Best Mid-Round Values: Players to Target in Rounds 9+

The Dynasty Startup Draft is a pivotal day in your Dynasty career, laying the foundation for your team’s future success. Properly valuing players and making quality picks can immediately create distance between you and your league mates. A successful draft could give you the upper hand, while a poorly constructed team could result in years of rebuilding. To avoid getting off to a slow start, I’m giving you my list of mid-to-late-round players to target in your next startup draft. I’ve based my player values on a Dynasty PPR Superflex, Tight-End Premium League. 

ADP (average draft position) is the most common statistic used to draft players, but it can sometimes lead you astray. It is undoubtedly a useful tool, as ADP tells us how the rest of the dynasty community views these players. But relying solely on ADP when creating your roster may cause you to miss out on some undervalued players. For this article, I have decided to use the ADP from Sleeper and the player rankings from Dynasty Football Factory and Flock Fantasy. I’ve taken the average player ranking across all three platforms, as this should give us a good indication of actual player value. Below are a few names I believe are “steals” in Round 9 and beyond!

Matthew Stafford – ADP 105 (Mid-9th)

Stafford and the Rams took the “Super Bowl Hangover” to a new level in 2022, scraping together just five wins on the season. Stafford struggled with a neck injury and elbow tendonitis, only appearing in nine games. By Week 11, Stafford and his top wide receiver Cooper Kupp suffered season-ending injuries, and their playoff hopes were over shortly after. Stafford is now 35, so age may be catching up to him now, but his dynasty value has dropped to a level where I’m excited to grab him in startup drafts. When looking at quarterbacks in this range, I am looking for a guy with job security, and Stafford has precisely that. His contract is good through 2026, and the Rams only have a realistic out after 2025. That’s at least three more seasons from Stafford under center, provided he can stay healthy. I’m very willing to grab Stafford in this range as my QB3. He gives you that added level of security in your Superflex league. 

Tyler Allgeier – ADP 107 (Late 9th)

I assume that fantasy owners are shying away from the BYU running back for fear of the Falcons drafting another rookie RB or signing a veteran this off-season. These are legitimate concerns, considering Allgeier was just a fifth-round pick in last year’s NFL Draft. And historically speaking, NFL teams are quick to replace RBs with limited draft capital, regardless of performance early in their career. A few names that come to mind are Michael Carter, James Robinson, and Phillip Lindsay. All three of these RBs had limited to no team investment based on draft capital (Robinson and Lindsay went undrafted), all three players burst onto the NFL scene as rookies, and all three lost their starting job by Year 3 or sooner. So am I saying Allgeier is an outlier and will remain a workhorse back for the next 5-7 years? Not necessarily. But the gamble is well worth the price if he’s falling to us in the ninth round. Allgeier showed RB1 talent after the bye week, averaging 107 rush YPG on 5.5 YPC for the season’s final four games. I would have loved to see more out of him as a pass-catcher, but at the same time, nobody was catching passes in this offense this past year.

Chigoziem Okonkwo – ADP 144 (Late 12th/Early 13th)

Okonkwo was among the few bright spots in a lackluster season for the Tennessee Titans. The rookie from Maryland hauled in 32 receptions for 450 yards and three touchdowns on the year, putting him in line with fellow rookie Greg Dulcich. Except Dulcich is going nearly two rounds earlier in startup drafts currently. The Titans depleted receiving corps consists mainly of just Treylon Burks and Okonkwo. Both are only going into their second season, and one can assume Vrabel will look to build around these two pieces in the future. I like taking Chigoziem in this range in virtually any scenario. If you have already taken an elite TE early in your draft, Okonkwo is a great TE2 value for your team and a great young player to invest in for TEP leagues. Or he could develop into an excellent trade asset to upgrade a different area of your roster later on. If you missed out on the elite TEs early in your draft and decided to punt the position, grabbing Okonkwo as your TE1 could prove to be a major steal. He should have ample opportunity for this Titans team for the foreseeable future. 

Brandin Cooks – ADP 144 (Late 12th/Early 13th)

The Dallas Cowboys recently traded for the ninth-year man out of Oregon State, yet player rankings and ADP suggest his value has stayed the same. The consensus is that Cooks is over the hill at this point. I will admit there’s no guarantee Brandin Cooks will even be in the league three years from now. But at this point in the draft, you’re either throwing darts or drafting a veteran that’s quickly declining. And I’ll take my chances with a guy who has been a WR2 or better in six of nine seasons. In this elite offense, I feel confident about plugging and playing Cooks at any time, as he should be the WR2 for Dak in 2023. Even if we only get one more quality season out of the man, that’s enough value for me in this range. He’s currently sitting with a WR5/WR6 value, which in most cases, will never crack your starting lineup. Drafting a guy in the 13th round that can be a flex option during bye weeks without much drop-off in team performance can be a difference-maker. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope you got some valuable information you can use for your next startup draft! If you’d like additional insight into Dynasty Football news and analysis, please follow me on Twitter at @DynastySavant. Until next time, keep grinding out there, Dynasty family! #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding