6 Year Rebuild Complete

[BelichekYourSelf]

Fair warning, this is a long brag post to stoke my own ego after rebuilding a dumpster fire into a championship team. So if you're into that sort of thing read on.

If that is not your thing, the cliff notes version is a took over the team directly below in 2014 and turned it into Team 1 in my sig by steadily building for 6 years and won my league's championship in 2019.

In the spring of 2014 I took over my first dynasty team in a league that has been ongoing since 1999. The previous owner had been in the league since the beginning and had only made the playoffs twice in 14 years. The team was a garbage heap with no 1st or 2nd round picks in the 2014 or 2015 drafts.

Team as I took it over in 2014.

Flacco, Joe BAL QB
Smith, Alex KCC QB
Smith, Geno NYJ QB
Davis, Knile KCC RB
Ellington, Andre ARI RB
Green-Ellis, BenJarvus CIN RB
Jacobs, Brandon FA RB
James, LaMichael SFO RB
Jones-Drew, Maurice JAC RB
Holmes, Santonio NYJ WR
Moore, Lance NOS WR
Simpson, Jerome MIN WR
Smith, Torrey BAL WR
Chandler, Scott BUF TE
Clark, Dallas BAL TE
Pettigrew, Brandon DET TE
Pitta, Dennis BAL TE

Unsurprisingly I went 4-12 the first year. My pick was the 1.01 ( I didn't have it). However I made one huge trade in November of 2014 that set me up very well for the future. I traded for Josh Gordon for pennies on the dollar right after he got suspended and then traded him away when he was surprisingly reinstated at the end of the year.

Gave up Gordon, Josh CLE WR
Got Matthews, Jordan PHI WR; Year 2016 Round 1 Draft Pick from Plethora of Scrubs;Year 2017 Round 1 Draft Pick from BelichekYourSelf

2015 came around and I was still focused on acquiring value wherever I could. Being active on the waiver wire at the end of 2014 netted me CJ Anderson who I then flipped for a huge haul in March of 2015.

Gave up Anderson, C.J. DEN RB
Got Year 2015 Draft Pick 1.11; Year 2017 Round 1 Draft Pick from Devil Dogs;Year 2017 Round 2 Draft Pick from Devil Dogs

The 2015 draft went very well for me. I hit the lottery twice in the 3rd round with Lockett and Diggs.

2015 Draft
1.11 11. BelichekYourSelf Green-Beckham, Dorial TEN WR (R)
1.12 12. BelichekYourSelf Funchess, Devin CAR WR (R)
2.03 15. BelichekYourSelf Winston, Jameis TBB QB (R)
2.04 16. BelichekYourSelf Mariota, Marcus TEN QB (R)
3.01 25. BelichekYourSelf Lockett, Tyler SEA WR (R)
3.03 27. BelichekYourSelf Langford, Jeremy CHI RB (R)
3.04 28. BelichekYourSelf Smith, Devin NYJ WR (R)
3.06 30. BelichekYourSelf Diggs, Stefon MIN WR (R)

Somehow went 8-8 this year and missed out on the last playoff spot due to a tiebreaker. However I had the second fewest points scored so I got really lucky. I was focused on building up a good WR core first. For that reason I traded some future draft capital for Sammy Watkins to be a foundational piece to build around for my team. I also stole Mike Evans in early September

Gave up Matthews, Jordan PHI WR; Wright, Kendall TEN WR; Year 2017 Round 2 Draft Pick from Plethora of Scrubs
Got Evans, Mike TBB WR; Williams, Maxx BAL TE

As 2016 came around I was feeling confident. I had rebuilt by WR core by buying low and selling high on players where ever I could. I focused on acquiring young WRs with upside. Overall I ended up adding Brandin Cooks, Keenen Allen and Allen Robinson to Mike Evans and Sammy Watkins. I also fell in love with the 2017 class pretty early on in 2016 and started to collect as many 2017 picks as I could.

I got Jordan Matthews back in April
Gave up Cobb, Randall GBP WR; Amaro, Jace TEN TE
Got Anderson, C.J. DEN RB; Matthews, Jordan PHI WR; Year 2016 Draft Pick 2.03

Then immediately flipped him in May.
Gave up Matthews, Jordan PHI WR
Got Year 2016 Draft Pick 1.02; Year 2016 Draft Pick 1.12

Unfortunately I used the 1.02 to add Deandre Hopkins clone and overall SUPER STUD Laquon Treadwell to my now stacked WR core.

