Dynasty Analysis
Tyler Boyd’s Dynasty Profile is loaded with impressive stats and metrics. He had the sixth-best dominator rating at 36.4% among power five true freshman receivers since 2000. Boyd finished his college career at Pitt with 254 catches for 3,361 yards and 21 TDs. He was drafted in the second round of the 2016 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals after his junior season.
Carson Wentz has been an excellent real-life quarterback after his rookie year, throwing at least three times as many touchdowns as interceptions each season. In 2017, Wentz had an MVP-type season for the 13 games he played, dominating the NFL and leading the Eagles to an 11-2 record in his starts. Unfortunately, Wentz tore his ACL near the end of 2017, causing him to miss the Eagles’ Super Bowl run.
In part one of Auction Draft Dos and Don’ts we discussed how tiers should guide your auction drafting strategy over specific targets. Here in part two, we’ll go over how to stay focused during your draft and why mock drafts aren’t as helpful when preparing for an auction. Dominate your auction draft with the help of these dos and don’ts!
Best ball is a fantasy football format that’s all about your favorite part of the fantasy season: the draft. You simply draft an expanded roster, usually somewhere between 18 and 25 players, and that’s it. You will not set weekly lineups, place waiver claims, or send trade offers. Instead, your optimal lineup is generated each week after all the games have been played. You score points based on that optimal lineup, and, at the end of the season, the team with the most points wins.
Let’s start with a simple, unequivocal, and in-no-way subjective fact: auction drafts are the best drafts. Auction drafts are more fun, they reward savvy fantasy players more than snake drafts, and they allow you to grab any player you’re willing to break the bank for. But how do you make the most of your bankroll and come away with a winning team? Here’s what to do… and what NOT to do.
In a dynasty story, I’ll look at dynasty value and how a player has fluctuated over time, primarily based on news or events. Then, I’ll give a dynasty take on their future value and whether dynasty owners should buy or sell the player going forward. In my first dynasty story, I covered Mike Williams. While Williams has had somewhat of a roller coaster first three NFL seasons, it’s nothing compared to the next player’s journey. It’s time for a deep dive into Kenyan Drake.
typical fantasy owner is often wary of players that they haven’t seen produce in the NFL or those that don’t have “name value.” Rookies are often under drafted in most redraft leagues since they don’t have prior NFL stats. Also, players that put up decent stats but stayed off the fantasy radar can represent good sleepers. In this case, the goal is to exploit an information gap between informed and casual fantasy owners.
To keep things consistent, I will follow a particular format in this series. I’ll begin by discussing the player’s past production and history, focusing on their prior stats in the NFL and, in some cases, their draft profile. Then, I’ll move into why that player is a sleeper, specifically looking at and debunking negative narratives around that player. And finally, I’ll move into their expected 2020 outlook, and where I would draft the player on my redraft teams.
With that all out of the way, let’s get into my first sleeper, Hayden Hurst.
Anthony Miller was unstoppable at the University of Memphis. Breaking out in his sophomore year, he amassed over 3,500 years in three seasons. His best coming in his junior year where he had an absurd 96 catches, 1,462 yards, and 18 touchdowns. Miller was good enough to be drafted in the 2nd round by the Chicago Bears in the 2018 draft. Pegged as a guy who could be a massive star, Miller has been a little bit forgotten in the Bears offense since his arrival. In his rookie season, Miller grabbed 33 receptions for 423 yards and an impressive 7 touchdowns. As a result, he was a popular 2nd-year breakout candidate but he actually wound up finishing about the same for fantasy purposes in his second year.
For this article, I’m going to focus on regular weekly DFS contests, like FanDuel and DraftKings. Although there are other DFS formats, I feel that those weekly contests have unique takeaways and provide the most value for dynasty owners. Also, they are the most popular style of DFS, so they provide the broadest reach. I’ll split this article into the two main types of weekly DFS: cash games and GPP contests.
Back in April, I wrote about Rob Gronkowski’s return to the NFL, as he came out of retirement to join the Buccaneers. While Gronkowski is one of the best tight ends of all time, the Buccaneers already had a solid young tight end in O.J. Howard. They even have a third tight end, Cameron Brate, who’s found fantasy relevance at times throughout his career. The question is: what should dynasty owners do with Howard now? Is he a buy low, or should you avoid him? Let’s jump into how to handle Howard going forward.
It only took one game for Washington to know they made the right decision drafting Terry McLaurin 76th overall in 2019. He burst onto the scene to the tune of five catches for 125 yards and one touchdown. There were the usual ups and downs of a rookie season, but out of 14 games played, McLaurin finished with eight double-digit fantasy games landing at WR24 in standard and WR29 in PPR.
Jamal Adams deserves to get paid. Is he worth the $20 million-plus a year he’s rumored to be seeking though? Today’s top-paid safeties don’t even make $15 million a year. The Jets say they want to make Adams a Jet for life, but they don’t seem motivated to sign Adams to any long term deals and why would they. From a business standpoint, it doesn’t make sense for the team. They still have him on contract, for much less, for the next two years. This has led to a lot of friction between the sides though and Adams has asked for a trade. His seven preferred destinations were the Ravens, Eagles, Cowboy, 49ers, Texans, Chiefs, and the Seahawks. Some of these teams seem a little more feasible than others to me.
In April, I started writing a series focusing on one player at a time, called “A Redraft Journey.” Like my “Dead to Me” series, I take a deep dive into a single player, breaking down their entire career in redraft fantasy football. However, unlike that series, this set of articles is meant to be more positively toned. The links to the full set of previous entries are at the bottom of this article. It’s time to jump into DeAndre Hopkins, one of the best wide receivers in fantasy football over the past few years. But what has he truly brought to fantasy owners? There’s only one way to find out.
