If dynasty fantasy football is meant to replicate the thrill of running a real football franchise, then the taxi squad is like your team’s practice squad.
The taxi squad is a feature unique to dynasty fantasy football, a special roster carve-out that allows team managers to stash young players and watch them develop. While taxi squads do require a greater time commitment for research and roster management, most commissioners find that they’re a fun and fulfilling add-on to keep players interested.
What is a dynasty fantasy football taxi squad?
A taxi squad is a special part of a dynasty roster for players to remain in their first few years in the league while they develop and eventually move into larger roles. This can be especially useful for players like quarterbacks or late-round picks, who may take a few years to grow into their potential in the NFL before they start producing real fantasy points.
Ryan Podnar, founder of Football Fanalysts Network, pointed out that adding taxi squads in a dynasty fantasy football league makes it more true-to-life.
“Imagine that you’re an NFL GM and you have the chance to get the best quarterback in the class talent-wise, but he’s a little bit raw and needs more time until he gets to be your starting quarterback,” Podnar says. “As an NFL GM, you can just put that player on your bench. Now, it would be great to be able to just draft a player in a dynasty rookie draft and say this player is not ready yet, I’m going to put him on my bench, but sometimes it’s not that simple.”
The solution, Podnar says, is a taxi squad. Bench spots are extremely valuable in dynasty fantasy football, and it’s often not worth wasting one of those spots on a player who realistically won’t be contributing to your team for another year or two.
“If I were to tell you that there was a designated spot for players that are extremely talented and you believe will be good in a little bit of time, imagine the value that would bring to your dynasty team,” he said. “That’s the value of the taxi squad.”
Rules for taxi squads
There are some key differences between taxi squads and your bench. Unlike bench players, those on a taxi squad are ineligible to be placed in your lineup until they are moved over to a full roster spot — at which point they cannot return to the taxi squad.
There can be some differences in how many spots are reserved for taxi squads. Some dynasty leagues reserve three spots, while others can use five or more. No matter the size, the rules for a taxi squad are generally the same.
Players can only stay on for a few years
Most leagues only allow players to stay on a taxi squad for a period of two or three years. At that point, they must either be elevated to an active roster or become free agents.
Players only move from the taxi squad once
Here is one important way that a taxi squad differs from an NFL’s practice squad — once a player is moved to your fantasy team’s active roster, they can’t go back on a taxi squad. And if a player from the taxi squad is traded, they must go to the active roster of the team that acquired them.
Taxi squads are (mostly) for young players
The taxi squad is created to give young players a chance to develop without taking up a valuable spot on the bench, but your league could also reserve a few spots for older players as well. Just like the NFL allows teams to stash up to six veteran players on their practice squads, some dynasty leagues allow a few spots on the taxi squad for vets.
Benefits of the taxi squad
Adding a taxi squad to your dynasty league is about more than just freeing up bench spots. It can increase the value of your annual rookie draft, allowing players to do more research and find hidden gems.
A taxi squad can be a big benefit to players to draft well, allowing them to hold onto players as they grow rather than scrambling to pull them off the waiver wire when they do finally break through. It also makes late-round rookie draft picks more valuable, which can make a more competitive league overall as players who slack off in their draft preparation will lose a major advantage to the better-prepared managers.
As one league commissioner noted on the Dynasty Fantasy Football subreddit, rookie drafts in their league were not taken very seriously before the addition of taxi squads.
“We’ve seen individuals give away 5th round picks as a joke, and a large chunk of 4th- 5th rounders aren’t ever added to a team or are dropped early in the season,” the commissioner shared.
“Taxi squads promote the most fun part about dynasty fantasy football – building your team from the ground up and having a sense of ownership of your team. You want to be able to say that you did your research on a player like Ty Montgomery, drafted him in the 4th round, and now he’s a contributor on your team and leading you to a championship, rather than dropping him halfway through his first season because he’s buried on the depth chart and you needed to pick up a tight end while your starter was on bye.”
Managing taxi squads
The addition of a taxi squad can introduce a new layer of strategy in a dynasty fantasy football league.
While most rookies, especially those on offense, can be introduced to the NFL slowly, there are some big exceptions. Philip Lindsay is a great example. He joined the Denver Broncos as an undrafted rookie in 2018, and most dynasty fantasy players who were smart enough to pick him up that preseason likely would have stashed him on the taxi squad to start the season.
But Linday would have forced their hand very quickly into that season. He rushed for 171 total yards in his first two games as a rookie, adding 35 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. Moving a rookie off the taxi squad is a big decision, but in the case of Lindsay the manager would have been rewarded as he finished his rookie season with more than 1,000 rushing yards.
Taxi squads help you ‘write your own novel’
Players who join dynasty fantasy football are in it for the challenge. These leagues are a year-round commitment that require a significant amount more research and day-to-day maintenance than a traditional fantasy football league.
Taxi squads help create an experience that is much closer to the roster management of a real team, and can make a much more rewarding experience. Jonathan Bauman, author of “Upside Down Drafting,” said on the Dynasty Front Office podcast that a taxi squad helps give a player more control of their team — and their fate in the league.
