What is DPX (Dynasty Performance Index)?

Data Dictionary · the in-career dynasty value model

Why it matters

Dynasty trade values run on ADP and vibes, and both of them lag. A guy's role changes in week 3 (his targets jump, or they quietly dry up) and the market takes weeks to catch up. Sometimes it never does. That lag is where you make your money.

So I built DPX to price it. One number, computed the same way for every guy in every season, that you can hold up next to whatever your leaguemate thinks he's worth. When those two disagree, you've got a trade. It works in both directions, and honestly the sell side is where most folks leave money on the table.

How DPX is calculated

Everything that goes into the score sits in one of three buckets, and every stat in them is measured against the rest of his position, per game or per chance:

Add the three up and you've got the score. The tiles on the DPX page are the score broken into its parts, so you can see exactly what's carrying a guy. Then I cut every position into deciles: D1 is the top 10% of his position, D10 the bottom.

One thing DPX does not do is adjust for age, contract or draft capital. It measures production, period. Whether a 29-year-old back's production is worth paying for is your call, and the aging curves on Roster Intel are where I'd start.

Same deal as DMX on the weights. How I blend it all together I keep to myself. Everything else is out in the open on the Model Transparency page: the inputs, the outputs, the validation.

DPX Base vs DPX Now

It's the same formula run on two seasons, and that's the whole idea.

• DPX Base is his last full season, 2025 right now. Think of it as what he started the year at.
• DPX Now is the same score run on the season being played. It recomputes every Tuesday, starting after week 1.

Because it's the same measurement a year apart, a gap between the two means something actually changed. Three from 2026, through week 3:

DPX Base from the 2025 season; DPX Now from 2026 through week 3. Pulled October 3, 2026.

Golden went from a rookie on the fringe to a top-decile receiver in three games. Maye went the other way. Nacua is the interesting one: his Efficiency reading this year is +2.83, which is elite, but his Scoring is −0.67. He's doing plenty with the ball and the touchdowns haven't shown up yet. That's a buy for me.

When a season ends, its DPX Now simply becomes next year's DPX Base. No extra machinery.

A worked example

Let me walk one through. Here's Jonathan Taylor, both readings side by side:

Component readings are z-scores against his position. 2026 is through week 3. Pulled October 3, 2026, from the DPX rankings.

Last year everything pointed the same way, which is what a no-doubt RB1 looks like in the data. Fine. You didn't need me for that one.

This year is more interesting. He's getting the ball even more and still finding the end zone, so he's D1 either way. But the per-carry efficiency has dropped below average. Three games is a small sample, and I'm not selling a workhorse over it. It is the number I'd watch every Tuesday, though, because volume holds up a score right up until it doesn't.

The guys worth your time are the ones where the buckets fight each other: big touchdown numbers sitting on thin volume, or monster volume with the efficiency falling out from under it. That's where DPX walks away from the consensus rankings, and that's where the trades are.

Reading DPX like an analyst

Four patterns cover most of what you'll actually use this thing for.

• When the buckets disagree, go look. Elite Scoring on weak Volume is your classic regression candidate, touchdown-dependent production the market is pricing like it repeats. Usually it doesn't. The flip side is the quiet buy: heavy Volume with soft Scoring. Opportunity is the stickiest stat in football, and the touchdowns tend to come find it.
• Read the gap between Base and Now. A D1 Base with a D7 Now is a different asset from a D1 that's still D1. Check both before you pull the trigger.
• DPX moves before ADP does. Market prices absorb a role change slowly. DPX Now picks it up the Tuesday after it happens. The gap between where a guy's DPX is heading and what he's going for in your league is your window, and it closes as everybody else catches on.
• Respect the sample. DPX Now after three games is three games. DPX Base is a full season. Early on, Now swings hard on purpose, because it's the season as it has actually been played. The gap gets more trustworthy every week, so don't trade a guy away over one bad Sunday.

DPX for defenders

IDP players get their own version, built only from defensive stats and never from fantasy points, because IDP scoring varies way too much from league to league to lean on any one system. Each defender is ranked inside one of five groups (EDGE, DT, LB, CB and S), so an edge rusher only gets compared with other edge rushers.

Three buckets here too: Volume (tackles), Big Plays (sacks, interceptions, pass deflections, forced fumbles) and Pressure (tackles for loss and QB hits beyond the sacks). Same as on offense, the three add up to the score. Same DPX Base and DPX Now, same Tuesday update, and the history goes back to 2004.

DPX vs DMX

I built the two so they wouldn't overlap. A rookie carries his DMX score into the league as the prior, and from his first NFL season on, DPX takes over as the live read. When a guy's DPX breaks hard from what his DMX said he'd be, in either direction, that's exactly what the Analytics residual tools are built to chew on. Those breaks are my favorite thing in the whole database.

Using DPX on the platform

• DPX Rankings: DPX Base and DPX Now side by side for everybody, with the bucket breakdowns.
• My Leagues: sync an MFL or Sleeper league and see your own roster the same way.
• Weekly: Base › Now on every player on your roster, plus Trade Intel built on the gap.
• Model Transparency: the methodology, the validation, and where both models fall short.

Frequently asked questions