Dynasty Fantasy Football: Targets Acquired

Garrett Wilson | © Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Standing still is the fastest way of moving backward in a rapidly changing dynasty landscape. The best dynasty teams are the most active in looking for ways to add value to their dynasty rosters, as part of a continuous process.

The Dynasty Targets Acquired series focuses on making dynasty buys to improve your roster, heading towards one of two key destinations – contending to win a dynasty title in 2023 or rebuilding for a dynasty title challenge in 2024. Each article in the series will highlight a dynasty buy for both contenders and rebuilders – with three trade ideas based on the DLF Trade Analyzer: Pivot Up, Same Tier or Pivot Down.

Buying as a contender is all about winning the title now, whilst leaving the window open to compete again year after year. Buying as a rebuilder is all about making the right trades to maximize roster value next season and become a contender for a dynasty championship.

Time Context and Strategy

Now is the time to decide: are you in or are you out? A quarter of the fantasy football season has passed and by now you know if you are competing or if you need to look ahead to next year. Every article in this series so far has talked about how it is a tough time to pull off dynasty trades but now is the time where trades should be flowing like wine, like the salmon migrating to Capistrano (at least that is what Dumb and Dumber tells me).

In reality, even in some of your more inactive leagues, we should see a pickup in movement because the landscape of your league should be setting in. The best part about trading in dynasty is that there is always something to try, always players to grab, players to ship away, and a direction to move your roster. If you are competing then look at the rosters at the bottom of the standings and see what pieces they have that are scoring points and would fit better on your team. If you are rebuilding, look at the top teams and look for those young players who aren’t quite performing yet and send them whatever players you have who are scoring points. Here are some ideas for both of those situations.

Contender Buy – Garrett Wilson, WR NYJ

This is a pivotal year in Wilson’s dynasty value. He has all the potential and talent in the world and has broken records when it comes to the amount of targets but things haven’t completely fallen into place for Wilson. Couple that with a bit of a rough start to this season and people might be souring on the Jets wide receiver. The important thing to look at is the targets haven’t slowed down. Wilson and Aaron Rodgers are still getting used to each other’s style and it is very frustrating watching Allen Lazard get so many targets. Also, The Jets have played against some of the better shutdown corners in the league in the first few weeks of the season.

This coming week they fly to London to face the Vikings’ defense. Though the Vikings may not be a shutdown-style secondary, it is usually tough on these players playing overseas. This will only make the opportunity to buy into Wilson’s talent easier. And that is the main point behind this recommendation. Garrett Wilson is very talented. You need to earn targets and as previously stated, Wilson broke the NFL record for targets in the first two seasons of a career. Also, the schedule for the Jets calms down in the middle of the season. I truly believe that this stud wide receiver will start producing like a stud wide receiver and all doubt will go out the window. So try and find a deal now before he starts blowing up.

Pivot Up

Pivot Up – acquiring a higher-valued asset in exchange for multiple lower-valued assets

I believe that both Rome Odunze and Trey Benson will be fantasy-relevant players sometime in the future but we are competing now. We need points now. It doesn’t take much convincing for me to believe that you would strongly benefit from Wilson being on your roster. Wilson has a relatively easy schedule leading up to the fantasy playoffs and can be the player to push you over the edge to get that bye week.

Same Tier

Same Tier – acquiring an asset in the Same Tier of valuation, in a straight-up swap deal

Sam LaPorta isn’t recreating his record-breaking rookie year. Honestly, he isn’t even following it up with a strong sophomore campaign so far, and that is what makes this trade perfect. This feels risk for risk and I think Wilson is the better side of this risk-filled puzzle. While Wilson is still getting his targets, has faced shutdown defenses, and needs some time with his new quarterback, LaPorta just isn’t as integral of a part of the offense as he was last season. Maybe it is the emergence of Jameson Williams or maybe it is LaPorta himself not being as open or needed as last season, I don’t know the answer. What I do know is that Wilson’s issues seem more easily solved than LaPorta’s and I would take that bet by making this deal.

