Blog

It’s really the one thing on Twitter that I get bugged about. “Bugged” is the wrong word. Harassed is more like it.

I kid. I kid. It means you like this thing. That means I like you.

The Empire League Trade Value Chart was born at a Five Guys several years ago when Christian Peterson and I wanted a ranking system specific to the Empire format. Something that could help us gauge value and make trades as well. So, after a double with cheese, bacon, fried mushrooms and onions, the ELTVC was born. CP took the mantle for a few years and now I’ve lovingly taken it over for a while now.

A few notes on the ELTVC.

First, this can be used for dynasty as well, but Empire has a certain element of “win-now” to it, as you have to hope to thwart the current emperor to keep the league alive. So, there’s still value to aging players here, it’s not a youth competition, but it’s still skewed that way. We’ve always put it as, “this is where we think the value will lie in 2-3 years.”

Second, the trade value portion is not a perfect science. Hand this printable PDF to two different people, they’ll likely have massively different opinions and values on several players. I handed it to 5-6 guys in my office after this year’s first iteration and it was marked with a ton of arrows up and down. The stud players are intentionally inflated this year, because it takes a butt-load to acquire a Saquon or a CMC.

Third, the trade value portion is not a perfect science. Is there an echo in here? While Saquon Barkley sits at a 120 trade value, I don’t think anyone in their right mind will trade him for four or even five 30s. You’re not getting Saquon for your combo of Mark Ingram, Alshon Jeffery, James White and Tyler Lockett. You just won’t. A good rule of thumb is that the trades can only feature one more player on the other side (so a 1-for-2 or a 2-for-3) which keeps you in the range of two good players for one great one. Plus it keeps you out of the range of insulting your trade partner.

Lastly, I do consider this ELTVC as a PPR scoring system and QB-Flex. If you’re playing Empire without QB-Flex, I feel sorry for you. It’s an absolute must in 12-teamers to keep the value of QBs vibrant. The TVC is supposed to get your trade juices flowing! We want to see great trades that spawn from this. If you make a trade and you’ve used this tool, please tweet me your trade at @ExplosiveOutput.

I will update this periodically throughout the year. Today’s version is from August 20, 2019.

Click here to view the EMPIRE LEAGUE TRADE VALUE CHART.