Everyone Loves Tight Ends
By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33) and Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl)
Day 2 and Day 3 of the 2023 NFL Draft took place on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and after all of the surprises from the first round, it was anybody’s guess if NFL teams would do anything to top what happened on Day 1. If you want to read about all of those surprises from the Dynasty Owner perspective with player and team draft analysis plus rookie salary information, then check out the First Round Recap and Reactions article or the Dynasty Owner Livestream that both Jay and I did with Tim on Friday morning.
The second round was a TE lovers’ dream with five of them getting drafted. Four of the teams that took a second round TE (Dallas, Detroit, Green Bay and Las Vegas) are teams that really appear to need a starter at the position. We’ll find out if they got one and how much those players can produce at the NFL level soon.
The Tennessee Volunteers dominated the third round with four of them being selected in the round, after only one (new Bears offensive tackle Darnell Wright) was taken in the first two rounds. We’ll check with our Dynasty Owner NFL Draft ambassador Joshua Reilly (aka Jet Chip Wasp) about how many times he heard Rocky Top on Friday night.
Day 3 was the Day of the Backup QB as nine teams took a QB in the final four rounds. Seven of those players have a legitimate chance to be their team’s backup QB for the 2023 season and maybe see regular season game action. Nobody really expected Brock Purdy ($934,252), the final pick of the 2022 NFL Draft, to see the field for San Francisco last year, but he did and played very well before suffering an injury in the NFC Championship game.
With six rounds to cover, we can’t possibly look at every player who will soon be in the Dynasty Owner player pool. Not even all of those backup QBs. However, we picked some of our “favorite” players to analyze. Not necessarily the best or worst picks, or picks from our favorite NFL teams (although somehow there are two Patriots mentioned), but rookies who will likely be taken in your Dynasty Owner rookie drafts and merit discussion before those start soon.
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.
All salary information for players selected in the NFL Draft comes from the Spotrac NFL 2023 Draft Tracker page (https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/draft/) and is subject to change and updating.
Quarterbacks
A total of 14 QBs got drafted in total with 11 drafted on Day 2 and Day 3 combined, including seven who were drafted in the fourth and fifth rounds. There’s plenty of QBs to review and unless you want to read a 15,000 word article, we can’t do everyone. Here are the most interesting non-first round QB selections.
33rd Pick: Will Levis (QB – TEN): 4 years/$9,542,166 ($2,385,542 per year)
The Will Levis watch was over pretty quickly on Friday night as the Tennessee Titans moved up to the second pick of the second round to draft him. Levis was rumored to be either the first or second overall pick, but then ended up not being taken in the first round at all. Levis started his college career at Penn State, but wasn’t able to win the starting QB job so he transferred to Kentucky. In 24 career games at Kentucky, he threw for 5,232 yards and 43 touchdowns while completing 65.7% of his passes. He also threw 23 interceptions.
It would appear that Levis will compete with Malik Willis ($1,290,025) to be the backup to Ryan Tannehill ($29,500,000) in 2023. This is the final year of Tannehill’s contract, so whoever wins the backup QB battle would seem to be the favorite to be the Titans’ starter in 2024. Ironically, Willis is another QB who fell out of the first round of the NFL Draft, then was drafted later on by the Titans after the team moved up to select him. Now, Willis is seemingly on the outs with Tennessee and competing with Levis.
Jay’s Take: Another draft, another player falling way past where we expected them to go. Levis will be an extremely cheap option for our Dynasty Owners, but the issue is the fact that he has veteran quarterback Ryan Tannehill in front of him. It should only be a matter of time before the Titans hand the keys over to Levis and let him learn on the fly, but we could see a very similar scenario to the Marcus Mariota ($5,000,000) and Desmond Ridder ($1,340,740) situation in Atlanta last season. I am not sure Levis will go in the top half of the first round of many Dynasty Owner rookie drafts, but I do expect him to go in the back end of the first round, or early in the second round a lot.
