Devy Stock Market: Week Four
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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Barkley’s Backup – Miles Sanders, RB Penn State
Miles Sanders entered Penn State as the top running back prospect in his graduating class in 2016 according to Rivals. Despite the high ranking, Sanders had to wait his turn with Saquon Barkley in front of him on the depth chart. Behind Barkley, Sanders was primarily a kick returner in his freshman season and continued as the number two running back.
With Barkley in the NFL, Sanders has taken over the role of the starting running back at Penn State. In that role, he has shown the promise that many thought he had when he started his college career. As a starter, Sanders has run for 495 yards and five touchdowns in the first four games. He has 100+ total yards in each of the first four games, including his breakout performance in week four against Illinois with 200 rushing yards with a 9.1 yards per carry and three touchdowns.
Taylor-ed For Success – J.J. Taylor, RB Arizona
J.J. Taylor has been in college since 2016, when he ran for 261 yards and two touchdowns before an injury ended his season after four games and he was granted a redshirt. In his redshirt freshman season, he continued to show some of that promise with 847 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 5.8 yards per carry. With all that, he was barely on the devy radar.
In week four, he put himself on that radar, leading the nation in rushing for the week with 284 rushing yards and two touchdowns with a yards per carry of 10.5. One big game doesn’t make someone a legitimate devy/NFL prospect, but he showed enough prior to this game that this could be a sign of things to come for the Arizona running back in 2018.
With the medical redshirt, it’s unlikely that Taylor will enter the NFL in 2018, so he will be someone to keep an eye out for in 2019 devy drafts.
Hawaiian Connection – Cole McDonald, QB Hawaii and John Ursua, WR Hawaii
The Hawaii passing game has been quiet since the days of Timmy Chang and Colt Brennan in the early-mid 2000s. The connection of Cole McDonald and John Ursua gives reason to be excited about the Hawaii passing game for the first time since then.
Many will pass off the success of both players due to the system they play in, or the competition they play against. However, they are so far ahead of everyone else, there is reason to monitor this pair as the season goes on.
Cole McDonald has prototypical size at 6’4” 205 pounds and he is out-producing all of FBS with 202 passing yards more than second place, four passing touchdowns more than second place and has only thrown one interception with an adjusted yards per attempt of 11.6. Even with this production, it’s unlikely that the sophomore will be selected outside of the deepest of superflex devy leagues next off-season, but I think dismissing him because of his school and offense could end up being a mistake and he is worth a late round devy flier.
While McDonald is leading in the major passing categories, Ursua is handling the load on the receiving end with 112 more receiving yards (623) and two more receiving touchdowns (nine) through four games. Ursua does not have the prototypical size at 5’10” 175 pounds, but his numbers show that may not be an issue if his speed translates to the NFL. Ursua is a Junior, but the number of Hawaii players entering the NFL early are minimal, so he will be another player I will be eyeing in the late rounds of devy drafts in 2019.
Tight Ends are Medium Rare – Jared Pinkney, TE Vanderbilt
Tight ends rarely enter the devy conversation and I type that sentence every time I mention a tight end in this article. Noah Fant entered the season as the leader in the clubhouse for the TE1 in the 2019 class since early in 2017, and he has excelled in 2018 with 169 receiving yards and tied for first among college tight ends with four receiving touchdowns in four games.
If there is one player who could supplant Fant, it may be Jared Pinkney at Vanderbilt. Through four games, Pinkney has 113 more receiving yards (283) and is averaging 6.4 more yards per catch (17.7). Pinkney has accounted for 29.5% of the Vanderbilt passing offense so far this season, a very high number for a tight end, comparable to the final season of Evan Engram who finished with the same market share of 29.5% in his final season at Ole Miss.
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- Dynasty Commish Calendar: August - August 5, 2023
- Dynasty Commish Calendar: June - June 9, 2023
- Dynasty Commish Calendar: May - May 3, 2023
