New Orleans Saints

Predicting and Analyzing the 2023 RB Carousel: AFC & NFC South

The 2023 offseason promises big changes to the running back landscape in the NFL. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll go over my predictions for the running back situations of each team, as well as the corresponding fantasy implications. Check out Part 6 of this series, where I looked at the NFC North. Today, in a 2-for-1 special, we’ll take a quick look at the AFC and NFC South divisions.

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tigh end adp gains

Free Agency Dynasty Impact: AFC Roundup

The annual ramp-up to dynasty rookie draft season continues. First, it’s the Combine. Next comes free agency. Then the NFL Draft. We just wrapped up the second day of free agency and below I take you through the biggest impacts on dynasty players from signings in the AFC. We will also be doing a wrap-up of the NFC signing impact on dynasty shortly.

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Derek Carr to the New Orleans Saints

The morning after the combine, everyone is moving rookie rankings up and down based on the measurements and data collected from the weekend. Little did we know we would get the first domino to fall in the off-season QB market. Derek Carr has signed a 4-year deal with the New Orleans Saints worth $150M and $100M in guarantees. The Saints are again using some strange contract structures to pretend that the salary cap does not exist. That is a discussion for another time though. For now, we dive forward into what Carr to the Saints means in terms of Dynasty Fantasy Football. Before I continue, special thanks to Chris Museezer (@force_fantasty) and Paul Patterson (@fantastyfreezer) for helping with data sources and outlining. I may be the one putting the words on the screen but those guys had already gathered useful data for me before I even turned my computer on today. 

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Overlooked Gems: NFC South Edition

In this continued offseason series, we will break down one player from each NFL team who is currently being overlooked. At the same time, that player could provide great depth/potential to a deep dynasty league roster. These players are worth picking up if they are in your free agency.

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DeAndre Hopkins

NFL Player Props – Thursday Night Football Preview

Week 7 kicks off with a battle of two underperforming NFC teams as the Arizona Cardinals (2-4) host the traveling New Orleans Saints (2-4) at home on Thursday Night Football. Betting lines favor the hometown Cardinals by 2.5 points with a projected over/under scoring total of 43.5 points.

Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down: NFC South

Welcome back to the “Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down” series (preseason edition). Week 2 of the preseason is just about over, and we are just over two weeks away from the regular season. Positional battles are ramping up. Injuries are opening up opportunities for players looking to earn significant roles and/or roster spots. And the time to be the most active in dynasty leagues is NOW. We are going to hear “hype” reports from beat reporters. And we are going to hear some reports that make us feel a little uneasy about our player investments. Us dynasty managers must constantly research ways to bolster our rosters. In this continuation series, we will dive deep into one player whose dynasty stock is increasing and one player whose dynasty stock is decreasing from each team in every division. Today, we will break down the NFC South.

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Fantasy Stock Up, Stock Down: New Orleans Saints

It takes tight ends a while to adjust to the NFL game. Most excel as run-blockers before they see substantial growth in production as pass-catchers. For instance, Dalton Schultz didn’t surpass 600 receiving yards in a season until his third year in the league (2020), and he countered that with a TE3 finish last season (fourth year) in PPR formats. Dawson Knox is another prime example here. During his first two seasons in the league, he never topped 400 receiving yards, 30 receptions, or three receiving touchdowns. His best finish was as the TE32 before last season’s TE11 finish. Those are just a few examples, but the point is that you shouldn’t give up on Trautman just yet. He’s entering his third season as a pro with a better supporting cast surrounding him and a quarterback he’s somewhat familiar with. 

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Did We Just Witness the Best WR room in College Football History?

Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba combined for 3,600/4,952 (73%) of Ohio State’s team passing yards as well as 34/46 (74%) of total passing TDs. Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson have gone down as two of the best Buckeye receivers ever after going back-to-back in the NFL Draft at number 10 and 11 overall. Jaxon on the other hand, who was the most productive of the three, will be back in Columbus for his junior season where he’s been named a team captain and he’s one of the favorites to bring home the Biletnikoff Award. Let’s take a deeper look into each of these players and why we may have just witnessed the best WR room in the history of college football.

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2022 DFF SF Rookie Mock Draft – Post NFL Draft: Round 1

The DFF Army banded together once again for another 2022 DFF Superflex Rookie Mock–post Draft! Now that we have seen where all of the top talent that college football has to offer has landed, it’s time to update those draft rankings. Check out every first-round selection below and each writer’s reasoning behind their pick.

