Dynasty Analysis
Each week during the fantasy football season I’ll be bringing you my top three waiver wire adds for the upcoming week. These are guys who are not highly rostered and exceeded expectations during the previous week with a likelihood of continuing solid production. Without further ado, let’s jump into the week 1 waiver wire adds!
It is hard to feel safe starting a rookie, especially in week 1. There are too many question marks. Will they pick up the playbook? What is their talent level compared to their teammates and opponents? Will they be eased in or heavily relied on immediately?, Etcetera, etcetera… Well, I am here to put your mind at ease and show you who the truly reliable assets are from this 2021 rookie class. Because believe it or not, there ARE some studs from this class who will produce right away and throughout this season.
Since most of these recommended additions will occur over the weekend, we will exclude any players from the Thursday night game, since they will be locked from already having played. Let’s explore this week’s recommendations on the IDP crystal ball!
The year is 2021 and as Charles Darwin theorized, we must adapt or die. This is a theory that we are applying to our Against the Spread series for the 2021 season. Rather than picking the lines as we did in 2020 and prior, we are going to adapt the format to bring value not just to sports gamblers, but to all fantasy football players. In this series we will look at the Sunday slate, we are going to identify key games, and provide insights on why each bet could be the wise move. As we discover trends through the season we will be able to make more determined analyses on specific picks. To go along with matchups and trends, we will look at key fantasy players who have the most beneficial or detrimental matchups. Finally, we will provide a weekly underdog of the week as well as a potential parlay to win big.
I am going to highlight some of the best plays for this Sunday’s main slate. I have broken these plays down by position and by “Top Price”, “Middle Price”, and “Low Price”. Then, I list the players’ respective prices, projected points, and projected ownership in tournaments. Projected ownership is important to keep in mind for tournament plays as opposed to a regular cash play. In the “Notes,” I have given my thoughts about each player. I have also color-coded the quality level of each play. Green stands for a top-tier play, yellow is a middle-tier play, and red is a fade play.
The 2021 NFL season starts this week! Tampa Bay and Dallas kick off on Thursday night but you can still draft a Footballguys Players Championship team through Saturday. First place pays $500,000 and I finished third in the contest in 2019. It is now my life goal to take the big prize down. The Main Event also pays half a million and that would be fine, too.
Between these two large national redraft contests and all of my FFPC dynasty squads, I have 66 teams that I am managing. That is a lot of cheddar, a lot of waiver pickups, a lot of start/sit decisions, and a lot of time and energy. Everyone gets the prerogative to enjoy this hobby at whatever level they feel comfortable with. For me, it is a part-time career that involves the IRS and I have hired an assistant General Manager. That level may not be for everybody.
But for hardcore FFPC players like me, or for the more casual FFPC player, and for anyone in between, this is the first in a weekly series to give you actionable advice on the FFPC dynasty and redraft landscapes. I’d like to emphasize the Superflex format, but otherwise, I will focus on the waiver wire, trade market, general FF gamesmanship topics, and I will highlight one or two auctioned teams I bought from dynastydepot.com as those teams are all competing on their website for a handful of Main Event and FBG teams for 2022, as well as other weekly prizes.
Wilson has looked confident and in control the entire preseason and has a clear rapport with expected WR1 Corey Davis. He’s flashed not only the ability to make every throw but the savvy to know when to make the throw. I expect him to have lots of support with this running game straight from the Shanahan coaching tree, and we haven’t yet seen the explosive playmaking from Elijah Moore in a real game. Wilson has a blend of underrated mobility and Rodgers-Esque arm talent that can make him every bit worth the draft capital. I’m buying into the fact that the Jets want to change the culture and want pieces of this team before they boom next season.
Division 2 players seldomly make an NFL roster. It is even rarer for them to make an impact in the league. Currently, there are four proven receivers in the NFL right now that are products of a D2 school. Tyreek Hill, Adam Thielen, Tyrell Williams, and John Brown have all proven valuable fantasy assets. Mike Strachan may just be next in line.
Week 1 has finally arrived. You’ve waited months for this moment, and now it’s time to set your lineup and get the fantasy season started with a 1 in the win column. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with “Paul’s Picks.” Each and every week, I’ll be bringing you names at every position that I believe will exceed expectations or fall flat. So, without further ado, let’s get into my picks for Week 1.
LET’S GO! It’s finally football time, which means the fantasy season is officially starting this week. In this series, we will provide the best weekly options to stream at quarterback, tight end, and D/ST. Keep in mind, each streaming option will be below 50% owned, according to ESPN.
This will be the final article of twelve, counting down the days until we can once again sit and watch this sport that we love (and dominate our fantasy leagues in the process). Each article will have a numeric theme, which will also count down as each day ticks the calendar. In this piece, I’ll be discussing the top-10 players who will increase their dynasty value in the 2021 NFL season. So, without further ado, I am thrilled to bring you DFF’s 2021 “Kickoff Countdown”!
Yes I know, Zeke was disappointing for fantasy owners in 2020 and didn’t look like himself, but c’mon, 2020 was an odd year for everyone. Zeke has been one of the most consistent, durable, and skillful starting running backs over the last five seasons. Over his career, Zeke has only missed seven games, and only ONE of those being due to injury (calf strain Week 13 vs 49ers). Before Dak’s injury, Zeke looked like a top-tier RB ranking third in standard scoring. Also, Zeke was at a disadvantage with his offensive line facing injuries all season long. Travis Frederick retired before the season, La’el Collins had hip surgery, Tyron Smith with a neck injury after only two games, and Zack Martin only played 50% of snaps because of a lingering calf issue. That’s their top four options on the offensive line. Not to mention the backup OL was also getting banged up all season long and was constantly changing offering little consistency.
