My Dynasty Off-Season: Undervalued Dynasty Assets
Well, that was fun. Another year is in the books and hopefully you hoisted a dynasty league championship. While the games are great and results are obviously important, this is actually my favorite time of year. Yes, I actually enjoy the off-season more than actual fantasy football. I love breaking down the NFL Draft, evaluating rookies, re-establishing the veteran dynasty fantasy landscape and giving you all as much information as I can in order to be prepared for the beginning of the upcoming year.
This year, I’ve been posting a regular series – My Dynasty Off-Season. This series is intended for me to pull back the curtain a bit and share what I’m doing in terms of team building, roster evaluation, player assessments, trade possibilities, value changes or anything else I’m thinking of. My hope is this series helps guide you through your off-season and helps you be in position to win again next year.
One of the final things I do each off-season is attempt to find players who may be undervalued. There are many ways to do this but the method I’ve used the past few years has worked wonders for me. As you likely know, we have a Dynasty Trade Analyzer, What you may not know is there is an easy way to see current trade values from that formula by choosing “values.” I scour this list and compare players to those found around them (as well as draft choices) and typically find what I believe are gaps (or even mistakes) dynasty managers are making in terms of valuing specific players. When you consider those values are taken from a variety of ways (not just rankings), it holds water and shows what the consensus believes to be true player value. With that in mind, these are what I consider to be some undervalued dynasty assets who you could score as a “throw in” as part of a bigger trade. Many are currently worth next to nothing in terms of trade value and all of these players are going for a third round pick or less.
Let’s count them down…
10.) Deneric Prince, RB KC
I know, I know. He was so last year. Still, it seems he’s passed Clyde Edwards-Helaire as the team’s RB2 and an injury to Isaiah Pacheco would vault his value way up. The Chiefs failed to add anyone else notable through the NFL Draft or through free agency and that’s a vote of confidence for both Pacheco and, I believe, for Prince as well. Maybe part of this is wishful thinking that I could one day make headlines revolving around different Prince songs, but I’m buying on the cheap in leagues where he’s available and certainly not leaving him on waiver wires in any of the others.
9.) Aidan O’Connell, QB LV
The Raiders were left in the cold at this year’s NFL Draft as the run on quarterbacks got weird in a hurry. As a result, they’re left with O’Connell and Gardner Minshew battling it out. At this point, it looks like O’Connell may end up being the guy and anyone throwing to the likes of Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers and the newly minted “next big thing,” Brock Bowers has no business being valued as low as he is.
8.) Trey Sermon, RB IND
Once a highly touted dynasty asset in San Francisco, Sermon flamed out and bounced his way to the Colts roster. However, dynasty managers are sometimes too quick to give up on players and all indications point to Sermon as being the team’s RB2. Jonathan Taylor is going to be driven until the tires fall off but one injury could vault Sermon right into the spotlight. If I have Taylor in a league, I certainly have Sermon as a handcuff.
7.) John Metchie, RB HOU
Sure, I’m a sucker for a good story. Metchie fits the bill as it looks like he’s finally rounding back into form after a battle with Leukemia. This could be a year too early to buy on him but Stefon Diggs is essentially on a one-year deal and Metchie has looked great in camp thus far. Nico Collins and Tank Dell aren’t going anywhere soon but Metchie is nearly free and talented receivers always get a chance, one way or another.
6.) Justin Fields, QB PIT
There are rumblings Russell Wilson hasn’t exactly run away with this job. In reality, the Steelers aren’t married to either of their quarterbacks and Fields has shown real ability in the past. If he beats out Wilson over the next month, his value is going to shoot up. Even if he doesn’t, I find it really hard to believe he won’t have a chance to start somewhere again soon. You’re playing the long game with him but his value has dropped way too far in my opinion.
5.) Adam Thielen, WR CAR
I’ve heard the “Adam Thielen is old” narrative now for five years in a row. If you can get a receiver who has the potential to catch 100 passes in a season for what amounts to a late fourth round rookie pick, you do that every day of the week. Could he drop off the face of the earth? Sure. However, the chance of your fourth round rookie pick ever amounting to anything is likely worse than you may think. There are a lot of third, fourth and later round rookie picks who aren’t even going to make an NFL roster. To me, Thielen is an easy throw-in on a trade as he just does nothing but produce every year. For that price, who cares if he retires off your roster.
4.) Greg Dulcich, TE DEN
As I expected, the fluff pieces are now starting to circulate around Dulcich. Sure, he’s been little more than injured the past two years but it sure sounds like he’s healthy again based on all the camp reports coming out. While some other rookie tight ends are going in the late third or early fourth round in rookie drafts, Dulcich can currently be had in exchange for a late fourth. Again, this seems like a more than reasonable chance to take on a player who you know is going to not just make a roster but one the coaching staff desperately wants to make a big part of their offense. Sign me up on the cheap here.
3.) Jaleel McLaughlin, RB DEN
The undrafted free agent is one of Sean Payton’s “guys” and showed some serious juice last year by averaging 5.4 yards per carry and showing real explosiveness in the process. The thought of Javonte Williams being a three down back are all but gone and some believe he may even be the odd man out from the group that includes McLaughlin, Audric Estime, and Samaje Perine. I find that hard to believe but it seems McLaughlin has a role in this offense and has real PPR potential if he’s paired with Estime, Williams or someone else.
2.) Nick Chubb, RB CLE
Call me crazy but I think the dynasty managers throwing in the towel on Chubb are underestimating him. He’s currently going for a 2024 3rd round pick and to me, the upside he has greatly overpowers that kind of a rookie pick lottery ticket. Chubb isn’t likely going to start the season on the active roster and still has a long way to go to prove he can be the player we all know but recent reports show he’s running full speed and working on change of direction in drills – both good signs that point to him coming back sooner rather than later.
1.) Rashod Bateman, WR BAL
The Ravens seem destined to give Bateman one more chance to be a big-time receiver. His 93/1,164/4 line looks good on paper until you realize those are his career numbers after three seasons, not just his stats from last year. Still, the Ravens really want him and Zay Flowers to create a 1-2 punch in the passing game. There are a lot of rookie receivers going in the later part of round three and early part of round four and I’d take Bateman over just about any of them.
So, there you have it. These may not be players who are going to win your league but they could provide some much-needed depth and could provide a solid low-risk, high reward player or two on your roster. If you can grab one off the wire or have one added as a bonus to a bigger trade, I’d strongly consider it.
Ken is on Twitter at DLF_KenK
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