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The Top 15 Players Rebuilding Owners Should Target After Rookie Drafts (Part 2)

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By Jay Pounds (@JayPoundsNFL)

It is startup season here at Dynasty Owner! Over the course of the rest of the off-season we will have drafts going as often as they fill! If you are an owner who is really enjoying Dynasty Owner and feel others will too, please feel free to invite them over to check out the platform. If you really love Dynasty Owner, you will be the annoying person in all your league chats telling everyone to come check out this awesome platform that makes you feel like a real NFL GM. Of course, I am kidding about the annoying your other league mates’ part… or am I? I am also looking for a potential league or two to join if anyone is interested in the challenge…. Or free money however you want to look at it! I know Dynasty Owner can be confusing at first but if you are having trouble explaining to your friends just how immersive Dynasty Owner really is then please feel free to send them to @Dynasty_Owner on Twitter and we will gladly help them from there.

Today we will be continuing from last week’s article talking about some of the deepest of sleepers you can pick up after your rookie drafts, which start on June 4th. Last week, I talked about some of the more notable players I felt were going to be drafted in the backend of the 3rd round or just after and today we will switch gears towards the players I do not expect to hear called at all during Dynasty Owner rookie drafts. The players I am going to talk about today all have an extremely clear path to playing time with one injury, or flat-out earning time on the field in training camp, or the preseason. I have found in my 10 plus years of dynasty fantasy football that owners who are patient and make calculated moves tend to find much more value on the backend of their roster, whether it be from identifying late round guys, or in free agency. I know you always hear me say things like finds the talent late and hold onto it until they develop, but there is also nothing wrong with drafting or picking someone up and then cutting them a few months later. Sometimes taking a guy whose outcome is going to be predictable regardless of if the player fails or succeeds is a good thing to do. An example of would-be Sage Surratt, (who was mentioned in last week’s article), if Surrat does not start to generate buzz this off-season with as weak as Detroit’s receiving room is you can drop him because this is his big shot. Obviously, Surratt not showing out during the first two months of his career does not mean he’ll never make it, it just means he will likely never be all that fantasy relevant. I love drafting guys like this simply because when they hit, it’s awesome, but if they do not beat out the minimal talent in front of them you can drop them and pick up another player who could offer more value to your roster. Are guys like this likely to hit often? Absolutely not, but regardless of if they do, or do not, roster spots still need to be filled. I also want to give a shout out to the guys behind the Dynasty Owner Twitter account for turning me on to one of the players you will see listed below who I had not looked into much until that point.

These players will be in no particular ranking with the main factors again being draft capital, path to getting on the field, and their college production.

And Then There Were Seven

  1. Jamie Newman (3 years, $808,333) – Quarterback, Philadelphia Eagles

I picked Newman first because he is a good example of a player that you will know quickly if he is a longer-term hold or someone you can let go based on his training camp and preseason. Jamie Newman Is an interesting prospect, who I feel would have been drafted with a solid season at Georgia in 2020. Newman ended up sitting out the 2020 season for the Bulldogs due to COVID-19 concerns after transferring from Wake Forest. I have Newman on this list because I feel if he ends up looking decent in his first training camp, he could push ahead of Super Bowl winning QB Joe Flacco on the depth chart for the Eagles as Flacco has struggled for quite a few years now. The main thing that I see with this situation is that the Eagles will need to change their entire offense with Flacco under center because of his lack of mobility compared to Jalen Hurts. It is not a hidden secret that teams tend to lean towards backups with a similar skill set to their starter. When I watched some of the Newman tape I could find, he did remind me of Jalen Hurts a bit with a hair less athleticism. If you are drafting Newman in hopes he will be posting baller fantasy numbers for your team you may need to look elsewhere, but I do see Newman as a potential backup option for Hurts over the next season or two. The quarterback position is probably the hardest spot to succeed at after going undrafted with only a few notable undrafted guys in the league right now in Case Keenum, Nick Mullins, and Brian Hoyer. One of the things I really like about Newman is the fact that Jalen Hurts is not exactly proven and with a very impatient fan base in Philly we could see a change sooner rather than later if Hurts were to come out of the gate and struggle.

