Welcome to the latest edition of the weekly mailbag.
Send me your questions using the DLF Mailbag Form and I’ll include the best in future articles. Remember the guidelines to have the best chance at seeing your question get posted:
1.) Dynasty questions only, no start/sit questions
2.) Help me help you by providing sufficient information about your league (e.g. line-up requirements/PPR or non-PPR/etc.), and include your first name and where you’re from.
3.) Your chance of getting your question answered is inversely proportional to the length of the question.
Let’s get to it!
*Editor’s Note – For total team evaluations, please be sure to use the DLF Newsletter Team Advice Form!*
- I’m a contender and own both LeSean McCoy and Justin Forsett. I already have Javorius Allen on my bench, but someone else just dropped Karlos Williams. Is it worth dropping Allen to pick up Williams? Which one is the better investment this year, and what about next year and beyond? – Mike in TX
I definitely prefer Bills rookie Karlos Williams to his Baltimore freshman counterpart Javorius Allen, and am surprised your league mate let him slip into the black morass that is the waiver wire. While regression can certainly be expected, the bottom line is Williams has been doing wonders every time he touches the ball. On the season he’s averaging a robust 6.6 YPC, and has even chipped in five receptions. Perhaps most impressively he’s scoring once every 9.3 touches, showing both power in the short-yardage game as well as an ability to bust the big play.
Though it’s true Williams remains behind starter LeSean McCoy, who has somewhat revitalized himself, he’s still managing to sequester nearly nine touches per game when he functions as the backup, and 21 in his lone starting effort. To that latter point, McCoy has been constantly getting nicked up, and given his age and workload, it’s not a huge stretch to believe he could miss more time as the year progresses. Given how coach Rex Ryan wants to “ground and pound” his opponents into submission, Williams theoretically has an RB1 ceiling should he lay claim to the starting role again.
As far as 2016 and beyond, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to essentially extrapolate the paragraph above as it relates to McCoy’s future prospects. This is a guy who relies on his speed and ability to cut on a dime, but seven years and 1,900 touches (and counting) are enough to begin to drag most any running back down. It wouldn’t surprise me if Williams begins to eat into McCoy’s touches even more starting as soon as next year.
As for Allen, he’s looked good enough at times that I believe he’s worth a spot on your bench if you can spare it. With that said, he’s only averaging 5.5 touches per game, never eclipsing ten in a single contest, suggesting he’ll need a Justin Forsett injury to provide any sort of sustained fantasy relevance this season. With Lorenzo Taliaferro returning next year, it’s no guarantee he’ll even hold onto the backup job. Again, he’s worth a stash, but certainly not at the expense of a player like Williams.
- In my 10-team league, due to some really bad luck, I’m 1-7 with a pretty solid team. I’m going into rebuild mode and my biggest hole on my roster is at RB2. I have Philip Rivers and Matt Ryan and am trying to flip Ryan to a contending team with a hole at quarterback. He has Melvin Gordon on his bench. What’s your thoughts on Gordon long term now? Good deal for me to give up Ryan for him, or if he presses me, Rivers? – Chris in OH
When watching Chargers rookie runner Melvin Gordon flounder against the Bears on Monday Night Football, I truthfully didn’t come away as unimpressed as his stat-line would’ve likely dictated. Though he bounced the ball outside more than I would’ve liked, it’s my belief this was due to the fact there weren’t any holes along the interior, which isn’t terribly surprising given the sorry state of affairs along San Diego’s truly offensive line. He looked like he ran hard, and showed more patience than hesitance, at least to my thoroughly untrained eye – I thought there were more than enough positives to believe he has a chance to be great moving forward, and I’m certainly not going to get upset that he gets benched for under-appreciated veteran Danny Woodhead whenever the Bolts fall behind.
So yes, given your league settings, if you have a chance to flip either Matt Ryan or Philip Rivers in order to acquire Gordon I’d do it in a New York minute. Both are very good to great players, but there should be more than enough signal callers available in a shallow format. Even if you have to add another piece to the deal, or a pick (think early second round) I’d be okay with it. In a 10-team league, the lure of a potential RB1 will outweigh a similar standing at quarterback.
