Sometimes, there’s nothing better than a retrospective.
I constantly watch old countdowns from NFL Network’s “NFL Top 10” on YouTube or whatever the latest insane Netflix documentary about pop culture is. Even if you lived through the experience of whatever subject while it was happening, reaching back and seeing how well or poorly things have aged is fascinating.
It’s like opening a time capsule, in a way.
Anyone who’s a longtime dynasty fantasy football manager identifies with this feeling well. Have you ever gone back and looked at a startup draft you completed however many years ago? Or reflect on the original deal that netted you X player in return and what those draft picks eventually turned into? It’s fun, isn’t it?
These practices are not only intriguing, but they also make us better at playing dynasty. Evolving means taking past information and adequately identifying what went well and what didn’t. You know, the whole “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it” thing?
In keeping with that spirit, I recently learned that the dynasty strategy of “Productive Struggle” turned 10 years old this year.
While my skills as a documentarian are essentially non-existent, let’s take some time in written form to explore the strategy's origin, impact, evolving aspects, and how to avoid the pitfalls of execution.
Origins of ‘Productive Struggle’
Senior writer Ryan McDowell from Dynasty League Football (or DLF for short) coined this concept in 2014, and its impact has been wide-reaching across the pretend game about a game to the point where it’s a broadly known and recognized philosophy.
Rather than speaking for him in this article, I conducted a text interview with McDowell himself to provide some answers as to what he defines the concept as and how it stems from his experience as a teacher:
In your words, what is ‘Productive Struggle,’ and how is it meant to be executed generally?
McDowell: “I took this term from the education profession and applied it to the fantasy football world, specifically the dynasty game. For dynasty fantasy football purposes, Productive Struggle is a startup draft strategy in which a manager accepts presumed year-one losses while building a team of young players and/or players that have a clear pathway to gain value, along with additional draft pick capital.
Ideally, a Productive Struggle team would earn the 1.01 rookie pick entering Year 2 of the league and then have enough assets to compete for a playoff spot or even a title after a poor first season.”
It may seem like a bizarre idea to intentionally do something that may make your league experience more difficult, but the basis for this concept is steeped in educational research. In essence, the intended goal of Productive Struggle is to embrace obstacles and build up the skill and ability to problem-solve through confrontation of even more complicated issues.
McDowell, himself a professional teacher by trade, explains that utilizing Productive Struggle boils down to the reality that “teachers can sometimes let students struggle with a goal of solving a given problem on their own.”
“Essentially, the struggle leads to production and success.” However, he does mention that it’s occasionally “difficult for a teacher to know when is the right time to employ this strategy rather than offering more direct assistance or instruction.”
Where it ties into dynasty is quite interesting, and an area where he and I agree is that it’s a fitting name for a strategic approach that can be tricky to employ.
What People Do (and Don’t) Understand About Productive Struggle
As I’m sure you can infer, the dynasty purpose of Productive Struggle is to, in theory, build a young powerhouse team of players all peaking in production around the same time a la the 2000s New England Patriots or the 2010s San Francisco Giants in the MLB.
After all, the format is referred to as “dynasty” with the implied goal of attempting to build a dynasty that can win multiple titles in a particular period.
However, McDowell admits that the strategy has been around long enough that some aspects have become commonplace accepted truths within the dynasty sphere.
Specifically, he highlights “a focus on acquiring future rookie picks and building teams around young players.”
“We’ve seen a shift in the NFL over the last decade with rookies and second-year players being counted on for on-field production earlier and earlier in their respective careers. This has obviously created a major spike in dynasty value thanks to the early production combined with younger ages.”
This spread of the PS gospel ties back into the heart of a prior article I penned on the concept of the availability cascade. Once an idea or research is released into the universe, it trickles down with a cascading effect, reaching people at a distilled level of simple understanding.
Yes, most of us now know that building around young wide receivers like Malik Nabers or Drake London is a sound move. Many dynasty managers are also privy to the amount of information now regarding how important and predictive early-career success can be.
Everyone being “in” on this knowledge makes executing the strategy just a bit harder. But it’s not just about whether or not Productive Struggle can be pulled off; do people even understand how it works?
I’m sure you’ve seen several articles that have come out further dissecting this concept of yours over time. As the innovator behind it, what are some aspects you feel people grasp well, and are there certain angles that are misunderstood/misguided?
McDowell: “I have seen many, many “bad” dynasty teams referred to as a Productive Struggle, and that’s usually not the case. Often, these teams are completely missing out on the steps toward production, leaving them to simply struggle. A Productive Struggle is best used during a startup draft but can also be attempted years into an existing league. The manager has to be making moves to successfully rebuild their team, though.”
