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By Steven Van Tassell
It’s late Wednesday morning as I’m finishing up this article which means that NFL rosters have been whittled down to 53 players and hundreds of players have been waived, placed on Injured Reserve or even moved to the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. If you were away since Sunday, you missed a lot.
The players released found out primarily on Monday or Tuesday. We’ve known about some of the injured guys longer. The injury to J.K. Dobbins happened on Saturday, but it wasn’t until Monday that the Ravens officially put him on Injured Reserve. It’s been known since June that Michael Thomas was likely to miss the start of the 2021 season, but he wasn’t officially placed on the PUP list until Tuesday afternoon. Same thing with Cam Akers who was injured back in July and declared out for the 2021 season, but didn’t get placed on Injured Reserve until Tuesday as well.
With all of this activity, it’s possible that somebody on your Dynasty Owner roster was impacted by the madness and you need a replacement. The question is: What exactly should you do? It’s not as easy to deal with the NFL roster turnover madness in Dynasty Owner as in your “regular” dynasty or redraft league.
If you took Cam Akers, Travis Etienne or J.K. Dobbins in a redraft league, it’s easy. You just cut them and find the best available RB on the waiver wire, or use some of your Free Agent Acquisition Budget (FAAB) to bid on a replacement. Those guys are on Injured Reserve for the entire 2021 season and can’t help your redraft team.
In a “regular” dynasty league, it’s trickier. You’re highly unlikely to get rid of those guys since they are so young and talented. Hopefully you have someone else on your roster who you can drop for a replacement, or maybe your league has Injured Reserve spots that you can stash them on.
In Dynasty Owner, it’s different. There is a 3-man Injured Reserve list, but you still have to continue paying their 2021 salary. If you want a replacement player, you need to have salary cap room to add him. If your Dynasty Owner team’s salaries are close to the $127.75 million salary cap, you’re in trouble. You’ll need to drop someone and pay the drop fee (25% of the remaining contract value) in Dynasty Dollars. Then, you’ll have to find a replacement who you can afford and use some more Dynasty Dollars to bid on that player. For example, the injury to Travis Etienne likely means more touches for Carlos Hyde. In a redraft or “regular” dynasty league if Hyde is available and you’re first to the waiver wire, have a high waiver wire position, or bid the most FAAB on him, he’s on your team. In Dynasty Owner, your team will need $2.25 million in salary cap room to even attempt to pick up Hyde off the Free Agent Auction. If you don’t, then you can’t do it. If you have salary cap room, then you have to outbid all of the other teams for Hyde’s services.
With all of this late August madness, what’s a Dynasty Owner to do now that the calendar has turned to September and kickoff for the first NFL game is in only eight days? Fortunately, I’m here to try and help you out.
All 2021 projections come from Rotowire and 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.
All 2021 Dynasty Owner ADP and fantasy points projections were accurate as of the morning of September 1st.
What to Do with Recently Released Players
In a redraft league, this is easy and the same as the injured players mentioned earlier, you cut him. In a “regular” dynasty league, you might hold on to him and take up one of your roster spots or you might cut him. In most, it won’t cost you anything other than waiver wire priority or some FAAB (which in most leagues, isn’t real money).
In Dynasty Owner, you can keep the player, but he’ll take up a roster spot and you still have to account for his salary. There were several highly rostered Dynasty Owner players who were released over the past two days, such as Cam Newton, Wayne Gallman, Breshad Perriman, Nick Folk, and Javian Hawkins. There were more than just those players, but hopefully you get the idea.
For example, the Dynasty Owners with Cam Newton on their roster can keep him there. No problem. However, his $5.1 million salary for 2021 still counts against the $127.75 million salary cap, so even if you have an open roster spot, you might not have the room to pick up a replacement if you’re tight against that cap. Especially if you were counting on Newton as one of your QBs and need to find another one. In Dynasty Owner, here are your options on what to do with Cam (or any other recently released player):
- Find a willing trade partner with salary cap room and take whatever they will give you. Third round pick in 2024, $1 million Dynasty Dollars, etc. – take it and run.
