progresses.
- Risk and Consequences:
- The Hunger Games: Tributes face life-threatening consequences, including death, if they make a wrong move or trust the wrong ally.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: Making poor player decisions, trades, or lineup choices can have consequences in the form of missed opportunities or underperforming teams.
- Adaptability:
- The Hunger Games: Tributes must adapt to the changing circumstances and dangers within the arena, altering their strategies as the situation evolves.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: Successful managers must adapt to changing NFL dynamics, such as player injuries, retirements, and emerging rookies, to maintain a competitive roster.
- Survival of the Fittest:
- The Hunger Games: Only one tribute can emerge as the victor in the Games. It’s a ruthless competition where most participants do not survive.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: In dynasty leagues, only one manager can win the championship each season, and decisions must be made with the goal of long-term dominance in mind.
- Long-Term Planning:
- The Hunger Games: Some tributes are highly trained and prepared for the Games, emphasizing the importance of long-term planning. Other tributes are not bred for the event but rather thrust into the spotlight unprepared and must quickly condition themselves in order to survive.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football: Successful dynasty managers consider the long-term potential of players when building their teams and make decisions that will benefit them over multiple seasons. Some rosters are packed with veteran talent and look destined for championships. Others are less obviously equipped to win now, but fortunate circumstances can create surprise outcomes.
Whether you’re embroiled in a fictional fight-to-the-death scenario or a there-can-only-be-one-champion dynasty league situation, the key is to stay alive. You can’t win if you’re not alive. The more obvious, flashy moves are trades, alliances, and waivers splashes. More subtle moves include adapting to the environment around you, such as evaluating opponents and fine-tuning your start-sit game.
This week, I’ll use our Strength of Schedule Streaming App as a guiding light for staying alive with a look ahead for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and general team scenarios.