That’s right—certain folks often forget to be very active in this process. Simply having a young team that isn’t good doesn’t mean the same thing as being engulfed in the Productive Struggle mindset.
You have to pursue value opportunities and make acquisitions actively! Otherwise, all you’re doing is catching yourself in an eternal rebuild.
“Focusing on youth, acquiring additional draft picks, identifying and trading for players that can gain value (this usually means injured or backup players) are pieces of the puzzle,” says McDowell, but he adds that “a manager has to be willing to lose, sometimes even intentionally, within the rules of their league” to get the job done, too.
There’s the other tricky part: you have to make an effort to lose deliberately without upsetting your league settings involving a violation of any kind to get within the conventional parameters of this strategy.
You know, that’s why “Productive” is the operative word in the whole thing.
Being able to set yourself up to get those high picks and building the juggernaut isn’t a passive activity. So next time your league mate who barely checks in on things says they’re trying a Productive Struggle, give them a firm wag of your virtual finger; they’re doing it wrong.
As McDowell himself warns, “If the time, effort, and strategy is not being poured into these teams, they are very likely to simply stay bad, failing to compete for a playoff spot and continuing to struggle year after year. So, accepting the struggle without moving towards the production is a dynasty death sentence.”
Reflection and The Future of Productive Struggle
So far, we’ve learned that many people fundamentally misunderstand that you must be very active in a Productive Struggle and that much of the groundwork behind the theory has been repackaged into the widespread nature of dynasty philosophy.
In that way, it’s already evolved plenty, but let’s ask the man behind the concept his thoughts on its growth and prevalence:
In what ways has your perspective on ‘productive struggle’ changed since its inception?
McDowell: “I think it is much more difficult to successfully pull off a true Productive Struggle in 2024 compared to a decade ago. Nearly all of the ideals of Productive Struggle have become popular ways to play on their own, separate from the strategy… In fact, building a team of all rookies and second-year players could easily result in a competitive, championship-level team rather than a team built for the future.”
Here, we bring up an opportunity to consider a vital question: Is a strategy viable if it becomes too pervasive and successful?
There’s a solid argument to be made that the answer is yes. Look at how Zero RB approaches have taken over the world of redraft fantasy football and even how those thoughts have permeated into our corner of the dynasty universe. We even see examples of this in football, like how members from the Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan coaching tree now make up several head coaches and offensive coordinators throughout the NFL.
It’s difficult for a novel idea to sustain its differentiating value once it’s become widespread.
So what would Ryan McDowell say to someone thinking about dipping into the PS water:
What is the one nugget of wisdom you’d give to someone brand new to trying to attempt productive struggle, knowing what you know now?
McDowell: “This is difficult, but I’m not sure Productive Struggle, as originally designed, is an ideal strategy in 2024. Because of the difficulty in acquiring additional rookie picks, along with the race to build around young players, in some ways, most teams are following this path, but they are not struggling due to the increased production of young players.
We’re also seeing increased depth at the wide receiver position, which is usually the focus of a Productive Struggle team. With that, there are enough wideouts to go around so the arms race is not always present or even necessary. In my most recent dynasty startup drafts, I have continued to focus on young players, building around receivers and acquiring as many extra rookie picks as possible, but I’ve mostly abandoned the idea that it has to come with a losing first season.”
To Ryan’s point, actively trying to win from the outset with a young team might be your best differentiator at this point. It tracks logically, too: why be bad now and good later when you can just try to be good the whole time?
If there are enough young, immediately productive players in the league (which we all anecdotally know to be accurate at a minimum), then it should behoove you to make a push from the jump. None of this is to say you can’t hound for future capital, too, but zigging when others zag, in this case, involves active pursuit.
So before you set course on your next startup with the Productive Struggle in mind, consider some of the lessons learned here:
Many people are aware of it now — the strategy is watered down if you’re among several people trying to accomplish it.
If you commit to a Productive Struggle, you cannot be passive. It’s a crucial cornerstone to the strategy that you do your best to churn out deals for value and game your league’s rules within a legal parameter.
If the legwork or pervasive nature of the strategy is too much, just build a young team and win now!
And if that’s not far enough, maybe you could be like Ryan and delve into a new format altogether for a fresh, unique challenge:
“Personally, I’ve also started playing mostly in auction leagues, which changes the entire team-building strategy and makes it even more difficult to pull off a tanking-type strategy.”
Always remember to challenge your boundaries and understanding of how the game of dynasty works. Be willing to try different theories and find out what works best for you. And, most importantly, adapt even when the tips and approaches you’ve spent years on aren’t working as well anymore.
There’s still truth to it all; you just need to push forward to deepen your ability to execute.
