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By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
This article had been titled even before Lamar Jackson led the Baltimore Ravens to a 31-25 comeback victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday Night Football. However, the fact that Week 5 in the NFL was about comebacks crystallized after that game. It was also about kickers missing kicks, but I didn’t think most people would want to read an entire recap article with a kicker based theme.
Besides the Ravens comeback on Monday night, the Vikings, Eagles, Patriots and Chargers were all behind late in the fourth quarter but secured victories. Not all of the comebacks had clutch scoring events and players receiving the Dynasty Owner 3-point clutch scoring bonus, but several of them did and boosted the score for their Dynasty Owners.
In addition to Week 5 game comebacks, we had a few players who came back and did well after poor performances in Week 4. The G.O.A.T. Tom Brady and Myles Gaskin did extremely well just one week after being listed in the Players Who Should Have Been on the Bench or Practice Squad section of the Week 4 recap.
With Lamar Jackson and Mark Andrews scoring so many points on Monday Night Football, there were likely more than a few Dynasty Owners who won their games after thinking they were going to lose. One friend of mine looked to be a sure loser in his non-Dynasty Owner game going into the fourth quarter on Monday night, but ended up winning by double-digits because he had Andrews, who scored 2 TDs and 2 2-pt conversions in the fourth quarter along, as his TE. One of the match-ups featured in the Monday Night preview article was in my beta league and it was expected to be close as Belichick’s Hoodies had Lamar Jackson on his Bench and was up by just over one point against VIP Club Dub who had Justin Tucker in his Starting lineup. In the end, Belichick’s Hoodies won what was expected to be a close game by over 14.5 points. In that same league, one of our other writers Matt (@dynastyjerk) with his team The Jerk was losing his game by nearly 40.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points coming into Monday Night Football. He still had Mark Andrews in his Starting lineup, but probably wasn’t too optimistic about his chances. Andrews ended up with 41.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and The Jerk won by 2.25 points. Now, that’s a comeback!
Did any Dynasty Owners have a more incredible comeback than The Jerk? Or was your team sweating out a close game before the fourth quarter on Monday night, but ended up winning by a lot? Let me know on Twitter (@SteveVT33) and I’ll retweet it so other Dynasty Owners can revel in your glorious victory.
All stats cited 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 rostered percentage statistics were current as of the morning of October 12th.
Dynasty Owner Player of the Week
Our fourth Dynasty Owner Player of the Week for 2021 is the player behind one of the best comebacks of the week: Lamar Jackson
As the top scorer in Dynasty Owner in 2019, Lamar Jackson was the Player of the Year, as well as winning the individual weekly award in Week 12 and splitting it with Jameis Winston in Week 15, which were the playoff semi-finals, as in 2019, there were only two rounds of playoff games, not three. Three is also the number of players who have scored more than 60.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in a single game so far. Jackson had 60.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (442 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 63 rushing yards, 2 2-pt conversions, 1 fumble – lost), which only trails Tyreek Hill’s 63.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy point performance in Week 12 of the 2020 season and Aaron Rodgers’ 62.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy point performance in Week 7 of the 2019 season. This performance pushed Jackson into the QB3 spot for the 2021 season, a comeback from his disappointing QB11 finish in 2020.
Week 5 Points: 60.4
2021 Salary: $2,367,912
Cost per Point: $39,204
Congratulations Lamar on winning your third overall Dynasty Owner Player of the Week honor and the first one since the 2019 season.
Honorable mention to the G.O.A.T. Tom Brady and Justin Herbert who were set to split the Player of the Week honor until Jackson’s heroics on Monday night. Both had 55.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, which is usually plenty to win the honor. Brady had 411 passing yards, 5 passing TDs and 13 rushing yards in his comeback after being included as a Player Who Should Have Been on the Bench or Practice Squad last week, while Herbert had 398 passing yards, 4 passing TDs, 29 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD and 1 2-pt conversion as the Chargers scored 12 points in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter to come back and defeat Cleveland by a score of 47-42. Herbert has also come back from two below average games at the beginning of the year (17.7 and 19.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). If Brady or Herbert had scored this many points in Weeks 1-4, they would have easily been the Player of the Week, but not so in Week 5.
