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By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
That’s the phrase that people are using to describe the Los Angeles Rams’ attitude this season after they signed Odell Beckham Jr. on Thursday. This comes after trading for linebacker Von Miller at the trade deadline for a second and a third-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft. During training camp, they traded with New England for RB Sony Michel to help back up Darrell Henderson who was stepping into the starting lineup to replace Cam Akers who tore his Achilles in July. That trade only cost them a sixth-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft and a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft. Early in the off-season, they traded QB Jared Goff along with a 2021 third-round pick, and their first-round picks in the 2022 and 2023 NFL drafts to Detroit for QB Matthew Stafford. Back in 2020, they traded away their 2022 fourth-round pick and WR Brandin Cooks to Houston for a second-round pick this year (Van Jefferson). Overall, the Rams now have only four picks in the entire 2022 NFL draft – a compensatory third-round pick, their own fifth and seventh-round picks and a seventh-round pick from the Miami Dolphins.
The Rams will end up with additional compensatory picks but have effectively traded away almost all of their 2022 draft picks. Many people are calling the 2022 NFL draft class weak, but the Rams and GM Les Snead are clearly thinking more about a run at the Super Bowl than offering their opinion on the quality of the players available in the draft. The Rams want to duplicate what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers did last season and hoist the Lombardi Trophy after a Super Bowl victory on their home field.
It’s also possible for Dynasty Owners to go “all in” as well. Young players with upside in the future, rookie draft picks and even Dynasty Dollars can be traded for players who can help your team win your League this season and maybe even compete for the Chase for the Ring. Dynasty Owners can also outbid everyone else in their League for the top available players in the Free Agent Auction every week. However, many of the top teams in the Chase have been actively trading away their rookie draft picks in 2022 and 2023 as they go “all in” to win this year.
Out of the teams in the Chase for the Ring Top 10 after Week 9, only two of them have a 2022 rookie first-round pick and just three have a second-round rookie draft pick. As many of those teams have zero picks in the 2022 draft as have all of their own picks remaining (two each). If you look ahead to the 2023 draft, five of the Top 10 teams currently have no picks in that draft either. Two teams (Havana Club 79 and Thee Camel Toe Jockey) have no picks in either draft. While I didn’t look to see when everyone traded away those picks, it’s safe to say that those teams are “all in” for the 2021 Dynasty Owner season.
They are likely not the only ones doing it. There are probably other teams outside of the Top 10, or even the Top 25, who are doing the same thing to try and win their League this year. While the NFL trade deadline may have passed, Dynasty Owners can still make trades up until Week 14 of the season. There is a trade freeze in place for the entire playoffs (Weeks 15-17) and all trades must be accepted at least 24 hours before the start of the first game of Week 14. See the Dynasty Owner Constitution under How to Play for more details.
I’m “all in” every week of the 14-game Dynasty Owner regular season and three-game playoffs and giving Dynasty Owners a player at each position (QB, RB, WR, TE) to have as a Starter in your Dynasty Owner lineup. After that, I’ll name one player per position who should be on your Bench or Practice Squad. The players to Start will be players who were clearly drafted to be on your Bench or Practice Squad, or who currently rank outside the Top 12 QBs, Top 24 RBs, Top 24 WRs and Top 12 TEs. For the Bench recommendations, I’ll suggest players drafted to be Starters or who should be in your Starting lineup based on their play so far this season, but who shouldn’t be in there this week based on matchups, past performance against a team or something else.
I’ll also feature and preview one Dynasty Owner game, our Match-up of the Week. This week, we have a match-up with two teams who are clearly “all in” for this season. Don’t forget that I’m always taking suggestions for the Match-up of the Week and if you want your team or a team in your League to appear in the future, then send me a tweet (@SteveVT33).
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.
For the purposes of this article, ADP and Dynasty Owner rostered percentage statistics were current as of the morning of November 12th.
These Guys Should be Starters This Week
First, let’s look at how my Week 9 recommendations fared (Good, Bad or Just Ok). I predicted performances worthy of being in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup for these four players last week and here’s how they did.
QB: Tyrod Taylor – 5.3 (Bad recommendation)
RB: Boston Scott – 4.0 (Bad recommendation)
WR: Van Jefferson – 7.1 (Bad recommendation)
TE: Jordan Akins – -0.3 (Bad recommendation)
Not much to say as for the second time this season, all four of my Starting lineup recommendations were Bad. It happened back in Week 2, so it had been a while, but still even in a low-scoring week, all of these guys didn’t put up enough points to even be Just Ok. It’s just a Bad week when 7.1 are the most Dynasty Owner fantasy points that a recommended player scored. I can’t go anywhere but up, so this week I’m “all in” with my Week 10 Starting lineup recommendations.
Teddy Bridgewater (QB – DEN): While he is just the QB15 overall for the 2021 season, Teddy Bridgewater has been the most consistent QB out there all season. He has only scored less than 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points once this season (Week 4 when he played only in the first half and left with 9.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). In fact, he was QB8 last week with 26.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points against Dallas. Last week, Justin Herbert won Player of the Week honors with 40.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points against Philadelphia who is Denver’s opponent this week. I was “all in” on Teddy last year and drafted him to both of my Dynasty Owner teams. I continue to ride him as my Starting QB in my beta league since Deshaun Watson hasn’t played yet this season and just inserted him into the Starting lineup in my other league over Patrick Mahomes. Yes, it’s true. Since his injury, Teddy has outplayed Mahomes (22.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game for Teddy versus 17.8 for Mahomes). That’s why I’m recommending that Dynasty Owners put Teddy in their Starting lineup, even in place of Patrick Mahomes.
Devin Singletary (RB – BUF): Zack Moss practiced on a limited basis on Thursday but still hasn’t cleared the concussion protocol to be active for the Bills’ game on Sunday against the New York Jets. Between Moss and Devin Singletary, the Buffalo RBs average 18.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game with Moss averaging slightly more than Singletary (11.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game for Moss in seven games versus 8.3 for Singletary in eight games). Everyone knows that Buffalo prefers to throw the ball, but their run-pass splits are skewed dramatically when they lose versus when they win. The Bills average 30.8 rushing attempts per victory and only 20.7 rushing attempts per defeat. Even if you take out their two blowout victories over Miami (35-0) and Houston (40-0), they still average 27.0 rushing attempt in their victories. They should run more this week than usual against a Jets defense that allows 133.2 yards per game on the ground to rank 27th in the NFL and is fresh off allowing 260 yards rushing to the Colts in Week 9. Even if Moss plays, Singletary should get plenty of carries this week and be someone who should be in your Starting lineup.
Marvin Jones (WR – JAC): Since I don’t have Marvin Jones on any of my Dynasty Owner teams, I hadn’t been following him too closely this year. With the Jaguars playing the Colts and their terrible pass defense, I looked and noticed that his performance has been in decline since the D.J. Chark injury and ascension of Jamal Agnew. Including the Cincinnati game in which Chark fractured his left ankle, Jones has averaged 9.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game (45.5 total points) compared to 11.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game for Agnew (56.8 total points). In the three games before Chark’s injury, Jones had 48.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game, an average of 16.1 points per game. This has caused Jones to drop down to WR38 for the season. Back in Week 6 against another bottom feeder pass defense (Miami), Jones had 23.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (7 receptions, 100 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD). He might not get that many points, but he’ll get enough to be in your Starting lineup. Wish I had him on one of my Dynasty Owner teams so I could Start him.
Tyler Conklin (TE – MIN): If a Minnesota TE is going to catch a pass against the Chargers, it’ll very likely be Tyler Conklin who has gotten 89% of their TE receptions (32 out of 36) and 88% of their TE targets (44 out of 50). That’s been good enough to make him the TE16 in Dynasty Owner for the season. The Vikings are heading to Los Angeles this week to play the Chargers who are allowing TEs to average 5.25 receptions and 70.6 receiving yards per game against them. That’s double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points, which is usually good enough to be a Top 12 TE. The average top opposition TE has scored 13.55 weekly Dynasty Owner fantasy points against the Chargers. Both of those stats lead me to believe Conklin will have a Starting lineup worthy game for your Dynasty Owner team.
These Guys Should Be on the Bench (or Practice Squad) This Week
The Week 9 Bench recommendations were at least better than the Starting lineup recommendations. I said that I was willing to settle for a couple of close Just Ok recommendations and ended up getting three of them, along with having James Robinson not playing.
QB: Jalen Hurts – 20.3 (Just Ok recommendation)
RB: James Robinson – DNP (N/A recommendation)
WR: Mike Williams – 7.8 (Just Ok recommendation)
TE: Kyle Pitts – 9.2 (Just Ok recommendation)
Jalen Hurts was just outside of the Top 12 QBs, but a lot of them had far worse weeks so that recommendation was Just Ok. Mike Williams only had 7.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but in a low scoring week, he was only about 5.0 points out of a Top 24 WR performance, so it was also Just Ok. For TEs, there were only ten who stood out last week, while nine, including Kyle Pitts, had between 9.0 and 11.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. As a member of that latter group, recommending Pitts sit on your Bench was Just Ok. Just like the Starting lineup recommendations, I’m “all in” trying to find four Good Bench recommendations.
