Dynasty Stashes
Digging through NFL rosters looking for players to stash is one of the more fun exercises you can undertake. Typically, the cost of these players is free — except for a roster spot or a small amount of FAAB.
When searching for stashes, I look for a couple of scenarios — I want players who have a reasonable path to relevancy at some point during the upcoming season, or players whose skill-sets are unique (especially to the NFL team they are rostered on). Most of these players never will hit, and the ones who do the production will be fleeting. So in most cases, if any of these players do flash or end up in an advantageous situation, I would look to move them and turn a profit.
Darnell Mooney, WR CHI
Mooney is a great example of why raw counting stats accrued in college don’t tell nearly all of the story.
Statistics from Sports Reference.
Despite modest counting stats, Mooney actually performed quite well when you look at the context of his situation. In each of his final three college seasons, he eclipsed over 27.19% of market share in receiving yards, including the season he was 20 years old, when he accounted for over 41% of Tulane’s receiving yards.
Befitting a player who blazed the third-fastest time at the NFL combine for a wide receiver with 4.38-second 40 yard-dash (96th percentile), Mooney averaged a robust 16.7 yards per reception on his 154 college receptions. That speed and his deep threat ability is something missing from the Bears’ roster after they parted ways with Taylor Gabriel. Mooney has received praise both from head coach Matt Nagy and quarterback Mitch Trubisky for his abilities. Nagy also praised Mooney’s intellect, stating that Mooney “reminds me a lot of Allen Robinson” in meetings, “asking very good questions.”.
While the Bears have an excellent starting duo in Robinson and Anthony Miller, neither can bring the speed to the field that Mooney does. The Bears’ other wide receivers aren’t exactly world-beaters. Ted Ginn Jr. is still a functional player, but he’s also 34 years old. Wide receivers at that age, whose games are predicated on speed, are a danger of coming up lame on any play. Mooney outproduced both Riley Ridley and Javon Wims during their college careers, and again he brings an element of speed neither player can match.
Robinson is a free agent after the season, and while the Bears would probably like to re-sign him, they are currently projected to be $11 million over the 2021 salary cap, per Spotrac. Ginn Jr. is also a free agent after the season, and the Bears will need to have players on cheap controllable contracts next season. If Mooney flashes even a bit during his rookie season, he could step into a much larger role in the 2021 season.
Mike Davis, RB CAR
When thinking of dynasty “stashes,” 27-year-old running backs probably don’t immediately come to mind. But while Davis might not hold any real long-term value, he could offer immense short-term production. While Davis was in danger of being cut due to his salary, he did enough during training camp to secure a job and ended up as the number two running back behind Christian McCaffrey after the Panthers surprisingly cut Reggie Bonnafon. Currently, the only other back on the roster is Trenton Cannon.
Though not many can match the receiving prowess of McCaffrey, Davis has been a proficient receiver since his college days at South Carolina when he hauled in 66 receptions in his final 25 college games. Prior to his disastrous 2019 season, when he was cut by the Bears after seven games and latched onto the Panthers’ roster for the final five games of their season, Davis actually had a mini breakout in 2018. Davis set career highs in rushing yards with 514 and added another 214 yards on 34 receptions.
If anything were to happen to McCaffrey, Davis steps into a starting role and picks up value — whether as a low-end starter/flex or as a trade chip for your roster.
Gunner Olszewski, WR NE
Olszewski is the stashiest of dynasty stashes. When you look up his college stats, the first thing that is evident is that he did not play at a major school — since he doesn’t exist when you search college football on the Sports Reference site. But even if Olszewski’s stats did show up, it wouldn’t matter since he didn’t play offense while at Division II Bemidji State. Instead, he was an all-conference first-team cornerback and punt returner. The Patriots saw something in him though, and signed him as an undrafted free agent after the 2019 NFL Draft and converted him to the wide receiver position.
After being used mostly as a punt returner in 2019, Olszwewski worked on his receiving skills in the off-season and has impressed everyone at Patriots camp. While 2019 first rounder N’Keal Harry continues to cause concern among Pats fans and coaches, no such concerns exist with Olszewski who’s being mentored by Julian Edelman and who has been compared toDanny Amendola. Camp buzz indicated that Olszewski already had a roster spot locked but the Patriots also made his path to relevance easier with the release of veteran wide receiver Mohamed Sanu.
Source: The #Patriots are releasing veteran WR Mohamed Sanu. A surprise.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 2, 2020
The Patriots have a long history of taking smallish, unheralded wide receivers and making them fantasy relevant going back to the days of Wes Welker. If Harry continues to struggle with separation at the NFL level, and/or Edelman’s body betrays him (like most 34-year-old athlete’s bodies do), Olszewski could find himself thrust into a prominent role on New England’s offense.
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