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 fifth Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week for the 2021 season is: Myles Gaskin
His salary as a seventh round draft pick in 2019 is perfectly suited to being a regular winner of the Value Player of the Week honor, however, Myles Gaskin has only one Value Player of the Week honor to his credit. That came at a very good time for his Dynasty Owners as he did it in the Dynasty Owner playoff finale (Week 16) of the 2020 season with two receiving TDs and 33.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. This week, Gaskin had the second two receiving TD game of his career with 31.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (25 rushing yards, 10 receptions, 74 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs). While his salary is perfectly suited to winning this award, after his 0.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy point performance in Week 4 (3 rushing yards on two carries), his Dynasty Owners may not have been expecting a complete reversal in usage and production in Week 5.
Week 5 Points: 31.9
2021 Salary: $651,694
Cost per Point: $20,429
Congratulations Myles on winning the first regular season Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week honor of your career and second one overall.
Honorable mention this week to another member of the comeback Ravens team, Mark Andrews who scored 41.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (11 receptions, 147 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs, 2 2-pt conversions) on Monday night. While Andrews had 9.8 more Dynasty Owner fantasy points, Gaskin was still more valuable due to his lower salary ($651,694 for Gaskin compared to $863,290 for Andrews). Gaskin had a cost per point value of $20,429, while Andrews’ was only $273 higher at $20,702 per point. Similar to Brady and Herbert, Andrews’ performance would have been good enough to win Value Player of the Week in any other week so far this season. With Andrews due to make $14 million per season starting in 2023, time is running out for him to win his first Value Player of the Week award.
Players Who Should Have Been Starters This Week
Next, we look at those players who should have been one of your Starters based on their performance in Week 5. We aren’t going to write that you should have started Derrick Henry or Davante Adams because barring injury or bye week, both of them should always be in your Starting lineup. Instead, these are players who might normally be on your Bench or Practice Squad (or even not on many Dynasty Owner rosters), but likely weren’t Starters in Week 5 when they should have been.
QB: Davis Mills (HOU) – 34.8 points
After one of the worst games in Dynasty Owner history last week, Davis Mills had quite the comeback in Week 5. Last week, Mills scored -8.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (87 passing yards, 4 INTs, 2 rushing yards, 1 fumble) in the Texans’ 40-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills. This performance was eerily similar to the one turned in by Jets QB Sam Darnold in the infamous “Ghost Game” on Monday Night football in 2019 against the New England Patriots. The Jets lost that game 33-0 and Darnold scored -10.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (86 passing yards, 4 INTs, -1 rushing yard, 1 fumble – lost). Darnold bounced back the next week with a better, but still below average game (12.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points), while Mills scored far more points after just the first half alone (22.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points – 202 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, 2 rushing yards). Mills finished the game with 34.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points overall (312 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, 2 rushing yards), but despite his efforts, the Texans lost 25-22 to New England. This performance made Mills a Top 5 QB for Week 5 and someone who should have been in your Starting lineup.
RB: Devontae Booker (NYG) – 20.8 points
As Saquon Barkley got healthier, the percentage of snaps given to his backup Devontae Booker had declined. In Week 1, it was close to an even split (24 for Booker versus 29 for Barkley). However, in Weeks 2 through 4, Barkley was on the field for over 80% of the Giants’ snaps on offense (58 snaps, or 84% in Week 2; 60 snaps, or 86% in Week 3; and 56 snaps, or 89% in Week 4). Booker was even inactive in Week 3 after getting only 10 snaps in on offense in Week 2. He was back in Week 4, but only got in for 7 offensive snaps. However, after Saquon Barkley rolled his ankle after playing only six plays on offense in Week 5, Booker was back on the field for 60 snaps, or 88% of the Giants’ offensive snaps. He parlayed those snaps into 20.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (42 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 3 receptions, 16 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD). If his Dynasty Owners had known this was going to happen, they would have put him in their Starting lineups.