Aaron Rodgers (QB – GB): This is counter to probably what most people are thinking, but I expect Rodgers to come back rusty from being out for the past ten days with COVID. Missing practices probably won’t matter since he’s a veteran QB, but getting his body back in condition to play NFL football might be a challenge. Three starting QBs (Cam Newton, Drew Lock and Lamar Jackson) had to sit out a game due to COVID in 2020 and two out of the three had below average games upon their return, with an average score of 1.6 fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. In addition, while the Seattle defense isn’t ranked very highly, they have been getting better as the season has gone on. In their past four games, they only allowed 17.25 points per game (despite a 1-3 record). The problem with Seattle was their offense wasn’t scoring enough to win. The defense was doing its job and held all four starting QBs (Matthew Stafford, Ben Roethlisberger, Jameis Winston and Trevor Lawrence) to below average weeks and only 18.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. Matthew Stafford had the best game with 22.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but that was 7.7 points below his average this season. A slightly worse Rodgers against a better Seattle defense equals a performance outside of the Top 12 QBs and a recommended spot on your Dynasty Owner Bench.
Antonio Gibson (RB – WAS): Believe it or not, but Gibson is almost a Top 24 RB in Dynasty Owner. He’s ranked exactly as RB25 which means, he should be in your Starting lineup, but that’s not recommended as he’s only averaged 6.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game over his past three games and been on the field for fewer snaps than J.D. McKissic in all three games. Hopefully the stress fracture in his shin healed up a little bit last week with the Football Team on bye, but the injury is clearly hurting him. Even if it has healed slightly, the Football Team is facing one of the best rushing defenses in the NFL this week in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs are only allowing RBs to average 55.9 yards per game and have let RBs score only two rushing TDs all season. It’s likely that Tampa will score a lot of points and an offensive shootout likely means even less work for Gibson with J.D. McKissic seeing more action in passing situations than Gibson does. While Dynasty Owners with Gibson on their roster have probably seen his decreased production and factored it into their lineup decision-making, it’s possible that some may need to start him with several top RBs out with injuries (Derrick Henry, Kareem Hunt and Chase Edmonds) or on bye (Joe Mixon). Don’t do it. Leave Gibson on your Bench.
Courtland Sutton (WR – DEN): If you just look at his numbers, Courtland Sutton should be a Starter this week. He’s the overall WR27 in Dynasty Owner and with two top WRs out on bye this week (Ja’Marr Chase and Brandin Cooks), he jumps up and should probably be either your WR2 or FLEX. Sutton leads Denver in targets (64), receptions (41), receiving yards (588) and Dynasty Owner fantasy points (113.8). With his QB listed as a Recommended Starter this week, then why am I recommending that you leave Sutton on your Bench? It’s because his numbers are dramatically different when Jerry Jeudy is in the Denver lineup. In those three games, he is only averaging 4.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game compared to 16.9 in the six games when Jeudy is out. Also, Sutton generally lines up on the outside, which is where he is likely to be shadowed by Philadelphia cornerback Darius Slay. Last week, Justin Herbert was the Player of the Week and threw for 356 yards and 2 TDs against the Eagles, while Mike Williams was held out of the end zone and only had 7.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (2 receptions for 58 yards). That can happen again so Teddy should be in your Starting lineup, although he probably won’t be the Player of the Week, while Sutton should be on your Bench.
Zach Ertz (TE – ARI): Can I take Mike Gesicki here? If the Dolphins and Ravens were scheduled to play on Sunday, I still wouldn’t have had Gesicki here as I didn’t anticipate his second Blutarsky (0.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) of the season. He’s had a Blutarsky in two out of the Dolphins’ three wins this season. With him out of consideration, I’m going with Zach Ertz. Ertz started his career in Arizona very well as in his first game, he had 16.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (3 receptions, 66 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 4 rushing yards) which included a career long 47-yard TD catch. However, he has combined for only 7 receptions for 69 yards (13.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) on 9 targets over the past two weeks. The Cardinals are playing the Carolina Panthers this week and in an interesting twist, Ertz has already played the Panthers this season back in Week 5 when he was on the Eagles. He was targeted six times in that game, but only had one reception for 7 yards (1.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). He should do better than that this week, but I don’t see him cracking the Top 12 TEs, so leave Ertz on your Bench.
Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week – Thee Camel Toe Jockey vs. Asian Zing
For our tenth Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week, we have two teams who are “all in” and trying to win not only League #66645, but also be our 2021 Chase for the Ring Champion. Only one of them is going to win the League and have a chance at the Ring, but both of them are sparing no expense in trying. That’s why Asian Zing traded Derrick Henry plus two third round draft picks in 2023 and 2024 for Dalvin Cook, picked up Brandin Cooks off the Free Agent Auction and spent $8 million Dynasty Dollars for Jeremy McNichols. On the same day as Asian Zing won the McNichols bid, Thee Camel Toe Jockey spent $4 million Dynasty Dollars on 36-year old Adrian Peterson. Both teams also have no picks in either the 2022 or 2023 Dynasty Owner rookie drafts. Thee Camel Toe Jockey doesn’t have any 2024 rookie draft picks either, while Asian Zing has no first round rookie draft pick, but three second rounders and a third in 2024.
