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By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
With injuries in Week 7 knocking players such as Miles Sanders and Zach Wilson out of action for multiple weeks, their backups were going to be pressed into action in Week 8. In an unexpected twist, the backups for both Sanders and Wilson ended up playing better than the guys they replaced. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to knock players out of action and in Week 8, it hit the Green Bay WR room hard, leaving the Packers without both Davante Adams and Allen Lazard. In their absence, Randall Cobb stepped up with a two TD performance on Thursday night to help the Packers defeat the previously undefeated Arizona Cardinals.
Not all of the news from the Packers’ Week 8 victory was good as they lost their Starting TE Robert Tonyan to a season-ending ACL injury. It’ll be interesting to see which one of his backup TEs steps up, or if Aaron Rodgers just relies even more on Davante Adams. Then on Sunday, the top RB in Dynasty Owner (Derrick Henry) broke a bone in his foot. On Monday, he had surgery and was placed on Injured Reserve. Henry will still probably be the #1 scoring RB for another couple of weeks as he has a 50.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy point advantage over the #2 RB (Jonathan Taylor). However, in a worrisome sign about their confidence in the backup RBs on their roster, the Titans signed 36-year old free agent RB Adrian Peterson to a contract on Monday. Whether Peterson or one of the other backup RBs (Jeremy McNichols or Dontrell Hilliard) can replace even a portion of Henry’s fantasy production remains to be seen.
Dynasty Owners have likely been employing backups at key positions for a while this season with all of the injuries. If your team avoided injuries, then the six-team bye week fiasco likely elevated some backups from the Practice Squad to the Bench and others from the Bench to the Starting lineup. Interestingly, it hasn’t been the QBs going down as the most prominent QB to be out for several weeks so far is Russell Wilson. Yes, I know that Tyrod Taylor and Ryan Fitzpatrick went out early in the season and haven’t returned yet, Tua Tagovailoa missed a couple of weeks, Baker Mayfield sat for a game as did Zach Wilson, and Sam Darnold has been getting banged up, but realistically, your Dynasty Owner team wasn’t winning the Ring (or probably even your League) with any of those guys as your Starting QB. None of them were among the Top 10 QB drafted in 2021 start-up drafts, and none was lighting up scoreboard like a pinball machine before their injuries occurred.
It’s been a different story at RB. Derrick Henry is the #1 RB so far this season and now he might be out for the rest of the Dynasty Owner season. I’ll ask Cousin Justin about that during the Wednesday livestream at 4 PM. Christian McCaffrey had 52.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in his first two games, then got hurt in Week 3 and might finally practice again on Wednesday. There is a long list of other RBs drafted, on average, in the first four rounds of Dynasty Owner drafts in 2021 who have missed more than a game or two so far this season (Saquon Barkley, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, J.K. Dobbins, David Montgomery, Travis Etienne and Chris Carson). That list left out Cam Akers (ADP 50.0) who is out for the entire 2021 season plus Dalvin Cook and Josh Jacobs who missed games in the first couple of weeks but are back now. That’s a lot of Dynasty Owner teams who are missed one of their top RBs and room for a lot of backups to shine in their place, like Mike Davis did for Carolina last year. Most of the backup RBs were drafted, but late in the draft for just this type of situation. Now some of them are being thrust into your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup on a regular basis.
There have been some WR and TE injuries and backups stepping in for those players as well. Nobody who’s made an impact for the whole season, but Randall Cobb has had a couple of nice weeks for Green Bay, Kadarius Toney did really well in Week 5 before seemingly suffering an injury per week since then, Donovan Peoples-Jones was great for the Browns in Week 6, and Jamal Agnew has been pretty good since D.J. Chark was lost for the rest of Jacksonville’s season. At TE, O.J. Howard had a good game replacing Rob Gronkowski in Week 6 and Foster Moreau did the same thing in Week 7 for Darren Waller.
Whether or not your Dynasty Owner team had their guys on your roster at the start of the season, or you picked them up off the Free Agent Auction, all of these backups have played a role for their NFL teams. More backups will have to step for Dynasty Owners after a rash of Week 8 injuries combined with four teams on bye in Weeks 9 and 10 stretch the depths of Dynasty Owner rosters.
