By: Jay Pounds (@jaypoundsnfl)
Dynasty Owners, we have just one more week and the fantasy football playoffs will be here. Have you clinched a playoff berth yet? If you haven’t hopefully there will be a player on this list to get you over the hump. Before we look at this week’s free agents, let’s look through some of the surprises from Week 13.
The 49ers are back! What a difference a few weeks makes in the NFL. A few weeks back, the Niners were struggling, had just lost three straight games and people were doubting second year quarterback Brock Purdy ($934,252). Fast forward to Week 14 and the 49ers are the clear-cut favorites to win the Super Bowl after dominating the NFC’s current top seed, the Philadelphia Eagles, while making Purdy the betting favorite for MVP.
Speaking of MVP, usual front runner Patrick Mahomes ($45,000,000) just lost to Jordan Love ($3,095,863) and the Green Bay Packers this week. My biggest takeaway from that game is that Jordan Love can ball! Love struggled to start the season, but it now appears that it was the play calling holding him back. Since the Packers have opened up the playbook for Love, he has been fantastic. Will he be able to keep it up? I am not sure, but it would be something else if the Packers hit on their third straight franchise quarterback in a row.
My last big takeaway from Week 13 is that I don’t want to sound cocky but, I told you so! How about Jake Browning ($750,000)? For those of you that took my advice and picked up the former elite quarterback prospect, I sure hope you had him in your Starting lineup in Week 13! It seems a lot of you did take this advice as he is now rostered in over 90% of Dynasty Owner leagues.
Now that we have that out of the way, I wanted to take a minute to thank all of you that have interacted with me over the past few seasons. You all are awesome, and I will touch more on this in the coming weeks. Alright, I’ll shut up and talk about some free agents now!
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 14. 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.
- Joe Flacco (QB – CLE) – 1 year/$3,500,000 – 26.05% Rostered
If you all remember back two weeks ago, I had Joe Flacco in my article stating he would be the Browns starting quarterback after the bye week and sure enough Joe Flacco was under center in the AFC North once again this week. The Browns did not play well in Week 13, but for once their offense was not to blame. It was the defense that let the team down by giving up four touchdowns to the Rams. Flacco certainly did his part finishing the day with 254 yards passing while adding 2 touchdowns and one interception. I know those numbers won’t blow you away, but they were good enough for a 21.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy point week, which would look nice on anybody’s Bench, especially when the player costs just $3,500,000 against the salary cap. Moving forward, I am not expecting Flacco to have any huge games, but he will likely have a solid floor every week finishing in the 16-22 Dynasty Owner fantasy point range on a weekly basis. The quarterback position is as beat up as I can ever remember meaning Flacco won’t be available long at all. Get your bids in now!
Bid – $5,000,000
- Parker Washington (WR – JAC) – 4 years/$1,008,066 – 4.98% Rostered
Rookie Parker Washington’s production will depend solely on the health of Christian Kirk ($18,000,000), but from all the reports I have read, Kirk will likely miss at least one week with a groin injury, and it may even be more as the Jaguars get ready for a playoff push. In Week 13, Washington stepped in for the injured Kirk and performed well finishing the day with 6 catches for 61 yards and a touchdown plus 51 return yards, good enough to score 18.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. The Jaguars drafted Washington in the sixth round of the NFL Draft out of Penn State and had he stayed healthy in college, he would have likely been a Day 2 draft pick. Health will be a big concern for Washington moving forward as he has already suffered a knee injury earlier in the season that caused him to miss multiple weeks. Despite all of this, I believe Washington has a high ceiling because of the combination of talent he possesses and the offense he plays in. If Washington is able to have another solid game in Week 14, he may just establish a role for himself moving forward. The kid has a ton of potential no matter how you spin it and is definitely worth gambling on with such a low salary!
Bid – $3,000,000
- Mitchell Trubisky (QB – PIT) – 1 year/$7,142,500 – 14.18% Rostered
Well as you all know, I am not much of a fan of Kenny Pickett ($3,516,976), but his injury couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Steelers desperately needed to see him fail, instead he’s going to miss the rest of the season and will likely get another shot in 2024 because Mike Tomlin stays loyal far too long. As bad as that is for the Steelers, it is likely good news for Dynasty Owners. As I mentioned earlier the quarterback position is all sorts of beat up and we now have another replacement quarterback waiting in the Free Agent Auction. I am not sold on Trubisky being a good option for your Dynasty Owner roster, but at this point what choice do you really have? Hopefully those of you that were in desperate need of a quarterback listened and picked up Jake Browning last week! In all seriousness the Steelers fired Matt Canada and the new offensive coordinators may feel more comfortable taking shots down the field with a veteran under center. Only time will tell.
Bid – $3,000,000
- Chris Rodriguez (RB – WAS) – 4 years/$1,004,422 – 79.69% Rostered
I don’t want to toot my own horn or anything, but I have been right about a lot of players in 2023, but Chris Rodriguez was not one of them by any means. In all honesty, I had expected the Commanders to eventually give Rodriguez a shot to carry the load in the backfield before Brian Robinson ($1,261,227) started playing better a few weeks back. Now I get another chance, though it is because of unfortunate circumstances. In Week 13, Robinson left the game with a hamstring injury and will likely miss a couple of weeks with the playoffs virtually out of reach for Washington. The Commanders still have Antonio Gibson ($1,233,159) in the fold, but they have already passed him up once and I expect them to do it again. Running backs rarely come around this late in the season and while I do believe Rodriguez’s ceiling is limited because of Gibson’s involvement in the passing game, Rodriguez should still see a lot of work and will almost certainly get all of the goal line touches.
Bid – $4,000,000
- Brevin Jordan (TE – HOU) – 2 years/$958,046 – 51.72% Rostered
In the final spot we have another player in Brevin Jordan whose production will likely depend on the health of teammates. I will admit I like the talent of Jordan more than anyone on this list and expected him to be drafted much higher than the fifth round back in 2021. Jordan is your prototypical pass catching tight end and will be a matchup problem anytime he is used correctly. In Week 13 Jordan finally had his chance as the top tight end with a real quarterback and did not disappoint finishing the day with 3 catches for 64 yards to score 9.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. The big worry with Jordan moving forward is the health of Dalton Schultz ($6,250,000), but the Texans also lost stud rookie Tank Dell ($1,244,382) last week which opens up plenty of targets for Jordan even after Schultz is healthy and back in the lineup. At worst, Jordan is a cheap gamble who could pay off big time at a position that is struggling across the board right now.
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. Stay safe out there and good luck on your 2023 Chase for the Ring!