Pivot Down

Pivot Down – acquiring multiple lower-valued assets in exchange for a higher-valued asset

I have officially entered the worried territory when it comes to Bijan Robinson. Falcon’s coach Raheem Morris came out after last week’s game complimenting Tyler Allgeier, his style of play, and his fit in this offense. This is the opposite of what Robinson managers wanted to hear. The departure of Arthur Smith was supposed to bring a stop to this silliness and we were going to get the workhorse running back we thought we had. The dreams might just be squashed at this point. This is why I love the pivot down to Garrett Wilson and David Montgomery. This trade seems reasonable again because of the risk factor of the main pieces on both sides but now we get David Montgomery added who is currently running back eleven in points per game. We get the young and talented wide receiver who we believe will get us those points we need but we also get the veteran running back who we know is going to get us points right now.

Rebuilder Buy – Brian Thomas Jr, WR JAC

As the rookie draft process played out I became a bigger and bigger fan of Thomas Jr and his style of play. I loved that he landed on the Jacksonville Jaguars where he could be “the guy” and display those talents. I found myself trading back into the end of the first round or just trading in using my future draft picks to acquire as many shares of Thomas as possible. Four weeks into the season and I am not disappointed. Well, that is not a fair statement. I am not disappointed with the wide receiver’s play but I am severely disappointed with his quarterback, Trevor Lawrence’s play.

Thankfully we are not here to talk about Lawrence because that would just make me too sad right now. Even with mediocre QB play (just let me have mediocre…) Thomas is scoring as the WR21 in points per game but since the overall feel about the Jaguars is so low not everyone is noticing just how strong of a season the wide receiver is having. Now is the perfect time to go and acquire him and have him as a core piece of your rebuild.

Pivot Up

Pivot Up – acquiring a higher-valued asset in exchange for multiple lower-valued assets

If you were competing you would be thrilled to have Chris Godwin and Brian Robinson on your roster. Chances are you did not pay a lot to acquire them and they are scoring very well this season but this part of the article isn’t about competing! Maybe we came into the season hoping our roster would take us to the promised land but after four games we learned that our hopes were a little too high. If that is the case this is the perfect move to make with these pieces that have no place on a rebuilding team. You gain back seven years of age at wide receiver and lose a running back who is low in value and scoring points, the two things we want nothing to do with on a rebuilding team. We gain a cornerstone in our rebuilding efforts.

Same Tier

Same Tier – acquiring an asset in the Same Tier of valuation, in a straight-up swap deal

Everything I said above about the move from Chris Godwin to Brian Thomas Jr fits exactly with this trade as well. We are gaining seven years of age at the wide receiver position and getting those points out of our starting lineup. You can replace any veteran player with similar value in this trade and it still works. Get rid of age and points and gain the youth and potential. Key rebuilding move.

Pivot Down

Pivot Down – acquiring multiple lower-valued assets in exchange for a higher-valued asset

I like the idea of this trade because it is different from the two we have talked about already. Rashee Rice was showing us that he will be a premier wide receiver in our dynasty leagues. Unfortunately a knee injury is going to put a hold on this ascension. The reason this trade is different is that this trade can happen between two rebuilding teams. Even with the points that Rice was scoring he is still only 23 and would be a key piece to a rebuilding roster. While I firmly believe that Rice will return to form when coming back from this injury I also believe the heights Thomas can reach are as high, if not higher than Rice.

Also in this deal, you are grabbing a quarterback who can only go up in value. Even if you don’t believe in the player there will definitely be a spike in value and an open trade window when he is eventually named the starter. That is important to remember, in a rebuild you don’t need to hold on to every player on your roster until you are ready to compete. It is absolutely smart process to grab players who will increase in value and then deal them for other players who will increase in value from that time.

Summary

Both Wilson and Thomas are young and talented wide receivers who have a little lacking in the situation department and honestly, they both would be a good fit on either a competing or rebuilding team but I think they each have their skew in a certain direction. I will say that I think acquiring Garrett Wilson does come with more risk than Brian Thomas Jr but I think they are both very smart moves given the realistic opportunities in front of them to display those talents.

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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!