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Author: Steven Van Tassell
It’s Week 7 – the halfway point of the regular season of the inaugural season of Dynasty Owner! Four teams are on bye this week (Carolina, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay) as roster depth continues to be a factor for Dynasty Owners. Christian McCaffrey is the heavyweight champion RB right now and his owners will need a big game from his replacement as they hope to win without him. The same holds true for Chris Godwin owners as he’s the top WR in Dynasty Owner, but on bye as well this week.
This is our seventh Dynasty Owner game preview article and this one is a heavyweight battle between two stacked teams – one based in the U.S. and another based in Europe. Sort of a Joe Louis versus Max Schmeling fight to continue our boxing theme this week. In our look at the Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week, we will analyze each team’s starters and bench to see if any switches are needed, highlight other things of interest and importance and make a prediction on the winner and final score. We’ll also pick some players who should be in your Active lineup and some who you should Bench, as well as review last week’s recommendations.
All stats are based on the Standard Dynasty Owner scoring system as outlined in the updated Dynasty Owner Constitution. Standard Dynasty Owner scoring gives you .1 points for every yard rushing or receiving, .1 point for every 2 yards passing, 1 point per reception, 6 points for a rushing, receiving or passing touchdown and 2 points for a successful 2-point conversion (rushing, receiving, or passing). Interceptions or fumbles lost cost you 3 points, while a fumble that is recovered by the player’s team is a loss of only 1 point. Bonus points are available for 100-199 yards rushing (2 points), 200 yards rushing or receiving (6 points), 300-399 yards passing (1 point) and 400 yards passing (4 points). There is also a 3 point bonus for clutch scoring, which is a score that results in a lead change in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter or overtime. Kickoff and punt return touchdowns are worth 6 points for the player and kickoff and punt returns are worth .25 points for every 10 yards. Standard Dynasty Owner scoring for kickers gives you 1 point for every extra point, while a missed extra point will cost you 1 point. It’s 2 points for a field goal of between 0 and 39 yards, 4 points for a field goal between 40 and 49 yards and 5 points for a field goal of 50 yards or longer. A missed field goal of between 0 and 39 yards will cost you 3 points, while a miss of 40 yards or more is a loss of 2 points.
Activate These Guys
First, let’s look at last week and see how my recommendations worked out (Good, Bad or Just Ok). I recommended having the following players Active in Week 6:
- QB: Gardner Minshew – 5.3 points (Bad recommendation)
- RB: Kenyan Drake – 13.3 points (Just OK recommendation)
- WR: Michael Gallup – 8.8 points (Bad recommendation)
- TE: Geoff Swaim – 1.5 points (Bad recommendation)
Another terrible week for Active recommendations with no good ones and one just ok recommendation. The Jacksonville stack of Minshew and Swaim really didn’t pay off as they combined for only 6.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. I’ll have to do better with my recommendations of players who should be Active in Week 7, so the recommendations are stacked with 49ers and Bills players who go up against the Redskins and Dolphins defenses.
Jimmy Garoppolo (QB – SF): This one is probably not even fair since he’s playing the Redskins, but since Jimmy G is the 24th ranked QB in Dynasty Owner, he’s not supposed to be Active this week. However, he’s playing the Redskins defense that is giving up an average of 26.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game with three QBs (Carson Wentz, Dak Prescott and The G.O.A.T., Tom Brady) getting more than 30 points against them. Jimmy is averaging only 17.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game, but he’ll exceed that comfortably this week and should be Active.
Tevin Coleman (RB – SF): Coleman averages 12.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per week, but is only the 47th ranked RB since he missed two weeks due to injury and the 49ers have already had their bye week. While he’s still splitting carries with Matt Breida, Coleman plays more, and those extra carries will help him gather up points at the expense of the Redskins defense that has let four RBs score in its last five games.
John Brown (WR – BUF): Brown has probably flown under the radar a little bit as he’s only scored one TD this season so far. However, he’s averaging 14.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game and here comes the Miami Dolphins defense to upstate New York. The Dolphins’ best cornerback, Xavien Howard, is out with a knee injury and without him last week, Terry McLaurin of the Redskins had 100 yards receiving and 26.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Brown should have at least that many yards and a TD reception, so make him Active.
Dawson Knox (TE – BUF): The Giants and Evan Engram play the Cardinals this week, but he should be Active if he’s healthy anyway, so he can’t be the choice. Even though going deep didn’t work last week, I’ll try again with Dawson Knox. Knox is only averaging 6.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game, but he’s playing the Dolphins so why not? The Dolphins allowed Mark Andrews to catch 8 passes for 108 yards and a TD in Week 1 and since then, they haven’t faced many top TEs. If you need a bye week replacement for Greg Olsen or are rostering O.J. Howard and can’t play him this week (or any other week), look no further than Knox as your Active TE for this week.
Bench These Guys
Now, let’s look at last week and see how my Bench recommendations worked out (Good, Bad or Just Ok). Last week, I recommended having the following players on the Bench:
- QB: Jameis Winston – 15.1 points (Just OK recommendation)
- RB: Matt Breida – 10.3 points (Just OK recommendation)
- WR: Mike Evans – 20.6 points (Bad recommendation)
- TE: Jason Witten – 10.7 points (Just OK recommendation)
A slightly below average week with three Just Ok recommendations and one Bad recommendation. Jameis Winston had to hit the 4 point bonus for 400 yards to offset his 6 turnovers (5 INTs and 1 lost fumble) and become Just Ok instead of Good. Here are some players who Dynasty Owners drafted to use or have been using in their Active lineup, but would be better if they sat on the Bench in Week 7.
