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By: Jay Pounds (@JayPoundsNFL)
Dynasty Owners! The playoffs are officially here and with that I would like to welcome you to the first ever Free Agent Auction run this late in the year. As I suspected Pickens are pretty slim but no worries, I threw a few extra players in this week. I am going to keep the traditional Jay’s weekly recap short and sweet so we can get through all these fantastic pickups quickly. The Browns and Baker Mayfield finally shut old Jay up. Right? Wrong. I came away thinking exactly what I already knew, Baker Mayfield can when games when the rest of the team plays well, and he does not make a ton of mistakes. If I am being completely honest, that game was much closer than it should have been. The Chiefs have quietly been one of the better teams in football over the past month and showed it once again on Sunday with an absolute beatdown of the Raiders. I say quietly because we have not seen the offensive explosions that we are used to from the Chiefs. Despite Riverboat Ron calling out Mike McCarthy this past week for guaranteeing a win, the Cowboys did just that and virtually secured themselves a home field playoff game. In what I am calling one of the co-games of the week, the 49ers secured a much-needed win over the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime. The biggest takeaway I have from this game is that George Kittle is a beast. In the other game of the week, we had the Buccaneers squeak by the Bills in another overtime thriller. Bills fans must be worried after reports came out that Josh Allen was banged up in the game though I don’t see him missing anytime. Let’s take a quick moment of silence for my good friend Eli and the rest of the Bills Mafia. I don’t think much else needs to be said for the Packers-Bears game other than, Aaron Rodgers OWNS the Bears and always will! Finally, we have the Monday night matchup between two heavyweights of the NFC, the Rams and Cardinals. Kyler Murray did not have his best game of the season by any means but regardless of that the Cardinals found a way to keep it within reach the entire night. If Kyler gets hot in the playoffs, this Cardinals team will be extremely tough to beat.
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 15, the first week of the playoffs:
- Tyler Huntley – (QB – BAL) 1 year/$780,000 – 20.12% Rostered
I am sure all of you are aware of the Lamar Jackson news by now. I am not sure if he is set to miss an extended amount of time, but I would imagine he will miss at least one game for precautionary reasons, though they do have a tough matchup this week against the Packers. If the Ravens do end up sitting Jackson for any amount of time, Tyler Huntley goes straight to the top of the Dynasty Owner free agent list. Huntley filled in admirably for Jackson against the Browns finishing the day completing 27 of 38 passing attempts for 270 yards and a touchdown, he also added 6 carries for 45 yards though he did lose two fumbles. The rushing work means great upside. Now he just must get on the field. The number of teams struggling to start two quarterbacks should make Huntley a hot commodity.
2. Josh Reynolds – (WR – DET) 1 year/$1,750,000 – 69.23% Rostered
Another week, another Josh Reynolds sighting on the Free Agent Auction list. Reynolds is a tick over the roster percentage threshold, but I still feel he should be rostered on more teams. It seems moving forward Reynolds will be a lock for about 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points a game and I am sure there are plenty of teams who could use that type of production on their Bench for a playoff, or Loser’s bracket run. In Week 14, Reynolds put up his usual 5 target, 3 catch, 50 plus yard day but he did fail to find the end zone. I hope you enjoyed reading about Josh Reynolds for what feels like eight times this season, because this will likely be the last time.
3. Braxton Berrios – (WR – NYJ) 1 year/$644,602 – 40.83% Rostered
I know this pickup may not look the best on the surface but with Corey Davis and Elijah Moore both injured, Berrios is seemingly the Number 1 guy for the Gang Green right now. In Week 14 against the Saints, Berrios had a team high 10 targets, catching 6 of them for 52 yards, good enough for 11.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. If Berrios continues to get this type of work, he is a touchdown away from making a true difference in one of your Bench spots. Another great thing about these guys with 1-year remaining on their deals is that you can cut ties with them freely at the end of the season.
4. James Washington – (WR – PIT) 1 year/$1,125,336 – 66.27% Rostered
James Washington is a tricky one to judge because the player in front of him on the depth chart is not injured, but in the doghouse. Chase Claypool is the player I am referring to and after the stunt he pulled last week as well as more than one maturity issue this season, Washington may get his chance. Let’s say the worst happens and Washington does not jump ahead of Claypool for a game or two, then you just must hope the Steelers get into a shootout which seems likely at this point. The Steelers found themselves in a shootout against the Vikings and it led to Washington finishing with 4 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown (16.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points).
5. Royce Freeman – (RB – HOU) 1 year/$985,005 – 50.89% Rostered
In my opinion, this is an ugly pickup but that’s where we are with the Texans backfield at this point in the season. In the past game, David Johnson missed due to being on the Covid-19 list while Rex Burkhead was injured in the game paving the way for Royce Freeman to become the lead back. Reports are Burkhead will likely miss this week while David Johnson should return but the Johnson news does not worry me much as the Texans haven’t used him a lot all season. Freeman finished Sunday’s game against the Seahawks with a solid performance catching the ball totaling 6 catches for 51 yards. Remember someone must get touches in the Texans backfield.
6. Craig Reynolds – (RB – DET) 1 year/$850,000 – 0% Rostered
I am making you guys do your homework this week as I have another player whose status you will have to monitor. Craig Reynolds stepped in and performed very well against the Broncos defense finishing his day with 11 carries for 83 yards while the other back available struggling horribly. If Jamaal Williams or D’Andre Swift miss the upcoming game, I would expect Reynolds to see a decent amount of work.
7. Josiah Deguara – (TE – GB) 3 years/$1,136,941 – 24.26% Rostered
Does Aaron Rodgers finally have another tight end of the future? I am kidding of course, but Josiah Deguara did have an admirable performance Sunday. Deguara finished the day with 3 targets catching all of them for 44 yards and potentially building a rapport with Rodgers as the season moves along. If you don’t have much cap space right now, the tight end landscape is terrible and do not see a more intriguing option over Deguara. Remember Robert Tonyan is a free agent this off-season, so it could be the Josiah Deguara show come 2022!
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!