We’re just two days from NFL kickoff and that means one of the last opportunities to acquire or trade a player before reality sets in. Once the ball gets rolling there are no more “what ifs” and unknowns. If a player you love hits, you may have already missed the chance to trade for him at a reasonable price. If they bust, good luck finding a suitor with a decent offer. The DFFArmy is doing what we do best, staying ahead of the competition and keeping you overly prepared for year-round dynasty fantasy football.
Hello everybody and welcome to DFF’s Kickoff Countdown series! For each of the 12 days leading up to the first NFL game of the season, our staff at DFF has been releasing an article based on how many days are left. Today we are only three days away and that means I, @DFF_JoeMem, am here to bring you three wide receivers that I’d rather have at ADP over their higher ADP teammate in Superflex Dynasty leagues. Let’s dive in!
With just four days to go until kickoff, I’ll be discussing the top four under-the-radar tight end breakout candidates. This list is comprised of the tight ends who you can get almost for free in your draft who should exceed expectations. I’ve also included one additional name for the dynasty future!
With NFL Kickoff just five days away, we are truly entering the homestretch of this Kickoff Countdown series. In this entry, I’ll be breaking down five “dead zone” RBs that I believe you should be targeting in your fantasy drafts. The RB “dead zone,” if you aren’t familiar, is generally recognized as the back half of Round 3 through the end of Round 6. There is some evidence to suggest that RBs in this zone of the draft are less likely to return value on their ADP. In this article, I’ll be making the case for five exceptions to that rule.
I might have actually found a sleeper for you DFF Army! Tyler Kroft has bounced around the league in his six-year career, most recently with Buffalo, where he had very little opportunity and success. Not only was he in a less than ideal situation with the Bills, who haven’t typically featured a tight end in their offense, but he also missed a ton of time due to injuries over the last three years. He suffered a foot injury in both 2018 and 2019, then contracted COVID-19 in 2020 completely derailing his season. He finished the year with 12 receptions 119 yards and three touchdowns. Not all that bad for just 16 targets.
As we quickly approach our final fantasy drafts, the team at DFF wanted to provide everyone with a free one-stop-shop to head into Week 1. In the 2021 DFF Fantasy Guide, we will walk you through the different league formats and offer advice on how to best attack those leagues from a strategic perspective. We will then shift into looking at how positional values are changing over time. Our own Chris Miles compiled player projections for all fantasy-viable players that you can print out and bring to dominate your final fantasy drafts. Shifting back to a dynasty lens, several of our writers provide you with their favorite early-round, mid-round, and late-round targets in the ‘My Guys’ section. We will also take you behind the scenes of our ranking summit and compare where our rankers have players valued versus consensus ranks. Finally, we will look towards the future with an in-depth positional analysis of the upcoming rookie drafts. Our own Willie Beaman will close out the guide with his crystal ball rankings where he predicts the top-12 positional rankings that we could see heading into the 2023 fantasy season.
Welcome to the seventh installment in our 12-part series counting down the days until we can once again sit and watch this sport that we love (and dominate our fantasy leagues in the process). The idea behind this countdown is simple. Each article will have a numeric theme, counting down as each day is marked off the calendar, inching closer to kickoff. With just six days left until we have real football, this article will highlight six offenses to target for the fantasy football season.
Mac Jones was named the starter in New England this week after the surprising release of previously presumed QB1 Cam Newton. This was shocking to many as Belicheck has not let out a peep of who he was going with for the season. So what’s Mac Jones dynasty value?
Harrison Bryant was a diamond in the rough among one of the most underwhelming tight end draft classes in some time. Although Bryant was ranked outside the top five prospects in the class for many, he was by far the most productive receiving tight end in his final season of college football compared to the likes of Cole Kmet and Adam Trautman. He finishes his senior year at FAU with 65 receptions for 1,004 yards and seven touchdowns, good for a 19.9% team target share. He was a focal point of FAU’s offense considering his 26.2 (81st percentile) college dominator rating but we can look to the yards per team pass attempt (YTMPA) metric to further highlight his importance to the team. He finished 2019 at the top of the class with 2.0 YTMPA, a historically difficult threshold to reach.
Here at Dynasty Football Factory, we’re ecstatic for NFL Week 1. We’ve been working hard all offseason to break down all 32 teams and provide the best analysis to help you navigate your drafts and manage your teams. However, we aren’t done yet. With our “Kickoff Countdown” series we’re bringing you great content 12 days in a row! I’ve got you covered today, 7 days till kickoff. Every season there are players that “bust” or fail to meet expectations set by their ADP. In celebration of our “Kickoff Countdown” I will be giving you seven players to fade at their Redraft ADP, as we are seven days away from kickoff. Let’s get into it!
In this piece, I will be directly responding to a recent post by @Heady_Football in which he describes his ideal redraft draft strategy. In his article, he states that you should start your draft with three straight running backs while waiting on the other positions like wide receiver, tight end, and quarterback. I am here to tell you why I think there are better strategies to employ. So, after reading both you will truly be able to decide what you think is best.
There is no better feeling in fantasy football than calling your shot on a sleeper! Plucking a diamond out of the rough before anyone else realizes the value, is one of the reasons we dynasty managers dig so deep into weeds each offseason. Now that the 2021 season is nearly upon us, here are some rookie IDP sleepers that could become contributors to your IDP title run.
Welcome mafiosos to a little Q and A session with the only @Heady_Football. I took some time to gather some questions you on Twitter, our DFF Army, have asked over the off-season along with some questions I have been asked off-line, by my friends and family. Yes, don’t be shocked, I do have a life outside of fantasy football. Granted, it’s not much but it is one nevertheless. So, without further adieu, here are some of the best questions I received.