At first glance, nothing jumps off the page when reviewing Russell Gage’s season-long body of work to this point in his NFL career (or even in his college career for that matter). After shipping off a deteriorating Mohamed Sanu for a 2021 second-round pick in a rare fleecing of New England, the Falcons coaching staff put their trust in Gage to take over the team’s third receiver position. Gage enjoyed a 16% target share after taking over for Sanu, as his average offensive snaps per game increased from 12 to 48. He finished the season with 49 catches for 446 yards and one TD (but in the nine games post-Sanu he had 45 catches for 402 yards and one TD).
Before 2019, Matthew Stafford appeared in every game for the Detroit Lions for eight consecutive seasons. In those seasons, Stafford averaged 4,465 yards and 27.5 TDs. The Lions finished 2nd, 1st, 5th, 10th, 5th, 10th, 10th, and 13th in pass attempts during that span. Stafford was playing some of his best football in 2019 under current OC Darrell Bevell, albeit in a partial season. Through eight games, Stafford was on pace to finish as the fantasy QB2 with 4,998 yards, 38 TDs, and 10 INTs.
In dynasty leagues, one of the toughest decisions that fantasy owners make is whether they are a true contender or not. Continuing to try and contend when you need to rebuild will set your dynasty team back for years. Therefore, it’s crucial to be able to take an objective look at your team, from top to bottom, and decide where you are.
Back in 2018, DJ Moore entered the NFL as a top wide receiver (WR) prospect. Posting impressive age-adjusted production at Maryland. He led the Terrapins passing attack during his breakout sophomore season at the age of 19. By the end of his career, Moore easily exceeded important production thresholds like career average scrimmage yards per play, receiving yards market share, and receiving yards per team pass attempt. D.J. Moore’s outstanding age-adjusted college production combined with elite athleticism, prototypical NFL size, and first-round draft capital made him an exciting WR prospect.
In 2019, Chris Godwin, Austin Ekeler, and Mark Andrews were dynasty MVPs. They gained extreme dynasty value and also produced as top options at their positions. I’m not necessarily saying that any or all of these players will make the jump. However, considering where each player’s value currently falls in dynasty leagues, they have the upside to demolish that value.
In April, I started writing a series focusing on one player at a time, called “A Redraft Journey.” I wrote about Austin Ekeler, Allen Robinson, and recently about Melvin Gordon. I love writing about redraft, but I realized that I could bring this style over to dynasty. In a dynasty story, I’ll look more at dynasty value and how a player has fluctuated over time, primarily based on news or events. Then, I’ll give a dynasty take on their future value and whether dynasty owners should buy or sell the player going forward. Let’s jump into Mike Williams, the subject of my first dynasty story.
In this edition of Contender Clearance Rack, let’s take a look at several wide receivers worth trading for if your team is on the brink of greatness. I’ll be covering running backs and tight ends in future editions, and, if you’d like to see the article on quarterbacks.
Austin Ekeler: Los Angeles Charger and defier of the odds. The UDFA out of Western State blew the top off every fantasy analyst’s big board last year by finishing as the RB4. Oh, and he shared the load with Melvin Gordon from weeks 5 onward. He was electrifying every step of the way finishing second among running backs in both catches and receiving yards, plus finishing number one in yards per touch. Ekeler makes his living in PPR leagues due to his ability in the passing game, both as a reliable check-down and a threat out of the backfield where he played 30% of his snaps. How good is he as a receiver? Since 2017, Ekeler is the number one receiving back in the NFL ranked by PFF at 94.2. Numbers two and three on that list? Christian McCaffrey and Alvin Kamara. Enough said.
No matter the format, the most important thing is that you and your league mates enjoy playing together. Play the types of leagues you like, and feel free to try new leagues. However, it’s also okay if you don’t want to play a specific format, like how I feel about IDP leagues. Just be a good person and an active owner, and you’ll enjoy your time in this world.
As the post-draft hype begins to fade and teams start looking for any asset on the waiver wire that they believe can help bolster their roster, everyone is looking for that next edge. In a recent argument on @TaleofTwoRivals, we bantered quickly about the value of UDFAs in a dynasty league but reached no real conclusion. I began to think of who can be this year’s Preston Williams. Who can take the mantle of Tony Romo, Arian Foster, and a few others and carry a team to the next level? Who can you buy low on? Who might be on the waiver wire? What follows is a case study of UDFAs who have finished in the top 24 of their position in a fantasy season, how their team responded to that success (were replaced via free agency, the draft, etc.) and what happened in the following year.
Lazard showed excellent ball skills while gaining the trust of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Starting in three games, he hauled in 35 catches for 477 yards and three touchdowns. When Lazard was targeted in the passing game, Aaron Rodgers had a 115.6 passer rating, good for 12th in the NFL.
As the post-draft hype begins to fade and teams start looking for any asset on the waiver wire that they believe can help bolster their roster, everyone is looking for that next edge. In a recent argument on @TaleofTwoRivals, we bantered quickly about the value of UDFAs in a dynasty league but reached no real conclusion. I began to think of who can be this year’s Preston Williams. Who can take the mantle of Tony Romo, Arian Foster, and a few others and carry a team to the next level? Who can you buy low on? Who might be on the waiver wire? What follows is a case study of UDFAs who have finished in the top 24 of their position in a fantasy season, how their team responded to that success (were replaced via free agency, the draft, etc.) and what happened in the following year.