Both teams are stacking their lineups for a playoff and Chase for the Ring run. Thee Camel Toe Jockey remains undefeated and is in fourth place in the Chase standings, just 63.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points out of first place. Asian Zing is 8-1 and in 47th place in the Chase, which is only 23.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points out of 25th place and a spot on the leaderboard. Not surprisingly, the match-up is projected to be both high-scoring and close.
The projections have Thee Camel Toe Jockey winning by less than 3.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Not surprising when your Starting lineup features Josh Allen, Alvin Kamara, Ezekiel Elliott, Tyreek Hill, Deebo Samuel, Travis Kelce and Austin Ekeler with Lamar Jackson as their Bench QB. Asian Zing counters with a formidable group of their own – Dak Prescott, Najee Harris, Dalvin Cook, Cooper Kupp, DK Metcalf, Mark Andrews and Terry McLaurin. The Starting lineups and Bench are even matched, even as both teams have holes on their Bench. Thee Camel Toe Jockey has C.J. Uzomah as their Bench TE now, but he’s on bye so they need to swap him for Adam Trautman. Asian Zing doesn’t have a backup kicker this week and is using Kene Nwangwu as one of their Bench RBs with David Montgomery and David Johnson on bye. These roster gaps could cost one of these teams a victory and might cost both of them precious spots in the Chase standings.
Thee Camel Toe Jockey has survived two close scares to stay undefeated. In Week 7, they had to use Jordan Love as their Bench QB with Josh Allen out on bye and defeated Pickles and Peaches by just 3.37 points. And in Week 9, Gators had to start Sam Darnold at QB because their two other QBs are Trey Lance and Davis Mills. Darnold had -0.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and Thee Camel Toe Jockey won by 14.22 points. An average QB would have helped Gators claim a victory. Asian Zing had their only loss in Week 8 when Dak Prescott was inactive, but they had him as their Starter and lost by 17.98 points to War Eagles. It’ll be interesting to see if those decisions and roster gaps end up hurting one of those teams in the final Chase standings (if they win the league).
Conclusion
We will see what happens for the Rams and these Dynasty Owner teams who are going “all in” this season. Early this season, the Carolina Panthers were flying high at 3-0, Sam Darnold was playing well and when they had some secondary injuries, they traded for C.J. Henderson and Stephen Gilmore. Fortunately, they didn’t give up much in those deals (Dan Arnold and two draft picks), but it shows that they were thinking about going “all in” before Darnold’s play went back to normal and he got injured. They have gone 1-5 since those trades, are 4-5 right now and in last place in the NFC South.
While only one team can win the Super Bowl and there is only one Chase for the Ring winner, at least some of the other Dynasty Owners who are trying to win it all will at least win their League title and the Dynasty Dollars (and cash for everyone in a cash league) that goes along with it. Before the season started, I can remember a few Dynasty Owners talking about how they thought their team could compete for the Ring this year and that they mortgaged the future a little bit to try and do it. Maybe I’ll look back and see if any of those teams are in contention and they are doing better than the Panthers.
Please read my weekly preview article each and every week to see who should be in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup and who should be on your Bench. While some Dynasty Owners may heed my advice, others might disagree, or not have a better option for their Starting lineup and choose to ignore a Bench recommendation. Other Dynasty Owners may not need Starting lineup help as they have a stud player at a position who isn’t moving to the Bench unless he’s injured or on bye. Hopefully, the choices for your Starting lineup and Bench are solid, your team wins its game and doesn’t suffer any injuries, and you stay in contention for the playoffs and even the Chase for the Ring.
In addition to this weekly preview article, Dynasty Owner has plenty of other great content to help you if you decide to go “all in” to win your League Championship and maybe the Chase for the Ring. On Monday, Jay Pounds will preview the Monday Night Football matchup from the Dynasty Owner perspective. Tuesday has a double shot of Dynasty Owner content with my Week 10 recap article and Jay’s Free Agent Auction targets article and video. Wednesdays is when Matt Morrison – The Jerk will dive into a topic of his choosing with an article and a video. Currently, he is doing a series about Opportunities by position. The next day, he’ll have an article previewing the Thursday Night Football game that will start Week 11 of the Dynasty Owner regular season.
Don’t forget about the weekly Dynasty Owner livestream on Wednesday with myself, Tim Peffer, and Dr. Cousin Justin. If there is a particular injured player who you are interested in learning more about during the livestream, drop me a line on Twitter (@SteveVT33) and I’ll put it on the list for Cousin Justin to research. Set the timer on YouTube so you don’t miss it live, or make sure to watch it afterwards. Either way, don’t forget to smash the Like button.
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 the Dynasty Owner team of writers 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