Welcome to your Weekly Dynasty Challenge here at UTHdynasty.com. What the weekly challenge is designed to do is make you step out of your comfort zone, try some different strategies and become a better dynasty owner. The whole reason we started this site was to create a legion of dominant dynasty leaguers that are as passionate about the game as we are. Without further ado, here is your weekly dynasty challenge.

The Assignment

This weeks assignment could be one of the more enjoyable ones of the 2014 season. Why? Because I am advising you to start putting your rookie draft boards together. Yes, I realize it’s really early in the process, but the mouse never stops running on the wheel of good dynasty owners. You’ve been game planning this rookie draft for probably 1-2 years, by acquiring extra draft picks and following your favorite college players weekly. So why stop there? Plus, there are a few advantages to getting a jumpstart on your leaguemates who are “slacking” because “they aren’t thinking about fantasy football right now”.

The Goal

The goal for this weeks challenge is a little different than most weeks. There are multiple goals to this challenge which makes it a unique one, but also gives you good insight as to where my head I at for this particular challenge.

Goal One

The first goal is all about putting your scouting prowess to the test.

By putting a board together this early, it allows you to get a really good feel for how your film scouting process stacks up against actual NFL franchises. I say that because that is all we really have to go on right now. Sure, we have a decent hypothesis of what we “think” their measurables are going to be, but they could be off significantly. If the draft board you make now is similar to the actual end results of the NFL Draft, you probably should stick with what you’re doing. If not, you should be asking “what can I do to get better next year”?

Goal Two

The second goal reminds us how everything changes, fast.

The landscape of a rookie draft/rankings can change in an awful big hurry after the combine. Names that were once considered late round prospects make enormous jumps (kind of like Cody Latimer last year) and become the apples of our eyes. When that happens, your original drat board has to change, right? Of course it does, everything changes for the most part, remember. I believe it is vital to make pre-combine, post-combine and post-NFL Draft boards, that way you can see how your rankings evolved over the course of four months in black and white.

*Important Tip*

Make sure you save all of these rankings to make sure you can compare the before and after. Otherwise, this exercise serves zero purpose.

Goal Three

The third and final goal is to get a better feel for player value/draft position.

Let’s say you are in the market to buy a wide receiver (shocking, I know. A UTH reader, buying a WR?) and you are holding the 1.06. Your probably looking at a limited group of WR’s (that you would actually like to own) you can buy straight up with that pick. Well, that is where your rookie draft board comes into play. Maybe you project on your board Kevin White will be available at 1.06 and you like him better than the aforementioned limited group. Well, that makes your decision pretty easy then doesn’t it? Now it isn’t a 100% guarantee White will be available, but great dynasty owners always have a contingency plan in these situations, and your rookie draft board is a direct reflection of that.

Good luck and keep building those dynasties.