What is Devy Fantasy Football?
Devy fantasy football is a variation of the way to play dynasty fantasy football with a fun twist. It combines college football with your fantasy team.
For dynasty fantasy football leagues, you build your rosters through rookie drafts, trades, and free agency. Usually, the worst your record is the better your pick is for the following season’s rookie draft. So if you had the worse record this season, you more than likely would have drafted Bijan Robinson from Texas, who many consider being the best running back in the class.
In Devy or Developmental Fantasy Football, the league starts drafting players who are not yet eligible to be drafted in the NFL and stashes them away to join their teams when they are drafted to the NFL. So in this instance, Bijan Robinson would more than likely be on someone’s roster already, and the worst record in the league would have the first pick in the devy draft and the rookie draft.
Why are there 2 drafts and what is the difference between them?
As I mentioned above, there are 2 drafts in Devy fantasy football leagues, a Devy draft, and a rookie draft.
The Devy draft is to allow the owners to select the players that are not yet NFL eligible. In the leagues I have been in, Devy drafts have 3 rounds.
The rookie draft might not seem as important, but these are the players that were not selected as Devy players that are turning pro. You might be asking yourself why is this draft important with the Devy draft selecting 36 players a year. The purpose of this draft is for players just like Joe Burrow, who really kicked it into gear his junior season at LSU but probably wasn’t on anyone’s Devy roster before then.
How will Devy Players affect my roster?
In Devy Fantasy Football, Devy Players should not affect your fantasy roster. Normally, Devy players are kept on your Taxi Squad until they are drafted into the NFL. Once they are drafted the fantasy team owner(s) need to move them to the active roster or drop them, you might need to trade away or drop an active player to make room for the Devy player on your roster.
The number of Taxi Squad spots for the Devy players will depend on the commissioner of the Devy fantasy football league. I believe there should be unlimited spots to allow teams the chance to rebuild and trade for other teams’ Devy players. They will not affect the scoring of your team until they are starting on your active roster.
How do you rebuild in Devy Fantasy Football?
Rebuilding in Devy fantasy football leagues could be easier than in Dynasty leagues if you can find a trade partner. Besides just trading picks, in Devy leagues, you can trade for the actual players you were hoping to draft in the following rookie drafts in Dynasty leagues.
An example of this could be that your team needs to rebuild and you have Mike Evans. A team that is competing for the championship is interested in Evans and has Jordan Addison, whom you are interested in. Here you can make the trade if the Addison owner is interested. You know what you are getting and don’t have to hope a player you likes falls to the pick you would get for Mike Evans, which could be between picks 1.10 – 1.12.
Is Devy Fantasy Football for me?
This would depend on the person. There are multiple factors that could factor into your decision. I like to play in Devy leagues because I enjoy scouting players, easier rebuilds, and it gives me for of a GM feeling with Devy players compared to doing a rookie draft. Sometimes being in a Devy fantasy football league can be time consuming, but if you like college football as much as pro football I would suggest giving it a shot.
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