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By: Jay Pounds (@JayPoundsNFL)
Dynasty Owners welcome back to one of the last few weeks of the 2021 Free Agent Auction targets series. As the season starts to wind down so does the amount of free agents available. In last week’s article, the Number 1 target (Cam Newton) paid off big time, but a big time free agent pickup this late in Dynasty Owner will likely be an outlier in the years to come. If you think I am lying just wait until you see the list of today’s free agents.
Before we jump straight into the mayhem of finding a suitable replacement, let’s run through my favorite segment of the week, Jay’s weekly recap. It’s just like Chris Berman’s fastest 3 minutes only slower! In our opener for the segment, I will start where you should expect by now, Baker Mayfield and the Browns. I went and watched the Browns versus Lions live and I must say it was just as bad in person. Even as banged up as Baker is, the performance against the Lions was unacceptable and the mood around Cleveland now seems to be, it’s time for a new QB. Has Baker lost the Cleveland fan base? If not he is certainly on the verge of losing the locker room after his wife took to social media to question the rest of the Browns players’ toughness. If this isn’t enough to make you worry, a trusted reporter out of Cleveland reported that Baker Mayfield and head coach Kevin Stefanski do not see eye to eye. In my opinion, Baker acts like a spoiled kid and throws a fit when things go bad. I know that was much longer than expected but it’s drama worth covering living in the heart of Browns country.
The next game we have is an impressive win by the Ravens over the Bears without Lamar Jackson and a cast of misfits at running back. The Chiefs managed to stay hot defeating a tough Cowboys team in what really was an ugly game all the way around. The Saints have decided to stick with Trevor Siemian over Taysom Hill for some reason and I feel it will cost them a shot at the playoffs this season. The Bills struggled once again and while I am not completely worried about Josh Allen, I am slightly concerned at this point. The Bills need a running game in a bad way. The Minnesota Vikings continued to be the NFL’s most hard to predict team after beating the Packers in a high scoring contest. In the Toilet Bowl of the week, the Dolphins narrowly edged out former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco and the New York Jets. The Bengals got back on track with a win against Las Vegas making the AFC North a close four team race that should come down to the final week. Arizona continues to find ways to win without their best two players, Kyler Murray and DeAndre Hopkins. My Steelers blew a very winnable game on Sunday night against the Chargers, but I have to take my hat off to Justin Herbert as he played a fantastic football game. Finally, we have our Monday night game between the Bucs and Giants and as we all expected Tom Brady took care of business and got back on the right track. As upsets continue to mount this season what will happen next?
Alright Dynasty Owners, we are back with another week of trying to find a diamond in the rough with the Free Agent Auction targets. The free agent articles/videos will be dropping every Tuesday afternoon in advance of when bids process on Wednesday at 5 AM and will consist of the week’s Top 5 free agent adds. I will do my best to keep the players listed at an ownership percentage of 65% or less and make sure all players have contracts of $8,000,000 or less, with most players coming in at under $4,000,000. One last note, in Dynasty Owner you will be credited each week with 25% of your entire Bench’s score making these weekly free agent pick-ups extremely important to help boost your total weekly score.
On to the top targets for Week 12:
- DeAndre Carter – (WR – WAS) 1 year/$970,000 – 31.36% Rostered
DeAndre Carter was someone I really considered putting on this list last week, but I wanted to diversify and put in multiple running backs. It ultimately cost Carter his spot on the list and let me tell you, Carter was about as unhappy as Terrell Owens when he did not get selected to the Hall of Fame in his first-year eligible. I am kidding of course! After another week of finding the end zone, Carter can no longer be ignored. Over the past three games for the Football Team, Carter has been able to find paydirt each week and will look to continue building on his recent success in Week 12. Taylor Heinicke has taken a liking to Carter where it matters most which makes him a Bench play if you are desperate.
- Josh Reynolds – (WR – DET) 1 Year/$1,750,000 – 46.15% Rostered
If you are going to be picking Josh Reynolds up, I urge you to not look at the stat sheet from last week as it was a rough outing for the entire Lions offense. In his debut with the Lions, Reynolds saw more snaps than any other receiver on the roster and was the only player Tim Boyle targeted deep in his first start. If Reynolds continues to see a workload like this as the season goes, he will surely be putting up fill-in Bench worthy production. That’s the best compliment a Lions receiver will get out of me this season. As long of a shot as it is, Reynolds could play well and find a home in Detroit past this season and become a cheap Bench option on our Dynasty Owner teams for many years to come. Hey, a man can dream right?
- Cedrick Wilson – (WR – DAL) 1 year/$2,183,000 – 34.91% Rostered
While Cedrick Wilson is not going to be a long term play, he can help your team win next week and possibly the week after. Wilson’s teammate Amari Cooper tested positive for Covid and must sit out the minimum of 10 days before he is able to return. Usually, this scenario means one game missed but the Cowboys traditionally play on Thanksgiving every year, meaning they will have a short week and not enough time for Cooper to clear the required protocols. I know Wilson did not have the most glorious stat line in Week 11, but the entire Cowboys offense seemed to struggle. The other huge positive in picking Wilson up is he is a versatile kid who can fill in for Cooper, CeeDee Lamb, or Michael Gallup when injured giving him more opportunity to find your lineup each week.
- Rex Burkhead – (RB – HOU) 1 year/$1,500,000 – 10.06% Rostered
I honestly feel like I am leading all of us down the field with two minutes to go, down by three and I pull a Baker Mayfield. Instead of a beautiful throw to a top tier receiver to win the game, I turn around and hand it off to Rex Burkhead and lose the game. I hope that puts all of you squarely into my state of mind when writing this. On a more serious note, Burkhead was given 18 carries in a game the Texans led from wire to wire. I am not sure this means great things to come for Burkhead, but it does mean he may be the only player getting consistent touches in this horrid backfield moving forward. The Texans aren’t a good team, but they are a capable team with Tyrod Taylor at quarterback which means the running backs should have some type of value if they are not getting blown out in games.
- Nick Westbrook-Ikhine (WR – TEN) 1 year/$610,000 – 34.91% Rostered
Another week, another player appearing again in the Free Agent Auction targets article. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine had another fabulous game Sunday after doing nothing for virtually the past 6 weeks, but his performance deserves a look. The Titans offense has been tough to predict recently with Marcus Johnson, D’Onta Foreman, Jeremy McNichols, Adrian Peterson, and Dontrelle Hillard all having a good game over the past 4-5 weeks. The one thing I do like a lot about Westbrook-Ikhine is that both times he has had four or more targets in a game this season, he has produced solid fantasy numbers. Hopefully the Titans have noticed that as well
Please do not forget about Steve Van Tassell’s weekly recap article and Friday preview article and video, as well as Matt “The Jerk” Morrison’s Wednesday article and video plus his Thursday Night Football preview article. Don’t forget to check out Dynasty Owner on YouTube!
Thank you for reading and as always good luck on your 2021 Chase for the Ring!