There were a few backups on the Bench for both teams in our Match-up of the Week. The winning team appears to have left Week 8 with their Starting lineup still intact, while the losing team had to turn to a backup QB this week and will have to find a replacement for Derrick Henry for the rest of the season as well.
Two of my teams are relying on backups to fill key positions now, while the other two teams have been fortunate and not had to do it as much. What about your team? And who do you think has been the best backup for Dynasty Owners through eight games this season? Our Player of the Week is a backup, but he hasn’t been doing it all season, so it’s not him. I’ll send out my choice on Twitter (@SteveVT33) and everyone can respond and tell me if they agree or not. I’m also taking requests for teams to feature in the Week 9 Match-up of the Week. Don’t worry if someone beats you to it, I can always use backups.
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 November 2nd.
Dynasty Owner Player of the Week
Our eighth Dynasty Owner Player of the Week for 2021 is a backup QB and easily the most improbable player to win it in Dynasty Owner history. In honor of all backups, our winner this week is: Mike White
Usually, the Dynasty Owner Player of the Week is an established starter and not a player making the first start of his NFL career. There have been plenty of QBs who have won the honor, but the names are some of the biggest stars in the NFL (Josh Allen, Tom Brady, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson). Before his legal issues, Deshaun Watson won it twice and Drew Brees won it once in 2019 before his retirement. Even most of the least likely winners had great pedigree and were first round NFL draft picks (Joe Burrow, Daniel Jones, Ryan Tannehill and Jameis Winston). Before White, the least likely QB winner had to be Jimmy Garoppolo who won it once in 2019. In case you don’t know his story by now, Mike White played his college football at South Florida and Western Kentucky (a school with one of the greatest mascot in the history of mascots – Big Red) and was a fifth round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys back in 2018. His first NFL game came in Week 7 when he replaced an injured Zach Wilson. In his first NFL start, he had a career game with 38.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (405 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, -1 rushing yard, 2 INTs, 1 2-pt conversion). Prior to Week 8, White was rostered in zero Dynasty Owner leagues. After his Week 7 performance and being named the Jets’ Week 8 starter, he was added in almost half (47.3%) of Dynasty Owner leagues. However, only one out of six Dynasty Owners who bid on White and won their bid had the foresight to put him in their Starting lineup (7.7% overall), while over half had him on their Bench (26.0% overall). Nearly three in ten Dynasty Owners who rostered White didn’t get any of his points counting towards their Week 8 totals as they still had him on their Practice Squad (13.6% overall).
Week 8 Points: 38.1
2021 Salary: $850,000
Cost per Point: $22,310
Congratulations to Mike White on winning the first Dynasty Owner Player of the Week honor of his career and being the first player on the New York Jets to ever win as well.
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 eighth Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week for the 2021 season is also a backup and member of the New York Jets: Ty Johnson
While Ty Johnson is the listed winner, the biggest value of Week 8 was his teammate and Player of the Week winner Mike White. This is the third time that the winner of the Player of the Week would have also been the Value Player of the Week (Dak Prescott in Week 1 of the 2019 season and Alvin Kamara in the Week 16 Playoff Finals last season). However, because White was Player of the Week, the award goes to his teammate and Jets backup RB Ty Johnson who was a sixth round pick by the Detroit Lions in the 2019 NFL draft and scored 19.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (15 rushing yards, 5 receptions, 71 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD) in Week 8. Not to diminish Johnson’s performance, but he was only the third highest scorer on the Jets this week behind White and starting RB Michael Carter who had 32.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and led the Jets in both rushing and receiving. Regardless, this was another solid performance by Ty Johnson and his third consecutive week with double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points. He did score more points in Week 13 of the 2020 season when he had 21.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (104 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 2 receptions, 13 receiving yards). This is the second lowest point total to win this season and the second highest cost per point (Ty’Son Williams had 18.4 points and a cost per point of $35,870 in Week 1). Regardless, a win is a win and Johnson, and all of his Dynasty Owners, are the winners.
Week 8 Points: 19.6
2021 Salary: $672,976
Cost per Point: $34,336
Congratulations Ty on winning the first Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week honor of your career and being the first New York Jets player to win the 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 8. We aren’t going to write that you should have started Cooper Kupp because if you have him, you shouldn’t be taking him out of your lineup until his bye week (Week 11). He’s the overall #6 scorer in Dynasty Owner as a WR. 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 8 when they should have been.
QB: Jimmy Garoppolo (SF) – 31.5 points
With Mike White being the Player of the Week, we needed another QB to fill this spot and Jimmy G was the fifth highest scoring QB of the week behind White and the top three QBs for the 2021 season (the G.O.A.T. Tom Brady, Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford). That’s pretty solid company to be in. Garoppolo scored 31.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (322 passing yards, 4 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs, 1 2-pt.conversion) in his second game back as the starting QB after his injury. However, it’s clear that Jimmy G is just the placeholder starting QB for the 49ers until Trey Lance is healthy and ready to take over and make Garoppolo the backup. With his $27.5 million salary and caretaker status, it’s not surprising that Jimmy G is only rostered in 2.4% of Dynasty Owner leagues. However, not only should have Dynasty Owners had him on their roster, but he should also have been in the Starting lineup for most of them this week.
RB: Boston Scott (PHI) – 18.0 points and Jordan Howard (PHI) – 17.7 points
A pair of Philadelphia Eagles backup RBs are the ones who should have been in your Starting lineup this week. With Miles Sanders on the Injured Reserve list, it was supposed to be Kenneth Gainwell’s time to shine and be the top RB for the Eagles. However, both Scott and Howard had almost as many rushing attempts as Gainwell (13 rushes for Gainwell versus 12 rushes for each Scott and Howard) and over twice as many rushing yards (60 yards for Scott, 57 yards for Howard and 27 yards for Gainwell. Both of them also scored 2 rushing TDs each, while Gainwell was held out of the end zone. The TDs were how Scott and Howard scored most of their points as none of the three RBs had a reception. Scott ended up with 18.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (60 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs), while Howard was close behind with 17.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (57 rushing yards and 2 rushing TDs). Coming into this week, Scott was the third string backup RB and had only scored 12.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Howard was playing in his first game of the season after being elevated from the Eagles practice squad on Saturday. Even though both of them are backups, they would have looked good in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup.
WR: Tyler Boyd (CIN) – 20.2 points
After a good start to the season with 54.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the first four games of the season (13.7 points per game), Tyler Boyd has been an afterthought for the Bengals over the past three weeks. While Ja’Marr Chase has shined over that time and even shared Player of the Week honors with QB Joe Burrow last week, Boyd only scored a total of 16.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. In Week 8, Boyd finally had his second game of the 2021 season with more than 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points as he scored 20.2 points (5 receptions, 69 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 46 passing yards). He was second on the team in targets (9 targets for Chase and 8 targets for Boyd) and had more receptions than both Chase and Tee Higgins, who had 3 and 4 receptions respectively. Boyd is back to being in consideration as a Starting WR or in your FLEX spot and should have been in one of those places in Week 8 if he’s on your Dynasty Owner team.
Honorable mention to Cedrick Wilson of the Dallas Cowboys who scored points three ways and had a total of 19.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (3 receptions, 84 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD, 35 passing yards, 7 return yards). Just like Tyler Boyd, he completed a pass and scored a TD this week. Unlike Boyd, Wilson probably will go back to being a backup WR once the Cowboys activate Michael Gallup from the Injured Reserve list. He has been solid, but unspectacular for Dallas this season with 44.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in six games (7.4 points per game) before his Week 8 performance. His 84 receiving yards were a season-high and fueled by a 73-yard TD reception from Dallas backup QB Cooper Rush in the third quarter. That one play was worth 14.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, which was more points than Wilson had scored in a single game this season. He was definitely worth a spot in your Starting lineup this week.
TE: Dan Arnold (JAC) – 15.1 points
With a salary of $3 million per year, Dan Arnold ends the streak of $6 million a year TEs in this spot this week. Or does he? While his annual salary is only $3 million, he did sign a free agent contract for $6 million over two years with Carolina in the off-season. He was subsequently traded to Jacksonville a couple of weeks ago. Between the two teams, he was averaging 5.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game this season (34.4 points in six games). He didn’t have a double-digit point week until Week 8 when he scored 15.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (8 receptions, 68 receiving yards, 13 return yards). This performance was good enough for him to be the TE2 for the week, behind only T.J. Hockenson who had 18.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Regardless of whether he counts as the fifth straight $6 million TE to be listed here, Arnold should have been in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup this week.
