Devy Stock Market

Nathan Powell

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.

Stock Up

A Penny For Your Thoughts

Rashaad Penny, San Diego State Running Back

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Rashaad Penny entered 2017 as fairly unknown in the devy community as he entered his Senior season. Penny played behind Donnel Pumphrey, who left college as the All-Time leader in FBS rushing yards. Even behind Pumphrey, Penny showed flashes in 2016 with 1,018 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns as the Aztecs number two running back.

Now leading the backfield, Penny has put up video game-type numbers in the first four games with 803 yards from scrimmage with 7.8 yards per touch and eight touchdowns. The question becomes, is Penny another in the long line of players to put up big college numbers and do little to nothing in the NFL? Or will this 5’11”, 220 pound bruising running back be the real deal at the next level? Penny is certainly a player to track as the season moves along.

Royce is Rolling

Royce Freeman, Oregon Running Back

Royce Freeman has had a roller coaster of a college career in regards to his devy stock. After 3,600 total scrimmage yards and 38 touchdowns in his first two seasons, many expected him to continue his dominance and be one of the top backs selected in a highly touted 2017 running back class. However, Freeman had a “down” year, at least by his standards with only 1,069 scrimmage yards and ten touchdowns and he decided to stay for his final season of college.

This is a weird trend I have seen in devy leagues, but players who stay for their Senior season tend to be undervalued/overlooked, as was the case with Freeman as his devy stock dropped to the point where he was one of the lower valued devys on the trade and auction market in leagues that roster 28-40 devys each year. Now, in 2017, it looks like he has returned to his early college form with 669 total yards and ten touchdowns in only four games.

N’Keal is For Real

N’Keal Harry, Arizona State Wide Receiver

If you follow me and my devy tweets, one of the things I was tweeting all off-season about how good the 2019 wide receiver class is going to be, and it could be the closest thing we’ve seen to the historic 2014 class. Leading that pack right now, for me, is N’Keal Harry. Harry is a 6’4”, 214 pound wideout who is consistently making NFL-type plays for the Sun Devils.

Harry already has eclipsed half of his total catches, yards and touchdowns in his Freshman season with only four games played. He has increased his yards per catch by nearly three, averaging 14.1 yards per catch in 2017. Harry is still a developing wideout who could be talked about as an Amari Cooper/Sammy Watkins level prospect this time next year. I believe Harry’s value will continue to increase as his time in the NFL gets closer. While his price may be slightly more expensive than four weeks ago, it could be much cheaper than it will be on draft day 2019.

Stock Down

Beam Me Up, Scotty

L.J. Scott, Michigan State Running Back

One of the most disappointing devy performances so far this season has been L.J. Scott. Scott looked primed to be a top five back in the 2018 class as he entered 2017 following up 1,800 total yards and 18 touchdowns in his first two collegiate seasons. However, Scott has had a mediocre start to 2017 with only 214 rushing yards in three games with a yards per carry of only 4.2. If you are a believer in Scott, now is a good time to buy, but ending up as a late round rookie/NFL draft pick looks well within his range of outcomes.

Ah, Man…. no stats

Ahmmon Richards, Miami Wide Receiver

On the surface, this may seem fairly obvious, but it is still a reminder that we need patience occasionally as devy players as well as just dynasty players. Dynasty players often get impatient with NFL players putting up zeros on their bench, and even though we don’t get points for college stats, that same frustration can happen when you are checking your devy player’s stats and you see that same “0” as last week.

Richards is one of the best devy buys right now, despite missing the first few games of the season. If you can trade a lower tier 2018 devy wide receiver, or a 2020 Devy wide receiver who has shown something early on, the Richards owner may be frustrated enough to part with the wideout who averaged 19.1 yards per catch in his freshman season.

Dang it, Darnold!

Sam Darnold, USC Quarterback

I feel like we do this every year with a devy quarterback or two. This year it is Sam Darnold. We hyped him up all off-season, and then when he isn’t absolutely perfect, or progressing quite like we had hoped as a second year starter, everyone is ready to drop him down in their quarterback rankings.

Darnold has identical completion percentage (67) and yards per attempt (8.4) as he did last season. The one discrepancy between the two seasons is the interceptions. Darnold threw only nine interceptions on 366 pass attempts in 2016, while he has seven interceptions on just 146 pass attempts in 2017. While we may have been quick to anoint him the next great quarterback prospect, we are also being quick to drop him down the rankings while he is still one of the best quarterbacks in college football.

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nathan powell
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