Dynasty Fantasy Football Trading Post: Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow | Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Russ Fisher Posted On July 18, 2024

To continue what seems to be a very popular theme in my articles, we are going to talk about a player I like. No clever metaphor, no mysterious lead, I am just going to say it: I like…

Joe Burrow, QB CIN

Quite the hot take, right?

Burrow is young (27 years old), talented, and on a very good offense. I am not sure there are many people who disagree that he is one of the top quarterbacks in the league and one of the top dynasty quarterbacks in the game.

I find Burrow interesting because while it is almost completely consensus that he is great, he still comes in as QB7 in June DLF ADP with players like sophomores Anthony Richardson and CJ Stroud above him. While the Bengals quarterback isn’t exactly close to filing his retirement paperwork, the aforementioned even younger QBs are five years younger than Burrow, but is that the only reason why? Chances are for Stroud that is one of the bigger reasons but for Richardson, it’s his legs and the fantasy points that comes with just how much he uses them.

Can Burrow be seen as an elite dynasty QB without the use of his legs (or being named Patrick Mahomes)? Does it matter if he is considered elite as long as he can produce at elite levels with just his arm? That is the more important question and that is the real crux of my interest in Joe Burrow. He feels like a player who might have a lower trade value than his rankings, scoring, and talent suggests and for no logical reason. Let’s look to the DLF Trade Finder and Trade Analyzer to see some deals including Burrow to see if he holds that elite price tag.

16 team (2 copy), 1QB, PPR.

I live in a superflex world. Every league I play in has the ability to flex in a second quarterback. One of the reasons I prefer superflex to one quarterback leagues is the complete lack of value and demand of the QB position when you only have to start one. Here is a prime example of this. Even knowing the deflating value of quarterback I would so very easily give up the 17th pick in the rookie draft to get a talented quarterback on a very good offense.

12 team, superflex, PPR, TE premium.

I almost picked a trade that was the superflex 1.03 rookie pick for Joe Burrow but I am glad I saw this before I took the screenshot, at least this is one pick earlier (hypothetically, assuming you haven’t done the rookie draft yet and you followed the consensus of drafting Harrison Jr second overall). But I will still say the same thing even if I chose the other trade. This is very easily the quarterback. I am still at the point of taking Burrow over Caleb Williams who was the first overall pick in both the NFL draft and our rookie drafts.

12 team, 1QB, PPR.

Here is where things get very tough for me. We can almost ignore that this is a one-quarterback league. The picks involved are almost inconsequential put against the value of the quarterbacks and their places in the draft. So what do you do when you have two players in the same tier who are both young, talented, and on good offenses? Usually, I would say: “don’t make same position, same tier trades”. Back in the intro I purposefully pointed out that Anthony Richardson was ranked above Joe Burrow in ADP because of the stark difference in their profiles, prospects, and talents, and part of that being the use of his legs.

This is the question I asked in the beginning. If I value these players the same, does one player getting points on the ground really matter? In reality, I would go with my original statement, I just wouldn’t make this trade because I value them closely enough and those picks just don’t matter to me enough to make me want to make the move. In hypothetical land, I would take Murray because of the earlier pick and use that as a rationalization every Sunday when I saw Burrow tossing beautiful touchdown passes to Tee Higgins (just let me have this).

I like Joe Burrow and if what I have seen in the Trade Finder is accurate I might like him enough to go and make a few trades to add him to a bunch of rosters.

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Russ Fisher

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Russ likes to trade and Russ likes to talk. He pulls them both together into many dynasty/trade related podcasts. He has been playing fantasy football for 16 years and dynasty for 5. He spends too much time on Twitter and is always around to talk trades whenever you need!