- I have what was a contending team that’s sitting at 6-3. Unfortunately I lost Keenan Allen, Arian Foster, and now Dion Lewis. Should I limp into the playoffs and hope I get lucky, or start selling off old assets? If so, what sort of return should I request for Frank Gore? – Jacob in FL
Any time you lose three key starters on a contender, it’s going to hurt. When said starters were a pair of RB1s and a WR1, the cut is even deeper. I have no doubt the trio of Keenan Allen, Arian Foster and Dion Lewis were a large part of how you came to be 6-3, and moving forward without them is going to likely prove challenging.
With that said, you’re 6-3, and you haven’t had Foster for a few weeks now. This tells me you clearly have some other pieces that can help to get you by, and you likely only need one to two more wins to seal a spot in the playoffs. From there, who knows what could happen?
So instead of looking to ship off Colts ball carrier Frank Gore, I’d just plug him in and hope he’ll turn into the foundation of the offense given the recent injury to quarterback Andrew Luck. Keep rolling out with the rest of the guys who got you there as well. In a few weeks you can re-assess your situation and make moves as necessary, but I don’t see any pressing reason to make a snap decision at the current moment in time.
- Do you prefer Davante Adams or John Brown going forward? – WBBMoose in Canada
I think it’s John Brown and it’s not particularly close.
I’m not going to hold Davante Adams’ injury against him, as these things can happen to anyone. However, the thought process that Jordy Nelson was simply going to be replaced by the “next man up,” in this case Adams, was clearly folly. In fact, it’s fair to argue once-and-current Packer James Jones has actually done the best job of working alongside Randall Cobb, doing more to mitigate Nelson’s loss than any of Green Bay’s super-hype all-star young’ins.
This isn’t to say Adams can’t improve, and perhaps build off his strong week nine showing against the Panthers. But time is precious, and we just haven’t seen nearly enough to argue he’ll supplant Nelson when the veteran returns in 2016. At his current cost (ADP = 38), I’m staying away.
Conversely, Brown has done everything expected of him and more. Factoring out the week eight tilt where he was active but didn’t play a snap, “Smokey” currently sports a robust 5.3-80-0.4, good for nearly 16 PPR PPG. He’s older for a sophomore (25 as of April), but given his progression I don’t believe that will be an issue moving forward. He’s also proven to be able to do what Adams hasn’t, which is fight through an excellent stable of pass catchers to command enough targets to be fantasy relevant on a weekly basis. Long story short, Adams had the bigger name coming out of college, but Brown has shown the bigger game in the NFL.
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- 2021 Dynasty Capsule: Indianapolis Colts - February 14, 2021
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- 2021 Dynasty Capsule: Carolina Panthers - January 21, 2021

Tony
November 12, 2015 at 12:17 pm
I am in a 16 team PPR dynasty with 15 keepers.
Question 1: What are your thoughts on the trades that I had done?
I traded Eddie Lacy, James Starks, Rishard Matthews, and Alfred Blue for Michael Floyd, Justin Forsett, and Alex Smith.
Then I turned around and traded Ryan Tannehill, Justin Foresett, Travis Kelce, Carlos Hyde, Michael Floyd, and Alex Smith for Matt Ryan, Brian Hoyer, Julio Jones, Alfred Morris, Chris Thompson, Jordan Cameron, and Jacob Tamme.
My team now is:
QB
Matt Ryan
Brian Hoyer
RB
Duke Johnson Jr.
Isaiah Crowell
Chris Thompson
Alfred Morris
Joique Bell
Glenn Winston
WR
Julio Jones
Dez Bryant
A.J. Green
Eric Decker
Rueben Randle
TE
Ladarius Green
Jacob Tamme
Jordan Cameron
Question 2: I know I depleted my RB depth however do you think I can still contend with my WR depth?
Thank you!
Tony
November 12, 2015 at 12:49 pm
O…and we start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE, and 1 Flex (RB/WR/TE)
Mike
November 12, 2015 at 1:03 pm
Imo, you’re far worse off. You had a few nice rbs and no have none. Your already had 2 great wrs but traded all those rbs and a top 3 te for julio Jones, matt ryan and te depth.
Let me his guess, you’re a falcon fan?
I definitely prefer your roster pre yrades.
fantasy freak
November 12, 2015 at 6:25 pm
I like it. You are in a 16 teamer and look at your WR’s. You have to pay for Julio, but you didn’t give up anyone even close to as good as him. Considering it’s 16 team, your RB situation isn’t as bad as some may make it. Trotting out Julio, AJG, Dez, and Decker for your WR’s and Flex is dynamite. You do need a RB, but you can draft one next year. Ride it out with Duke and maybe Bell will get some points this year, and draft some RB’s next year. That WR corps is awesome, you have a good QB in Ryan. Losing Kelce hurts, but man, Julio, come on. You need to address the RB position, but you are fine everywhere else.