- Dropping is a clear option. It’ll get rid of his $5.1 million salary right away and you can use that money on a replacement. However, it’s going to cost you $1.275 million Dynasty Dollars. New Dynasty Owners get $10 million plus an amnesty provision when they sign up. You can buy Dynasty Dollars and they cost $1 for each $1 million in Dynasty Dollars. Effectively, you are paying $1.27 to get Newton off your roster.
- Another team might sign Newton to a new contract. This contract is almost certain to cost less than $5.1 million. The veteran minimum salary that a team can sign Newton for is $1.075 million for one year. That’s a savings of $4.025 million from your salary cap once Newton signs and his contract is updated in Dynasty Owner. Your team gets to keep Newton at his new $1.075 million salary by just waiting a few days.
- If Newton signs with a new team and his contract is updated in Dynasty Owner, the Dynasty Owner team with Newton has seven days to drop him free of charge. Repeat, you can drop Newton free of charge if you just wait for him to sign somewhere else.
I was in a similar situation a few days ago and utilized the “Hold and Wait to Drop” option. Steven Sims was released by the Washington Football Team on August 23rd. His $590,000 contract was still on my team’s banking ledger. He signed with the Buffalo Bills two days later for $850,000. Due to the contract change, I was able to release Sims once his new contract took effect in Dynasty Owner for nothing. My team was tight against the salary cap, but I waited, then released Sims and picked up Tristan Vizcaino (K – LAC) with the cap room that I saved by dropping Sims. Plus, I didn’t have to pay the $147,500 fee in Dynasty Dollars for releasing Sims. Admittedly that’s not a lot of Dynasty Dollars, but if this was a startup league, every Dynasty Dollar counts as that’s what you use to bid on players in the Free Agent Auction too.
If I thought Sims might have value and play for Buffalo or another team this season, I would have done the “Hold and Keep” option, even with the $260,000 salary increase. However, his subsequent release by Buffalo on Tuesday and my need for another kicker because of the release of Nick Folk by New England made the decision to drop Sims much easier.
While this situation is different than the Cam Newton example, it shows that holding onto a released player may be the correct choice for your Dynasty Owner team rather than immediately dropping him for another player. Good luck to Cam in his efforts to find future NFL employment and to Dynasty Owners who had him last year and kept him on their rosters, or drafted him (ADP 147.2) in a startup draft this year.
Players to Start Drafting and Picking Up Now
Hopefully your Dynasty Owner team has roster space available. After all, your team drafted 25 players, but you can have up to 30 on your rosters (plus 3 Injured Reserve spots). And if you have even a little bit of salary room, there are players still widely available who could help your Dynasty Owner team.
Don’t wait too long though. Inexpensive replacement players tend to go quicker on Dynasty Owner than other platforms. Guys like Ty’Son Williams (RB – BAL) who was probably largely unknown outside of his immediate family, people who follow BYU football, and Baltimore Ravens super fans until J.K. Dobbins got injured last Saturday (August 28th). Here is the percentage of leagues that Williams was rostered in over the past few days:
| Platform | Sunday – 8/29 | Tuesday – 8/31 | Wednesday – 9/1 |
| Dynasty Owner | 6% | 79% | 84% |
| My Fantasy League (MFL) | N/A | 18% | 22% |
| Sleeper | N/A | 22% | 66% |
To be fair, MFL and Sleeper host redraft leagues as well and I didn’t check for his roster percentage on MFL or Sleeper on Sunday, so Williams could have been rostered in more leagues at that point than Dynasty Owner. However, a few days after Dobbins’ injury and Coach John Harbaugh’s confirmation that Williams made the Ravens’ final 53-man roster, Williams is only rostered in 22% of MFL leagues and two-thirds (66%) of Sleeper leagues, compared to 84% of Dynasty Owner leagues. If you slept on picking up Williams until now in your Dynasty Owner league, he’s likely gone.
