Pittman

Offseason Preview: Pass Catchers

Dynasty / By

The combine is here, and rookie hype will reach new highs by this time next week. The 2024 draft capital you have been holding onto will now have its maximum buying power. This makes for a perfect time to buy some veterans like some of the ones that I will discuss here and that I have discussed in the Quarterback and Running Back articles previously. I have decided to group tight ends with the receivers as they do not justify an entire article.

For the previous articles, we cared about openings throughout the league at the various positions. For the wide receiver position though, that structure does not work as well as teams will have anywhere from 1-3 fantasy-relevant WRs. With that being the case, only the strongest WR rooms won’t have room for someone to win some reps and targets. That being said, many of these names may have a brief bump in value after free agency before their value gets cratered by an elite wide receiver rookie class this season. It is important to be hyper-aware of the upcoming class and its impact on these free-agent wide receivers. The effect will be felt even by receivers that “survive” the draft. If we have five wide receivers that become top-20 wide receivers, that will push five current top-20 WRs into the top-25 WRs. This effect will also hit guys who are borderline WR3s on your Dynasty roster. That being said, let’s take a look at our impending free agents.

Wide Receiver

Tier One

Technically Tee Higgins is still an impending free agent, but with the news that the Bengals plan to hit him with the tag, it reduces this top tier of WRs to just two guys. Normally, we do not get even one receiver in at this talent level to be available on the open market, so getting two quality names available makes this a much more interesting free agency period for the position than we are normally used to. These guys are talented enough and will demand a high enough payday that they will be featured on whatever team they go to. There is the small risk of their value being behind some guys not in the league yet, but that is likely baked into their price as is. I am not crazy about going out and buying these guys unless the price is low enough, but I’m not exactly selling either. These feel like textbook holds. I will be willing to move either if they get a value bump from a new situation. If the rumors of the Chiefs going all in for Evans are true, this may be the highest value Evans will have for the rest of his career. You may risk missing out on a great season, but I think you could get a huge return if he does land with the Chiefs.

Tier Two

This is the professional wide receiver group. I think most of these guys will have some use in 2024, but I am still looking to move all of these guys after they sign but before the draft. There is a lot of risk of a team signing a guy like this as the number two wide receiver just to draft a rookie that will eventually overtake them. This group will also get hit hard by a big group of rookie WRs that will have a higher ADP in off-season Dynasty startups than they do, making their value very suspect going forward. You will need to wait until they sign to get any value, but as soon as they do I would move them for whatever market value is, maybe even a bit under. While perhaps one or more of them survive the draft and end up with a solid 2024, I do not think they give enough upside to justify taking all that risk into the NFL Draft.

Tier Three

These are guys that I think will for sure be on NFL rosters, but have a very good chance of being behind better players on a depth chart. They are effectively free at this point so if you want to take a flyer on one of them as a throw-in, go for it. Similar to the second tier, I will move any of these guys if their value goes up after free agency, but if they stay at their current value after we get through free agency, they are fine holds with some upside or even spot start capability for injuries and bye weeks. Some of them may be available on your waivers and could be worth a stash.

Tier Four

The next two tiers are only for deep league consideration, but many of our readers play in leagues where even practice squad players find their way onto the back end of benches. Some of the guys above will not be on an active roster when the 2024 season kicks off, but I think most of them will be. Be careful though: some are just there for special teams reasons and likely will not be involved much if at all in the offense. The only thing to do with these guys is pick them up on waivers in your deep leagues for the potential for a spot start or trade down the line. Do not offer real assets for any of these players.

Tier Five

We have more guys right on the roster bubble in this group, but I think this group ultimately is guys that become practice squad members by the time we get to September. There is no real value here to be had, in some deep leagues you may roster them but there may be more upside available even on the waiver wire. These are the players that will be removed from rosters to make room for the 2024 rookies.

Tight End

Tier One

While Brock Bowers looks primed to be a highly sought-after Dynasty tight end, the market seems to have finally opened up, breaking past the years where the position was dominated only by Travis Kelce-types. We now have a handful of quality young tight ends around the league, but no single one of them is miles ahead of the others. Guys like Sam LaPorta, Dalton Kincaid, and Trey McBride are making the market a little flatter near the top than we experienced in the past. For me, this hurts the value of guys like Henry and Schultz. They do not carry the youth or the upside of any of the young tight ends that we like in the Dynasty community. The one scenario that would make me buy is if I have everything else but tight end, and I don’t have a lot I could trade to fix it. 

Tier Two

The slightly cheaper price of this tier makes it more attractive for me to buy in. Especially guys like Fant and Gesicki with potential upside in the right environment. You could potentially get these guys for late 2024 2nd-round picks and early 3rds, especially if you target a rebuilding team that just wants them off their roster. 

Tier Three

When the music stops, these guys all have a chance to be the starters on a team. The upside is not quite as high as the other tiers, but you can get these guys as throw-ins on bigger deals that can make them effectively free if you can spare the roster spot. If you have some guys that are easily cuttable, I do not mind rostering these guys for a little help at tight end, maybe even some spot starts if I have a stud as my starter already or in two TE leagues.

Closing Thoughts

In the previous two articles, I was much more interested in buying than selling, while here, the pass-catching market is a little different. While there are select players and groups I am interested in, a lot of free-agent pass catchers will be immediate flips for me as soon as they sign in March. Understanding the different markets in Dynasty at different position groups is a vital skill for succeeding long-term in Dynasty. Good luck and happy trading, everyone. 

Thanks so much for reading. If you want to discuss more, you can reach me on Twitter @DougHarrelson. Also, don’t forget to sign up for our Dynasty Football Factory Membership to get all things Dynasty, DFS, Sports Betting, Devy, and IDP. Annual subscribers also get access to our discord server, where you can talk to our entire staff!

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