Steve’s Take: To me, Levis always seemed like a strange player to be a first rounder. Despite all of the physical tools, he will be 24 years old at the start of the NFL season and couldn’t even beat Sean Clifford to start at Penn State. With a salary of only $2,385,542, which is over $6.1 million less than the other three QBs drafted in the first round this year, the physical tools and potential, I think somebody in most Dynasty Owner leagues is going to draft Levis in the top half of the first round. If I’m in your league and you want him, don’t worry as it won’t be me picking him that high.
68th Pick: Hendon Hooker (QB – DET): 4 years/$5,719,022 ($1,429,756 per year)
It took more than another full round before the Lions drafted Hendon Hooker early in the third round. He’s in a similar spot as Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis, and Matt Corral ($1,273,561) were last year as a QB touted as potentially being a first round pick who was drafted in the third round. Hooker has been in college since 2018 and even played at Virginia Tech before transferring to Tennessee. He played 18 games at Virginia Tech and 24 at Tennessee and overall, had a 66.9% completion percentage, 8,974 passing yards, 80 TDs and only 12 INTs during his lengthy college career. However, he is already 25 years old and suffered a season-ending ACL injury in November to end time in college.
The bad news is that he’s very unlikely to overtake Jared Goff ($33,500,000) as the starter. However, the Lions’ backup QB prior to the draft was Nate Sudfeld ($1,600,000) who has thrown only 37 passes since being drafted in 2016 and has just one TD pass in his NFL career. Goff has been very durable during his NFL career, but injuries happen, and Hooker is one injury away from being at the helm of the Lions’ high-powered offense.
Steve’s Take: If I’m not planning to contend in 2023, then Hooker would be a very interesting player to draft at the end of the first round of your Dynasty Owner rookie draft. He was a better college QB than Levis, played in the same conference, and is almost $1 million less expensive. Dynasty Owners with Goff (74.04% rostered) should really target Hooker in their rookie drafts.
Jay’s Take: Hendon Hooker is a very talented quarterback, but there are plenty of concerns as he is coming off of a knee injury and will be stuck behind Jared Goff for at least the 2023 season. The biggest concern for Hooker outside of the injury has to be his age as he will be 26 before the 2023 playoffs ends. I believe Steve hit the nail on the head on Hooker’s landing spot, as we should see him go early 2nd round to most of our rebuilding Dynasty Owners who can afford to wait for him to see the field.
128th Pick: Stetson Bennett (QB – LAR): 4 years/$4,539,140 ($1,134,785 per year)
Bennett has been the QB for the two-time National Champion Georgia Bulldogs. His statistics in the past two seasons are good, but not as good, as some of the other SEC QBs drafted ahead of him. He threw for 6,990 passing yards with a 66.7% completion rate, 56 TDs and 14 interceptions. Similar to Hendon Hooker, he is also 25 years old and will turn 26 during the 2023 NFL regular season.
He’s also in the same situation as Hooker, except he doesn’t have any competition to be the backup to Matthew Stafford ($40,000,000) right now. The Rams are likely to sign a veteran backup QB, but if Stafford gets hurt and the Rams’ season goes like it did last year, Sean McVay may want to see what Bennett’s got. There have been rumors that the Rams would like to trade Stafford and if that happened during the season, it may be Bennett’s team for at least part of the 2023 season.
Jay’s Take: I had picked Stenson Bennett as Dynasty Owner’s Mr. Irrelevant a few weeks ago, but the fact the mastermind Sean McVay drafted him much earlier than expected definitely changes my tune on Bennett. I now have Bennett as an early third round pick and could see him sliding into the second round with a few juicy rumors. I also believe Bennett has the best chance of all the later picks at quarterback to see the field since Matthew Stafford suffered two concussions last season.
