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Author: Jay Poundsee (@JaypoundsNFL)
With week 5 almost finished I feel as I can’t say it enough, this year is crazy! The injuries to big names continue to pile up, as we watched Dak and Dalvin Cook go down to injury this week. Cook is reported to have avoided major injury and we should know more tomorrow on the Vikings superstar. The same can’t be said about Dak, as his injury is considered to be season ending, it is unfortunate as he is playing on the franchise tag this season hoping for a lucrative long term deal the following year. He seems to still be in the Cowboys future plans according to Jerry Jones and we wish him nothing but a speedy recovery, and good health here at Dynasty Owner.
As we get into the Halloween spirit here are the strange, spooky things taking place in the NFL right now. The Cleveland Browns are 4-1, Adam Gase is somehow still a head coach for an NFL team, and last but certainly not least Alex Smith made a miraculous comeback and played in a game this Sunday! I hope your fantasy season is a little less crazy than the real season, if not let’s take a dive into this week’s available free agent targets.
Andy Dalton (1-Year $3,000,001) 26.8% Owned
Andy Dalton will be the number 1 target in auctions this week and I have a feeling he will be the most expensive free agent all season causing intense bidding wars throughout Dynasty Owner. Its not often you get a competent veteran quarterback in a high-powered offense with a very cheap salary in this format. Dalton will be a season long acquisition with what seems should be decent upside, this is the best set of talent he has ever had around him at the receiver position with Cooper, Lamb, Gallup, and Wilson. Dalton has put up solid numbers in the past when he has had talent at the receiver position throwing for 4,293 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2013.
All Dalton was able to do in Cincinnati was make the playoffs 5 times with his teams performing well on offense and nowhere near the running game this Cowboys team has. He stepped in and performed well this past Sunday posting a stat line of 9 completions on 11 attempts for 111 yards and a 108.7 quarterback rating, which should only get better as he continues to get acclimated with more first team reps. If Dak is your quarterback you likely do not want to amnesty or drop him to pick up a different expensive quarterback on waivers, which makes Andy Dalton the most realistic option for you to target and a safe one at that. I also see this as a positive for Michael Gallup with Dalton going to him late in big moments Sunday and the two looking like they have built some chemistry together on the practice field.
Travis Fulgham (1-Year $540,000) 4.12% Owned
The Eagles offense finally got going Sunday against a tough Steelers defense and Fulgham full time in Philly seems to be a real possibility, With Carson Wentz nonstop feeding the kid this weekend. The fantasy industry just cannot ignore the 13 targets Fulgham was funneled Sunday, while you can certainly argue injury has a lot to do with Fulgham getting so many targets you also can’t ignore how efficient this kid was with his 13 targets catching 10 of them. Philly has looked pedestrian at best this entire season on offense which may be putting it nicely. The week before in Philadelphia’s only win of the season against the 49ers Fulgham came up huge catching the game winner, a 42-yard bomb from Wentz. I do not see a scenario where the Eagles don’t give Fulgham plenty of opportunity with more targets in the near future, as he has more than earned it over the past two weeks with him and Miles Sanders being the only bright spots on offense thus far.
Fulgham has a tough match up this coming week as he will likely be shadowed by Marcus Peters for the Ravens, who has played great this year and just held Tyler Boyd to a quiet day Sunday. The schedule gets much easier after the Ravens for Philly with the Giants on the slate twice and the Cowboys once in a three-week span making Fulgham a very intriguing option.
Jeff Smith (1-Year $495,000) 15.46% Owned
I am going to go with Smith at 3 over the player I have at 4 simply because of how young he is, and the potential of a new coaching staff coming in and breathing some life into this offense. Smith looked great last week against Denver with 9 targets catching 7 for 81 yards. Unfortunately, Smith wasn’t able to repeat with another good showing this week getting 13 targets but only producing 3 catches for 23 yards, though coming from the backup quarterback Joe Flacco.
It’s hard to pick up Smith with any intentions of playing him right now but if the Jets ever come to their senses and let Gase go Darnold may just have a chance at some type of comeback, meaning good things for Smith. I am higher on Darnold than most and with the Jets being 0-7 and unable to even sniff a win during Darnold’s career when Darnold doesn’t play, it tells me that there is a small possibility of potential on this offense, if they get better coaching. Smith is a young talented kid as we were able to watch on the field against Denver and I would recommend him as someone you want to stash on your practice squad if you have the space, and hope this team starts moving in a better direction so you can play him later in the season.
Nelson Agholor (1-Year $1,047,500) 48.45% Owned
Here we have the first ever repeat on the free agent auction list with Agholor putting up another solid week against the reigning super bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Apparently, the owners here at Dynasty Owner like Agholor as much as I do, with his ownership still under 50%. Agholor seems to be a touchdown or bust option with the touchdowns happening more often than not in this offense. This season Agholor has only caught 10 balls with 3 of them being for a touchdown. The Raiders offense seems to be more explosive than any of us pictured heading into the season meaning plenty of red zone or big play targets for Agholor going forward.
My two biggest concerns on Agholor are his past inconsistent production and Henry Ruggs coming back from injury, which happened Sunday and we still saw Nelson Agholor score a huge touchdown. At this point it’s safe to say Gruden and Carr trust him and he’ll be a part of the game plan each week, making him at least a bench point option for injury filled teams.
Rashard Higgins (1-Year $910,000) 7.22% Owned
Higgins will slot in at number 5 this week due to the hype I heard all off-season from my friends who are Browns fans, and him playing well scoring a touchdown Sunday. Higgins has been injured the past few weeks, finally returning to action against the Colts on Sunday and playing relatively well. Higgins looks to be the 3rd option on the Browns and seems to be nothing but a stash right now, Higgins has shown flashes throughout his career catching 80 passes for 1056 yards and 8 touchdowns, if injury happens to someone ahead of him, he could become every week flex play. He is older but being on a one year deal he will bring very little risk to your Dynasty Owner team in future seasons, as you can cut bait freely at the end of this season.
There seem to be two very solid options this week to target, so act fast or you may be left behind. This season will only get more interesting as we go so stock up as much ready to play depth as you can roster, trust me you will need it at some point with injuries happening nonstop and bye weeks upon us. As always good luck on your Chase for The Ring!
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