Dynasty Analysis
We were so close to the regular season. So close. Most starters sat on the bench during week three of the preseason as it was treated much like preseason week four in past years, but for one team that chose to play their starters, the consequence was dire. Baltimore Ravens second-year running back J.K. Dobbins has suffered a torn ACL and will miss the 2021 season according to Adam Schefter.
Welcome to the second entry in our twelve-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). If you missed the first article, you can find it here. The premise is simple: each article will have a numeric theme, counting down as each day is ticked off the calendar. There are just eleven days left until we are blessed with meaningful football and the sweat of Week 1 fantasy football matchups. Eleven days, eleven players on offense. See the pattern here? In this article, I’ll attempt to construct the best starting offense in football. The catch? I can only use one player per NFL franchise. Let’s see who made the cut.
This article will be the first of 12, 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 is ticked off the calendar. In this piece, I’ll be discussing the top-12 (see the theme?) running backs from our site’s very own redraft rankings and their projected stat lines for the upcoming season. Not only is it a lot of fun to look at some realistic outcomes for these star players–a bit of a preseason appetizer–but looking at these projections can also help you to confidently select one player over another when you are on the clock, even if those two players appear almost indistinguishable at first glance. So, without further ado, I am thrilled to kick off DFF’s first-ever “Kickoff Countdown”!
The first fantasy football (FF) league that I ever played in was an auction league. It has now been running for 12 years and we have our draft scheduled for Labor Day Weekend, like usual. Auction redrafts are so much fun and I highly recommend them! I am very thankful that I cut my teeth for a few years in such a league before eventually started playing dynasty.
Many of us in the dynasty community were excited about Bryan Edwards last year, but based on the stats he put up as a rookie, it is fair to call him a rookie face planter. Historically, wide receivers who fail to reach meaningful thresholds are longshots to ever emerge in the future. I think Edwards can be an exception to the rule. Given proper context, much of last year’s poor fantasy stats can be explained.
Darren Waller burst onto the scene during the 2019 season after years of bouts with substance abuse. Waller is a true American comeback story. After being suspended for the entire 2017 by the NFL, he overcame his addictions and found his way back onto the Ravens practice squad in 2018. From there, he was plucked by the Raiders and further developed behind aging starter Jared Cook. After Cook’s departure in free agency, Waller earned the starting job at TE for the Raiders.
News broke late Monday night that Jacksonville Jaguars rookie running back Travis Etienne sustained a foot injury and was seen leaving the stadium in a walking boot. Adam Schefter later reported that Etienne suffered a midfoot sprain that would require further testing.
Michael Gallup’s college football career began at Butler Community College. As a freshman in 2014, he dominated the competition and led the team in receiving. Unfortunately, Gallup missed most of his sophomore season with an ankle injury before transferring to Colorado State University for his junior season. There, he posted back-to-back seasons of at least 1,250 yards. Gallup’s recorded breakout age of 20.5 is relatively late, but his 98th-percentile College Target Share and 75th-percentile College Dominator reflect a truly dominant finish to his college football career.
Sony coming to Los Angeles helps give him a path towards more work than he would have found in New England. He wasn’t even in my top 40 for running backs before this but now he becomes a late-round pick you must make. Why? Darrell Henderson suffered a hand injury in his last pre-season game and while most reports say he will be good to go, Sean McVay will be more likely to give him a breather during the season. The Rams are all in on this season. Even with the arrival of Xavier Jones onto the scene in LA, Sony is a proven commodity and to me, he becomes the RB2 in that room and should take some series from him.
I don’t see too many changes amongst the rankings at the top of the list. Josh Allen has a huge amount of rushing upside and if he can be close to as efficient as he was last year, with an upgraded receiving corps, he has the likelihood of repeating. Patrick Mahomes is on another level, but I do expect the Chiefs to utilize their RBs at some point. While this may seem like slander to not predict Mahomes at 1; he is still my Dynasty Startup 1.01 as I think we can expect top-5 performances into his 30s. That consistency is the value to pay up for early in a startup, but Allen’s rushing upside cannot be overlooked. Jalen Hurts has the luxury that Lamar Jackson had in his second season. Hurts started enough games to have a taste, but teams haven’t schemed for him yet. He has the potential to put up 1000 yards on the ground and is in an offense that will throw the ball more than Baltimore has, and will likely trail in more games which will necessitate airing it out. I would like to be proved wrong but I think this will be the ceiling season for Hurts and at some point this year we should seek to move your shares or ride him to the ship and move on. Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, and Justin Herbert will likely feature in or around this list but regression or low volume will likely limit their vault into the top-3.
The season is almost upon us! In FFPC leagues, there are barely two weeks left before we have to cut our rosters down to 20, including a kicker and a defense. On some of my dynasty squads, I am facing some steep cuts and difficult choices. How do I go about deciding which players to cut? Can I make some two-for-one trades that clear roster spots for me, or players for picks? Am I going to be fielding a competitive team that can contend for the title? Will there be a couple of impact players available on the first waiver run, and if so, will I have room to roster them? What about some later-round rookie picks that flashed during the preseason and I want to develop them?
The Jaguars offense has looked putrid over the first two games of the season as they battle through the learning curve of a new offensive system with a new head coach, a new quarterback, and a new running back, both drafted in the first round, thus setting the stage for some large expectations. However, their first-round running back, Travis Etienne may not even get to see the field this year after suffering a Lisfranc injury in Monday night’s game against the Saints.
