Dynasty Fantasy Football Mailbag: Late-Round Stashes and More

Welcome back to the DLF Mailbag, the preeminent mailbag in all the dynasty fantasy football land. This year I’ll be answering questions from you via X, Discord, or the old-fashioned way (via email).

We are now just weeks away from points-scoring season, with honest to god real-life football to digest and analyze with preseason games in full swing. All your work during the off-season is now ready to pay dividends. But the work never stops in dynasty so we have a few more weeks of mailbag questions to help you grind for the top.

Does anyone have some dynasty football questions? Hit me up and I'll answer them in the edition of the @DLFootball mailbag

— Shanesays (@ShaneIsTheWorst) August 13, 2023

Tongue in cheek, but there’s always an angle.

Trey Lance, Zach Wilson or an old sock? I'll hang up and listen.

— Nate Polvogt (@NatePolvogt) August 13, 2023

Even though both these players are approaching roster clogger status, if not already there (especially with Trey Lance looking like he’s learned nothing in two NFL seasons), we can still squeeze some life out of their dynasty prospects.

Trey lance WILD LUCKY touchdown pass!#treylance #49ers #NinerGang #SanFrancisco #LVvsSF #SFvsLV #tipdrill pic.twitter.com/PNo4uheddc

— Football Fever Show (@footballfever23) August 13, 2023

Zach Wilson is nothing more than a throw-in in most deals and if your roster is large enough to accommodate a random stash, I’d much rather hold Wilson than a wide receiver with little value. If and when Wilson gets any buzz, likely in two seasons when Aaron Rodgers retires, or if Rodgers is injured and Wilson is slated for a spot start, I’d look to move him immediately before he ever starts for a third-round rookie pick.

Trey Lance will cost more, even after this weekend’s performance, but it’s becoming blatant that he has no path to the starting position in San Francisco, and perhaps not even the backup spot. But again if you can acquire him for a back end of the roster player or a late-round pick then do it. In a league where 64 quarterbacks started in 2022, there’s still a chance Lance gets a chance to start at least one game in San Francisco, if not elsewhere.

If Lance does get to start, there’s no reason to believe he can’t follow Justin Fields’ 2022 recipe for success, when he was a QB1 in eight weeks without even 200 passing yards. Is it a likely outcome? No, but it is in the range of outcomes. I was never in on Lance at his rookie prices, but at his current cost, I’d buy in every league that I can considering the minimal opportunity cost to do so.

Late round stashes

Late round sleepers dynasty and/or redraft

— paco4ou (@paco4ou) August 14, 2023

I’m not particularly qualified to list off some late-round stashes in redraft leagues, but I know a site that can help you with that query. I can help you with dynasty, though. After this weekend’s preseason action where Kenneth Gainwell got the starters treatment (wasn’t active), after a week of significant time running with the first team, my interest is slightly piqued. He’s currently the RB59 in DLF’s latest ADP.

Gainwell has been at least 23rd in fantasy points per opportunity through two seasons and is one of the few Eagles running backs without a significant history of injuries. The Eagles have featured running backs in the passing game during this year’s preseason practices. With new OC Ben Johnson in place, perhaps the Eagles offense evolves and involves the running back at a much more significant clip than in the past under Shane Steichen. Taking a shot on an Eagles running back at the cheapest cost with the highest upside leads to taking a shot on Gainwell.

Aidan O’Connell is going undrafted in DLF’s ADP which is very confusing to me. O’Connell only had fourth round NFL Draft capital this past April, but of all the rookie quarterbacks he might have the clearest path to becoming this year’s Brock Purdy. The Raiders current starter is Jimmy Garoppolo, whose injury history is well documented, and O’Connell’s competition for the backup role is Brian Hoyer who is 37 years old and who also happens to not be good at football. O’Connell just went 15 for 18 this past weekend, compiling a 117.78 passer rating, looked poised, and got passes out quickly in his three-quarters of action. There’s a good chance O’Connell gets a few starts this season and I like the cost to acquire him now and flip him later at a profit.

(Win) Now or later?

Win now, 10t s9, PPR. No te premium but we are going 2TE in 24.

Have pitts, mahomes, lots of 24 firsts.

Do I package for kelce or hold?

— undecided (@skeletoncruise) August 13, 2023

When I get questions regarding a start 9, and 10-team league I almost always lean towards taking the hammer. This occasion will be no different. One of the under-discussed aspects of the dynasty is the need to differentiate yourself from other teams that are very good as well, in shallow leagues like this. With just ten teams and nine starters, the talent pool of players is condensed and every roster in the league could be good to elite, depending on the skill level of the other managers. So you need to be able to add edges everywhere you can to your starting roster.

This often means you have to overpay for a truly elite player (Travis Kelce, Justin Jefferson, Ja’Marr Chase, Bijan Robinson), and/or create truly elite stacks on your roster. Adding Kelce serves both these purposes with him being an unrivaled positional advantage and this roster already having Patrick Mahomes at quarterback. I also like to make deals like this as early in the season as possible (not for running backs though) to maximize the returns impact on my win/loss record. One final note about this deal is you shouldn’t do many of these deals (giving up the younger elite asset and a future 1st), as you don’t want to exhaust your flexibility to make moves in the future.