New York State of Mind

Mark Johnson Posted On September 28, 2016

Three days shy of his 24th birthday, Austin Seferian-Jenkins is headed to New York after being claimed off waivers by the New York Jets. ASJ owners everywhere, still reeling from last week’s news of ASJ’s second DUI offense, are welcoming this news with open arms. While this is no doubt one of the more positive stories regarding Seferian-Jenkins to emerge in some time, it’s important we take our time digesting it as there are some collateral implications.

Starting with the obvious, this of course helps Seferian-Jenkins, who cleared waivers on Saturday and spent the next day-and-a-half jobless. Coming out of Washington, he was selected 38th overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2014 NFL Draft. NFL scouts and the dynasty community alike were very high on ASJ, turning blind eyes to character concerns given his robust potential to become the next great receiving tight end in an era seemingly full of them. A truly dynamic receiving threat, the issue with ASJ has never been a shortage of talent.

Though he only missed four games throughout his collegiate career, he’s only suited up for 18 games since entering the league. With his injury history, and potential of suspension for his second DUI offense looming, it will be a while before ASJ offers owners any sort of reliability. However, it would be a bit short-sighted for owners in deeper dynasty leagues to write him off in light of his age. Even if we dismiss him off for the remainder of the 2016 season, he’ll still be turning just 25 years old at this time next year. Perhaps with another year of age comes more maturity. While the smart money may be against that, Todd Bowles has long been a tell-you-like-it-is straight shooter, and if there’s any coach in the league that can get the best out of ASJ, it just might be him.

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The stark truth is, ASJ has hit near rock bottom as far as his dynasty value is concerned. He’s missed too much time to keep track of, and the time he’s spent healthy, he’s been inconsistent. Add to that the headache he was as a third-year player for Bucs’ Head Coach Dirk Koetter, and it’s no wonder his value has hit a low point. The good news is he was claimed. Not only was he picked up, his contract was picked up. If his value were truly at rock bottom, he would have gone unclaimed as NFL franchises declined to take on the remainder of his rookie contract. The reality is, personalities clash. It’s entirely possible Koetter was simply not the right fit for ASJ, and his future will be brighter with Bowles as his Head Coach.

The impact this move may have will initially be more evident elsewhere within the Jets’ offense. The short-term consequences are inextricably tied to whether or not ASJ will face a substantial suspension for his recent DUI offense. That said, the reason for this piece is to reflect upon the impact ASJ may have within his new offense, so we’ll do so without diving deeply into an analysis of how severe Roger Goodell elects to deal with Seferian-Jenkins’ latest offense (i.e., let’s focus on the impact ASJ’s arrival in New York will have if he somehow manages to avoid an elongated suspension).

ASJ has never been a blocking tight end, so the Jets acquiring him will have little to no effect on Matt Forte or Bilal Powell. Do you really care, or think this will have a real impact on Ryan “6-Pick” Fitzpatrick’s fantasy value? Didn’t think so. You’re likely wondering what this means for Quincy Enunwa. Last season, Enunwa was rarely talked about, and caught just 22 passes for 315 yards and zero touchdowns on 46 targets. Catching less than 50% of your targets is a quick path to NFL-irrelevance, but the beginning of the current NFL season has been anything but irrelevant for Enunwa. Through the first three weeks of the young season, Enunwa has caught 17 passes for 183 yards and a score, amassing 25 targets along the way.

Enunwa’s built like a tight end, and until yesterday, was the only player the Jets had resembling one. He was on everyone’s sleeper radar after beasting through the first two weeks of the season, but ASJ’s arrival cannot be ignored. For starters, if his position was not indicative enough (wide receiver), yesterday’s acquisition sure seems to illustrate that the Jets aren’t convinced Enunwa is their tight end of the future. If ASJ can step in right away, it will result in fewer targets for Enunwa. Though I believe in Enunwa’s pass catching abilities as much as I do not believe in Seferian-Jenkins’ character, I am giving Enunwa a slight long-term downgrade in light of this news while giving ASJ a slight bump.

Our friends at Player Profiler have compared Seferian-Jenkins to Tyler Eifert. If the Bucs severing ties with Seferian-Jenkins is by any stretch of the imagination a wake-up call for him, he’s still got plenty of time to live up to his potential. At a position thinner than any other, I’m viewing ASJ as a buy low (and by “low,” I mean dirt cheap). If you have the room, ASJ makes for a stash in deeper dynasty leagues. If you’ve ever held a job that left you feeling frustrated, unenthusiastic, and dissatisfied, and left for greener pastures, then you understand what a difference a change in professional surroundings can make. I’m holding out cautious optimism that this will be the case for ASJ, and buying him for pennies on the dollar where I can. By the same token, I’m either selling Enunwa high over the next week or two as Brandon Marshall gets back to 100% or tempering my expectations.

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