Saturday Spotlight: Dynasty Players to Watch

Ken Kelly Posted On January 14, 2012

Fantasy seasons are over, but that shouldn’t stop the elite dynasty owners from monitoring important situations for next year. With the playoffs in full swing, there are many players who have opportunities to raise their dynasty value for next year and beyond.

With that in mind, let’s focus on one player from each of Saturday’s teams and put them squarely in the dynasty spotlight.

New Orleans Saints

Pierre Thomas is the player I believe who has the best opportunity to showcase himself for an even larger role next year. We know the Saints are going to throw the ball a ton in this game, but let’s not forget Thomas and his ability in the screen game. He’s finally healthy and reminding everyone just how explosive he is. His performance in the playoffs is going to go a long way in determining the pecking order for next season. Mark Ingram’s owners need to be a little bit nervous at this point – his injury has re-opened the door for Thomas to carve out a bigger role than expected next year.

San Francisco 49ers

You have to believe this is going to be a huge challenge for Alex Smith. The 49ers are built on running the football and playing great defense, but they’re likely going to need to score a lot of points to win this game today. A strong performance from Smith would all but ensure him being the franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future, meaning owners of Colin Kaepernick will have to wait a long, long time before seeing what they have.

Denver Broncos

You figured I was going to say Tim Tebow, right? Nope, way too obvious. I’m going to have my eyes squarely on Demaryius Thomas today. Everyone talks about Tebow, but has anyone noticed how good Thomas has looked over the past couple of months? His recovery from a torn achilles injury and production despite a poor throwing quarterback is absolutely mind boggling. Football players (especially skill players) just don’t return to form from his type of injury very often, if ever. Another strong performance from Thomas is going to get him into consideration as a top 15-20 dynasty wide receiver.

New England Patriots

We have a pretty good idea of what Tom Brady, Wes Welker, Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski are capable of. I’m excited to see what young Stevan Ridley can do in the playoffs. Ridley has been slowly, but surely, moving up the depth chart and eating into BenJarvus Green-Ellis’ carries. The distribution of carries and production of Ridley is going to be very important in the land of dynasty leagues.

Enjoy the games today and remember to keep your dynasty eyes open!

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Ken Kelly

Co-Founder at DynastyLeagueFootball

Ken is a corporate trainer by day an a tireless editor of dynasty content by night. His passion for the World Champion Seattle Seahawks is second only to his love of fantasy football and the dynasty format.

Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK