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Author: Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
Sometimes in the NFL, it’s the value picks who really carry your team to greatness. Think New England drafting The G.O.A.T. Tom Brady with the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL draft or Terrell Davis going with the 196th pick of the 1995 draft to the Denver Broncos. For other teams, it’s the big names drafted with those early picks who really pay off, such as the Dallas Cowboys teams of the early 1990s with the Triplets (QB Troy Aikman – #1 pick in the 1989 NFL draft, RB Emmitt Smith – #17 pick in the 1990 NFL draft, WR Michel Irvin – #11 pick in the 1988 NFL draft). Those three consecutive first round draft pick Hall of Famers helped Jimmie Johnson and the Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories.
Dynasty Owners haven’t had multiple years yet to build their Dynasty, but this was the week when nailing those early round draft picks this year’s draft really paid off. Many of the leading scorers of the week weren’t guys who you picked up in the late rounds of your Dynasty Owner drafts or from the Free Agent Auction, although Corey Davis (ADP 234) was a standout with 26.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Instead, it was a bunch of guys who you drafted in the first four rounds who led Dynasty Owner in scoring this week. Players like Patrick Mahomes (ADP 3.5), Alvin Kamara (ADP 7.7), Dalvin Cook (ADP 12.5), Davante Adams (ADP 29.0), Tyreek Hill (ADP 30.3), Travis Kelce (ADP 37.2) and DK Metcalf (ADP 37.8). All of those high draft picks were in the top three in Dynasty Owner fantasy points for players at their position this week. It was not outside the realm of possibility to have drafted this week’s top QB (Mahomes), RB (Cook), WR (Metcalf) and TE (Kelce) with the first four picks of your Dynasty Owner draft. If you had those big names, your Dynasty Owner team probably scored well over 200 points this week and your name is likely appearing on the Chase for the Ring standings.
This is our eighth regular season Dynasty Owner weekly recap article for 2020. In honor of all of the big names who scored a lot of points this week, getting a big name to write this recap article was considered, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Just like every week, this article will name a Dynasty Owner Player of the Week and a Value Player of the Week, highlight a player at every position who should have been one of your Starters and one who should have been on your Bench or Practice Squad. We’ll also look at what happened in the Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week and take our weekly look at the Chase for the Ring standings.
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 1 point for every 40 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.
For the purposes of this article, ADP and Dynasty Owner ownership statistics were current as of November 3rd.
Dynasty Owner Player of the Week
Our eighth Dynasty Owner Player of the Week for 2020 is: Patrick Mahomes
Mahomes wins his first Player of the Week honor this season with the second best performance of the season. He scored 54.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (416 passing yards, 5 passing TDs). He had no rushing yards, no 2-pt conversions, nothing but passing yards and passing TDs. He never got sacked either. He could have gotten more points, but was removed after his fifth TD pass and did not play in the Chiefs’ final drive of their 35-9 victory over the New York Jets. This performance was great, but ultimately not enough to move Mahomes into the top spot in the Dynasty Owner QB rankings as he’s still in second place behind Russell Wilson. As usual, he was totally worth his $4.1 million contract for the 2020 season and even his $45 million contract for 2021 and beyond.
- Week 8 Points: 54.8
- 2020 Salary: $4,106,447
- Cost per Point: $74,935
Congratulations Patrick on the first Dynasty Owner Player of the Week honor of the season and your third overall. With his third, he has more Player of the Week honors than any other player.
Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week
Because this is Dynasty Owner and we’re all looking for value from the players on our roster, we also have the Value Player of the Week. The eighth Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week for 2020 is: DK Metcalf
Metcalf winning the Value Player of the Week honor is perfect in a week in which big names had big performances and scored big points. He becomes the first player earning over $1 million to win the Value Player of the Week honor in Dynasty Owner’s year and a half history. Other big names, such as Aaron Jones, Alvin Kamara and George Kittle have won the honor this year, but all of them have 2020 salaries of less than $1 million. A week after his teammate and fellow WR Tyler Lockett was the Player of the Week, Metcalf put up his own performance worthy of honoring with 40.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (12 receptions, 161 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs).
