This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
By: Jay Pounds (@JayPoundsNFL)
Last week, we took a different approach to things and looked at some trades that a few of our rebuilding owners made. When looking at these trades we went in blind, meaning I did not reveal any of the team’s rosters just their most recent trade. After looking at each of their trades, I tried to figure out a winner and the outlook of the team after making these moves. Today, we will dig deeper into each roster and see if some of the predictions made were right, or far off. I know prepping for this article one of the teams really shocked me and looking back at last week’s article I predicted what the roster looked like based on the trade.
Below I will list most of each team’s roster, leaving out some of the lesser-known players for your sanity and mine. You will also notice that there happens to be two teams missing from last week’s article and the reason for that is they just made too many moves to keep up with. The two owners featured last week that will not be in today’s article are WLN Savages and Havana Club 79. I cannot be certain if it is a good, or bad thing these teams missed the cut but either way keep on trading. It makes the game much more fun! If you are the team that made the listing in either article, feel free to ridicule my opinions of these trades, or rosters on Twitter.
Miami Hitmen
QB – Joe Burrow (3 years, $9,047,534), Tua Tagovailoa (3 years, $7,568,859), Jared Goff (4 years, $33,500,000), Drew Lock (2 years, $1,752,704)
RB – Josh Jacobs (2 years, $2,983,350), Jonathan Taylor (3 years, $1,957,287), Zack Moss (3 years, $1,153,079), Darrell Henderson (2 years, $1,053,001)
WR – A.J. Brown (2 years, $1,413,092), T.Y. Hilton (1 year, $8,000,000), Darnell Mooney (3 years, $894,263), A.J. Green (1 year, $6,000,000), Sammy Watkins (1 year, $5,000,000)
TE – Irv Smith (2 years, $1,449,609), Dan Arnold (2 years, $3,000,000)
Moves after trade
Add – Tyrell Williams (1 year, $4 million), Sammy Watkins
Drop – Isaiah Coulter (3 years, $896,988)
In the original trade, we see the Miami Hitmen come away with young stud quarterback Joe Burrow. They sent away two first round picks, but when trading for a player of Burrow’s caliber you are going to have to pay a premium. I am guessing the original plan was to roll with Tua, and Goff but anytime you can get Burrow at a price like this, you have to pull the trigger.
Last week, I wrote that I felt this team may have come on strong at the end of 2020 or had a few big injuries and looking at the roster, I was correct. In 2020, Drew Lock, Joe Burrow, Sammy Watkins, Darrell Henderson, and Tua Tagovailoa all missed parts of the 2020 season while Jonathan Taylor and T.Y. Hilton really took off towards the end of the year. Overall, I think the team has a pretty solid future ahead of themselves and is a star receiver away from contending for the next few years. If I were this owner and I planned to try to compete this year I would look to add another decent running back for depth, followed by trading a future first or second for one more player that would put this roster over the top…… Georg Kittle, Travis Kelce, Darren Waller, Derrick Henry, or Dalvin Cook, or a receiver as mentioned earlier!
Late To Draft
QB – Josh Allen (1 year, $5,295,760)
RB – Miles Sanders (2 years, $1,337,544), Antonio Gibson (3 years, $1,233,159), Anthony McFarland (3 years, $1,004,357), Darrynton Evans (3 years, $1,140,447)
WR – Tyreek Hill (2 years, $18,000,000), Stefon Diggs (3 years, $14,400,000), Laviska Shenault (3 years, $1,924,017), Marvin Jones (2 years, $6,250,000), Henry Ruggs (3 years, $4,167,906), Amari Cooper (4 years, $20,000,000)
TE – George Kittle (5 years, $15,000,000) Mike Gesicki (1 year, $1,652,981), Tyler Higbee (3 years, $7,250,000)
Moves after trade
Add – Amari Cooper
Drop – Rob Gronkowski (1 year, $8,000,000), Keelan Cole (1 year, $5,500,000)
I initially loved this trade for both teams and after seeing both rosters, I really like the trade, especially for Late to Draft. While getting rid of Joe Burrow will hurt no matter who is on your roster, I honestly believe they made the correct decision at the end of the day. After making the trade Late to Draft has three of the first four picks in the upcoming 2021 rookie draft including the top pick, which will make it extremely easy to fill out his roster. I am not sure if this team has any other picks outside of the top four in 2021 but either way they should be just fine moving forward.
If I were this owner, I would look to take Trevor Lawrence and Najee Harris with my first two picks (if possible) and attempt to trade pick number 4. In the scenario, they can trade the number 4 pick I would look to get pick 6, 7, or 8 and a player like Jerry Jeudy in return. If I happened to be unhappy with the return for the fourth pick, I would look to draft Ja’Marr Chase, Kyle Pitts, or Travis Etienne. The other route they could go at the 4 spot is to draft the best quarterback available and demand a king’s ransom in return when trading. Overall, Late to Draft has a great chance to compete this season if they can hit on their draft picks or manipulate the board to his advantage.
