This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
By: Jay Pounds (@JayPoundsNFL)
Dynasty Owners, it is the time of year we have all been looking forward to. It’s playoff time! This will be the last week of the Free Agent Auction for the Dynasty Owner regular season. If you played last season, you would likely remember the freeze we had on all transactions during the playoffs. There is no freeze on picking up free agents this year. Only the ability to trade will be locked during the playoffs. If you are planning to execute a trade before the playoffs, make sure it is accepted 24 hours prior to the player’s game starting or it will not process until the off-season starts. For instance, if you want to trade for a Steelers or Vikings player, you will need to agree to the trade by Wednesday at 7 pm EST for everything to process in time for this season. If any of this is confusing, please refer to the YouTube video associated with this article for a deeper explanation.
Before we jump into this week’s Free Agent Auction targets, as always, we will go over my favorite segment, Jay’s Weekly Recap which I almost skipped because there was no Baker Mayfield to pick on. Instead of saving the best for last, we will jump right into this week’s biggest matchup between the Bills and the Patriots. The game of the week lived up to expectations and had one hell of an old school football vibe to it due to the weather, I mean the Pats only attempted three passes the entire game. As always, the Bill Belichick coached team had the better strategy and execution which now has the Pats in a familiar spot, the Number 1 seed in the AFC. Before moving on, I would like to have a moment of silence for my friend Eli and the rest of the Bills fans around the country as this can’t be an easy pill to swallow. It’s tough enough on the rest of the NFL, I can only imagine how the Bills Mafia feels. The division looked like it was in the Bills’ hands for a long time to come and as always, the Hoodie has different ideas and now sits alone at the top. Up next we have another game with a somewhat old school feel to it, the Ravens vs Steelers. Outside of Diontae Johnson, this game was a fantastic defensive battle in which my beloved Steelers prevailed over our nemesis, the Baltimore Ravens. The Cardinals got a massive boost during their win this week with the return of Nuke Hopkins and star QB Kyler Murray. The Cardinals look healthy and poised to make a deep playoff run. The Chiefs offense struggled once again and over the last four weeks, Patrick Mahomes has failed to throw for 200 yards twice, the first sub-200-yard games for him since 2019. The Detroit Lions pulled off the opposite of the Minneapolis Miracle with a walk-off touchdown to secure their first win of the season over the Vikings. I know he has taken a lot of crap this season, but I love the energy Dan Campbell has brought to an impossible situation in Detroit. Let’s be honest, even the great Belichick would struggle to win ball games with the Lions’ roster. The Bengals and Chargers remain two of the league’s most confusing teams as neither can seem to put together multiple winning performances in a row. Mustache Minshew played basically a flawless game winning in relief of Jalen Hurts and with as crazy as Philly fans are, I am expecting a QB controversy to start brewing in the City of Brotherly Love. Finally, we have the G.O.A.T. himself, Tom Brady securing a win against the Falcons while finding Chris Godwin 15 times throughout the contest. I hope you all enjoyed this week’s recap but before we head into our weekly Free Agent Auction targets, I would like to wish everyone a happy final week of the Dynasty Owner regular season and want to thank all of you for playing!
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 14:
- Josh Reynolds – (WR – DET) 1 year/$1,075,000 – 60.36% Rostered
In the Number 1 spot this week, we have a very familiar face from the past few weeks. It’s the new Kendrick Bourne – Josh Reynolds. Reynolds has been the clear-cut Number 1 guy in Detroit and has looked solid over the past few weeks opposite of rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown. In this past week’s game against the Vikings, Reynolds played the featured role again for the Detroit offense leading to a stat line of 4 catches for 69 yards. Reynolds did fail to find the end zone, but scoring is not something a Lions player will do on a weekly basis. At worst, Reynolds has played his way onto a vast majority of Dynasty Owner Benches and may be playing himself into a role for next season.