Honorable mention to a trio of backup TEs who all scored a TD and had double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week. Brevin Jordan made his NFL debut for the Houston Texans after being inactive for the first seven weeks of the season and had 13.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (3 receptions, 41 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD). Jesse James scored 12.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (3 receptions, 38 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD), marking the second consecutive week with points for the Bears backup TE. Finally, Titans TE Geoff Swaim had 12.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (4 receptions, 23 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD) after two consecutive 1.8 point games (1 reception for 8 yards). Some may consider him the Tennessee starting TE, but none of their three TEs (Swaim, MyCole Pruitt and Anthony Firkser) has distinguished themselves from the others so far in 2021. While they might not start for their NFL team, all three of these TEs would have been a good fit in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup this week.
K: Jake Elliott (PHI) – 15.0 points
It might not be nice to say, but Philadelphia Eagles kicker Jake Elliott has been one of the worst kickers to have on your Dynasty Owner roster for the past two seasons. With a salary of $3.86 million for the next four seasons, Elliott takes up a lot of salary cap room with very little production for his Dynasty Owners (53.85% rostered). In 2020, Elliott played in all 16 games, but only had a total of 54.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (3.4 points per game). He had one game of 13.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 3 and eight games with 3.0 or fewer points. Through seven games in 2021, things had been a little better for Elliott as he was averaging 4.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game (31.0 points in total) with games of 7.0, 8.0 and 9.0 points to go along with a Blutarsky (0.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points), two games of 2.0 points and one game of 3.0 points. The Eagles offensive explosion in Week 8 against Detroit enabled Elliott to attempt eight kicks (3 FGs and 5 PATs) and he made all eight of them. He scored 15.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (FGs of 26, 41 and 43 yards plus the 5 PATs). If you had Elliott on your Dynasty Owner roster, having him on the Bench or Practice Squad and not considering putting him in your Starting lineup after nearly a year and a half of little production was very understandable. However, he should have been in your Week 8 Starting lineup.
Honorable mention to Carolina Panthers kicker Zane Gonzalez who also scored 15.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 8 with two FGs of less than 30 yards (23 and 29 yards) and two FGs of over 50 yards (51 and 57 yards) plus a successful PAT. Gonzalez gets the honorable mention because even though he had the same number of points in Week 8 as Elliott, Gonzalez had scored more points (38.0 points versus 31.0 for Elliott) in one fewer game played. That makes his points per game average almost two points higher (6.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game versus 4.4 points per game for Elliott). Randy Bullock of the Tennessee Titans also had 15.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points which included a clutch 44-yard FG in overtime as well as a 46-yard FG and 4 PATs. However, Bullock was well inside the Top 12 kickers prior to the start of the Week 8 games.
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 only scored only a few, or zero, Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week. All of them should have been riding your Dynasty Owner Bench or hanging out on the Practice Squad in Week 8.
QB: Kyler Murray (KC) – 8.8 points
None of the top rated QBs who played on Sunday or Monday did as worse as Kyler Murray did on Thursday night when he scored his Dynasty Owners only 8.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (274 passing yards, 21 rushing yards, 2 INTs, 1 fumble). It was Kyler’s worst game so far this season and comparable to his other worst games of both 2019 (8.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 7 against the New York Giants) and 2020 (8.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 12 against the New England Patriots).The good news is that he usually has only one of these games per season. This year’s bad performance didn’t drop him hardly at all in the QB rankings as he went from being QB3 to QB4 for the season. Murray did sprain his ankle in the Cardinals 24-21 loss to the Packers on Thursday night, but is expected to play in Week 9 with the additional rest afforded. In case he can’t play, Dynasty Owners may want to go out and get his backup QB Colt McCoy (1 year/$1,212,500) who is only rostered currently in 2.4% of Dynasty Owner leagues. After what happened this week, you never know if or when you’ll need a backup QB.