- Week 8 Points: 40.1
- 2020 Salary: $1,146,513
- Cost per Point: $28,591
Congratulations DK on your first Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week honor!
Players Who Should Have Been Starters This Week
Next, we look at those players who should have been in one of your Starters based on their performance in Week 8. We aren’t going to write that you should have started Patrick Mahomes, Dalvin Cook, DK Metcalf, Davante Adams, Travis Kelce or any of the other big names who scored big this week because barring injury or bye week, those guys should always be in your Starting lineup. Instead, these are players who might be Free Agents or on your Bench or Practice Squad, but likely weren’t Starters in Week 8 when they should have been.
QB: Drew Lock (DEN) – 30.3 points
In the three games in which Drew Lock had started and played the entire game this season, he had scored a total of only 31.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. It looked bleak for any Lock Dynasty Owners who started him this week after the first half as he produced just 2.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (58 passing yards, -1 rushing yards). Lock came out and looked like a different QB in the second half as he scored an additional 27.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points for a total of 30.3 points (248 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, -1 rushing yard, 1 INT). His 1-yard TD pass to KJ Hamler as time expired tied the score and Brandon McManus won the game with the successful extra point attempt for the Broncos. Despite a ridiculously low ADP of 58.3, few Dynasty Owners were likely using him in their Starting lineup. His low ADP is the direct result of his low $1.75 million annual contract. If you drafted Lock in Dynasty Owner, hopefully had him as your Starter this week.
Honorable mention to two other QBs ranked outside of the Top 12 QBs who scored more than 30.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Philip Rivers had his second consecutive good game with 30.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (262 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, -2 rushing yards), but is still just the #24 QB in Dynasty Owner. Matthew Stafford had his best game of the 2020 season with 30.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (336 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, 10 rushing yards, 1 INT, 1 fumble – lost). That jumped him up to be the #16 QB in Dynasty Owner for the season. Both were big names for a while, but nowadays, neither one is a week in and week out Starter for your Dynasty Owner team. However, if you own one, having him in your Starting lineup this week would have been good.
RB: DeeJay Dallas (SEA) – 22.8 points
In just his fifth NFL game, the rookie fourth round draft pick DeeJay Dallas had two TDs and 22.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (41 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 5 receptions, 17 yards, 1 receiving yard). Dynasty Owners weren’t sure until after the start of the early Sunday games if Seattle RB Chris Carson (the big name in the Seattle backfield with an ADP of 49.4) was going to play, so it was difficult to put Dallas in your Starting lineup, especially if you had a lot of RBs playing early. For those of you who had faith in him or were lucky enough to be able to wait on your decision until the Seattle inactive list was announced, having Dallas in your Starting lineup was well worth the wait.
Honorable mention to Indianapolis Colts teammates Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins. Hines was the first Value Player of the Week this season when he scored 27.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points with 2 TDs. For the next five games, Hines didn’t have a TD and averaged just 6.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. Just when his Dynasty Owners were probably starting to Bench him, he goes out and scores 22.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (8 rushing yards, 3 receptions, 54 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs, 39 return yards). Jordan Wilkins had only produced 13.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points through the first six weeks including 0.1 points in Week 5 and -0.1 points in Week 6. As a result, his 20.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy point (89 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 1 reception, 24 receiving yards) eruption in Week 8 came from out of nowhere. Instead of having them on the Bench, Dynasty Owners should have had both Hines and Wilkins in their Starting lineup this week.
WR: Mecole Hardman (KC) – 23.0 points
Hardman was a second round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2019 and had an ADP of 114.4 in Dynasty Owner, but hasn’t really lived up to his draft billing so far. He always scores a few points, mostly because he returns kicks for the Chiefs, but he hasn’t broken out with a great game to justify his draft status to date. He finally did this week with a 23.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point (7 receptions, 96 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 14 return yards) performance. This was the best game of his career and a reminder to Dynasty Owners why they selected him so early in their draft this year. Despite using a high pick on Hardman, Dynasty Owners can be forgiven if they didn’t have him in their Starting lineup this week.