Here are some players who Dynasty Owners with drafts coming up in the next few days should consider drafting, even though their current ADP is listed as N/A. Dynasty Owners who have already drafted should check their league Free Agent Auction to see if they are still available to bid on and get your bid in ASAP. The kickers are going fast, but the rest are still rostered in less than half of Dynasty Owner leagues. Finally, none are going to cost you a lot of salary cap room in 2021 even the two guys with multi-year contracts. Get those bids in and hopefully they can help your Dynasty Owner team.
- Quinn Nordin (K – NE) – 3 years/$808,333 – Roster Percentage: 59.3%
It’s “out with the old and in with the new” in New England to steal a line from my friend Bob Siggins. Believe it or not, this was in reference to the decision by New England to make Quinn Nordin their kicker and release veteran Nick Folk. He probably was referring more to the Patriots’ decision earlier in the day to cut Cam Newton to make rookie Mac Jones the starting QB as well, which was probably bigger news. Regardless, the undrafted rookie free agent out of Michigan will be the new kicker in New England this season. At the time of Folk’s release on Tuesday, Nordin was rostered in exactly one-third (33.3%) of Dynasty Owner leagues, which increased overnight to 59.3%. Congrats to everyone who got him last night. And special shout-out to Dynasty Owners, such as 2019 Ring Champion Eddie Driscoll, who had the foresight to pick up him off the Free Agent Auction (as Eddie did back on August 13th in our beta league) prior to Folk’s release. If Nordin is still available in your league, get your bid in today before he’s gone.
- Tristan Vizcaino (K – LAC) – 1 year/$660,000 – Roster Percentage: 51.3%
If Nordin isn’t available, or you prefer to have only kickers on one-year contracts, kickers who play in warm weather climates, or you don’t like having players on the Patriots, then Tristan Vizcaino of the Los Angeles Chargers is your guy. Vizcaino is available in more leagues than Nordin, costs $148,333 less this year, plays his home games in Los Angeles, is on a one-year contract and doesn’t kick for the six-time Super Bowl Champions. What else is there to say. He’s inexpensive and a starting NFL kicker – go bid on him if you need one of those on your Dynasty Owner roster. Hurry though as he is rostered in just over half of Dynasty Owner leagues now versus only 8% on Tuesday.
- Tyler Conklin (TE – MIN) – 1 year/$685,258 – Roster Percentage: 37.3%
Conklin was penciled in as the #2 TE in Minnesota at the start of training camp, but moves up to the top spot with Irv Smith out with a knee injury. Smith’s return date up in the air, so there’s plenty of room for Conklin on Dynasty Owner rosters while Smith is out. Even the addition of Christopher Herndon in a trade from the Jets shouldn’t dampen Conklin’s role as the starter for now. Conklin’s stats from 2020 don’t jump out as someone who Dynasty Owners need to add to their rosters as he only scored 43.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points despite playing in all 16 games (2.7 points per game average). However, he was the #3 TE for most of the season behind Smith and Kyle Rudolph, who is now with the New York Giants. Rudolph did not play for Minnesota in the final four games of the 2020 season and in those games, Conklin scored a total of 36.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (9.2 points per game). Even though Smith’s injury occurred in Friday night’s pre-season game, Conklin is only rostered in 37.3% of leagues now, up from 34% on Tuesday and 28.7% on Monday. The word is getting out slowly, but don’t wait too long.
- Kaden Smith (TE – NYG) – 2 years/$680,002 – Roster Percentage: 30.0%
Smith started training camp as the Giants’ #3 TE, but could be the starter in Week 1, depending on the health of top TE Evan Engram who suffered a calf injury in Sunday’s pre-season game and #2 TE Kyle Rudolph who was activated off the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list just last week. Even if Rudolph plays in Week 1, his contract (2 years/$6 million per year) makes him undesirable in Dynasty Owner. Smith also has two years left on his contract, but will only cost $680,002 in salary per season. Smith only scored 28.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 15 games played in 2020 for an average of 1.9 points per game, so he’s not a lock to suddenly be a Top 12 TE. However, Engram led the Giants in targets in 2020 with 109, or 6.8 per game, so Smith could be in line for plenty of work in Week 1 (and maybe beyond) if Engram and Rudolph aren’t ready to play.