RB: Kenneth Gainwell (PHI) – 2.7 points
With Eagles starting RB Miles Sanders on Injured Reserve, the Eagles were going to have to rely on their backup RBs to carry the load in Week 8 against the Detroit Lions. Out of the Eagles’ backups, the one who had already been worthy of being in your Starting lineup was Kenneth Gainwell, who had actually scored more Dynasty Owner fantasy points so far this season than Sanders (64.4 to 62.8 for Sanders). Gainwell had scored more points via receiving (41.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) than rushing (23.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) and figured to have a good week with the additional rushing carries he’d likely get with Sanders out. Well, the Eagles had 236 rushing yards and 4 rushing TDs against the Lions, but Gainwell only had 27 of those yards and none of the TDs. He didn’t have any receptions either, so he ended up with only 2.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (27 rushing yards). Gainwell was not the Eagles backup RBs to have in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup this week. He should have been on the Bench.
WR: Emmanuel Sanders (BUF) – 0.0 points
Emmanuel Sanders had been on quite the roll in the Bills’ four games before their Week 7 bye. He had scored more than 20.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points twice and was averaging 18.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. His average for the season was 15.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game with his worst game prior to Week 8 coming back in Week 2 against Miami when he had only 6.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. The Dolphins did it again as they held Sanders without a catch on four targets for a Blutarsky (0.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). Three other Buffalo WRs (Cole Beasley, Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis) had double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points and could have been in your Starting lineup. Not Sanders who should have been on the Practice Squad for the first time this season.
TE: Travis Kelce (KC) – 3.7 points
For one of the rare times in Dynasty Owner history, Travis Kelce would have been better suited for the Bench on his Dynasty Owners’ teams than the Starting lineup. In 39 games over two and a half Dynasty Owner seasons, Kelce has scored less than 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points only five times, including this week when he had the fewest number of points that he has ever scored for his Dynasty Owners with just 3.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (4 receptions, 27 receiving yards, 1 fumble – lost). Even including his Week 8 performance, Kelce is still the TE1 in Dynasty Owner with 126.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (15.75 points per game) and 13.4 points ahead of Mark Andrews who is the TE2. Kelce would need several games like this in a row to make his Dynasty Owners even start to consider putting him on the Bench for a game, but if they had done so this week, it would have been the correct decision.
Dishonorable mention to the other Top 12 likely Starting TEs who finished with fewer Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week than Kelce. There were three of them, including current TE5 Dalton Schultz who had just 3.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (2 receptions for 11 receiving yards), TE6 Kyle Pitts who had 3.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (2 receptions for 13 receiving yards), and TE7 Noah Fant who had 2.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (2 receptions for 8 receiving yards). Hunter Henry, who is currently TE11, was slightly better than Kelce and the others as he had 4.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (1 reception for 33 receiving yards). None of them should have been in your Starting lineup. Dynasty Owners would have been better off with the backup TEs mentioned earlier (Jesse James, Brevin Jordan and Geoff Swaim).
K: Jason Sanders (MIA) – 2.0 points
At this point in the season, the only reason for continuing to start Dolphins kicker Jason Sanders is because you don’t have another option at the position. Just half a season removed from finishing as the #1 kicker in Dynasty Owner with 153.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (an average of just under 9.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game), Sanders is currently ranked as the #25 kicker with a total of only 34.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. His points per game average has dropped down to 4.25 after this week’s 2.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point effort (1 out of 2 on FG attempts with a made 51 yarder and a missed 36 yarder). He has already missed four FGs this season after missing only three FG attempts during the entire 2020 season. He has missed a FG in three consecutive games now. Fortunately for his Dynasty Owners, his salary is only $637,800. However, he signed a 5 year/$22 million extension back in February that kicks in at the start of the 2022 Dynasty Owner league year in March. Hopefully he turns things around this season, but he shouldn’t be in your Starting lineup right now and definitely should have been out of it this week.
Dishonorable mention to Detroit Lions kicker Austin Seibert who missed a 47-yard FG attempt and finished with -2.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points for Week 8. Seibert had scored double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points in both Week 5 (11.0 points) and Week 7 (13.0 points) and was averaging 7.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game this season so far (36.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in 5 games played). He looks like he hasn’t had a good year based on total points rankings, but that’s because he was on the COVID-19 list and missed two weeks of action (Weeks 3 and 4). His Dynasty Owners should know that and may have started him based on his performance since returning. That would have been a mistake in Week 8 as he should have been on your Bench, or better yet, Practice Squad.
