Dynasty fantasy football is ever-changing; player values are consistently being altered due to not only their individual play, but also about the play of their teammates and over NFL situation. Take Andrew Luck for example, at one point he was considered by far the number one dynasty quarterback. Now with his shoulder injury taking longer to heal, his overall outlook is in question. Can Luck come back to what he was prior to his shoulder surgery? That’s a big question surrounding not only him, but his pass catchers like TY Hilton and Donte Moncrief going forward.
Another dark cloud looms over the New York Giants. Eli Manning has struggled early this season and could be looking to retire in the next season or two. Will dynasty owners wait it out and hope the Giants rebound? Is Odell Beckham still the number one overall pick in startup leagues? These questions lead to panic for some dynasty owners and great buying opportunities for others. If the Odell Beckham owner is starting to lose faith, offer them something to get one of the most valuable dynasty assets on your roster.
This week we will take a look at some questions from the dynasty community regarding a variety of topics including trading for Le’Veon Bell and Chris Carson and picking the ideal players to have on a dynasty roster for the next decade. If you would like to be included in next week’s mailbag, please email dynasty@rotoballer.com . Let’s get to the questions.
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Reader Dynasty Questions
If you had to pick three studs (QB/RB/WR) to build your team around to contend for the next 7-10 years, who would it be and why?
Talk about starting off with a humdinger of a question to open the mailbag! Let’s break this down by position.
Quarterback: Marcus Mariota. Surprised? If this was a season or two ago, I would have said Andrew Luck hands down. Now with the questions surrounding his shoulder and his team taking a variety of steps back, Mariota is the pick. Mariota has an ascending offensive line that is built around two very young, stud offensive tackles. He also has a combination of running backs that can carry the load to keep defenses honest. Lastly, the combination of Corey Davis, Rishard Matthews, and Jonnu Smith should give Mariota the weaponry necessary to be a consistent QB1 for the next decade, barring injury.
Running Back: Leonard Fournette. Todd Gurley comes in a close second place, but is second due to his history of major knee injuries. Fournette has everything a fantasy owner could want in a running back, the size to run through defenders, the speed to out run defenders in the open field and surprisingly solid hands out of the backfield as well. The current regime in Jacksonville is dedicated to Fournette and the running game for the foreseeable future, that may change if senior leadership changes at the top (meaning if Tom Coughlin decides to hang it up), but for the next few seasons expect Fournette to see around 300 touches per season.
Wide Receiver: Mike Evans. Odell Beckham is the superior talent to Evans, but his situation could turn fairy ugly, fairly quickly in New York. Eli Manning is clearly on the downside of his career with an offensive line that needs a complete overhaul. Who knows what situation Beckham may find himself in as early as next season. Conversely, in Tampa Bay, Evans is playing with an ascending quarterback in Jameis Winston, an offensive line that is starting to gel with young pieces, and a commitment to the running game to take pressure off Evans on the outside. Evans has scored double digit touchdowns in two of the last three seasons and should be in line for 150 targets for the next half decade at least from a potentially top-10 NFL quarterback. Sign me up for that.
When is it time to drop Kevin White? I have no IR spots and am very limited on RBs.
It’s hard to outright cut a player in a dynasty league, as every player, no matter how injury prone has some type of value. Take a page from real life NFL GMs who instead of cutting players outright get something in return, even if it’s a late-round draft pick. Do the same in your league. Shop White, even if it’s for just a 3rd or 4th round rookie pick. Getting something back in return, even if it’s a shot in the dark in an upcoming rookie draft is better than cutting bait completely and receiving nothing at all.
What’s Chris Carson worth in 2018 picks for a PPR dynasty?
Fantasy owners have seen the Seahawks take relative unknowns like Thomas Rawls and make them fantasy commodities, even if it’s short lived. Chris Carson’s draft profile was very good when it came to burst score (88th percentile according to PlayerProfiler.com) and is a 74th percentile SPARQ athlete, so his measurables are in line with a potential starter in the NFL. However, being a late round draft pick as Carson was (31st pick in the 7th round), the team doesn’t have the internal commitment to him like a team that selects a player in the first two or three rounds of the NFL draft. Carson appears to be the starting running back for Seattle for the remainder of the season after his strong Week 2 performance, and if he’s being dealt to a running back needy team, could fetch a late round 1 rookie pick. The more likely scenario is that Carson becomes a piece of a contending team that might be thin at running back and would like some insurance, so they offer a 2nd round 2018 rookie pick. That would be a fair price at this point knowing Seattle’s lack of commitment to just one runner long term.
How many first round picks would you give for Le’Veon Bell (contender and have five 2018 1sts)?
Starting off, that is quite an enviable position to be in. Le’Veon Bell saw usage in Week 2 that resembles a season ago, but without the results. That is bound to change with a Steelers offense that will start to throw up 30 points per game throughout the course of the fantasy season. The Le’Veon owner might start to panic at Bell’s slow start, so it is a great time to offer two of the five first round draft picks initially. If that owner turns it down, you can go as high as three, but that would be as far as you should go. That would give the other owner enough ammunition to reload in what is looking like a very RB-heavy 2018 class.
*To be featured in a future mailbag article, email dynasty@rotoballer.com or reach out to me on Twitter @TheRealHalupka using #dynastyadvice