Burrows Before Hoes
QB – Joe Burrow (3 years, $9,047,534), Sam Darnold (1 year, $7,561,929)
RB – Christian McCaffrey (5 years, $16,015,875), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (3 years, $2,705,393), Chris Carson (2 years, $5,212,500) Raheem Mostert (1 year, $2,900,000), Darrell Henderson (2 years, $1,053,001)
WR – Justin Jefferson (3 years, $3,280,701), Tyreek Hill (2 years, $18,000,000), D.K. Metcalf (2 years, $1,146,513), Cooper Kupp (3 years, $15,750,000), DeVante Parker (3 years, $7,625,000), Preston Williams (1 year, $588,333)
TE – Travis Kelce (5 years $14,312,500), Dallas Goedert (1 year, $1,406,068), Tyler Higbee (3 years, $7,250,000), Hayden Hurst (1 year, $2,759,007)
No moves after trade
Burrows Before Hoes was definitely the most interesting owner of any of the trades I broke down last week, and as I mentioned my take could be wrong and of course it kind of was. Last week, I had Quaranteam easily winning this trade. In 2020, Burrows Before Hoes had finished dead last, traded their draft pick away, and acquired a win now player like Kelce. When looking at all of this from the outside looking in, it looked like a really bad trade, but after a closer look this is what I have found.
Burrows Before Hoes dealt with tough injuries and had horrible quarterback play last season from Sam Darnold. Getting Christian McCaffrey and Joe Burrow back with Clyde Edwards-Helaire having a full year under his belt, Burrows Before Hoes is poised to compete this season, barring health of course. I did mention in last week’s article that this trade would make a lot of sense if Burrows Before Hoes had suffered major injuries in 2020 and as we have discussed that is exactly what happened. After all is said and done, I will call this a fair trade with it making sense for both owners. On the Burrows Before Hoes side, I really like the fact that they were able to get a first round pick back with Kelce to add a little more depth to the roster. If I were them and were wanting to make a serious run, I would look to trade future draft capital for another stud running back.
Quaranteam
QB – Tyrod Taylor (1 year, $5,500,000)
RB – Jonathan Taylor (3 years, $1,957,287), Dalvin Cook (5 years, $12,600,000), Ezekiel Elliott (6 years, $15,000,000), Le’Veon Bell (Free agent), James Conner (1 year, $1,750,000), Tevin Coleman (1 year, $1,100,000), Alexander Mattison (2 years, $867,793)
WR – Keenan Allen (4 years, $20,025,000), Chris Godwin (1 year, $15,983,000), Scotty Miller (2 years, $661,960), Bryan Edwards (3 years $1,173,113), Josh Reynolds (1 year, $1,750,000), Tyler Johnson (3 years, $902,355)
TE – George Kittle (5 years, $15,000,000), Gerald Everett (1 year, $6,000,000)
Moves after trade
Sent – Evan Engram (1 year, $6,013,000), Russell Gage (1 year, $654,049), A.J. Brown (2 years, $1,413,092), 2021 third round pick #7
Received – George Kittle, 2021 first round pick #9
In my opinion, I saved the best trade for last. I have to say it was a brilliant set of moves, especially if they were planned ahead of time. Let me break down what Quaranteam was essentially able to pull off in just two trades. He was able to trade Travis Kelce for George Kittle, the ninth pick in this year’s draft, and to top it off he moved from the #8 pick to the #3 pick as well.
How was he able to do this you ask? He started by packaging Sam Darnold, Raheem Mostert, Travis Kelce, and pick #8 for Evan Engram, Carlos Hyde, A.J. Brown, and pick #3. Shortly after making that trade, he pulled off another blockbuster trade (details listed above). He took the rewards of trading Kelce (keeping pick #3) and swapped them for Kittle and another first round pick, losing basically nothing at the tight end spot after moving Kelce. I must give credit where credit is due and applaud Quaranteam on these moves, they are absolutely genius. The future of Quaranteam’s roster is extremely bright with extra picks, three stud running backs, and a tight end for the next 5-8 years potentially. If this were my team, I would be looking to add two of the top five quarterbacks in the draft even if it comes with a price of trading up. In Dynasty Owner, the quarterback position is extremely important, and this roster is just too good to waste not having a quarterback.
Conclusion
I had quite a bit of fun doing this article and getting to pick some of our owners; brains a little bit. The more trades I look at on Dynasty Owner the more I realize that some trades do not make sense until you really dive into them and break them down. In any other fantasy format, you can look at trades and easily see who got the better end of the deal 90% of the time, but in Dynasty Owner, there are many trades that just do not seem right. It is a tough task to get your brain to think about eating a bad contract to get a player back and things of that nature.
If you have not noticed yet, Dynasty Owner requires some out of the box thinking to be successful and if I have learned anything these last two weeks, it is that you can build a solid roster for this year and be hurting badly the following because of the challenge the cap presents for owners. Finally, in just one week we can put all these mock drafts to bed and finally have some landing spots for our incoming rookies. I may steer away from rebuilding and do a special draft article next week to change things up some for draft week, stay tuned! As always good luck on your 2021 Chase for the Ring!
Follow us on Twitter: @Dynasty_Owner