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By: Matt Morrison (@dynastyjerk)
Hello Dynasty Owners and welcome to another one of my Wednesday articles. With the completion of Week 7 two days ago, we are exactly halfway through the Dynasty Owner regular season. Obviously, we go past Week 14 with the three weeks of playoffs, but I like giving my mid-season outlook between Week 7 and 8. Today, I will be posting the Top 5 rankings for all four major positions and discussing them. In addition, next week I’ll be giving my candidates for Value of the Year. In last year’s article, I had nine candidates and of those nine, one eventually became the Value of the Year. It was Mark Andrews. First, let’s talk about the Top 5.
Quarterback Top 5
| Rank | Player | Salary | Total Yards | TDs | DOFPs |
| QB1 | Josh Allen | $43,005,667 | 2,237 | 19 | 230.5 |
| QB2 | Patrick Mahomes | $45,000,000 | 2,272 | 20 | 230.1 |
| QB3 | Joe Burrow | $9,047,534 | 2,227 | 18 | 218.6 |
| QB4 | Lamar Jackson | $23,016,000 | 1,907 | 15 | 192.8 |
| QB5 | Jalen Hurts | $1,506,292 | 1,807 | 12 | 169.8 |
No surprise here that Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes come into this article as the top two quarterbacks. Most people would agree that they are the two best quarterbacks in the game at the moment, and their fantasy production reflects that. Obviously you are paying up to have them in Dynasty Owner, but it will be worth it if you get a League Championship out of them.
Joe Burrow is a surprise for me. Not that I didn’t expect he could be in the Top 5, but seeing him at three is a shock. Even more than that, it’s exciting to see the relatively small gap between him and Allen/Mahomes. Big games over the past two weeks are to thank for Burrow’s ascension. He had 42.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (DOFPs) in Week 6 and 54.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 7 and won the Dynasty Owner Player of the Week award in each of the past two weeks.
Two rushing quarterbacks (Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts) round out the list. Hurts was many people’s pick (including mine) to be a major breakout this season. I’m happy with the Top 5 production so far, but I wish he could get a little closer to the Top 4 in points scored. One thing to keep in mind though…
Allen and Hurts have already had their bye week. Expect Allen to continue to remain as QB1 for quite a while, and expect Hurts to creep closer to the Top 3.
Quarterback scoring is also way down this season. Here is what the Top 5 QBs had last year after Week 7…
| DOFPs |
| 245.2 |
| 217.8 |
| 216.5 |
| 210.9 |
| 208.4 |
Running Back Top 5
| Rank | Player | Salary | Total Yards | TDs | DOFPs |
| RB1 | Austin Ekeler | $6,125,000 | 737 | 8 | 174.4 |
| RB2 | Saquon Barkley | $7,217,000 | 906 | 4 | 149.6 |
| RB3 | Nick Chubb | $12,200,000 | 807 | 8 | 145.7 |
| RB4 | Josh Jacobs | $2,983,350 | 774 | 6 | 138.4 |
| RB5 | Christian McCaffrey | $16,015,875 | 734 | 3 | 130.2 |
Austin Ekeler leads all running backs in total points. What’s interesting is that he also has scored more Dynasty Owner fantasy points than all but the Top 4 QBs. That’s right, Ekeler is so productive through his first seven games that he is the overall #5 players for the 2022 season. He already has 53 receptions and three receiving touchdowns. Dynasty Owners may have been disappointed with his first three games as he did not record a touchdown. Ekeler has made up for that as he has eight touchdowns in four games. Truly remarkable.
The next four running backs on this list all have around the same number of Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Saquon Barkley is only 19.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points ahead of Christian McCaffrey. There is also a wide spread of salaries on this list. We have one cheap, rookie salary. We have two middle of the road salaries even though one happens to be a rookie salary. Finally, we also have two expensive salaries with McCaffrey being the priciest RB in the NFL.
Ekeler is on his bye this week although there’s still a chance he may be RB1 this time next week. Jacobs has already had his bye which shows you how dominant his season has been.
Wide Receiver Top 5
| Rank | Player | Salary | Total Yards | TDs | DOFPs |
| WR1 | Stefon Diggs | $14,400,000 | 656 | 6 | 150.6 |
| WR2 | Cooper Kupp | $15,750,000 | 648 | 5 | 147.8 |
| WR3 | Tyreek Hill | $18,000,000 | 791 | 2 | 147 |
| WR4 | Ja’Marr Chase | $7,704,910 | 607 | 6 | 143.7 |
| WR5 | Justin Jefferson | $3,280,701 | 657 | 3 | 132.8 |
The top three wide receivers so far are all on middle-of-the-road WR salaries. I would consider Hill’s to be closer to the top end, but Kupp and Diggs are for sure outperforming their contracts. The Top 4 are all separated by less than 7.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. All are obviously the number one receivers on their teams, and there are really no surprises. If I had to pick one, I’d probably choose Tyreek Hill as the biggest surprise. He hasn’t missed a beat compared to last year. After Week 7 last year, Hill had 149.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. He is only 2.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points off of that mark. It’s not so much that I didn’t trust the talent as he is obviously one of the most athletic and fastest players in the NFL. Rather it was the change of team and quarterback.
Diggs, Kupp and Jefferson have already had their bye. Expect all three of them to be in the Top 3 at some point.
Tight End Top 5
| Rank | Player | Salary | Total Yards | TDs | DOFPs |
| TE1 | Travis Kelce | $14,312,500 | 558 | 7 | 146.8 |
| TE2 | Mark Andrews | $14,000,000 | 462 | 5 | 115.2 |
| TE3 | Zach Ertz | $10,550,000 | 320 | 2 | 85 |
| TE4 | Taysom Hill | $10,000,000 | 367 | 7 | 79.1 |
| TE5 | David Njoku | $13,687,500 | 412 | 1 | 78.2 |
The King is back on top. Travis Kelce is once again the best fantasy tight end in the NFL. He has 30.0 more Dynasty Owner fantasy points than TE2 (Andrews), and he will be on his bye this week. I don’t expect Andrews to pass him this week either.
Speaking of Andrews, he had one rush for four yards last week (0.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). This was a very disappointing outcome for one of the most consistent tight ends over the past few years. I have no long term concerns unless we hear news that his lack or production was injury related.
Zach Ertz, Taysom Hill and David Njoku finish off this list. Many times, I have talked about how the tight end position becomes a wasteland very quickly these days. That is not to say that any of these players aren’t good. It’s just that the tier break between them and the Top 2 is substantial. With that said, I would still be happy to own Ertz, or even TE8 Dallas Goedert ($14,312,500), if I missed out on Kelce and Andrews.
Next week, I’m going to post all of my contenders for Value of the Year. Message me on Twitter (@dynastyjerk) and let me know if you have any questions or concerns. I would appreciate it if you followed @Dynasty_Owner on Twitter as well as subscribed to Dynasty Owner on YouTube. Thank you all. Take care and be safe.
TheJerk