Traditional Roster Size in Dynasty

[bucsrule]

I started a Dynasty League a few years ago and set the rosters at 23. We expand them in the offseason to 27 to accommodate for rookies with having to make drops, but go back to 23 for the season. We have an IR for 1 player.

One of the league members made a reference to roster size being low for a Dynasty. Is there an average roster size for Dynasty leagues overall? and what is it if there is.

While I enjoy having a pretty decent player pool of FAs I'd rather be in line with what a true Dynasty should be.

Also...

Is there such a thing as making it mandatory to answer trades? I ask because we have one owner in particular who rarely answers the requests, if at all, and another owner is sick of it and is leaving after this season. Just curious.

Thanks much for any advice!

[Pac_Eddy]

I am in dynasties with roster sizes of 20 and 26. Got to say that 20 feels way too small. Hard to keep those 2nd, 3rd, and 4 round picks and wait for them to develop.

I love 26 with unlimited IR.

I think the "standard" will be 25-30.

[bjd5211]

Around 25

In a 16 team league with 20 regular season roster slots

12 team with 35 spots

Most of the others are 22, 24 or 25

[Cult of Dionysus]

A bench that is 1.5x of the starting lineup plus at least 2 IR and/or 2 Taxi Squad spots for late round rookies.

[DLF3000]

One of the league members made a reference to roster size being low for a Dynasty. Is there an average roster size for Dynasty leagues overall? and what is it if there is.

While I enjoy having a pretty decent player pool of FAs I'd rather be in line with what a true Dynasty should be.

We have these same philosophical disagreements in our league.

Bottom line, some leagues/commishes want X amount of redraft-feel in dynasty more than others - older leagues especially have more redraft feel/options to them because dynasty was still new once upon a time and had some redraft holdovers.

I always want bigger rosters, at least 30 slots total, in order to reward good rookie drafters more often on average than lucky waiver wire pick ups. Early on, I was ok with 24-25 like we have now, but I was happier last year when it was 26 (we tried 2 IR last year, but was changed back to 1 IR this year for reasons I still can't fathom).

I still find 24-26 too low - whether it's 10 or 12 or higher teams, I like the 300+ total players rostered number I've seen many times in recent years. So for our league, I'd love 30-man rosters and still propose it and similar roster increases and flexibility every year.

Furthermore, get rid of special slots like taxi and IR and make all 30+ slots "normal" slots - less BS for everyone to manage. It's a hobby, not an audit, so less dumb roster restrictions like positional limits or promotions/demotions the better. Mimicking the NFL for aesthetic reasons on these types of things was fine once, but now that dynasty's matured and become a lot more popular, I find these types of restrictions more trouble and admin than they're worth.

Again, philosophically, some players, including our Commish, would rather have the waiver wire have more options on average, closer to redraft than typical dynasty. I get that, it's just I don't agree with it anymore after having played dynasty for 10+ years. (Same thing with having D and K starters in the league - too random and redraft-y for me in dynasty, so I propose axing those every year lately too, but the commish has already gone on record on saying it'll never happen so there's that! Sacred cow holdover from redraft I guess? Again, I get it, I just don't agree with it.)

And as for requiring trade responses, I've never heard of any league making it required. I mean, it is 100% infuriating when there's that ONE GUY in your league who NEVER responds or communicates and lets them all die on the vine as week later. But I've learned that's just their crappy, non-communicative style with everybody - you either just accept these types of GMs or find a replacement.

[moishetreats]

First of all, how many teams are in your league? And what are the starting requirements? Those are key questions to discussing roster size.

Second, what is a higher priority in your league: an active waiver wire with some possible fill-ins or upside gems typically available or a league that allows every owner to stash even their deepest of flyers on their benches? Those questions are also key to discussing roster size.

After answering those, then recommending roster size is most helpful for your league to achieve what it wants.

[bucsrule]

it's a 12 team league with a 3 round rookie draft and 2 round FA draft.

we're in year 3.

[Overachiever77]

Our league:
10 teams
25 man rosters during the season
30 in offseason
5 taxi (for players on you drafted only and they can be on there 2 years. Once active, can’t go back)
Unlimited IR but must come from your active roster. Can’t pick up a free agent and put him on IR.

[Shankopotamus]

We have 50 man, but IDP as well.

28-30 seems right for offense only

[_yeti]

That is small in my opinion. My leagues are all 12 teams and the roster sizes are:

IDP - 35 roster, 4 taxi, 5 IR (45 offseason)
IDP - 35 roster, 4 taxi, 4 IR (45 offseason)
Offense only- 28 roster (31 offseason)
2QB Offense only- 28 roster, 3 taxi, 4 IR (34 offseason)

[Pac_Eddy]

I don't understand why you wouldn't have unlimited IR. The only restriction being you can't add a free agent directly to IR.

[M-Dub]

A bench that is 1.5x of the starting lineup plus at least 2 IR and/or 2 Taxi Squad spots for late round rookies.

I’ll second this. Some of the roster sizes I see in people’s sigs seem outrageous to me. I think you need a certain degree of viable talent on the waiver wire. If not, you run the risk of making it nearly impossible to find a replacement owner if someone runs their team into the ground and bails.

[Hankybro21]

The league I run has rosters that are 2.5x starting requirements/1.5x bench slots, plus 3 IR. We start 10 and have 26 man active and 3 IR

[snaps06]

For 12 team leagues, I like 25+ roster spots. I have one that is only 21 roster spots and 2 IR during the season, and only 17 keepers. It's brutal. I've had to cut guys like Matt Breida, Vance McDonald, Philip Rivers, etc in the past.

I saw a poster above mention 300 rostered players. I like that number as a bare minimum (12 teams and 25 roster spots is 300).

[Orenthal Shames]

350 rostered at a minimum for a non-IDP format.