WR: Kadarius Toney (NYG) – 29.6 points
The New York Giants had three key injuries in Week 5 (QB Daniel Jones, RB Saquon Barkley and WR Kenny Golladay). As I wrote above, Booker made the most of his opportunity, but he wasn’t the only one. The Giants’ #1 draft pick in 2021, Kadarius Toney, did so as well with Golladay out. One week after scoring a completely unexpected 13.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the Giants’ comeback victory against New Orleans, Toney was the team’s leading receiver against the Cowboys as well. Toney improved upon his Week 4 performance with 29.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (10 receptions, 189 receiving yards, 7 rushing yards). Toney was the fourth WR drafted in the 2021 NFL draft, but just the eighth rookie WR taken in Dynasty Owner start-up drafts (ADP 144.6) and tied for eighth in rookie draft ADP (20.8). With his low Dynasty Owner draft capital, it wouldn’t be a surprise if few Dynasty Owners had Toney in their Starting lineup, even after last week’s performance. They should have put him in their Week 5 Starting lineups and taken full advantage of all of the points that he scored.
TE: David Njoku (CLE) – 27.9 points
For the second week in a row, a TE from an Ohio team who makes over $6 million per season is in this spot. Last week, it was C.J. Uzomah from Cincinnati who came from out of nowhere to score 26.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and this week, it’s David Njoku from Cleveland who did the comeback from the depth of the TE position to score 27.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (7 receptions, 149 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD). He set his own personal career best in Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week and had more points than he did in the previous four weeks combined (18.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). It was also the first game of his NFL career in which he had more than 100 receiving yards. After his big performance in Week 4, Uzomah saw his roster percentage grow from 0.6% up to 13%. Njoku was on more rosters (23.1%) at the start of Week 5 than Uzomah, but we’ll see if everyone who had salary cap room spent it all on Uzomah or if any other Dynasty Owners can afford to add Njoku to their rosters in advance of Week 6. Regardless, Njoku was likely not in many Dynasty Owner Starting lineups this week when he should have been.
K: Nick Folk (NE) – 17.0 points
New England kicker Nick Folk started off the season on the Patriots practice squad, but has kicked in all of the team’s regular season games. It would be a comeback, but probably more like Bill Belichick working the NFL salary cap to reduce Folk’s salary by $550,000. Folk was supposed to make $1.625 million in salary this season, but now only makes $1.075 million since signing off the practice squad to the active roster. Dynasty Owners with Folk on their team aren’t complaining as it saved them $550,000 in salary cap room too. And they aren’t complaining with Folk’s performance this season, especially what he did in Week 5. He scored 17.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points with four FGs of varying lengths (32 yards, 52 yards, another 52 yarder and a clutch 21 yard FG with 15 seconds left in the game). He did miss one of two PAT attempts, or he would have scored more points. As the #11 ranked kicker entering Week 5, Folk was by no means a guaranteed Starter for his Dynasty Owners. Hopefully they had him in their Starting lineup (unlike me) and took full advantage of all of the points that he provided their team.
Players Who Should Have Been on the Bench or Practice Squad
For every player who should have been in your Starting lineup but wasn’t, we have at least one highly drafted or highly ranked player who probably was in your Starting lineup, but would have been better left on your Bench or Practice Squad. Here are some likely Starters who scored very few, none or negative Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week, so they should have spent Week 5 riding your Dynasty Owner Bench or hanging out on the Practice Squad.
QB: Sam Darnold (CAR) – 6.8 points
Daniel Jones was my pick for the QB to leave on your Bench this week, but I could have just as easily picked Sam Darnold and written the same words about just waiting for him to rip the heart out of all of his believers eventually. It was bound to happen, and it finally did for both players in Week 5. Jones can be forgiven as his 5.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy point day was over before halftime due to a concussion, but Darnold played the whole game against Philadelphia and was only able to score one more point. Darnold had only 6.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (177 passing yards, 1 passing TD, 10 rushing yards, 3 INTs). It wasn’t as bad as the infamous “Ghost Game”, but it wasn’t what his Dynasty Owners had come to expect so far in his comeback season with Carolina. Darnold shouldn’t have been in your Starting lineup this week even though he was ranked in the Top 12 QBs in Dynasty Owner before the week started. Now that he has fallen down to QB16, he shouldn’t be seen as mainstay in your Starting lineup anymore.