Steve’s Take: I’m really not sure that the Rams want to trade Stafford because he led them to a Super Bowl victory and has an amazing connection with Cooper Kupp ($26,700,000). I think Bennett is as likely as Will Levis and more likely than Hooker to play in 2023. If Bennett finishes the 2023 season as the Rams’ starting QB, he’s also more likely to be supplanted as the starter the next year than Levis or Hooker. Jay had him as his Dynasty Owner Mr. Irrelevant and I thought that was a great prediction before the NFL Draft happened. Now, I think someone in most Dynasty Owner leagues will pick him up before the final rookie draft selection since he landed with the Rams.
Tight Ends
The only thing more surprising than having TEs listed after QBs in this article is the fact that five of them got drafted in the second round of the NFL Draft and nine were taken in the first three rounds. Let’s look at the players picked by three of the most TE needy teams in the NFL.
34th Pick: Sam LaPorta (TE – DET): 4 years/$9,465,990 ($2,366,498 per year)
The surprise second TE taken in the NFL Draft was Sam LaPorta from Iowa. He’ll likely move into the starting TE spot in Detroit that was filled by fellow Hawkeye T.J. Hockenson ($9,392,000) until the middle of last season. None of the four Lions’ TEs is the clear starter, so the starting spot is wide open. The offense would seem to be TE-friendly as Shane Zylstra ($940,000) had a three TD game after Hockenson was traded and Brock Wright ($940,000) had a two TD game the next week. LaPorta had quite a lot of receptions (153) and receiving yards (1,786) in four years of college football, but few TDs (5). He had over 50 receptions and 650 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons.
Steve’s Take: It’s difficult to go wrong with an Iowa TE, at least recently. Iowa claims to be Tight End U, but until George Kittle ($15,000,000) broke out after being drafted in the fifth round in 2017, the players drafted mostly had non-descript or non-existent NFL careers. Detroit really needs a starting TE, had a good offense last year (ranked 8th in passing yards and passing TDs) and those factors could make LaPorta a late first round or early second round Dynasty Owner rookie draft pick.
Jay’s Take: I have to admit I am pretty sad LaPorta was drafted this high, but I am not all that surprised. LaPorta is an extremely talented tight end who should do well at the NFL level. LaPorta could not have asked for a better landing spot with the starting tight end spot in Detroit as wide open as it gets. It would not surprise me to see him come out and put-up similar numbers as Pat Freiermuth ($1,507,045) in his rookie season in Pittsburgh (TE13 with 150.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). LaPorta does come with a little bit of risk as he will be north of $2,000,000 against your salary cap and will likely eat up a mid-second round Dynasty Owner rookie draft pick.
35th Pick: Michael Mayer (TE – LV): 4 years/$9,313,646 ($2,328,412 per year)
Michael Mayer averaged 69 receptions, 824.5 receiving yards and 8 receiving TDs over his past two seasons at Notre Dame. He led the team in receptions in each of those seasons and was widely expected to be a first round NFL Draft pick this year. That didn’t happen, but he didn’t have to wait long to hear his name called during the second round.
The Las Vegas Raiders signed Darren Waller ($17,000,000) to an extension last year, then traded him to the New York Giants this off-season. The Raiders did sign veteran free agents Austin Hooper ($2,750,000) and O.J. Howard ($1,232,500) to one-year contracts, but neither one has experience with new Raiders’ QB Jimmy Garoppolo ($24,250,000) or head coach Josh McDaniels.
Jay’s Take: I still firmly believe Mayer was the best all-around tight end in the NFL Draft and I see him having the best rookie season. In my opinion, Mayer also has the benefit of the best landing spot for all tight ends. Most of us expected Mayer to be picked in the first round of the NFL Draft, but with that not happening, Dynasty Owners got a nice savings against the salary cap along with the much more friendly landing spot. I originally had Mayer going in the 1st round of Dynasty Owner drafts, but I believe he is now a lock to see an early 2nd round rookie draft ADP.
Steve’s Take: Both Hooper and Howard are on their third team in three seasons and haven’t finished as a top 20 TE in Dynasty Owner since 2019 (Hooper) and 2018 (Howard). Therefore, Mayer should be the favorite to be the primary TE for the Raiders this season. Since Josh McDaniels had success in New England with Rob Gronkowski that might give Dynasty Owners (and Raiders’ fans) optimism that Mayer could be the next Gronk. While LaPorta was drafted before him in the NFL Draft, my expectation is that Mayer will be drafted ahead of LaPorta in more Dynasty Owner rookie drafts.
42nd Pick: Luke Musgrave (TE – GB): 4 years/$8,475,732 ($2,118,933 per year)
78th Pick: Tucker Kraft (TE – GB): 4 years/$5,537,934 ($1,384,484 per year)
Green Bay took TEs in back-to-back rounds of the 2023 NFL Draft. Second round pick Luke Musgrave tallied 47 receptions for 633 receiving yards and 2 TDs in 20 college games at Oregon State, while third round pick Tucker Kraft had better college stats (99 receptions, 1,211 receiving yards and 9 TDs) for the 2022 Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) Champion South Dakota State Jackrabbits.
It’s not looking good for Josiah Deguara ($1,136,941) as Green Bay could use both Musgrave and Kraft in two TE formations and leave Deguara as the third TE. They may just release Deguara outright after his TE69 finish with 24.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (13 receptions for 114 receiving yards) last year.
Steve’s Take: Who’s going to play more out of these two TEs is anybody’s guess right now. I’ll say Musgrave because it will be difficult for Kraft to transition from playing the Missouri State Bears to the Chicago Bears. That’s also why I’ll say that Musgrave will be drafted ahead of Kraft and drafted in more Dynasty Owner rookie drafts. Both of them are mid-to-late second round rookie picks due to the lack of any TEs standing in their way to playing right away in 2023.
Jay’s Take: I am in the same boat as Steve with not knowing which one of these two tight ends to grab. I am honestly not all that sure either will be a difference maker during their rookie season, unless one sees time at wide receiver. I will have a better answer after I watch more film, but at the current moment taking either of these guys before Round 3 of a Dynasty Owner rookie draft seems like a gamble. I am also expecting Green Bay to be a run-first team with Aaron Rodgers ($50,271,667) finally in New York, which does not bode well for either of the two rookie tight ends in fantasy.
Running Backs
A total of 18 RBs were drafted in total with 10 of them taken in the fifth, sixth and seventh rounds. After Bijan Robinson and Jahmyr Gibbs were drafted in the first round, only Zach Charbonnet was taken in the second round by Seattle, who drafted Ken Walker ($2,110,395) in the second round last year.
81st Pick: Tyjae Spears (RB – TEN): 4 years/$5,490,614 ($1,372,654 per year)
In his senior season at Tulane, Tyjae Spears ran for 1,581 yards on 229 carries (6.9 yards per carry) and 19 touchdowns. His performance was good enough to earn him the American Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year award. He had over 100 rushing yards in each of his last eight games cumulating in the Green Wave’s Cotton Bowl victory over USC when he had 205 rushing yards and 4 TDs on just 17 carries.
Despite those accolades, this pick has been labeled as questionable, at best, by writers who follow the Titans for two reasons. First, the Titans already have one of the best RBs in the NFL in Derrick Henry ($12,500,000) on their roster, while fielding what may be the worst group of WRs in the league. Second, Spears apparently doesn’t have an ACL in one of his knees and had ACL injuries in both high school and college.
Steve’s Take: Ian Rapoport from the NFL Network has labeled him as one-contract player, but that’s not a bad thing for Dynasty Owners, especially since his first contract will only cost them $1,372,654 per year. While Tennessee has Henry and he has been durable (only missing 10 games in his career), it’s possible that the Titans move on like Carolina did last year with Christian McCaffrey ($16,015,875). If that happens, Spears could be the RB1 in Tennessee since his current competitors for the spot are Hassan Haskins ($1,088,055), Jonathan Ward ($895,000), and Julius Chestnut ($750,000). Seems worth a mid-second round Dynasty Owner rookie draft pick to me. Higher if you have Henry and want to hedge your bets.
Jay’s Take: Well, you learn something new every day. I had not seen the news about Spears not having an ACL in one of his knees, but it does not change my opinion of him all that much. Even with the possibility that Derrick Henry could be traded, this pick did not make much sense at all. The Titans drafted Hassan Haskins last season and still roster King Henry. If the Titans are bad enough to trade Henry, does it really matter who their running back is at that point? The Titans should have taken a receiver to grow alongside Treylon Burks ($3,592,398) and Will Levis, but they took Spears instead and made for another not so fun landing spot in the 2023 NFL Draft. Spears should expect to find himself taken in the third round in upcoming Dynasty Owner rookie drafts.
215th Pick: Zach Evans (RB – LAR): 4 years/$3,973,334 ($993,334 per year)
Zach Evans got a great landing spot for a sixth round draft pick with a checkered past. As Nate Christian pointed out in his 2023 RB preview for Dynasty Owner back in early October last year, he had a whirlwind of a college recruitment before landing at TCU. He spent two seasons at TCU before transferring to Ole Miss. All totaled, he rushed for 1,999 yards on 290 carries (6.9 yards per carry) and 18 TDs in his college career.
Landing with the Rams was good for Evans as they only have three RBs on their current roster, starter Cam Akers ($1,543,258) and backups Kyren Williams ($992,601) and Ronnie Rivers ($750,000). Unless they sign a veteran RB, Evans should have little problem making the roster.
Jay’s Take: Evans does have a bit of an injury history, but he also has a great track record of shredding opposing defenses. I don’t hate his landing spot as we have seen his new teammate Cam Akers in the doghouse once already and it would only benefit Evans if it were to happen again. While I do have good things to say about the landing spot, it is not all sunshine and rainbows as both Akers and Kyren Williams played well last season. Regardless of what happens, Evans should be a late round Dynasty Owner rookie draft pick and will not cost you much against the salary cap, making him a mostly risk-free draft pick with a lot of upside.
Steve’s Take: Normally, I’m not a huge fan of drafting players with such a questionable past as Evans. However, it seems highly likely that he is going to make the Rams’ roster as a sixth round draft pick with a salary of under $1 million. I’m totally willing to take a chance on Evans in the third round of Dynasty Owner rookie drafts and don’t think I’m alone in that assessment.
Wide Receivers
No offensive position had more players drafted in the 2023 NFL Draft than WR with 33 players drafted by 27 teams. Only Atlanta, New York Jets, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Washington didn’t draft a WR, while five teams (Cincinnati, Green Bay, Houston, Los Angeles Chargers and New England) drafted more than one. Green Bay took three WRs, to go along with the two TEs mentioned earlier. That’s a lot of new weapons for QB Jordan Love ($3,095,863). The first round had four WRs drafted in a row, while two WRs from Tennessee were drafted back-to-back in the third round.
73rd Pick: Jalin Hyatt (WR – NYG): 4 years/$5,625,314 ($1,406,329 per year)
74th Pick: Cedric Tillman (WR – CLE): 4 years/$5,610,457 ($1,402,614 per year)
Talk about similarities! For their college careers, Hyatt had 108 receptions for 1,769 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns, while Tillman had 109 receptions for 1,622 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. Tillman did it in fewer games (24) than Hyatt (29), but also missed half of the 2022 season, while Hyatt only missed the Orange Bowl victory over Clemson last year. Tillman is three inches taller and weighs 37 lbs. more, but is also almost a year and a half older. Hyatt is faster and performed better at the NFL Combine where his Total Score of 87 was the best among participating WRs.
The landing spot advantage definitely goes to Hyatt. Both teams have 13 WRs on their current roster, but Cleveland has a clear WR1 in Amari Cooper ($20,000,000) while the Giants do not. Hyatt should leap ahead of Darius Slayton ($6,000,000), Parris Campbell ($4,700,000), Wan’Dale Robinson ($2,046,292), Sterling Shepard ($1,317,500), Isaiah Hodgins ($870,000) and the rest of the Giants WRs more easily and quickly than Tillman can get ahead of Elijah Moore ($2,235,107) and Donovan Peoples-Jones ($870,402) on the Browns’ depth chart.
Steve’s Take: Sometimes in Dynasty Owner, you can make your final decision on who to draft based on salary. If you have two similarly ranked players and they have significantly different salaries, then the lower salary should tip the decision to that player. This is not happening in this instance unless you need to save $3,715 in salary. If both of them are around when you’re on the clock, then the other factors mentioned (NFL team, college production, age, height, weight, speed, etc.) will determine who gets picked earlier. It’ll be interesting to see who has the lower rookie draft ADP after all of the rookie drafts are done. I’m not going to make a prediction here because of how close it appears to be now.
Jay’s Take: I wholeheartedly agree with everything Steve said above. The salary tends to be the tiebreaker on the Dynasty Owner platform, but as we see, it is not the case in this scenario. Both of these young men have a ton of talent, but both also come with flaws of their own. In the end, it will come down to who works harder and wants it more between the two of them. Right now, I think I would choose Hyatt because he does have an easier road to targets and may even be the most talented receiver on his team. The same will never be said about Tillman as long as Amari Cooper stays in Cleveland.
187th Pick: Kayshon Boutte (WR – NE): 4 years/$4,027,258 ($1,006,815 per year)
Kayshon Boutte was considered a first round NFL Draft pick after having 38 receptions for 509 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns in only six games for LSU during the 2021 college football season. He followed that up with just 48 receptions for 538 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns in 11 games during the 2022 season under a new coaching staff and tested poorly at the NFL Combine. That dropped him out of the first round and even out of being selected on Day 2 of the NFL Draft before New England took him with the 10th pick of the sixth round.
The top two WRs for New England are likely to be 2023 free agent acquisition JuJu Smith-Schuster ($8,500,000) and 2022 trade acquisition DeVante Parker ($7,625,000), but after that, it’s pretty wide open. Boutte will likely compete with Kendrick Bourne ($5,000,000) and Tyquan Thornton ($1,763,464), a 2022 second round draft pick and personal favorite of Dynasty Owner PACKER-H8TER, for playing time.
Jay’s Take: Wow, I was way off on Boutte! I did have him mocked as the 1.13 bonus first round rookie draft pick, but I don’t believe that will be the case any longer. I believe he is an extremely talented kid who stuck around for an awkward coaching change at LSU, and it cost him on the field and in the NFL Draft. I am expecting him to prove his doubters wrong and play much better than his draft capital would suggest. Ladies and Gentlemen, I think Bill Belichick finally hit on a wide receiver. Expect Boutte to be a late second or early third round rookie draft pick on the Dynasty Owner platform.
Steve’s Take: I appreciate Jay’s confidence, but have too many battle scars of bad Patriots WR draft picks with N’Keal Harry ($2,524,587) being the most recent example to be as positive about this pick. The range of outcomes for Boutte in New England are as high as being the team’s WR1 and as low as getting cut by Bill Belichick before the first pre-season game. Right now with all of the talk about him being the “steal of the draft” and the “next homegrown Patriots receiver”, I think he’ll go higher than anticipated for a guy who was the 22nd WR taken in the NFL Draft. He won’t go as high as the 1.13 pick that Jay had him at in his article a few weeks ago, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s drafted in the second round of a least a few Dynasty Owner rookie drafts, especially by teams that have limited salary cap room. He’ll definitely be selected in more Dynasty Owner rookie drafts than any other Day 3 WR, barring some negative news before those rookie drafts are finished.
Kickers
Now we come to everyone’s favorite position. While you may not like it, you need to have a Starting kicker on your Dynasty Owner team and preferably a Bench kicker too. If you don’t want to spend $4 million or more on your Bench kicker, then here are a couple of rookies for you to keep your eyes on.
99th Pick: Jake Moody (K – SF): 4 years/$5,304,082 ($1,326,021 per year)
112nd Pick: Chad Ryland (K – NE): 4 years/$4,626,753 ($1,156,688 per year)
Moody won the Lou Groza award for the top college football placekicker in 2021 and never missed an extra point in college (148 for 148). Of course, the goalposts are wider, and the college extra point is 15 yards shorter than the NFL extra point. Neither of the two Groza winners prior to Moody are on a NFL roster currently so take everything mentioned with a large grain of salt. Ryland didn’t win any awards, but was named to the All-MAC Second Team in both 2020 and 2021 for Eastern Michigan and made the All-Big Ten Second Team in his only year at Maryland.
Of course, both of these kickers could turn into the next Tyler Bass ($869,805) or Evan McPherson ($955,928) even if their rookie contracts are somewhat higher. Bass has been a top 12 kicker in Dynasty Owner in all three of his seasons, while McPherson has finished both of his seasons among the top 10 kickers. The Moody pick was surprising as the 49ers just traded for kicker Zane Gonzalez ($2,250,000) a few weeks ago.
Steve’s Take: People love themselves a cheap Dynasty Owner kicker, me included. Since I have Patriots’ incumbent kicker Nick Folk ($2,500,000) on five out of my six Dynasty Owner teams and Gonzalez on two teams, I’m not happy about these picks at all. Because of that, I’ll be looking to draft either Moody and Ryland at the beginning of the third round of my Dynasty Owner rookie drafts and maybe both if I have multiple third round picks. I won’t be alone as plenty of Dynasty Owners took McPherson in 2021 rookie drafts and he ended up the year as the fourth ranked kicker. A similar phenomenon occurred with Cade York ($1,097,410) last year, but he wasn’t as good and ended the 2022 season as the 24th ranked kicker.
Jay’s Take: I won’t spend a ton of time here as Steve hit the nail on the head. Long story short, yes, these two guys are worth a third round rookie draft pick. If I sent you a trade offer that almost guaranteed you similar production and $1,000,000 in cap savings for four years, you would give me a third round pick all day, right? Draft one of these kickers in the third round if you have the opportunity.
Conclusion
Of course, these aren’t the only players selected on Day 2 and Day 3 of the NFL Draft who will find their way on to Dynasty Owner rosters. With 37 picks over three rounds and 82 players eligible to be drafted in Dynasty Owner rookie drafts (14 QBs, 18 RBs, 33 WRs, 15 TEs and 3 kickers), it wasn’t realistic to analyze all of them. However, over the past two articles and few days, we’ve tackled 24 of the most likely players to be selected. Not all of them as there will be some surprises, some late third round rookie draft flyer picks as well as undrafted rookie free agents with good buzz (and cheap salaries) who garner attention from some Dynasty Owners.
If you want to get started figuring out who you’re going to take in your rookie draft(s), the rookie mock draft lobby is open for your drafting enjoyment.
There was a lot of Dynasty Owner content released last week and if you missed it because you were so focused on the NFL Draft, then go back and read, watch or listen to all of it. In addition to Friday’s recap and reaction of the first round article, Matt Morrison – The Jerk had his first Best Case, Worse Case article published last Monday, my article discussing players who might lose their jobs was published last Tuesday and the latest episode of the Dynasty Owner podcast dropped on Wednesday morning.
Don’t forget to watch the Livestream that aired live on Friday at 10 AM (Eastern). Both of us plus Dynasty Owner CEO Tim Peffer talked about the players taken in the first round and some of the players who weren’t taken, but did get drafted eventually in the second round. That one and prior episodes of the Livestream are available on the Dynasty Owner YouTube channel. Please remember to give the Livestream a Thumbs Up and help out Dynasty Owner. It is appreciated. Finally, don’t forget to follow Dynasty Owner on Twitter. Thanks for reading and have a great day!
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