TE: Eric Ebron (PIT) – 14.8 points
As usual, Travis Kelce was the #1 TE in Dynasty Owner this week with 24.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. You drafted him early (ADP 37.2) and he’s in your Starting lineup every week, except when the Chiefs are on bye. Same thing if you drafted either George Kittle (ADP 27.7) or Mark Andrews (37.1). You invested a top four pick in those guys, so they are your Starter. If you’re one of the other nine Dynasty Owners without Kelce, Kittle or Andrews on your roster (or the Kittle owner now that he’s out for pretty much the rest of the Dynasty Owner season), picking a TE on a weekly basis can be more of a challenge. It seems like different guys are stepping up for a week, such as Robert Tonyan, Harrison Bryant or Anthony Firkser, then falling back down the next week. This week it was Eric Ebron’s turn in the TE spotlight as he was the third best one this week with 14.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (4 receptions, 48 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD). That’s nearly double his average of 7.75 Dynasty Owner fantasy points from the first six weeks of the season and why he’s still ranked as the #15 TE in Dynasty Owner. If you have Ebron on your roster, hope you picked him as your Starter this week.
K: Cairo Santos (CHI) – 16.0 points
Santos has been pretty good this season for Dynasty Owners who plucked him off the Free Agent Auction after regular Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro was placed on Injured Reserve. For the season, he has made 29 out of 31 kicks (14 of 16 on FGs and 15 of 15 on PATs) and this week, he was perfect on 5 kicks (3 FGs and 2 PATs). He had FGs from every Dynasty Owner scoring range with one FG of less than 39 yards (29) for two points, one from between 40 and 49 yards (44) for four points and one from 50+ yards (51) for five points. The 51 yarder tied the game with 13 seconds left and earned Santos the clutch scoring bonus. It was a 16.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point day for Santos. He is still available in 12% of Dynasty Owner leagues and only costs $805,000 in salary if you want the #11 kicker in Dynasty Owner in your Starting lineup next week. Honorable mention to Michael Badgley who also had FGs in every Dynasty Owner scoring range this week (33, 47 and 52 yards) plus 3 PATs for a total of 14.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. The difference was that none of Badgley’s kicks were clutch, so he didn’t get any bonus points. This was the first week in which Badgley had double digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points and he’s still ranked as the #24 kicker in Dynasty Owner for the season. However, he should have been in your Starting lineup this week.
Players Who Should Have Been on the Bench or Practice Squad
Not every big name scored big points this week. For every player who should have been one of your Starters but wasn’t, we have some players who probably were Starters, but were better left on your Bench or Practice Squad. Here are some likely Starters who were not scoring any clutch bonus points and should have been riding your Dynasty Owner Bench or hanging out on the Practice Squad in Week 8.
QB: Josh Allen (BUF) – 13.0 points
There were several QBs (Jimmy Garoppolo, Tua Tagovailova, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff) who had fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points than Allen. None of them were selected as high as Allen (ADP 24.7) or were performing as well as he was before this week’s game. Therefore, no one of them were likely in too many Dynasty Owner Starting lineups. Poor weather and a dominant running game kept Allen’s stats down as he only scored 13.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (154 passing yards, 23 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 1 INT). Allen was best left on your Bench this week.
RB: Jonathan Taylor (IND) – 5.1 points
With both Nyheim Hines and Jordan Wilkins scoring over 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week, it should be no surprise to see rookie Colts RB Jonathan Taylor here. Taylor was a very high pick (ADP 16.1) and was averaging 14.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game before this week. Despite 13 touches, Taylor only produced 5.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (22 rushing yards, 2 receptions, 9 receiving yards). He does have a bit of an ankle issue, according to Colts coach Frank Reich, but since Reich only learned about the injury after the game, that’s not going to keep us from saying Dynasty Owners should have kept Taylor on their Bench this week.
WR: Amari Cooper (DAL) – 1.5 points
It was to be expected that the Dallas WRs would struggle with rookie seventh round draft pick Ben DiNucci at QB for the Cowboys this week. Incredibly, Michael Gallup produced 13.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, while rookie WR CeeDee Lamb had 8.7 points. Even TE Dalton Schultz had a solid game with 11.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Instead, it was the $20 million big name WR who struggled with only 1.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (1 reception for 5 yards). Cooper should have been on your Bench this week and might even stay there for his Dynasty Owners with Pittsburgh’s defense on tap in Week 9.
TE: Dallas Goedert (PHI) – 2.5 points
Based on his strong 2019 performance and low salary of just over $1.4 million, Goedert was an early pick for his Dynasty Owners with an ADP of 116.9. He started strong with a 24.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy point performance in Week 1, but got injured in Week 3. He made his return this week and was only targeted one time by QB Carson Wentz for a paltry 2.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (1 reception for 15 yards). Dynasty Owners with Goedert may have put him back in their Starting lineup right away, expecting a big game against the Cowboys defense that has been terrible in pass coverage this season. It was not to be as Goedert should have stayed on the Bench or Practice Squad this week.
K: Rodrigo Blankenship (IND) – 1.0 points
The Colts offense scored five TDs this week, but their kicker Rodrigo Blankenship was only able to convert three of the PATs. That 3 for 5 performance on PATs was good for just 1.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point. Blankenship had been perfect (15 for 15) on PAT attempts and only missed two FGs (16 for 18 overall) prior to this week and was a top 12 kicker. With the two missed PATs, he dropped back to the #13 kicker in Dynasty Owner. He should have been on your Bench or Practice Squad, if you have three kickers on your roster, this week.
Dynasty Owner Matchup of the Week Recap
Russell Wilson’s War didn’t turn out very successful this week as they lost to the Barley Boyz by a score of 152.5 to 121.4 to fall two games behind them in their League standings. The Barley Boyz are an impressive 7-1 in a league with two teams (Russell Wilson’s War and Swamp Donkeys) in the Chase Top 25. Russell Wilson’s War dropped from 10th place in the Chase for the Ring standings down to the 22nd spot after this week.
Chase for the Ring Leaderboard
Welcome back to the top spot All Might! A fixture of the Chase for the Ring standings since Week 2, but they haven’t been at the top of the leaderboard since back in Week 5.
Led by the top QB (Russell Wilson) and RB (Alvin Kamara) in Dynasty Owner, All Might holds a 7.3 point advantage over a newcomer to the Top 10 in Barbee Kilgore. Barbee Kilgore had 241.7 points this week with Mahomes, Cook, Hill, Adams and Kelce in their Starting lineup. That performance by Barbee Kilgore was great, but not the best by a Dynasty Owner team this season as Blake Carrington had 252.0 points back in Week 7. Mahomes, Kamara and Hill are the big names who fueled the first appearance by Gabagool in the Chase standings in the #10 spot.
Conclusions
Big names were the guys to have in your Dynasty Owner lineup this week as they were the ones who produced the most Dynasty Owner fantasy points in general. You had to have the right guys as some big names, including Josh Allen, Jonathan Taylor and Amari Cooper didn’t produce as expected and should have been on your Bench. As usual, being a successful Dynasty Owner required being a good GM on draft day to draft the right players and Coach on game day to have the right players in your Starting lineup versus on the Bench.
Please read the preview article which comes out on Friday throughout the Dynasty Owner season to see how my Week 8 recommendations did and who should be a Starter and who should be on your Bench in Week 9. Besides the weekly recap and preview articles, we will also have at least one article every week from one of our other Dynasty Owner writers: Chris Wolf (@ckwolf21), Matt Morrison – The Jerk (@Dynastyjerk) or Jay Poundsee (@jaypoundsnfl).
The podcast series with myself and Dynasty Owner CEO Tim Peffer goes live this week at 1 PM on Wednesday and 10:30 AM on Friday (both times Eastern). If you can’t make it, then watch or listen anytime on the Dynasty Owner YouTube channel. You can catch up with older videos and tutorials there as well. Subscribe as well to receive notifications and make sure to “Like” all of the videos to help promote them. Dynasty Owner is up to 544 subscribers on YouTube. All of this great content is available to help you win your Dynasty Owner league and make your way into the Top 25 in the Chase for the Ring standings.
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