My basic philosophy to the dynasty trade market is to continually turnover the top of my depth chart and acquire both young talent and future picks to build up my roster. A.J. Green, who has been on a good run the last two weeks, was a big piece to my 4-0 start in this league and I also knew if I was going to shop him around the league I could get almost anything I wanted.
I sent out offers to almost every team in the league that had multiple young pieces who I could continue building my team around. By the time I was done shopping I knew there would be three teams I would be focusing on with enough talent to trade away A.J. Green at a premium. All of the trades were similar value for multiple pieces plus high-end rookie picks. It took the whole weekend and about 30 emails back and forth, a deal was finally reached from one of them:
Gave A.J. Green
Received Todd Gurley, Christine Michael, 2016 Round 1
The first dynasty trade offer I sent out was to test the waters of interest in a deal. I sent the offer of A.J. Green for Todd Gurley, Ameer Abdullah, Christine Michael, and a first round pick. Feeling out the water was the perfect ice breaker I needed to get the ball rolling towards a deal. The counter I received was two 2016 firsts for Green. Finally, I gave a little on my end and he knew that if he wanted Green he would need to pay a premium. Gurley was rated 1B on my 2015 rookie board and Michael is a priority target across the board, and the 2016 first was icing on the cake.
Post-Trade Roster
Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers
Todd Gurley, Mark Ingram, Dion Lewis, Isaiah Crowell, Darren Sproles, Matt Jones
DeAndre Hopkins, Brandin Cooks, Amari Cooper, Davante Adams, Sammy Watkins, Allen Robinson, Tyler Lockett, Ty Montgomery, Cody Latimer, Breshad Perriman, Kevin White
Dwayne Allen, Kyle Rudolph
2016: RD1, RD1, RD2, RD2
This trade was not as much about the loss of A.J. Green as much as it is the ability to acquire Todd Gurley. I am confident Todd Gurley will be a top-5 overall dynasty asset at some point in his career, if not the beginning of next year, and to get him along with multiple other target pieces was a massive win. With the ability to start three running backs per week, this being a PPR league, and more healthy players coming down the pipe I am primed for this year and the foreseeable future with little slowing down.
Mark Ingram and Dion Lewis are potential sells in the coming weeks and I will be actively shopping for a serviceable tight end. If Brandin Cooks can pick up steam this is a title-contending team with few weak spots.