- Dare Ogunbowale (RB – JAC) – 1 year/$850,000 – Roster Percentage: 14.7%
Now that Travis Etienne has been placed on the Injured Reserve list and is out for the entire 2021 season, there is an opening for the third down RB in Jacksonville. Carlos Hyde is the obvious RB to pick up additional carries and receptions in Etienne’s place, but he’s being drafted (ADP 249.3) and is rostered in over three-quarters (78%) of Dynasty Owner leagues. Dynasty Owners with a need for a RB, room on their rosters and $1 million in salary cap can pick up Ogunbowale off the Free Agent Auction. If you have a draft coming up in the next few days, grabbing Ogunbowale in the late rounds as a flyer is a good idea as well. Yes, he only had 30.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2020, but had double-digits points (11.0 and 11.2) in the final two games of the season after James Robinson suffered a high ankle sprain and was forced to miss Weeks 16 and 17. Before Dare was on the Jaguars, he had a solid role as the third down back in Tampa Bay in 2019. He put up 79.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 16 games (4.9 points per game) for the Buccaneers with 35 receptions for 286 receiving yards plus 17 rushing yards and two rushing TDs.
- Lil’Jordan Humphrey (WR – NO) – 1 year/$850,000 – Roster Percentage: 1.3%
This is a much bigger reach than the others on this list, but Humphrey is the only Saints WR to catch TD passes in each of the team’s two pre-season games (one from Jameis Winston and one from Taysom Hill). While Dynasty Owners shouldn’t place a lot of stock in pre-season performance, the fact remains that Michael Thomas is out for the start of the season and other WRs will need to step up for the Saints. Most Dynasty Owners are thinking that it will be Marquez Callaway (ADP 159.9 – 2 years/$765,000) or Tre’Quan Smith (ADP 151.0 – 1 year/$855,131). Deonte Harris is also rostered in just under half (46%) of Dynasty Owner leagues, but has an ADP of 261.4 and a very low salary of just $583,333. The Saints had plenty of WRs in training camp, but released four of them on Tuesday, leaving them with just four on their current 53-man roster (five if you include Ty Montgomery who is apparently back playing WR now). Humphrey and his $850,000 salary survived the roster cuts, and he is only rostered in 1.3% of Dynasty Owner leagues. He might not be the best option, but he’s available, inexpensive and worth a flyer for Dynasty Owners looking for one at WR.
Late Round Flyers
Speaking of flyers, in addition to those players who are still going largely undrafted, we have a host of late round flyers, or lottery tickets as Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl on Twitter) likes to call them. Mostly Jay’s talking about rookies, but there are plenty of other players who fit that definition. All of these guys are being drafted, on average, in Round 20 or later in Dynasty Owner startup drafts and might help out your Dynasty Owner team. For Dynasty Owners in an existing league, the odds that they are available are in your favor as none is rostered in a majority of leagues now. Two out of three will cost more than $1 million in salary, so hopefully you saved more than that when you drafted, or don’t take too many high salary players in the early rounds of your startup draft so you have room under the salary cap when the later rounds come around.
- DeMarcus Robinson (WR – KC) – 1 year/$1,127,500 – ADP 263.1
The battle to make the Kansas City Chiefs roster is over. Six WRs were sent packing in the past two days (Maurice Ffrench, Darrius Shepherd, Dalton Schoen, Cornell Powell, Marcus Kemp, Gehrig Dieter) to go along with Chad Williams and Antonio Callaway who were jettisoned last week. Now that the dust has settled, there’s still the battle to see who’s the #2 WR behind Tyreek Hill. It should be Mecole Hardman, but it might not. While Hardman had 139.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 2019 and 135.3 points in 2020 for Kansas City. You’ll need to spend a draft pick in the first ten rounds to have Hardman though. Robinson actually wasn’t that far behind Hardman in performance as last season as he scored 105.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and played in all 16 games (6.6 points per game). That was a slight increase from 2019 when he scored 100.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 16 games played (6.3 points per game). Plus, Robinson is durable having played in all 16 regular season games in each of the past four seasons. Patrick Mahomes is going to throw at least some passes to guys not named Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce, why not Robinson?
