Devy Stock Market: Week Six

The fantasy football stock market is constantly fluctuating and it is always important for us to know which players have a price that has become exploitable whether it be to buy or sell. Pieces like this one have been fairly commonplace in the industry for a while in both redraft and dynasty, but I will be focusing on college players for devy dynasty leagues and how their week-to-week performances are affecting their price in those leagues.

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Stock Up

Barkley back on track

Saquon Barkley, Penn State Running Back

From his first game at Penn State, many people thought Saquon Barkley had the opportunity to be a special running back at both the college and NFL levels. Barkley quickly rose up the Devy charts to be projected as a top five pick in 2018 rookie drafts, as he put up 1237 total yards and eight touchdowns from scrimmage as a Freshman.

Through five weeks of the college football season, Barkley’s stat lines were not looking as impressive as the previous year. He did match his 2015 touchdown total of eight in the first five games, but he only eclipsed the 100 rushing yard mark and 5.0 yards per carry mark in one game each. However, both of those things changed in week six against the Maryland Terrapins as Barkley had his best game of the season, putting up 202 rushing yards with a 6.5 yards per carry. With the hype surrounding the 2017 class, almost all relevant eligible players are being valued like gold, if you can trade a second tier asset in the 2017 class for Barkley, that could be a move where waiting a year could pay big dividends.

Westbrook goin’ Wild

Dede Westbrook, Oklahoma Wide Receiver

As a Senior at Oklahoma, Dede Westbrook has had a fairly quiet college career with no Division 1 college stats until his Junior season and only putting up 46 catches for 743 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns in 2015. Westbrook has broken out in a big way in Oklahoma’s last two games against a pair of rivals from the state of Texas (TCU and Texas), putting up 17 catches for 390 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns. Westbrook likely isn’t owned in any devy leagues, but he makes for a great guy to keep an eye on to acquire in diluted rookie drafts this spring.

Abra Kadabra Kamara

Alvin Kamara, Tennessee Running Back

Alvin Kamara and Jalen Hurd were one of the best 1-2 punches at running back during the 2015 college football season as the pair combined for 1986 rushing yards last season. Kamara took more of a back seat to Hurd to start the 2016 season as Hurd had 91 carries in the first four games with Kamara only getting 22 carries. When Hurd sustained an injury two weeks ago, it opened the door for Kamara to return to being a featured part of the offense and thus far he has taken advantage of the opportunity. In week six, Kamara came through in a big way, compiling 288 total yards on 18 carries and eight receptions against Texas A&M. Hurd will be out once again this week against Alabama, giving Kamara another opportunity why he deserves more of a share of the Volunteers backfield even when Hurd returns from injury.

Stock Down

Scarbrough not leaving any scars

Bo Scarbrough, Alabama Running Back

Bo Scarbrough came into college football as the #16 overall player in the country according to Rivals. Whenever a running back is ranked that high in overall rankings, devy players take notice and draft them despite the risk of busting and the minimum of a three year wait before any NFL payout. Sitting behind a pair of top 100 NFL draft picks in Derrick Henry and Kenyan Drake, Scarbrough got a pass from many for his minimal freshman output with only 104 rushing yards, but he did show some promise with a 5.8 yards per carry.

Going into the season, many thought Scarbrough and fellow sophomore Damien Harris would serve as the 1-2 punch for the Crimson Tide. Unfortunately for Scarbrough fans, that hasn’t been the case as he has played third fiddle in the Alabama backfield with one more carry on the season than Freshman Joshua Jacobs, but Jacobs has 307 rushing yards and an 8.3 yards per carry compared to Scarborough rushing for only 164 yards with a 4.3 yards per carry. With both Jacobs and Harris nearly doubling Scarbrough’s yards per carry, he may become a marginal part of the offense sooner rather than later.

Villamin not a scary villain

Jordan Villamin, Oregon State Wide Receiver 

Entering his Redshirt Junior season, I pegged Jordan Villamin as “This year’s Leonte Carroo”, as a wide receiver on a bad offense dominating the team market share leading to many production metric enthusiasts to fall in love with him come rookie draft season. Villamin had 660 of the Beavers 1909 receiving yards and five of ten receiving touchdowns in 2015. However, Villamin’s success has not continued in 2016 as he has all but fallen off the map of the Oregon State offense with only eight catches for 49 receiving yards and no touchdowns in the Beavers first four games. Villamin isn’t a drop quite yet in Devy leagues, and if you can acquire him for an end of bench NFL player, I think it is worth the risk, but Villamin never being fantasy relevant is looking most likely at this point without some sort of resurgence the rest of the college season.

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