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The WR1 Rating Dynasty Rookie Wide Receiver Countdown (Post Draft Update): Part 3

For those new to the WR1 rating, this is a proprietary formula I developed to provide a data-driven forecast of future dynasty value for incoming rookie wide receivers. The WR1 model scores rookies on nine predictive metrics and then combines those individual metric scores into a single WR1 rating. The goal is to provide a single easy-to-use score for those who don’t want to spend all the time dissecting different metrics. 

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2022 DFF Draft Coverage: Chris Olave

Olave has been one of the most productive collegiate wideouts the past few years. He didn’t see the field much during his freshman season, but he was impactful in his limited time. In seven games, Olave hauled in 12 receptions for 197 yards and three touchdowns. During his sophomore season, he started to turn heads as he hauled in 48 receptions for 840 yards and 12 touchdowns. His Junior and Senior seasons were just as impressive, and he finished his career with 176 career receptions (third in school history), 2,711 receiving yards (fifth in school history), and 35 touchdown receptions (first in school history). 

@Force_Fantasy’s Dynasty “My Guys”

It is a popular practice on Twitter to present your “my guys” for the upcoming season. These are players you are targeting for your dynasty rosters for one reason or another. At DFF, we want to ensure we are giving you actionable advice that goes beyond the standard fare. For that reason, our “my guys” won’t be among the Top 50 Dynasty Players as voted on by the crowd at KeepTradeCut. These are guys we view as undervalued by the market that we’re looking to acquire for our dynasty teams.

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The Future Landscape of the Fantasy Quarterback

When most of us first started playing fantasy football Peyton Manning and Tom Brady were the guys, and now it’s Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Drew Brees and Philip Rivers were up-and-comers, and now it’s Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert. Michael Vick was redefining the game at QB and looked like a once-in-a-lifetime talent, and now Lamar Jackson and Kyler Murray are making similar highlights. The QBs have changed with the game, and a big arm with escapability outweighs the ability to be a pocket passer it seems. Youth floods the league, and every team is in search of the next best edge to win, starting with the QB position.

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DFS Week 18

With another large slate and a lot of expected player incentives, there are some important values that you cannot miss out on in this Week 18 slate!  So let’s get ready to dig in! Also, don’t forget to create multiple lines and diversify your lineups to prevent unforeseen ‘busts’.

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Redraft: Week 18 Streamers

If you have one final matchup here in Week 18, enjoy it. Most leagues have already finished, but if your league decided to extend the championship round to this week, you need to capitalize on some streaming options. Let’s win this final matchup together. As always, 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 leagues. 

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Week 14 Streamers

For most of you, this is the FINAL week before the fantasy football playoffs start. You may have to rely on a streamer to push you over the edge and into the postseason. Make sure to consider these streaming options below when finalizing your final starting lineup of the regular season. As always, 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 leagues. 

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Six Redraft Shares to Watch After Week 11

Unless we’re analyzing workhorse running backs or alpha wide receivers, a player’s usage can fluctuate from week to week. Some will shine and some will ruin your week. Remember, targets and opportunities are earned. After two weeks of disappearing, I will be making a special edition. In this series, I will provide target shares, rushing attempt shares, and snap shares of EIGHT players (or group of players) on this past three weeks to help you understand the value of each of them and decide whether to start ‘em, roster ‘em, or trade ‘em.

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Raiding The IDP Waiver Wire: Week 12

Players qualifying for this column are those rostered in no more than a third of IDP leagues on MyFantasyLeague.com (MFL); moreover, new names appear in each edition. Occasional readers are encouraged to visit past weeks’ write-ups for more options. Finally, these recommendations further assume you, the manager, have finite roster space with challenging cut decisions to add new names.

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One Week Ahead: Part 11

This is the 11th installment of the weekly series, One Week Ahead. We will use our fantasy football crystal ball to look ahead to future weeks and try to predict players who will emerge with fantasy relevance. We will try to get a leg up on our opponents by picking up potential fantasy assets before they become a major waiver wire pick-up.

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IDP Wrap Up: Week 9

Micah Parsons has emerged as an absolute game-changer in his rookie crusade for Dallas this year. This weekend, the first-round pick did everything he could to help his team against the Broncos. In the loss, Parson had a line of 10 total tackles, three TFLs, and 2.5 sacks from his off-ball linebacker spot. If you used your high-end draft capital on Parsons this offseason, you are living the dream at this point in his young career.

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