Twitter Observations: Bargain Shopping

Michael Moore

While fantasy Twitter has zeroed in on certain buzz-worthy players in recent days and weeks (Diontae Johnson! Ke’Shawn Vaughn!) often, those players don’t produce championship-numbers. That role is reserved for the studs already on your team and it is the players on the fringes who contribute to a league title. Case in point, the players below are (relative) bargains when it comes to acquiring but could pay out big for this year and beyond.

A reminder: This space will be dedicated to an assortment of things we find on Twitter and what it means for our dynasty teams. Most fantasy tweets undoubtedly have a redraft slant to them but we’re here to talk about the dynasty implications.

Cardinal Direction

While Kenyan Drake has been getting all the attention this off-season, let’s not forget who was in line to take over for David Johnson in the Cardinals backfield. Chase Edmonds, a fourth-round pick in 2018, broke out in week seven against the Giants with 126 yards on the ground and three touchdowns while adding 24 yards receiving.

Not only was Edmonds one of the top waiver-wire picks in redraft leagues but he was looking like a permanent replacement for Johnson. But a hamstring injury struck, the Cardinals traded for Kenyan Drake, and Edmonds touched the ball just four times over the last five weeks of the season. Now Edmonds is back on the bench as the 2020 season approaches.

Dynasty Impact: While the tweet above primarily pertains to redraft leagues, it’s not a bad idea to consider Edmonds for your dynasty team. He’s on a great team for a running back and is under contract for one more year than Drake. And even before his breakout game against the Giants last year, he was proving to be an effective runner, averaging 6.7 yards-per-carry. Using our DLF Trade Analyzer, you can get Edmonds for a mid-third-round rookie pick. Here are the rookies currently being taken there (using the DLF Rookie Draft App):

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If all it costs you was Lynn Bowden or Anthony McFarland for Edmonds, I would do it. Edmonds is on a better offense than either of those two and at least has a track record of success. For the current price, I’m buying.

Cook the Books

To be part of the group above is impressive enough and more so when you remember Cook is a tight end. Of course, it’s been an unusual road to get here after Cook has spent 11 years in the league and is on his fifth team. He’s always shown flashes of being fantasy-relevant, but it’s only really been the last three seasons he’s had any consistency.

In that span, he averaged 763 yards and nearly six touchdowns a season and finishing as a fantasy TE1 in all of them. He’s now all but forgotten as a new crop of rookie tight ends have been drafted (including one by the Saints) and being overlooked.

Dynasty Impact: What if I could tell you there was a fantasy TE1 that could be had for a late third-round rookie pick this year? If your dynasty team is contending, you should absolutely give that up for Cooks. He’s on an always fantasy-relevant offense and despite the Saints signing Emmanuel Sanders, no one expects Cook’s contributions to fall off anytime soon. If anything, the Saints would be wise to take some off Michael Thomas’ ridiculous 185 targets he had last year.

As for the heir apparent the Saints drafted, Adam Trautman was taken in the third round but will be making the transition from small-time Dayton to the NFL. There’s no way he’s ready for primetime and if Cook has another Cook-like season, it would be hard for the Saints to move on from that.

Jet Lag

Much like the previous tweet, this tweet also represents a pretty good group. And for Chris Herndon dynasty owners, it’s a reminder of just how impressive his rookie season was two years ago. The efficiency above allowed him to be on the cusp of being a fantasy TE1 despite just 56 targets on the season. He was also developing a good rapport with then-rookie Sam Darnold who accounted for most of his production including all four of his touchdowns.

2019 was supposed to be a big year for Herndon but a suspension followed by injuries dashed any hopes of repeating what he did his rookie season and saw just two targets all season before the Jets shut him down. It’s now 2020 and Herndon is mostly forgotten in dynasty circles.

Dynasty Impact: Herndon’s dynasty value isn’t hard to figure out. After entering the league as a fourth-round pick in 2018, his dynasty ADP was on the TE2/3 line. After his breakout rookie season, he was on the TE1/2 line before falling right back where he started after his lost 2019 season. He’s now back on the TE2/3 line but can be had for a mid-to-late third-round rookie pick. The 2020 class of rookie tight ends looks to be a weak one and for the price of one unknown rookie, you can get a 24-year old veteran with a track record of success.

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Curtis Order

Unfortunately, this isn’t so much an appreciation post for DJ Moore as it is a warning for Curtis Samuel dynasty owners. Samuel is entering his fourth season with the Panthers after they made him the 40th overall pick in 2017. And ever since then, it seems like we’re always on the verge of a breakout season.

It didn’t happen his rookie season after injuries sidelined him for nearly half the season. It didn’t happen his sophomore season after he missed three more games and touched the ball just 47 times. And it didn’t happen last season despite Samuel seeing more than 100 targets, converting just 54 of those into 627 receiving yards. And those manufactured rushes we were supposed to see? He’s carried the ball just 31 times for less than 300 yards in his three-year career.

Dynasty Impact: Currently, Samuel is DLF’s 50th-ranked dynasty receiver. As it stands, that’s a lower ranking than several rookie receivers you’d be able to draft. Our DLF Trade Analyzer, Samuel could fetch you a mid-to-late second-round rookie pick which would mean obtaining one of those rookies whether it’s Denzel Mims, Brandon Aiyuk, or Laviska Shenault, all of whom I’d rather have over Samuel. They’re all entering their first season compared to Samuel’s fourth while Samuel is also in the last year of his contract. This is an easy flip for me.

michael moore