Last Week's Question: Does trading draft picks work in redraft leagues?

My column for Week 5 invited readers to weigh in on the subject of trading draft picks in redraft leagues. There's nothing unusual about trading future draft picks in keeper/dynasty leagues, and tossing in a mid-round pick often greases the wheels on a trade that would otherwise be rejected. So I'm not surprised when I hear from readers who wish that their redraft league could be as comfortable when it comes to trading draft picks as their dynasty league is.

I don't know whether this applies to King or not, but I've seen comments like his many times over the years:

Trading picks in a redraft is something that has never happened in my redraft I play in with local friends. They also want nothing to do with in-draft trading as well. I tried to explain the benefits, [but] most just want nothing to do with it.

King's experience is commonplace—perhaps for good reason. Many commissioners have contacted me in the past to indicate that once the owners in a redraft league start trading for future draft picks, they check out for the remainder of the season. Doug is one such commissioner:

In my league (12-team redraft), we used to be able to trade draft picks. The best you could get was a third-round pick, and those would cost teams basically their best player (unless they had a really bad team and they couldn't get a third). After years of [allowing such trades], I decided to end the practice. The reasons were two-fold. First, the team that gives up their best player is DONE; the rest of their team was already bad (being they were in a position to give up their best player). So the rest of the season they had already given up; [such teams] were essentially a gimme if you were lucky enough to face them after the trade. The next season [those teams ended up with a drafting advantage over] everyone else (especially the team that gave them the third round pick. So [the team that trades away the pick ends up with an unfair advantage in the present, and the team that trades for the pick ends up with an unfair advantage in the future]. I just didn't like how it separated the competition in both years and put teams that drafted a good team without any extra players at a disadvantage. Just don't like it at all.

My fantasy league of 15 years nearly came to an end because of this. And I guarantee it will happen to any league that tries this [because] there is no incentive for owners of non-playoff teams to keep players. A 12th round pick for Le'Veon Bell? Sure, nobody offered anything better. Fire sale, everything must go! This created a lot of hard feelings and arguments.

So what we had at the end was 4 great teams (this year), 4 average teams (they refused to deal) and 4 awful teams (sold everything). And the next year it would flip flop. Basically, everyone in my league agreed this defeated the purpose of fantasy football, which was to have fun every year.

Those who have traded draft picks in keeper/dynasty leagues must be tearing their hair out over Bob's story. Why didn't the other owners drive up the price on Bell? Why would a third of the league respond to this frenzy of trading by sitting out?

I can't speak for the owners in Bob's league, but I suspect that some of them were worried about owners not sticking around to honor the terms of their agreement. After all, if I want to win this year's purse, why shouldn't I give away ALL of next year's draft picks for the best players I can get now? Then I can collect my winnings and quit the league. I heard from T.S. about one way to prevent this problem from cropping up:

If you allow the trading of future draft picks in a redraft league, I think each team's league fees for the following season need to be paid at the time of the trade. And if they don't return to the league, the money is non-refundable. That way, it would be easier to replace the owner who left by telling a new owner that the team is paid for already.

That's a great suggestion from T.S.—a rule that would probably be necessary for any redraft league considering the trading of future draft picks. However, I don't think that rule is sufficient. There would need to be other guidelines in place to prevent abuse/checking out. I hoped to hear from some readers whose leagues had made progress on that front because I think it would be fun to trade future draft picks in redraft leagues. But if anyone has found a way to make such transactions workable over the long-term, they haven't shared their secrets with me.

As usual, my thanks go out to everyone who responded to last week's question (whether I had space to reprint their remarks or not).

This Week's Question: What is your favorite non-English source of fantasy information?

This week I was contacted by an entrepreneur from Mexico who produces fantasy content for Spanish-speaking audiences. I may have the opportunity to learn more about his business model and the fantasy market in Latin America (and the rest of the Spanish speaking world) in the coming weeks, but his note got me thinking about how fantasy football must be booming in all sorts of non-English formats.