RB: Chase Edmonds (ARI) – 3.4 points
There were plenty of possible RBs who might have been a Starter for your Dynasty Owner team in the second RB or FLEX spot this week who did worse than Edmonds, but none of them (Kenyan Drake, Nyheim Hines, J.D. McKissic, Trey Sermon and Devin Singletary) were guaranteed to be in your Starting lineup. In contrast, Chase Edmonds should have been as he had scored an average of 15.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game in Weeks 1-4 with a low of 12.5 points in Week 2. He was the one Arizona skill position player other than QB Kyler Murray to not have a bad week so far this season. That ended in Week 5 as Edmonds only produced 3.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (15 rushing yards, 3 receptions, 19 receiving yards, 1 fumble lost). For the first time this season, Dynasty Owners with Edmonds on their team should have put him on the Bench.
WR: Marvin Jones (JAC) – 3.5 points
With fellow WR D.J. Chark out for the season, it seemed like the stock of both Marvin Jones and Laviska Shenault had gone up in fantasy football even as the drama in Jacksonville with Head Coach Urban Meyer raged on. It turns out that two Jacksonville WRs did benefit from Chark’s season ending injury, but their names are Tavon Austin and Jamal Agnew. Jones was projected to score 15.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and was averaging 13.45 points per game through the first four weeks of the season, but ended up with just 3.5 points (1 reception for 25 yards). Both Austin and Agnew plus TEs Dan Arnold and Jacob Hollister, as well as Shenault who had 6.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (1 reception for 58 yards), had more Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week than Jones did. Jones hadn’t scored that few points and been as worthy to be on your Bench since Week 6 of the 2020 season when he was on the Detroit Lions.
TE: T.J. Hockenson (DET) – 4.2 points
This is Hockenson’s second appearance here, which is probably not fair to him, but he is one of the few TEs who Dynasty Owners should have felt comfortable plugging into their Starting lineup on a weekly basis without regard to his team’s opponent. That was especially true after he scored over 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the first two weeks of the 2021 season (23.7 points in Week 1 and 20.6 points in Week 2). Since then, he’s come back to earth with three straight subpar performances (3.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 3, followed by 8.2 points in Week 4 and this week’s 4.2 points). Hockenson was only targeted three times and caught two of those passes with a total of 22 receiving yards. With injuries taking their toll on some of the middle of the pack TEs (Logan Thomas and Maxx Williams) plus one of the elite (George Kittle), Dynasty Owners with Hockenson on their roster are going to need solid week-to-week performances from a player who they drafted (ADP 50.5) to be in their Starting lineup every week. Unfortunately for them, this wasn’t a good week to have him there.
K: Evan McPherson (CIN) – -2.0 points
Evan McPherson was the only kicker taken in the 2021 NFL draft. Cincinnati used the 5th pick of the 5th round (pick #149 overall) on the Florida kicker. Dynasty Owners liked the new Cincinnati kicker enough that he was selected in rookie drafts with generally a mid-third round pick (ADP 30.4). He was the ninth kicker drafted, on average, in Dynasty Owner start-up drafts with an ADP of 197.9. Dynasty Owners who drafted McPherson had to have been happy after the first four weeks of the season as he was the #8 kicker in Dynasty Owner with 33.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and only one missed kick (a 43-yard FG attempt in Week 4 versus Jacksonville). At a salary of just under $1 million ($955,928), he was likely in plenty of Starting lineups this week as the Bengals faced off against the Green Bay Packers. He shouldn’t have been as he missed two FGs (a 57-yarder with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter and a 49-yarder in overtime). He did make both of his PAT attempts, but the misses cost him 4.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points to leave his Dynasty Owners with -2.0 points from him this week.