2. Ricky Seals-Jones – (TE – WAS) 1year/$990,000 – 72.78% Rostered
In the Number 2 spot we have a former Number 1 overall recruit for college football, Ricky Seals-Jones. Seals-Jones was the Number 1 guy coming out of high school and like many others before him, he failed to live up to the hype. The reason I bring up something that seems so pointless is because it shows just how much talent a player like Seals-Jones possesses. Seals-Jones’ teammate and Washington’s starting tight end Logan Thomas likely has a significant knee injury and is set to miss the rest of the season. Seals-Jones will slide into the Thomas role and has already proved himself a capable red zone target. Seals-Jones will need the red zone work to continue if he is going to make a difference for you during the Dynasty Owner playoffs.
3. Ameer Abdullah – (RB – CAR) 1 year/$990,000 – 44.97% Rostered
In the Number 3 spot, I was tempted to put in Adrian Peterson, but he has been extremely inefficient this season and for that reason I kept him off the list. Because of this, I am taking a chance on Ameer Abdullah for the rest of the season. The Panthers have not leaned heavily on the running game since losing Christian McCaffery but that may change with Offensive Coordinator Joe Brady being fired late last week. Abdullah has not been anything special thus far but neither has his teammate, Chuba Hubbard. If the new OC takes a liking to Abdullah, you will have a potential RB3 on your roster for virtually nothing. It Is nearly impossible to find running back production this late in the season, but when you do its usually because a gamble like this pays off.
4. Zay Jones – (WR – LAV) 1 year/$2,500,000 – 5.33% Rostered
In the fourth spot we have everyone’s favorite dynasty asset, Zay Jones. In Week 13, Jones did not have a great game but then again neither did anyone on the Raiders offense outside of Hunter Renfrow. In Week 12, Zay Jones showed us what he is capable of as the Number 1 outside receiver in the Raiders’ offense as he came away with 5 catches for 59 yards. The big thing that stands out for me when watching the Raiders is that Jones seems to be by far Derek Carr’s favorite deep ball target, especially in critical situations. Earlier in the season, Carr found Jones for a game winner over the Ravens in overtime and tried to do the same against the Football Team, but Jones was unable to secure the catch because of a great defensive play. Jones likely won’t crack anyone’s Starting lineup but he could become a solid Bench play.
5. Laquon Treadwell – (WR – JAX) 1 year/$990,000 – 0.0% Rostered
Finally, we have the player every one of you expected to see on this list, Laquon Treadwell. All jokes aside I am sure not many, if any expected to see Treadwell on a Free Agent Auction target list after his rookie year in 2016 but then again this is an Urban Meyer coached squad we are talking about. The Jaguars are brutal on offense, but it seems someone we don’t expect steps up with a solid game here and there. Before you disregard this option, please allow me to explain. The Jaguars have loved gadget players all season and it seems whoever is in that role tends to be Trevor Lawrence’s safety net. As you all know, this was the role held down by Jamal Agnew before his injury and Treadwell has now taken over. I would take a chance on Treadwell if you were desperate and need someone who offers higher upside vs a safe floor. It is entirely possible Treadwell sees a ton of short target and takes one of them to the house. A bust for a day is also a likely scenario when you play for the Jaguars. My biggest takeaway from putting Treadwell on the list is that Laviska Shenault is done with the Jags.
Keep an eye on
- Jake Fromm – (QB – NYG) 1 year/$660,000 – 6.51% Rostered
If you are an avid Dynasty Owner reader you will know I tend to only put five players on this list and because of that I missed a potential starting QB last week. Daniel Jones is out because of injury which led to Mike Glennon starting for the Giants last week before getting injured himself. If you have a QB on a late bye week or injured, Fromm may be the perfect one week replacement if Jones fails to play again this week. You can also monitor Jalen Hurts status as the week moves along. Minshew could get another start if Hurts is still hurt, but Minshew is only available in a few leagues (88.17% rostered).
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!