2016 Draft
1.02 2. Injured Reserve Treadwell, Laquon MIN WR (R)
2.03 15. Injured Reserve Carroo, Leonte MIA WR (R)
2.07 19. Injured Reserve Marshall, Keith WAS RB (R)
2.09 21. Injured Reserve Mitchell, Malcolm NEP WR (R)
3.03 27. Injured Reserve Hooper, Austin ATL TE (R)

I ended 2016 at 5-11 as my RBs consisted of Duke Johnson, Dion Lewis and Jacquizz Rodgers.

2017 was supposed to be my year. I had the great young WR core. I had 5 first round picks (including 1.01, 1.02 and 1.03) in a loaded 2017 draft. However, I knew I wasn't going to win without a great QB. Scoring in this league is heavily QB favored with the top QBs often scoring several hundred more points than the top RB or WR. For that reason top QBs are almost impossible to acquire. For that reason I made the biggest trade of my dynasty career before the 2017 draft.

Gave up Mariota, Marcus TEN QB; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.01; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.02; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.03; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.07; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.12
Got Rodgers, Aaron GBP QB; Beckham, Odell NYG WR; Landry, Jarvis MIA WR

I also added to my WR core by flipping John Brown for Devante Adams in July.

Gave up Winston, Jameis TBB QB; Brown, John ARI WR
Got Taylor, Tyrod BUF QB; Adams, Davante GBP WR

That same day I made the trade that end with me getting Barkley.

Gave up Landry, Jarvis MIA WR; Watkins, Sammy LAR WR; Year 2019 Round 2 Draft Pick from Bada$$ Honey Badgers
Got Charles, Jamaal DEN RB; Jeffery, Alshon PHI WR; Year 2018 Round 1 Draft Pick from Devil Dogs; Year 2018 (2018 1.03) Round 1 Draft Pick from Squat Cobbler (2018 1.01)

I still had a few later round picks in the 2017 draft and I made them count.

2.04 16. R.I.P. Rodgers & OBJ Williams, Jamaal GBP RB (R)
2.11 23. R.I.P. Rodgers & OBJ Conner, James PIT RB (R)
4.04 40. R.I.P. Rodgers & OBJ Reynolds, Josh LAR WR (R)

I ended 2017 at 8-8 and missed out on the playoffs by a tiebreaker again. This was mainly due to injuries to my 2 newly acquired super stars Rodgers and OBJ.

Going in to 2018 I knew I was going to be a playoff team. I hit the lottery and got Saquon Barkley at the 1.01. I traded for Fournette to fill out my RB core and still had my elite WRs.

Gave up Williams, Jamaal GBP RB; Jeffery, Alshon PHI WR; Year 2018 Draft Pick 1.03
Got Fournette, Leonard JAC RB; Yeldon, T.J. JAC RB

2018 Draft
1.01 1. Injury Free Safe Space Barkley, Saquon NYG RB (R)

With my core of
QB Rodgers (eventually traded for Matt Ryan)
RB Barkley, Fournette
WR Adams, Evans, OBJ, Keenen
TE Engram

I went 12-4, won my division and got a first round bye going into the playoffs. Unfortunately I lost in the semi-finals to the eventual champion by 4.25 points after Keenen Allen got injured in the first quarter and got me 0 points. However, one of my draft picks ended up being the 2019 1.01. Which meant for for the 3rd year in a row I went into the offseason having the 1.01 in the draft.

Going into 2019 I was determined to do whatever it took to win. I wanted to upgrade my QB spot, find a good backup QB and consolidate my depth into another top tier player. I made a ton of trades at the annual in-person draft to try to achieve those goals but had a little too much to drink and went overboard. I made these moves...