  • Chris Evans (4 years, $913,222) – Running back, Cincinnati Bengals

Chris Evans is one of the more interesting late round rookies of the 2021 off-season, and a player I will have more than a few shares of on my own teams. Evans was highly sought after coming out of high school in Indianapolis ranking as a top 15 back in the country. Evans looked like he was going to live up to the hype during his first collegiate season finishing with 88 carries for 614 yards and 4 touchdowns, which averages out to a whopping 7.0 yards per carry. Evans was looking to build off a solid freshman year and disappointed heavily in 2017 with 135 carries for 685 yards and 6 scores and falling off further in his junior season. Evans followed a disappointing 2018 season up by getting suspended from the team for academic reasons, only to bounce back in 2020 and get drafted by the Bengals in the 6th round. Over the past what seems like 80 seasons, we have seen the Bengals give Giovani Bernard a significant amount of work each season and the fact that Bernard is no longer with the team opens a massive role for someone to step into. Evans will have Samaje Perine, and Trayveon Williams in front of him on the depth chart giving him a realistic shot at being the number 2 back for Week 1. I have not seen Evans drafted inside of the first three rounds in any rookie draft I have done this off-season and feel he could be a steal for a player you can acquire for next to nothing.

  • Javon McKinley (3 years, $813,333) – Wide Receiver, Detroit Lions

By no means am I saying this kid is the next Marvin Jones, but he reminds me a lot of him. McKinley is a big strong kid who can win in deep ball situations but needs to work on his route running. Javon McKinley played his college ball at Notre Dame and finished with a strong senior season with 42 catches (tied for team high) and 717 yards, which led the Fighting Irish. While McKinley has zero draft capital or anything tying him to an NFL roster, he does have a great landing spot and will get plenty of opportunity to succeed. McKinley showed that he is also able to deal with some adversity and bounce back after he was arrested for punching two campus police officers and underage drinking. While I am not sure if his incident a couple of years ago is why he went undrafted, but I do know that it takes commitment and character to bounce back after humiliating yourself in a situation like that. McKinley’s greatest strength is his ability to stretch the field and is how I expect him to potentially carve out an early role in his NFL career. McKinley can be held in the same regard as previously mentioned Sage Surratt where you will know early on if he is someone you want to hold or let go based on if he’s able to find the field in the least talented receiver room in the NFL.

  • Caleb Huntley (3 years, $808,333) – Running Back, Atlanta Falcons

If you have not been able to tell yet my main factor in choosing these late round guys is based on the chance, they might see the field in the near future. As I did with Sage Surratt and Javon McKinley, I will also do with Javian Hawkins and Caleb Huntley by doubling down on two players for the same team at the same position. When teams are signing multiple quality guys like this to the same position it tells me they are looking to fill a big need, and in Atlanta that need is someone to play a secondary role to Mike Davis. Caleb Huntley is a massive running back coming in at 5’10” tall and weighing in at 229 pounds. In Huntley’s college career for Ball State, he was used strangely after exploding during his freshman year and playing more of a reserve role the following season. In Huntley’s junior season, he played well enough to earn co-offensive player of the year for Ball State finishing with 248 carries for 1275 yards and 12 touchdowns. In 2020, things went strange again, and Huntley started in just 3 games after missing 3 games to injury and the final 2 because he chose to opt out and prepare for the NFL draft. The Atlanta backfield is wide open behind Mike Davis, and Huntley will likely come at a slightly cheaper price than Hawkins and may very well be the better talent. If I had to compare Huntley to someone it would be Jerome “The Bus” Bettis.