Eric Hardter
November 14, 2015 at 8:21 am
I understand the rationale behind it, as now you have a wicked RB corps, but unfortunately you’re pretty barren at RB/TE and will likely have to swing another deal(s) to shore those positions up. It certainly didn’t kill you, but the points you’re getting at WR1/2/3 and FLEX you just won’t be getting at RB1/2 and TE. I think you’re now also one major injury away from not being able to fill out a competitive lineup.
I’m a firm believer that studs win 16-teamers, but the lack of depth for you is going to be tough now. It’s not terrible by any stretch, but I think you went a little bit overboard with what you paid, and with the positional bias towards WR.
Help in the east
November 12, 2015 at 7:45 pm
Need help with a trade deadline tomorrow. What is a fair trade value for Aaron Rodgers in a 12 team standard scoring league? I am a middle of the pack team in the league right now and have an offer from a power house of Matt Ryan , 2 1st’s, 3rd and a fourth. Draft Rodgers when he came out of Cal and rosters him for 3 years so this is difficult thank you in advance
Eric Hardter
November 14, 2015 at 8:22 am
Unless that’s 2QB I take that deal in a heartbeat. Unless it’s superflex or 16+ team leagues, QBs just aren’t that important! Ryan, though he’s been slow this year, is still a quality fantasy starter in my opinion, and the picks will only appreciate in value. I’d do the deal.
Michael McCann
November 14, 2015 at 5:58 pm
I am two games out of the playoffs but a Gmail ahead of me offered Le’Vein to me for Alshon. Take it or leave it?
Eric Hardter
November 14, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Leave it. Alshon might be a top-5 dynasty asset at this point.
Ryan Daley
November 14, 2015 at 8:24 pm
Eric, I would love to respectfully disagree with your advice. First let me say I love listening to the podcast every week. You guys give way too much love to Wide Receivers. I get the whole build your team with young receivers because their carrers are longer and they are supposedly safer strategy that seemed to become popular in recent years. However My belief is that owning a young stud workhorse back like Bell or Gurley is a huge advantage because of the scarcity of these players. At 23 years old I could see bell being one of the top three highest scoring non QB’s in the game for 6 more years. Also people forget about the production Bell had in the second half of last season, it was like having a WR1 and RB1 wrapped up in one player. I think there are 15 or so WR’ s who could finish #1 but only about 4-5 RB’s who could pull it off. I love Alshon, but I would need to get him along with an older star or draft pick in exchange for Bell! The chances of Alshon being a better asset than Bell are about the same as Karl’s chances of moving out of his mothers basement. I hope you get a chance to read and respond to this post. Thanks for all the Dynasty advice and keep up the good work!
Eric Hardter
November 16, 2015 at 2:29 pm
Hey Ryan, thanks for the comment. Truth be told I’ve been one of the longest-opposed to “WR-centric” drafting, and firmly believe RBs are becoming more and more underrated every year. And I also agree that it’s a big advantage to have a young, stud ball carrier. With that said, my opinion is less about Bell and more about how good I think Jeffery is – I believe he’s firmly in the conversation for top-five dynasty asset. He’s proved this year that he doesn’t need Marshall to draw coverage, and that he can be crazy efficient while getting immense volume. He’s doing it all with basically league-average QB play in Jay Cutler.
When you couple that with the fact I believe you can get quality RB play further down the list (my personal favorites Martin, J-Stew and Ivory come to mind, as well as any RB approaching the wrong side of 27), and then add in the longevity, I think Jeffery holds more value. Again, it’s less a positional thing and more just what I think about the guy. Thanks for writing/listening!
Ryan Daley
November 17, 2015 at 6:41 am
Eric, it is hard to argue when you really love a player. I just traded Blount, Hillman and Golden Tate for Dion Lewis and Ameer Abdullah. Do you like that deal? I’m pretty pleased with it even though I just tanked my season by doing it
Michael McCann
November 17, 2015 at 3:25 pm
New deal: I am out of the playoffs and a GM is offering Jamaal Charles and Devin Funchess for Lynch? I am about to pull the trigger on it. Does Jamaal return to his old form and play for 4 more years?