Dynasty trade value basics
Every number on this site starts as a trade value, not a redraft projection. The question is not “how many points will this player score next week,” but “what is this asset worth to give or receive in a dynasty league with your settings.” Displayed values come from Dynasty Cheat Code's own market-aware model. We do not sell or republish consensus ranks. Market-aware means format scarcity, age curves, and resisting short-term hype — not pasting KeepTradeCut or FantasyCalc. Inputs are public facts: Sleeper rosters and depth charts, plus nflverse production and draft records. Buy/sell/hold is our outlook on where a player's dynasty value is heading, not a gap versus someone else's price.
The base board is 1QB
The engine first builds a base dynasty value on a roughly 0–100 scale for a standard 1QB, PPR, start-nine league. That base is the same object every format page starts from. Superflex, 2QB, and TE-premium do not invent a second player model — they multiply the same base by format scarcity rules. If you compare two numbers without matching the format, you are comparing different products.
Open the rankings or trade calculator with the format that matches your league before you argue about fairness.
What goes into the number
The veteran model blends public facts only: multi-season production and usage from nflverse, age and depth-chart role from Sleeper, draft pedigree as a fading prior, next-season opportunity when volume left a team, upside, contract certainty, and risk. Talent is not “production alone” — for a player with no NFL snaps yet, draft capital carries more weight; as real games accumulate, production takes over. Unproven players also take a deliberate discount so draft pedigree alone cannot leapfrog established producers.
Age is position-specific. The engine treats peak windows roughly as quarterback 27, running back 24, wide receiver 25, and tight end 26. Decay after peak is convex, not a straight line: mild near peak, severe far past it. Running backs fall fastest; quarterbacks hold longest. That is why a young back and an older back are not charged the same “RB tax” — short careers are priced through age, not a flat position penalty on every running back.
On the base 1QB scale, quarterbacks and tight ends sit lower than running backs and receivers of equal evidence, because replacement is cheaper in 1QB and standard TE scoring. Superflex and TE-premium formats put that scarcity back in the format layer. The full weighting story lives on the methodology page.
Format changes the same player
In Superflex and SF TE-premium, quarterbacks rise on a continuous ramp: streamers get a modest lift; elites get the largest one. 2QB pushes scarcity further. In 1QB, startable quarterbacks still hold real value, but mid and late quarterbacks are discounted because replacement is available. TE-premium lifts elite tight ends more than replacement tight ends — the premium accrues to players you would actually start.
Deeper starting lineups raise the floor of rotational skill players; shallow lineups concentrate value in elite difference-makers. None of this is ADP and none of it is a paid consensus board. It is scarcity math on top of the same profile.
Packages are not just sums
The trade calculator starts from those format-adjusted values, then applies two controls managers actually use in chat. Stud tax discounts each successive asset on a side so three mediums are worth less than one elite with the same raw sum — roster spots are scarce. Pick discount lets you scale future picks when a contender should pay less for distant capital, or a rebuilder should pay more attention to it.
A “fair” deal in raw points can still read uneven after stud tax. That is intentional. The calculator will say when depth was discounted and when the other side should ask for a bit more. Use it as honest math for your format, not as a moral verdict about your league mates.
What this number is not
It is not last season’s finish. On the published walk-forward, last-season points per game still correlates better with future production than our dynasty value (0.660 vs 0.601). We keep that comparison public on /track-record because dynasty value is asking a different question — multi-year trade value with age and role — not “who scored the most last year.”
It is also not a buy/sell price gap versus a consensus chart. Bullish and bearish labels are a directional outlook on where our own value is heading. Read that distinction in how to read the DCC verdict and how to use buy/sell.