By: Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl)
Dynasty Owners, are you enjoying the year of being average in the NFL? You may be wondering what the heck I am talking about and of course I am going to fill you in. After six full weeks of regular season play the NFL currently has 13 teams with three wins and either a 3-3 or 3-2 record. There are only nine teams on top with four or more wins and 10 teams on the bottom with two or fewer wins. The NFL wants parity, and they sure have it! Before we cover the free agents of the week, let’s take a look at a few of my highlights from Week 6.
Undefeated no more! Well that pretty much furthers my point about almost every team being average in 2023. Week 7 hasn’t even started yet, and we have zero undefeated teams left. The 1972 Dolphins get to pop the champagne early this season. Outside of the Jets beating the Eagles on Sunday night and the 49ers losing to the Browns, Week 6 did not have any real upsets of note.
One team I do want to highlight that has surprised me this season is the Houston Texans. Heading into the season, the Texans were a team I wanted little part of, but they have proved to be competent on offense behind rookie C.J. Stroud ($9,069,811) and are currently one of the hotter teams in the NFL. What team has surprised you the most this season? Let me know on X!
Another question I have for everyone. If you were the Vikings GM, would you move on from Kirk Cousins ($35,000,000) regardless of how you have to go about it? My answer is Yes. The team has looked horrible and likely has no shot at making the playoffs. If I were wearing the purple and gold suit, pairing Justin Jefferson ($3,280,701) with Caleb Williams (USC) would be much too tempting at this point.
If you are new to this series of articles, there is a small list of requirements, with the main one being that the player must be 80% rostered or below in Dynasty Owner. The only other requirement I have is that I would like the player to have a salary of $8,000,000 or less, but I will put a higher salary player on the list if I feel they are worth it. Free Agent Auction bids will process on Wednesday at 5 AM (Eastern) for this upcoming week, so there’s still time to get your bids in for Week 6. The Bid listed below is my recommended amount to secure the player for your Dynasty Owner team in the Wednesday Free Agent Auction run in a typical Dynasty Owner league.
- Malik Willis (QB – TEN) – 3 years/$1,290,025 – 79.69% Rostered
I must admit I am shocked Malik Willis has been dropped by so many Dynasty Owners so early in his career with such a cheap contract. I know things have been ugly up to this point, but he has too much upside to just kick him to the curb like that and now we are seeing why. Ryan Tannehill ($29,500,000) has regressed in each of the past few seasons, is getting older and it has been only a matter of time before one of the youngsters on the roster overtook him to become the Titans new QB1. In brief work this season, Malik Willis has shown all of us why some had him projected to go so early in the 2021 NFL Draft. In Week 6, Willis had the best performance of his young career finishing the day with 4 completions on 5 attempts for 74 yards while adding 17 yards rushing (5.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). If Willis can limit turnovers, he may just find himself entrenched as the starter heading into 2024. If you need a quarterback, Malik Willis is your guy but be prepared for a bidding war! I can’t recall a time in all of my years playing Dynasty Owner that I have seen a player with so much upside available in the Free Agent Auction, especially at the quarterback position.
Bid – $8,000,000
2.Tyson Bagent (QB – CHI) – 3 years/$906,667 – 8.43% Rostered
I hope this one is not needed come Sunday but early reports on Justin Fields ($4,717,989) do not look good and I am expecting Bagent to start at least one week. I am not sure Bagent will be any good, or even serviceable for that matter but he is a quarterback who will likely be starting during bye weeks. Oh yea, he’s also one of the cheaper QBs on the Dynasty Owner platform as well. I am sure there are a few Dynasty Owners out there who have no starting quarterbacks available for Week 7 and will need Bagent by default as injuries have taken a toll on the position thus far. In relief of Fields in Week 6, Bagent completed 10 out of his 14 pass attempts for 83 yards and an interception (4.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). He also fumbled after getting strip sacked which resulted in a touchdown for the Vikings in what turned out to be the changing moment of the game. If Bagent can find a way to take care of the football with a full week of practice, he should at least put-up Zach Wilson ($8,787,670) numbers.
Bid – $3,000,000
3.Craig Reynolds (RB – DET) – 1 year/$1,080,000 – 42.15% Rostered
After the Detroit Lions signed David Montgomery ($6,000,000) and drafted Jahmyr Gibbs ($4,461,283) in the first round of the NFL Draft, who would have imagined Craig Reynolds would be a hot pick up here on the Dynasty Owner platform. In all honesty, we all should have seen this coming. As I mentioned last week, the Lions have used multiple running backs since Dan Campbell’s arrival and I’m guessing it will stay that way until he is gone. Usually, a coach using multiple running backs would be a death sentence in fantasy, but most who have lined up behind Jared Goff ($33,500,000) in the Motor City have at least satisfied fantasy managers. Enter Craig Reynolds and I am expecting more of the same regardless of the name. I know Reynolds struggled in Week 6 against the Buccaneers with just 6.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but so did the other four Detroit Lions who logged a carry in the game. The Lions running attack will be back in full force come Week 7 and Reynolds will be a beneficiary!
Bid – $2,000,000
4.Kendrick Bourne (WR – NE) 2 years/$5,000,000 – 65.90% Rostered
Another week another Kendrick Bourne appearance in the top Free Agent Auction targets. Bourne has now appeared in several of these articles, and I am I firm believer that he would be 100% rostered if the Patriots ever found even a little bit of consistency on offense. Bourne leads the Patriots in targets this season by a wide margin. Bourne has racked up a total of 44 targets while the next closest Patriot, Hunter Henry ($12,500,000) sits at just 28 targets. All of the fantasy experts I have listened to or talked with throughout the years always say the same thing about receivers, which is to follow the targets. What this means is if a player is consistently seeing several targets in a game, it is going to turn into production at some point. If Mac Jones ($3,896,588) remembers how to play quarterback this season, Dynasty Owners are going to be thrilled with the addition of Kendrick Bourne to their roster. In Week 6, Bourne racked up 11 targets catching 10 of them for 89 yards plus one carry for four yards (19.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). If Bourne continues to see this type of target share he is going to have a massive game sometime in the coming weeks.
Bid – $2,000,000
5.Chris Rodriguez (RB – WAS) – 4 years/$1.004,422 – 77.39% Rostered
In the final spot, we have a developmental type of player who has the ability to offer immediate upside, Chris Rodriguez. It appears that Rodriguez has surpassed Antonio Gibson ($1,233,159) on the Commanders’ depth chart and would likely shoulder the load if anything were to happen to Brian Robinson ($1,261,227) this season. Rodriguez had missed the previous two games due to an illness but was back on Sunday and it quickly became clear the Commanders see potential in him. In Week 6, Rodriguez finished the game with 4 carries for 23 yards and did not catch a pass (2.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). I may look silly when all is said and done, but I firmly believe these are the types of running backs Dynasty Owners should target now versus when someone gets hurt, and everyone is bidding on them.
Bid – $2,000,000
Thank you all for reading! Be sure to check out all of the upcoming articles from me and Steve plus the Dynasty Owner Livestream, now every Thursday afternoon at 4:00 PM (Eastern). Stay safe out there and good luck on your 2023 Chase for the Ring!