By Matt Morrison (@dynastyjerk)
The month of July has concluded which means there is only one full month left before September. That’s right…real NFL games are almost a month away. Given this milestone (and the fact that I haven’t talked about it much) today I’m going to bring back the news segment for this article. This will not be every bit of news from the off-season, but it will be the major highlights from the past couple of months.
The News
Let’s start with the oldest news and work our way forward.
Dalvin Cook ($12,600,000)
Cook was released by the Vikings in early June to clear up cap space. He remains unsigned (as of submission of this article for publication), but I am very confident he will be picked up by a team either this off-season or shortly after the NFL season starts.
Evan Engram ($13,750,000)
Engram signed a contract extension with the Jaguars. He will be locked in with them for the next three years. In my opinion, this should make him a Top 12 tight end for the entire three year period.
Denzel Mims ($1,358,425)
Not really major news here, but I felt it was worth noting since we don’t see many late July trades in the NFL. Denzel Mims was traded from the Jets to the Lions. Trade compensation for the Jets was about as minimal as it gets. The trade was…
- Mims and a 2025 7th round draft pick for a 2025 conditional 6th round draft pick
The condition is that if Mims doesn’t make the Lions’ 53-man roster in 2023, then the Jets receive no compensation. At best, the Jets move up a single round two drafts from now. It appears the market for the former second round wide receiver is as low as it gets.
DeAndre Hopkins ($13,000,000)
Hopkins has signed a two year contract with the Tennessee Titans. The contract is worth $13,000,000 per year, and that is now reflected in his salary on Dynasty Owner. If you took a chance on rostering Hopkins through his free agency, then you have been handsomely rewarded. I wouldn’t say this is the greatest landing spot for him (Kansas City comes to mind as a better spot), but it is also not the worst. He will immediately slide in as the best wide receiver on the team, and I am projecting a Top 24 finish this year.
The other side of the coin is talking about Treylon Burks ($3,592,398). This certainly isn’t a “death sentence” for Burks, but I struggled to make a case for this being good for him either. Burks will no longer be “the only receiving option” for Tennessee, and he will likely no longer receive the highest target share on the team. This is fairly bad news for a player on a low volume passing team already. We already know that the Titans’ offense runs through Derrick Henry ($12,500,000), and it is a good assumption that this year will be much of the same. I dropped Burks more than 10 spots in my 2023 rankings, but didn’t see that much movement in my overall Dynasty Owner rankings.
Jimmy Garoppolo ($24,250,000)
Garoppolo broke his foot in Week 13 and did not return for the rest of the 2022 season. He had corrective surgery in March and signed with the Raiders (with an injury waiver addendum added to his contract) right before the surgery. Raiders’ coach Josh McDaniels stated last week that Garoppolo is healing and has no restrictions as he enters training camp. That’s not to say that they won’t ease him back into action, but he appears to be on the fast track to a healthy pre-season. It goes without saying that this is great news for Davante Adams ($28,000,000) who will look to improve on a WR4 finish last year.
Saquon Barkley ($10,091,000)
Barkley has officially signed his contract with the New York Giants. The number that he signed for is exactly the franchise tag plus $909,000 in possible incentives ($11,000,000 in total). I’m sure this isn’t exactly what Saquon wanted, but it’s what he received, and it guarantees that he will not be holding out this year. It’s surprising that this is all that it took to get a one year deal done. Regardless, Dynasty Owners with Barkley on their rosters can sleep well knowing that their Top 5 projected running back will be playing in an all-important contract year.
Justin Herbert ($6,644,689)
On July 25th, Herbert agreed to a brand new contract extension. Initial reports say the extension is worth 262.5 million dollars over 5 years. This equates to $52,500,000 per year, and it makes him the highest paid player in the NFL and Dynasty Owner next year.
***Keep in mind that per the Dynasty Owner Constitution this extension will not come into play for Dynasty Owners until the 2024 season***
Judging by how Patrick Mahomes ($45,000,000) and Lamar Jackson ($52,000,000) are both over 90 percent rostered in Dynasty Owner, it’s safe to say that Herbert will not be dropped in many leagues.
As I said at the top, this obviously isn’t the entirety of the news this off-season, but it’s a few highlights over the last couple of months.
Contract Spotlight
Terry McLaurin ($22,788,000)
As always, let’s start with the facts before we get into my opinions. Terry McLaurin finished the 2022 season as the WR20. While WR20 isn’t a league winner ranking, he was an amazing value given his 2022 salary of $961,918. In fact, McLaurin was one of the best wide receiver values in Dynasty Owner in 2022. Terry is projected as the WR21 coming into the 2023 season. He received a contract extension which is worth $22,788,000 per year.
It remains to be seen if his quarterback situation will be more favorable this season when compared to last. I can’t imagine that it will be worse. Instead of some combination of Taylor Heineke ($7,000,000), Carson Wentz ($32,000,000) and Sam Howell ($1,005,400), the Commanders will have some combination of Sam Howell and Jacoby Brissett ($8,000,000). So, what is the outlook for McLaurin?
I think a Top 24 finish is likely for Terry, but I also think a Top 12 is unlikely. He is sandwiched safely in the WR2 zone. This may seem like a lot of money to spend on a low upside receiver (and it is), but if you can afford him, it will be a production benefit. Even as a Bench wide receiver, he will outperform most of your opponents’ Bench receivers. As I have said with almost every player in this year’s New Contract Spotlight series, they will never be the value that they once were, but that doesn’t mean they have no value either. This is also true of McLaurin. I have him on my roster in a handful of Dynasty Owner leagues, and I get a warm, comfortable feeling when I see him in my FLEX position. He’s a high floor, low ceiling player that isn’t the sexiest pick, but he will perform.
As always, thank you for reading. 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