State of FFPC: Dynasty Landscape & Redraft Tourneys (midseason edition)

In my last FFPC article, I wrote about how we must be prepared to act boldly now that there is much more information available to us. This principle never really diminishes as the season progresses, but rather becomes more crucial with every passing week. Don’t get me wrong, some squads are set-it-and-forget-it kind of situations, but most of the time we need to be making important pivots when new information comes to light.

I Feel Like I Have Been Playing Russian Roulette at QB

I have been making some tough decisions at the QB spot in several leagues. I have plenty of teams with easy decisions, but I have had to make the tough decision to bench Justin Fields (QB – CHI) in a number of spots after the first couple of weeks of the season. This is what my last few weeks have looked like:

Week 4: Agonized in choosing Jared Goff (QB – DET) over Fields. Goff put up 38.0 FPs and Fields had 12.9. Good call there. Had Tua Tagovailoa (QB – MIA) in a few other spots. He had 4.5 FPs before leaving with injury. I also got cute and started Marcus Mariota (QB – ATL) over Russell Wilson (QB – DEN) in a couple of spots. That was a 23 FP mistake on my part as Wilson put up 29.85 that week and Mariota 6.25. 

Week 5: Chose Teddy Bridgewater (QB – MIA) to fill in many spots, despite having Geno Smith (QB – SEA) or even Russell Wilson (QB – DEN) available. Bridgewater took a 0 while Smith had 26.7 and Wilson 13.9. 

Despite taking 0’s from Bridgewater, this happened:

Hi score of the week in two different leagues despite taking a 0. I was even matched up against Josh Allen (QB – BUF) in one. Fickle hobby.

Week 6: Bailey Zappe (QB – NE) looks to be a great streamer for me this week in SuperFlex dynasty leagues, and in a couple of desperate spots I ran with Fields on Thursday night and was able to get 21.3 out of him. The Bears actually allowed him to pass on 1st down and ran a far heavier pass game than usual. I don’t know what to expect moving forward but I don’t feel so terrible putting him in my lineup, especially with his rushing floor and upside built in.

Zero-RB is Performing Really Well So Far

Or put another way, teams with elite WRs are crushing. My best teams in the big redraft tourneys are ones where I have elite WRs and an elite TE, and RBs with names like Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Miles Sanders, Rhamondre Stevenson, Jamaal Williams, and waiver wire darlings like Deon Jackson. I started Deon in a number of leagues this week and it has always been a part of the plan of a zero-RB build to hit the waivers hard. I don’t expect to necessarily be able to use Deon ever again this season, but being ready to pounce when an opportunity like that presents itself is critical in this hobby. I am likely making big gains on my opponents this week in many leagues where I started him.

This is the Ripest Time of Year to Make Dynasty Trades

Naturally, I have no examples to show you but not for a lack of trying. I recently offered Javonte Williams (RB – DEN) on my trade block in a SF dynasty league where I needed to stream a QB pretty bad this week. It is one of my better teams but I lost Trey Lance (QB – SF) to injury, Derek Carr is on bye and Tua is inactive. I ended up picking up Skylar Thompson (QB – MIA) and started him even though I had Bridgewater on my bench. More QB craziness as Bridgewater came in for relief midgame and had a huge game. But the only offer I got for Williams this last week was for Tom Brady (QB – TB) and I wasn’t doing that. 

Nevertheless, right now is a great time to look at standings and to think about who is a pretender, who is a contender and where are there mutual needs that might be met in a trade. 2023 picks are very difficult to pry away from people due to the expected high quality of that class, but now is the best time to try and grab them. 

Stay sharp out there and remember, you only have to be better than half your leaguemates on average to be a perennial playoff team. Let’s keep balling! Look for more of my articles soon. Feel free to reach out to me to chat about fantasy football on Twitter @Ship_Chaser and follow along with me on my journey as I chase six-figure paydays! 

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