Dynasty Owner Match-up of the Week Recap – Big Grizz vs. Little Donny Foundation
After all of the discussion about how impressive Big Grizz has been this season, they went out and got beat by 49.3 points by Little Donny Foundation. The backup players who Big Grizz had to insert into his Starting lineup for injured players were a mixed bag. Big Grizz added two players off the Free Agent Auction this week and both did well. Dallas backup QB Cooper Rush started in place of Dak Prescott and had 26.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Jaguars WR Jamal Agnew had 17.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but was on the Bench for Big Grizz. The replacement for the injured T.Y. Hilton for Big Grizz was Kalif Raymond who had only 0.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points.
Even if Big Grizz had put Agnew in their Starting lineup, they still would have lost as Little Donny Foundation had a league high 150.88 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Tom Brady had 34.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and Amari Cooper added 28.2 points to lead Little Donny Foundation. They also had the top scoring TE of the week in T.J. Hockenson (18.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) and 21.0 points from Steelers rookie RB Najee Harris. In addition to Kalif Raymond’s poor performance, Big Grizz also saw Noah Fant (2.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) and kicker Matthew Wright (1.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy point) perform well below their projections.
Last, but certainly not least, Big Grizz lost both Derrick Henry and Jameis Winston to injury. The loss dropped Big Grizz into fourth place in the League #76065 standings with a 5-3 record, while Little Donny Foundation holds a one-game lead at 7-1. Little Donny Foundation is also at the top of the points standings in this league with 1,180.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, a lead of only 0.4 points over Dynasty Owner Tim who is in second place with a 6-2 record.
Both teams had high hopes for moving up the Chase for the Ring standings, but Big Grizz moved back over 100 places. Little Donny Foundation moved up, but is still over 100 points away from appearing in the Top 25 standings.
Chase for the Ring Leaderboard
There was a slight bit more movement in the Chase for the Ring Top 10 leaderboard after Week 8. Eight teams stayed in the Top 10, while two teams dropped out and two new teams moved in. It is the first Top 10 appearance of 2021 for both of these new teams.
At the top, it’s still The Road Warriors in first place and SKOL Vikings (League #31927) in second place, but SKOL Vikings cut the 38.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points lead enjoyed by The Road Warriors down to only 7.7 points. There was a slight reshuffling of the teams in third through sixth place with Thee Camel Toe Jockey moving up to third place from fifth place and swapping places with Heeb Unit. The same thing happened to fourth and sixth places. DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) drops back to sixth place, while SKOL Vikings (League #31831) moves up into fourth place.
Havana Club 79 makes its first Top 10 appearance of 2021 in seventh place after scoring 192.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 8. LvMeSmMe joins the Top 10 for the first time this year in tenth place. Mizzou Mafia Bosses dropped out of the Top 10, but are still in the Top 25 as they sit in 15th place now. The Bootheel’s Best easily had their worst week of the year (74.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) and plummeted down to 48th place after being in ninth place the week before.
Conclusions
It’s Week 9 and if your Dynasty Owner team is relying on backups, then it’s probably not on the Top 10 list. However, you can still win your League Championship and some Dynasty Dollars (plus money if you’re in a paid league) if your team (backups and all) is good enough to make the playoffs. The playoffs are basically a three week sprint, or just two weeks if you are the #1 or #2 seed and get a bye, and any of the six teams who qualify have a chance to win. There’s plenty of time to find the player or players who can take your team to the top in the Free Agent Auction, trade for them with another team, or maybe they are already on your roster and haven’t gotten the opportunity to play yet this season. Mike White showed everyone what he had in Week 8 and who knows what player could do the same thing in Week 9.
All of the Dynasty Owner team of writers are Starters. No injuries for myself, Jay Pounds, or Matt Morrison – The Jerk yet, so we haven’t called in the backups. Jay does the Monday Night Football preview on Monday afternoons and has his Free Agent Auction targets article and video on Tuesdays. Everyone can get Matt’s insights on Wednesdays with an article and video on a topic of his choice and then again on Thursday afternoons with his Thursday Night Football preview for Week 9. I’ll be back with an article and video on Friday previewing the rest of the Week 9 slate of games. Check it out to see how my Week 8 recommendations fared and what teams are featured in the Match-up of the Week. We’ll also have an article and video from Jay on Friday morning to look at some top 2022 prospects.
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