Four teams are outside the field. Here is the road back.

The league takes six teams, and the playoffs start in week 15. That leaves ten games after this one. The trade deadline is not one of those games. It is the Thursday after week 10, and the deal has to be submitted and accepted in Sleeper before that night’s kickoff. That is six games from now. On this morning’s board the six ahead of the cut are Nathan, Hefner, Fuss, Thomas, Holden, and Morgan. The four on the other side of it are Greer, Lucas, Devyn, and John Mitchell. None of them are eliminated. Sleeper has not even rolled the standings for Sunday yet.

They are not the same problem. Greer is 0–4 if you count a loss that is already over, and he still has Hurts, McCaffrey, Chase, and Jefferson. Lucas is 0–4 in a different way, down 43 to a team whose quarterback has not played. Devyn is likely to be 1–3 once Bijan plays tonight. John Mitchell is 2–2 if you count the win he already has, which makes him the closest of the four. Each beat writer put a five-step plan on the desk. The rules are the same in all of them. Thomas is the champion, so he cannot be in a trade. Everyone else can. Players and picks are the currency, and cash is not. This is a dynasty, so a rental that costs the young core is not a road back.

One fact sits under all four plans. This league does not bid. Tuesday is a priority list, the low score draws the front of it, and then whoever is left is a free agent. In a ten-team league with sixteen bench spots, that list will not hand anyone a franchise player. The season turns on a trade made before Thursday night of the week after week 10, and on the trades they are smart enough not to make.