Kyler Murray (QB – ARI): A tough week to choose a quality QB to send to the Bench, but one needs to be chosen, so it’s going to be Murray. Why Murray who is coming off his best week in which he scored 39.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points? First of all, it was against the dreadful Falcons defense and the Giants are better. The G-Men held the G.O.A.T. to only 23.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in their last game and are rested with 10 days off since they played the Patriots. Second, he’s playing on the road and has exactly zero TD passes in two road games. Third, the rest of the top QBs have better match-ups and are likely to score more than Murray. Bench Murray even though he’ll do well – just not as well as other QBs who should be Active.
Kerryon Johnson (RB – DET): The Lions are facing an elite Vikings run defense that has only given up more than 100 yards rushing and allowed 1 RB rushing TD this season (Aaron Jones in Week 2). While Johnson is averaging 13.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per week, he has only rushed for more than 50 yards once this season (Week 4 vs. Kansas City). Johnson is unlikely to reach his average against the Vikings, so his Dynasty Owners should find a spot on their Bench for him.
Terry McLaurin (WR – WAS): The 49ers defense is on a roll and holding their opponent’s top receivers down seemingly every single week. None of the Rams top receivers (Brandin Cooks, Cooper Kupp or Robert Woods) had more than eight Dynasty Owner fantasy points last week and the 49ers held Jared Goff to only 78 yards passing total for the entire game. While McLaurin had 26.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points last week and is averaging 18.8 points per game, he only got 8.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points against the Patriots in Week 5. McLaurin has been a worthy starter for most of the year on a terrible Redskins team, but his Dynasty Owners should keep him on the Bench this week.
Jared Cook (TE – NO): Cook has been on a bit of a roll the past two weeks with 12.7 and 14.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points the past two weeks. However, if you look past just the points, you’ll see that he had a TD both weeks and still hasn’t caught more than four passes or gotten over 41 yards in a single game so far this season. With those kinds of numbers, he needs a TD to be Active and I don’t think he’s getting one against the Bears defense that has only allowed one TD to a TE all season. Bench Cook if you own him.
Dynasty Owner Match-Up of the Week –
Benjamin Schmitke (Benjamin Schmitke) vs. German Ballers (Christian Pfeifer)
It’s time for our Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week. At this point in the season, it’s not easy to be undefeated and for this match-up, we have a 6-0 team in Benjamin Schmitke battling against another top team in his division, the German Ballers, who are 4-2. Both teams score a lot. Benjamin Schmitke is averaging 141.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game and the German Ballers are balling at an average of 131.8, so it should be a shoot-out.
Some quick thoughts about the match-up:
- The bye week problems for most Dynasty Owners won’t really impact this match-up. Despite four teams on bye, Benjamin Schmitke has no bye week issues in either his Active lineup, Bench or Practice Squad. He’s at full strength in his quest to go undefeated. The German Ballers only have minimal bye week issues as their back-up QB is Mason Rudolph of the Steelers and Christian doesn’t have another QB on the Practice Squad to substitute in Rudolph’s place.
- Benjamin has the top scorer in all of Dynasty Owner, Russell Wilson, on his Bench. That’s what happens when you have the second highest scoring player in Patrick Mahomes at QB as well. Might Benjamin switch it up and go with Wilson over Mahomes? The projections say No as Mahomes is projected to score 32.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points versus 27.5 for Wilson, but I think a switch could be warranted. Mahomes is “only” averaging 24.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game over his last three games (compared to 31.1 for Wilson) and Mahomes has to go against the Broncos defense on the road on Thursday. It’s always tough to play on Thursday on the road. This is a decision, but a good one for Benjamin.
- As one of our excellent European Dynasty Owners, it’s tough for Christian to watch the late Sunday games. Good thing that the German Ballers have all of their Active lineup playing at 1 PM (Eastern), 7 PM (Central European Time). Christian can sit back after dinner, have a pint of his favorite German beer (Spaten Oktoberfest perhaps) and watch his players go at it. Prost!
- In contrast, Benjamin has to keep track of players on Thursday night, in the early Sunday games and Monday night. He’ll jump out to a lead on Thursday Night behind Mahomes and Harrison Butker, but will he be staying up late to see if James White can push his team over the top to victory on Monday?
The exclusive Dynasty Owner scoring projections based on their current lineups has Benjamin Schmitke defeating the German Ballers by a margin of 135.2-128.1. The margin of victory is entirely due to Benjamin’s Bench, which is projected to outscore the Ballers by a margin of 18.6-11.7. I’m going against the projections and predicting a close victory for the German Ballers. It’ll go to the judges’ cards, but Christian wins by split decision as Mahomes’ projections appear to be over-inflated.
Final score prediction: Benjamin Schmitke 130.5 vs. German Ballers 132.3
My prediction record is below .500 at 2-4 for the season, so don’t celebrate with your newly won Heavyweight title belt just yet Christian. Check out the Week 7 Recap article on Tuesday to find out who won the Match-up of the Week.
Steven Van Tassell is a freelance writer for Dynasty Owner.
Follow us on Twitter: @SteveVT33 and @Dynasty_Owner