So I'm hoping that some of my readers can send me links or recommendations for non-English sources of fantasy football information—especially the ones that stand out because of their production value or the accuracy of their analysis or some other identifiable component that the English-only crowd can appreciate without requiring a direct translation of the material.
Please let me know what your favorite non-English source of fantasy football information is by posting a comment below or emailing me.

Survivor Pool Picks - Week 6 (Courtesy of Matthew Schiff)

Trap Game: New England at N.Y. Jets

This one is simple. You should always steer clear of divisional rivalries, especially when the division concerned is the AFC East—and even more especially when the three teams tied for the lead in that division are the reigning Super Bowl champion Patriots, the release-everyone-but-LeSean-McCoy Bills, and the go-for-next-year's-top-draft-pick-by-building-a-juggernaut-of-suck Jets. How can the Jets be tied for the lead in this division? And more importantly, how can the Patriots have the same record as the Jets? These questions should nag you in much the same way that Tom Brady's shoulder injury should nag him throughout an away game in which his opponents will have nothing to lose and everything to prove. Don't count out Gang Green in Week 6.

#3: Atlanta over Miami (2-3, BUF, TB, CLE, NE, NYG)

The Falcons come off their bye week with the hope that Julio Jones is healthy and that the Dolphins are as anemic as they have looked for a quarter of a season. In the preseason, a lot of folks expected Jay Cutler, Jay Ajayi, & DeVante Parker to be competitive with the likes of Matt Ryan, Devonta Freeman, and Jones. Things haven't worked out that way in Miami. After a surprise bye in Week 1, Cutler threw for just 230 yards in Week 2. Little did anyone suspect at the time that would be Cutler's best performance at this point in the season. He followed it up with 220 yards in Week 3, 164 in Week 4, and just 92 in Week 5. To say that the Miami offense isn't firing on all cylinders is an understatement; it is misplacing more and more cylinders each week. In fairness, the Dolphin defenders came on strong against the Titans in Week 4, but the Titans haven't moved the ball on the ground or through the air nearly as effectively as Atlanta, so there is little reason to expect the Dolphin D to rescue Smokin' Jay two weeks in a row.

#2: Houston over Cleveland (2-3, NE, SEA, PIT, ATL, PHI)

If you live in Houston, you're probably pretty excited about Deshaun Watkins right now. But as someone who doesn't live in Houston, i have no idea what to make of Watkins (beyond the fact that rookie QBs aren't supposed to score so many points). Since Watkins remains a mystery to me, this game is really about how bad the Browns are. And how bad is that? The Browns are so bad that they can't decide whether DeShone Kizer or Kevin Hogan gives them a better chance of winning . . . because they are incapable of thinking about winning—even as a hypothetical construct. Does Hue Jackson intend to start Hogan so that he can bring Kizer in to save the day? Or does he intend to name Kizer the starter at the last moment so that Hogan can save the day? Don't be silly; Jackson is a professional football coach; he knows better than to expect anyone on his roster to save the day.

#1: Denver over NY Giants (4-1 ATL, OAK, NE, SEA, PIT)

First off, I have to apologize to the loyal readers of this column. This year has been extremely tough on the survival pools, and my personal pick last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers, laid an egg at home and knocked me out of my pool (along with many of you, I fear). That said, some of you may have chosen my second choice last week, the Eagles, and survived to fight another day. If so, this is the week that the Mile High faithful have nothing to worry about in their visiting opponents, my very own favorite NY football Giants. The Giants are a team that is about to implode. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Eli Apple were both benched in last weeks’ game for poor secondary coverage. Maybe the Giants don't think they need anyone to break up passes anymore because there's no one left to catch passes when the defense scrimmages against the offense (thanks to leg and ankle injuries for Odell Beckham, Brandon Marshall, and Sterling Shepard). This team has lost three games in the final drive in the fourth quarter, and now there is public discord inside the locker room. Look for the Broncos to establish a lead early and then for Eli Manning to attempt to mount a comeback by throwing strictly to Evan Engram. It won't work out well for the men in blue.