I am here today my mafiosos to give you the best draft strategy for Redraft out there. It involves drafting a running back in every round for the first three. Why do you ask? Raise your hand if you have lost a fantasy championship or just a game in the past by eight points or less. I am going to venture a guess unless you are like my idiot neighbor who keeps taking only Kansas State Alumni or Chicago Bears in our home league that loses by double digits on the regular, that is everyone.
Through his first 25 career games, Montgomery had yet to break out as he was averaging just over 54 rushing YPG, 3.6 YPC, 15.9 receiving YPG, and 7.2 YPR. In his last six games, he’s averaging an astonishing 99.7 rushing YPG, 5.2 YPC, 4.0 YPR, and 37.7 YPR. His late-season push last season moved him up to the RB4 spot in PPR leagues as he served as the RB1 during the last six weeks of the 2020 season.
Most rookie drafts are done by now, though there may still be a few going on. If you are reading this and you still have some late-round draft picks for this year, don’t give them up just yet! You may think they are worthless or that you don’t have room on your roster for these assets, but there can and are league winners to be found in the third round or later of rookie drafts.
Tight end is one of the most infuriating positions to navigate when it comes to draft day. Should you spend an early draft pick and secure one of the elites? Or should you sit back and wait for the later rounds to try and find that diamond in the rough that is basically free? I have approached both strategies, and I don’t believe there is a right or wrong answer. It comes down to what you, the fantasy manager, prefer in your roster construction. Obviously, the league settings may alter one’s strategy, but both have their benefits. This article will highlight one sleeper, one breakout, and one bust at the tight end position. Hopefully, this can narrow down some options and pave the way for how you go about the tight end position.
As draft season inches closer, it’s important to have an idea of who you want to target and when you want to target them on draft day. Below, you will find a list of “My Guys” who I will be heavily targeting at their respective ADPs in all of my redraft leagues. Keep in mind, you want to make sure you are drafting players for positional value, instead of reaching and potentially diminishing your team’s chances right out the gate. Without further adieu, let’s get started.
In dynasty, one of the most under-appreciated assets is the bench stash running back. These cheap assets can climb up depth charts and become useful to either your starting lineup or for trade. These types of players can be acquired for a fourth-round rookie pick or less in most leagues but can return a second-rounder or more in trades if they become a starter. Even if it’s only for a couple of weeks. For example, last season I was able to trade Ryan Nall and a third-round rookie pick for a second-round rookie pick when he took over for David Montgomery. The hardest part is finding which players are the best bets to not only remain on a team but also climb a depth chart. This article will go over certain metrics you can look for when deciding between these late-round or free-agent RBs.
While we do not want to overreact to the preseason debut for the five first-round rookie quarterbacks, we do have new data points to review. Let’s review how these rookies looked in the preseason debut both on the stat sheet and how they looked on all of their productive plays.
In 2QB leagues, Derek Carr is sitting as QB25 and is the 102nd player off the board. He isn’t very flashy and in dynasty, he would offer minimal value. But when you take away the questions of long-term value he offers a high upside play as you close out the 8th round. He is a great second or 3rd QB in 2QB leagues, especially if you’re drafting a rookie such as Justin Fields or Trey Lance, who will likely not start for their team at the opening of the season.
The fantasy community had high hopes for a Jonnu Smith breakout last season and did in some ways despite some injuries and the Titans’ infamously low passing volume. He still finished as the TE15 in PPR and TE9 in standard, but 2020 was also a terrible year for tight ends. Smith got most of his work from his dominance in the red zone, finishing number five in targets and scoring at a 20% rate with eight touchdowns. His 448 yards on 41 receptions certainly left truthers wanting more.
Two days ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars sent stand-out linebacker Joe Schobert to the Pittsburgh Steelers in a move that further underscores the rebuild under Head Coach Urban Meyer’s new regime. News of the compensation trickled out a day later; just a 2022 sixth-round pick landed Schobert. Clearly, the move was a salary dump for the Jaguars.
Finding a true bell-cow running back in the NFL is hard to come by these days. Most teams elect to utilize multiple backs for various situations. Whether it is goal-line work, third down, or simply just to keep the defense guessing, more running backs are getting involved on offense at a more frequent rate. While plenty of value and fantasy points can come from running backs on the same team, there are a few backfields that I am avoiding at all costs.
In Redraft 1QB leagues I always try to fade QB and hunt upside “late”, knowing I can more than likely pick up a solid and serviceable QB off waivers if needed. The QB that fits the “late” pick with lots of upside is the Eagles QB Jalen Hurts. The sophomore QB is currently going off the board as the QB12, but his upside is much higher than that. In the three games that Hurts started and completed in 2020, he averaged 22.45 PPG. That slots in just below Lamar Jackson’s 22.71 PPG, (Redraft QB4), and Justin Hebert’s 22.55 PPG (Redraft QB7).
CeeDee Lamb was a box-stuffing college prospect at Oklahoma. His Breakout Age of 19.4 ranks in the 80th percentile, while his 38.1% College Dominator ranks in the 77th percentile. Additionally, Lamb recorded a 97th-percentile College YPR and a 79th-percentile College Target Share. In other words, Lamb was highly targeted and extremely productive and efficient with the targets that he received–oh, and he did it all at a young age. To say that Ceedee Lamb was a “good” prospect would be a drastic understatement.