- Juwan Johnson (TE – NO) – 1 year/$695,000 – ADP 264.3
Who exactly is Juwan Johnson? He’s a converted WR who seems likely to be the Week 1 starter at TE for the Saints due to injuries to Adam Trautman and Nick Vannett. Since neither Trautman nor Vannett has lit up the scoreboard during their careers, it’s possible that Johnson retains a role in the Saints offense even when they return. Without Michael Thomas for at least the first six weeks, the Saints are in need of players to catch the ball from starting QB Jameis Winston. In 2019 when Jameis was the starter in Tampa Bay, his TEs (Cameron Brate and O.J. Howard) averaged 6.75 targets, 4.4 receptions and 48.1 receiving yards per game. They also caught five TD passes. If Johnson can put up similar stats in Week 1 (4 receptions for 48 yards which equals 8.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points), there will be a lot of Dynasty Owners bidding on him in the Free Agent Auction before Week 2 if he’s still available. After all, his ownership has gone up eight percent just this week, from 37.3% on Monday to 42% on Tuesday to 45.3% on Wednesday. Many of you already missed your chance. If he’s still available, it’s time to put in your bid before someone else does.
- Byron Pringle (WR – KC) – 1 year/$2.133 million – ADP 267.8
See everything said above for Demarcus Robinson. If another Dynasty Owner grabbed Robinson right before you or you got outbid in your attempt to get Robinson in the Free Agent Auction, then take a look at Byron Pringle. Pringle had 49.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 13 games played in 2020 (3.8 points per game). Not exactly great, but in seven of those 13 games, he didn’t have a target. If you remove those games, he averaged 8.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. That’s 131.2 points over a 16-game season last year, which are similar stats to what Mecole Hardman has done in the past two seasons. That would have put Pringle as WR61 for the 2020 season, or WR5 on your Dynasty Owner roster. That’s your top Practice Squad WR and one of your Bench WR on bye weeks. It’s not the worst thing to have a member of the Kansas City offense sitting on your Practice Squad waiting for a chance to help your Dynasty Owner team.
Conclusion
Now that NFL teams have pruned their rosters, it’s time for Dynasty Owners to think about doing the same thing. For the most part, the players released in the past few days are on very few, or zero, Dynasty Owner rosters, but there are some exceptions. Dynasty Owners with a player who fell victim to the Turk (aka the Guy who tells players they have been cut from a NFL roster) have several options on what they can do with that player ranging from cutting him immediately to holding and keeping him on their roster. The option that you choose is up to you as the Dynasty Owner.
If the decision is to get rid of the player either now or after a contract change, then replacements are needed and hopefully you didn’t wait too long like many Dynasty Owners did in bidding on Ty’Son Williams. With Williams rostered in a large percentage of Dynasty Owner leagues (and increasing every day), several replacement players who are still widely available were recommended.
Hopefully all Dynasty Owners found this article helpful in getting ready for the 2021 Dynasty Owner season. Dynasty Owner has plenty of other great content to help you draft your dynasty. We can also provide guidance as you get prepared for your startup draft, as well as help tweak your roster after your draft is over so you can win your league. Our publication schedule is likely to change now that we are just over a week away from the first game of the season. Keep an eye out for new articles from both Matt Morrison – The Jerk (@Dynastyjerk) and Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl) next week and throughout the season. There will be at least one article per day (except Sundays) and several videos each week as well.
Please read all of their articles and follow all three of us plus Dynasty Owner (@Dynasty_Owner) on Twitter. Hopefully this article is helpful, or at least interesting, for everyone who just drafted their first Dynasty Owner team or has played Dynasty Owner in the past. Thanks, and have a great day!
Steven Van Tassell is the Head of Content for Dynasty Owner
Follow us on Twitter: @SteveVT33 and @Dynasty_Owner