Gave up Allen, Keenan LAC WR; Year 2019 Draft Pick 1.01
Got Brown, Antonio FA* WR; Woods, Robert LAR WR; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Dirty Little Freak

Gave up Foles, Nick JAC QB; Jones, Ronald TBB RB; Brown, Antonio FA* WR
Got Cook, Dalvin MIN RB; Ebron, Eric IND TE; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Dumpster Fire; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Plethora of Scrubs

Gave up Woods, Robert LAR WR; Year 2022 Round 1 Draft Pick from Very Injured Unsafe Space
Got Green, A.J. CIN WR; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Homicidal Grizzly Bears

Gave up Ryan, Matt ATL QB; Fournette, Leonard JAC RB; Engram, Evan NYG TE; Browns, Cleveland CLE Def; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Homicidal Grizzly Bears
Got Mahomes, Patrick KCC QB; Pettis, Dante SFO WR; Tate, Golden NYG WR; Broncos, Denver DEN Def

Gave up Green, A.J. CIN WR; Moncrief, Donte FA WR; Year 2022 Round 2 Draft Pick from Very Injured Unsafe Space; Year 2022 Round 3 Draft Pick from Dumpster Fire; Year 2022 Round 4 Draft Pick from Very Injured Unsafe Space
Got White, James NEP RB; Kirk, Christian ARI WR; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Homicidal Grizzly Bears

These moves left me with Mahomes at QB, a solid but very injury prone RB2 in Cook and 5 2020 1st round picks. But at this point I had been drinking for a while and started to go overboard. I got talked into Gurley....

Gave up Cook, Dalvin MIN RB; Kirk, Christian ARI WR; Tate, Golden NYG WR; Ebron, Eric IND TE; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Dirty Little Freak; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Homicidal Grizzly Bears
Got Gurley, Todd LAR RB; Parker, DeVante MIA WR; Alie-Cox, Mo IND TE; Year 2020 Round 2 Draft Pick from Yep!

Gave up Pettis, Dante SFO WR; Year 2019 Draft Pick 1.08; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Blue Light Special; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Dumpster Fire; Year 2020 Round 1 Draft Pick from Plethora of Scrubs
Got Cousins, Kirk MIN QB; Diggs, Stefon MIN WR

I got my QB2 and another good WR but gave up way too much. However I did grab Austin Ecklar off the waiver wire before the season started.

I went 12-4 and again won my division and got a first round bye. My match-up in the semi-finals ended up being against the defending champ, the same team I had lost to last year. It came down to the wire with me needing Will Lutz to score 10 points on the Monday night game for me to advance. He did. I won 164 to 163.75. I then rolled to the championship by 30 points off the back 46 points from Barkley and 31 from Mahomes.

[ravn88]

Nicely done.

I Also have a orphan rebuilding team with my 1.01 traded Away..

Hoping Ill do just as good

[DJB]

Nice work dude. One of the best feelings in fantasy is to take a garbage team and build it into a winner.

Well done

[ArrylT]

What DJB said! Strong sense of accomplishment from taking an awful squad and turning it into a Champion. Done the same myself.

Job well done! Think of it this way you've done what the Cleveland Browns, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions & Jacksonville Jaguars have never achieved.

[Gator Sens]

Very nice work! Put together a great team for a dumpster fire. Enjoy it

[RAB]

Love these kind of posts. Thanks for sharing. Great job!

[NWABCS]

Gave up Mariota, Marcus TEN QB; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.01; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.02; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.03; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.07; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.12
Got Rodgers, Aaron GBP QB; Beckham, Odell NYG WR; Landry, Jarvis MIA WR

Awesome rebuild. Legendary.

I gotta know, what did the guy do with those five 2017 1sts?

[BelichekYourSelf]

Gave up Mariota, Marcus TEN QB; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.01; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.02; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.03; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.07; Year 2017 Draft Pick 1.12
Got Rodgers, Aaron GBP QB; Beckham, Odell NYG WR; Landry, Jarvis MIA WR

Awesome rebuild. Legendary.

I gotta know, what did the guy do with those five 2017 1sts?

Fournette, Mixon, CMC At 1.01-1.03, Engram at 1.07 and Kupp at 1.12. Which is alot better than I would have done. I was going to take Fournette, Corey Davis and OJ Howard at 1.01-1.03. Unfortunately for him he traded all 5 of them away by the end of the year. He also drafted Kittle in the 4th and traded him away right before he broke out. He's a legendary trader and basically has a new team every month or 2.

[BigBawseRoss]

some of those trades made little sense for your trade partner but you got it done and are looking strong!