  • Dazz Newsome (4 years, $902,677) – Wide Receiver, Chicago Bears

I hope this is not my Ohio State love showing through, but I finally feel comfortable with Chicago as a destination for fantasy receivers now that they have Justin Fields. As we all know Chicago has not had a top tier quarterback in a very long time, in fact I would be willing to bet around half of us have never seen top tier Bears QB in our lifetime. That could all be coming to an end rather quickly. Dazz Newsome, I feel is an excellent fit in Chicago especially if reports about them trading Anthony Miller come to fruition. Newsome is going to end up as a slot receiver in the NFL but will need to become more consistent catching the ball if he wants to have any type of longevity in his career. I have also seen that he should have a clear path to become the Bears new return specialist which is always a positive for the deeper players on your roster. I love targeting young players who have a prominent special teams’ role because it makes it much easier for them to make their team’s roster and to see the field. Newsome was drafted in the 6th round after finishing a 4-year career at North Carolina, a team who has put out quite a bit of pro talent in recent years. Newsome had his best college season in 2019 finishing with 72 catches, 1,018 yards, and 10 touchdowns. If anything, Newsome is well worth a pickup because he will be on the field come Week 1 on special teams and will have numerous chances to impress the organization because of that.

  • Tommy Tremble (4 years, $1,231,608) – Tight End, Carolina Panthers

Ahh another year another Sam Darnold tight end prospect being fed to people. Tommy Tremble was selected by the Panthers in the 3rd round after they had just signed Dan Arnold this off-season giving him pretty significant draft capital. In Carolina, Tremble only has two talented guys to beat out in the previously mentioned Dan Arnold, and Ian Thomas. Thomas is an extremely athletic tight end who just seems he will always be a “what could have been type player” and I do not expect Arnold to get in the way much after the 2021 season, 2022 at the latest. Tremble is a massive man at 6’3” tall and weighing in at 241 pounds. He has the body and strength to hold up for years to come. In college at Notre Dame Tremble was an absolute mauler when it comes to blocking with plenty of videos of him putting guys on their backside to be found. He seems to absolutely love doing the dirty work on the field which is something I value in tight end prospects. Tremble is a very gifted athlete at his size and should be able to develop into a solid NFL tight end if he can improve his pass catching skills. At Notre Dame, Tremble did not get a whole lot of opportunity because he was playing behind Cole Kmet and a kid who has been called a super freshman by many in Michael Mayer, which limited his upside as a playmaker. Tremble is exactly the type of overlooked player rebuilding owners should be targeting.

  • Kylen Granson (4 years, $1,046,592) – Tight End, Indianapolis Colts

I want to welcome everyone to the player I had heard hardly anything about until just a few days ago on Dynasty Owner’s Twitter account, Kyle Granson. Granson was selected in the 4th round by the Colts who have little on their roster in terms of future tight ends. Granson played his college ball at Rice, transferring to SMU after his initial coach at Rice was fired. In Granson’s first season with SMU he lit up opposing defenses for 43 catches, 721 yards, and 9 touchdowns for a rate of 16.8 yards per catch at the tight end position. Granson is not the typical tight end I tend to look for as he seems to be a weak blocker, but he lands in a favorable spot with a coaching staff who knows how to utilize their players’ strengths. The Colts also happened to trade for veteran Carson Wentz this off-season, and it’s widely noted that Wentz loves throwing to his tight ends. After the upcoming 2021 season the Colts have only Jack Doyle and Noah Togiai signed to its roster outside of Granson, so the opportunity will be there for him soon. I added Granson to this list mainly because I wanted to show everyone that its ok to admit you are low on a player and change up your rankings because of it, just as @dynasty_owner said in their Tweet. The one thing I need to work on with tight ends is writing them off when I see they are not the best of blockers. The NFL is constantly changing, and we should be too.

Conclusion

Over the next few months, there will be plenty more of these types of players to snatch up, just be sure to have your ear to the ground. The NFL off-season as a Dynasty Owner is going to be about staying ahead of the game in terms of checking in on training camp news. The news you hear over the next few months you will want to take with a grain of salt but also realize some of it is going to be particularly important. If you look back to last off-season at the James Robinson, Leonard Fournette situation you will find that owners who were following training camp news closely had the jump on owners who were not, and that diligence won plenty of people a championship. I hope you guys enjoyed this segment and if you have any prospects, I did not mention that you have hope for, feel free to let me know on Twitter and I will gladly take a deeper dive. As always good luck on your 2021 Chase for the Ring!

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