The DLF Mailbag

Matt Price Posted On June 25, 2018

Welcome back to the DLF Mailbag! Let’s get to your questions.

1.) Would you trade Alvin Kamara and Julio Jones for Dalvin Cook and DeAndre Hopkins?

Zeyad Mustafa in Tulsa

12 team PPR 1 QB 2 RB 2 WR 1 TE 1 Flex

Zeyad,

This is an interesting one. For me, it comes down to how you see the difference in value between the running backs. Hopkins over Julio is a no-brainer: you are buying back three years of elite wide receiver production. I would make the trade simply based on that because the gap at WR is much smaller than the gap at running back.

Would anyone be that surprised if Dalvin Cook remained healthy all season and outproduced Kamara? Cook will be a three-down back for Minnesota and I don’t think we can expect the same from Kamara who is a prime candidate for regression after his historic rookie campaign. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer Kamara to Cook in a vacuum, but not enough to make up the difference between Hopkins and Julio.

2.) In our league, we have a forced trade period. Each team ranks players 1-8. The other teams have the option of bidding on players ranked 5-8. Their bid must be at least one spot higher than the player they are bidding on. For example, my #8 is Mike William’s, in order for a team to take him from me they must bid at least their #7. The team losing the player has the option of taking the player ranked at their bid # or any player lower ranked, or select any free agent. I have a stacked team.

I’m having difficulty ranking my players. Currently: 1. Todd Gurley 2. Le’Veon Bell 3. DeAndre Hopkins 4. Aaron Rodgers 5. Allen Robinson 6. DeVante Parker 7. Mike Williams 8. Devin Funchess. I will definitely lose whomever I rank #5. I love having Aaron Rodgers, but having Allen Robinson as a third WR is also pretty good. I have tried to trade ARob, the best offer I got was two seconds. So I am looking for some help in deciding which player to lose. Aaron Rodgers or Allen Robinson?

Tom in KC

12 team PPR, start 1 QB 2 RB 3 WR 1 TE 2 Flex 1 K 1 DST

Tom,

I’m a Packers fan and I love Aaron Rodgers. It’s such a nice warm and fuzzy feeling to have an elite set it and forget it option at quarterback isn’t it?

Ok, now that we’ve gotten the feels out of the way, this is an easy decision in a one-quarterback league. Assuming you have another top 20 or so quarterback option on your roster, you have to let go of Rodgers. Even if you don’t, in most leagues a second round pick will buy a quarterback like Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers, or Ben Roethlisberger.

Could you buy Allen Robinson for a second? I doubt it. Put Rodgers at risk and keep Robinson. Maybe you’ll even get lucky and no one will go after Rodgers because there are better non-quarterback options on other teams at the same bid.

3.) I just pulled off a trade that got me, Christian McCaffrey. I now have CMac, Kenyan Drake, Jay Ajayi, Tyreek Hill, and Patrick Mahomes as keepers (five-off, five-def per season). But I’m wondering what the trade value for Ajayi might be? I would like to get stronger at WR.

Greg M in Meriden

16 team PPR IDP, start 1 QB, 2 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 2 Flex

Greg,

I am sky-high on McCaffrey so nice work acquiring him! As for Ajayi, his draft stock and trade value are way down.

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As you can see from his ADP graph (that you can access via the DLF ADP Comparison tool), Ajayi is basically as low as he has been in the last 18 months. This is so strange to me. Two things we should be looking for in our running backs are being attached to good offenses with good offensive lines. The Eagles check both of those boxes with one of the best young quarterbacks in the league and one of only five NFL teams returning all five starters on the offensive line.

LeGarrette Blount is no longer an obstacle, but perhaps dynasty owners are worried about Corey Clement and Darren Sproles limiting Ajayi’s PPR upside. Either way, Ajayi screams “hold” or “buy” to me. If Ajayi ends up getting the majority of the snaps, I think he has a chance to vastly outproduce his current positional ADP of RB29. If you sell him now, you are selling extremely low.

If you are set on moving him at his current value for a wide receiver, I think you are looking at a player in the Devin Funchess/ Robert Woods/DeVante Parker/Sterling Shepard range. In that area, I like Woods and Shepard if you are looking for a safer floor and Funchess or Parker if you are looking for a riskier floor but a potentially higher ceiling.

4.) In a league where I can start up to 6 WRs, should I value them even more than usual?

Corey in Pinellas Park, Florida

12 team PPR, start 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 3 flex

Corey,

In a standard PPR league setup where 60% of your starting lineup can be wide receivers, you should absolutely value them higher if you like to build your teams around wide receivers. Despite the running back resurgence of the last two seasons, wide receivers are still the safest position to build dynasty teams around. 2018 is a great year to use a zero or one RB strategy in startup drafts. With running backs flying off the board in the early rounds you can easily zig and draft five-six wide receivers in the first seven rounds and build a core that will keep your team competitive for years to come.

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Matt Price

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Senior writer and co-host of the DLF Dynasty podcast, the longest running dynasty focused podcast on the planet

Creator and Co-host of Dynasty Game night, the fantasy football game show.

Creator and host of the Zookeeper Stories podcast.