Dishonorable mention to Matthew Wright of the Jacksonville Jaguars who continued the Jaguars’ kickers “perfect” record of missing FGs by hitting the crossbar with a 53 yard FG attempt. Wright also missed one of two PAT attempts and finished Week 5 with -2.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (FG miss from 53 yards and 1 of 2 on PATs). Jacksonville kickers have scored a combined -2.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points this season (1 missed FG of 40-49 yards, 3 missed FGs of 50+ yards and 9 out of 12 on PAT attempts). Despite a salary of only $780,000, very few Dynasty Owners picked up Wright after he was signed by Jacksonville to replace Josh Lambo. Wright was rostered in only 2.4% of Dynasty Owner leagues last week. Wright has a total of 1.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point, which makes him the better of the two Jaguars’ kickers this season with Josh Lambo having scored -3.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Hopefully none of the few Dynasty Owners with Wright on their roster had him in their Starting lineup, or will have any Jacksonville kicker there until one of them can make a FG.
Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week Recap – Miami Crypt Keepers vs. The UnderDawgs
No comeback for The UnderDawgs on Monday Night Football. It probably wasn’t very realistic as they needed around 70.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points from Nyheim Hines to win since he was on their Bench and the Dynasty Owner single game record is 63.9. Instead, Hines only got 2.6 points and The UnderDawgs fell well short of a comeback victory.
Miami Crypt Keepers were a well-balanced team with six players in their Starting lineup chipping in at least a dozen points, led by Derrick Henry who had 33.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. In contrast, The UnderDawgs had Tom Brady and Austin Ekeler combine for 86.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and the rest of their Starting lineup only score in the single digits for a combined 31.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. The victory keeps Miami Crypt Keepers undefeated and in first place in the League #59074 standings, while The Underdawgs stay in second place and their record drops to 4-1 on the season.
Miami Crypt Keepers won the Match-up of the Week, but lost their spot on the Chase for the Ring leaderboard with a below average performance this week. They dropped from 11th place down to 55th place. There is still plenty of time left in the season for them to make a comeback, return to the Leaderboard and maybe even capture the Ring.
Chase for the Ring Leaderboard
The current Chase for the Ring leaderboard features several new teams with three teams in the Top 10 after being completely out of the Top 25 just a week ago:
SKOL Vikings are now in first and sixth place in the Chase for the Ring. They were in third and fifth place last week. The team in first place now from League #31927 scored a whopping 242.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, while the League #31831 team in sixth place had “only” 195.7 points. Last week, The Road Warriors had a 30.6 point lead, but now they are in second place and trail SKOL Vikings by 11.8 points. Thee Camel Toe Jockey had 223.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 5 to move three spots up from sixth place to third.
As mentioned earlier, there are a few newcomers to the Top 10 this week with the teams currently in sixth place (Mizzou Mafia Bosses), ninth place (Rimmerworld Smegheads) and tenth place (Joeyjet53) not even in the Top 25 last week. Mizzou Mafia Bosses is also one of only three undefeated Top 10 teams left at 5-0.
Conclusions
Did either your favorite NFL or Dynasty Owner team mount a comeback this week? The Patriots did for me, but my three Dynasty Owner teams that were behind after the Sunday Night Football game were all too far behind to reasonably comeback to win. Even the one with Mark Andrews was too far behind. Shout out to Big Grizz in League #76065 who defeated that team of mine and sits in first place in the standings with the same record as Team Polian, but more points scored. Hopefully when some of the many players who are on Injured Reserve come back, my teams will start winning again.
Don’t worry if your team didn’t mount a comeback in Week 5. Hopefully they won and your Dynasty Owner team (or teams if you’re in multiple leagues) is in position to make the playoffs and a run for your League Championship. Congrats if they are and even if they aren’t, don’t give up just yet.
There’s plenty of great Dynasty Owner content coming out this week to check out. The Free Agent Auction targets article and video by Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl) was published on Tuesday. Hopefully you read it and watched the video to help you decide who to bid on and then you won those bids. Matt Morrison – The Jerk had his article and video get posted as well for his Incredibly True Stats by position series. Matt will be back with his Thursday Night Football preview on Thursday afternoon to set the tone for Week 6. Finally on Friday, I’m back with an article and video that will preview the rest of the Week 6 slate of games. I’ll also have another exciting Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week and see how my Week 5 recommendations fared.
Please read all of our articles, watch our videos on YouTube or listen to them wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget follow all three of us plus Dynasty Owner on Twitter as well. 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