This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
Author: Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
We haven’t even gotten one-quarter of the way through the NFL season and the first positive COVID case by an active player on a team’s roster occurred, followed by the first postponed game of the season (Titans vs. Steelers). Within a couple of days, the NFL went from saying the Titans-Steelers game would be played on Sunday, to moving it to either Monday or Tuesday to postponing it. The NFL was flexible with its schedule by postponing the game this week and making Week 4 a bye week for the Titans and Steelers. Now Dynasty Owners need to be the same way and get flexible with their lineups. It’s time to sit all of your Tennessee and Pittsburgh players as they now have a Week 4 bye. All of those bye week plans those players made are out the window as Eric Ebron figured out (https://twitter.com/Ebron85/status/1311710034049536000?s=20%3C/p%3E%3Cp%3E).
Did you have your team set up so all of your QBs had different bye weeks and now that might get scrambled because of games being switched? It’s time to be flexible with your bye week plans. Are you already down Christian McCaffrey or Saquon Barkley and were relying on Derrick Henry or James Conner as your top RB this week? It’s probably time to hit the Free Agent Auction and see who’s available in your league or start some trade talks with another owner. Hopefully you didn’t use all of the extra $2 million in salary cap room that Dynasty Owner graciously added to this year’s salary cap and have some flexibility in who you can pick up in the Free Agent Auction or at least have a player or two who you feel comfortable dropping from your team. It’s 2020, it’s all about being flexible when some kids are doing virtual school, and work meetings or family events are being held over Zoom instead of in person. It’s making things work when the situation changes – being flexible.
Every week of the regular season and playoffs, we’ll present a set of players at each position (QB, RB, WR, TE) who you should have as a Starter in your Dynasty Owner lineup as well as one player per position who should be on your Bench or Practice Squad. Go crazy and start the RB, WR or TE mentioned in the FLEX position – it’s 2020 and new for Dynasty Owner this season after all. We won’t recommend a kicker to Start or Bench though and these won’t be the obvious choices for Starters, like go ahead and start Russell Wilson, Alvin Kamara and Travis Kelce (as if you weren’t going to do that already if you have them). Instead, these will be guys to Start who might not be highly owned or who were drafted to be a backup. For the Bench or Practice Squad choices, we’ll find typical Starters who shouldn’t be in your Starting lineup for the week based on matchups or past performance against a team. We’ll also review my Week 3 recommendations and see how those players fared.
Finally, we will look at one Dynasty Owner game, our Match-up of the Week. For the Match-up of the Week, we will look at the overall projected score and then each team’s Starters and Bench to see how their current lineups are projected to produce. If you want your Dynasty Owner team to be featured as the Match-up of the Week in the future, just tweet me (@SteveVT33).
All stats 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.
Standard Dynasty Owner scoring for kickers gives you 1 point for every extra point, while a missed extra point will cost you 1 point. It’s 2 points for a field goal of between 0 and 39 yards, 4 points for a field goal between 40 and 49 yards and 5 points for a field goal of 50 yards or longer. A missed field goal of between 0 and 39 yards will cost you 3 points, while a miss of 40 yards or more is a loss of 2 points.
For the purposes of this article, ADP and Dynasty Owner ownership statistics were current as of October 2nd.
These Guys Should be Starters This Week
First, let’s take a look at how my Week 3 Starter recommendations fared (Good, Bad or Just Ok):
- QB: Carson Wentz – 25.8 (Just Ok recommendation)
- RB: Rex Burkhead – 34.8 (Good recommendation)
- WR: Adam Humphries – 8.1 (Bad recommendation)
- TE: Drew Sample – 1.1 (Bad recommendation)
Thank you to Rex Burkhead for being my first Good Starter recommendation of the season. Carson Wentz was close as he was the #12 QB of Week 3, but that’s Just Ok since he was a borderline Starter. The recommendation to put Adam Humphries and Drew Sample in your Starting lineup was Bad with Humphries being outside the Top 50 WRs for the week and Sample being very bad as he only had 1.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. As has been the pattern in 2020, these recommendations fell far short of perfection. Let’s try to get more than one Good recommendation in Week 4:
Ryan Fitzpatrick (QB – MIA): After a terrible 4 turnover (3 INTs and 1 fumble) performance against New England in Week 1, Ryan Fitzpatrick has put together two consecutive turnover-free 30.0+ Dynasty Owner fantasy point games. Overall, that makes him the #17 ranked QB in Dynasty Owner. Now in Week 4, he gets the banged up Seattle defense flying cross-country to Miami for an early game. Seattle has by far the worst pass defense in the NFL and no longer resembles the famed Legion of Boom defenses from 2012 to 2015 that led the league in scoring defense. This Seattle defense has allowed 1,319 yards passing and 6 TDs over the first three weeks of the season. That’s an average of almost 440 yards and 2 TDs per game or 34.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. An average QB game by Fitzpatrick this week against Seattle will definitely put him in the Top 12 QBs for the week and make him worthy of being in your Starting lineup.
Ronald Jones II (RB – TB): Jones should have a good week against a Chargers defense that has several players missing due to injury. He’s currently the #33 RB in Dynasty Owner, while fellow Buccaneers RB Leonard Fournette is #26. Fournette missed practice on Thursday, but worked out on the side. His absence would open up more playing time for Jones against the Chargers. Plus, the Chargers have to fly cross-country to play in one of the early games, which is always tough on a team’s players. Jones has been consistent this season so far, getting around 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per week (10.2 in Week 1, 10.7 in Week 2 and 9.3 in Week 3). That’s good enough on its own to be at least worthy of using as your FLEX, but Jones will be good enough this week to get “promoted” to a RB spot in your Starting lineup.
Cole Beasley (WR – BUF): Beasley’s numbers have improved steadily every week so far this season, from 9.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 1, up to 12.0 points in Week 2 to 16.0 points in Week 3. While Gabriel Davis got most of the attention for his 4 receptions and 81 yards in place of John Brown, Beasley was the Bills’ leading receiver in the game with 6 receptions for 100 yards. Beasley is actually averaging 15.2 yards per catch, which is slightly ahead of teammate Stefon Diggs. All he needs is a TD from Josh Allen. With John Brown questionable with a calf injury suffered in last week’s game, Beasley could be in line for more work this week against the Raiders. He’s only owned in 24% of Dynasty Owner leagues right now because of his $7.25 million annual salary for 3 more years. If you spent that kind of money to get him, it’s time to get him in your Starting lineup.
Dalton Schultz (TE – DAL): As the #14 TE currently with 98% ownership in Dynasty Owner leagues after going undrafted (that’s what ADP N/A means on his profile page), Dalton Schultz wasn’t someone who Dynasty Owners planned on having on their team this season. Now, it’s Week 4 and he’s a recommended player for your Starting lineup. With Ezekiel Elliott, Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup and CeeDee Lamb on the Cowboys, it’s hard to believe that there are any targets left for Schultz, but he’s been targeted 20 times in just three games (one more than Gallup and two fewer than Lamb). This week, Schultz faces a Cleveland Browns defense that has allowed 22 TE receptions and an average of 13.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points to the opponent’s leading TE through the first three weeks of the season. That’s enough Dynasty Owner fantasy points to be a Starter so get Schultz into your Starting lineup.
These Guys Should Be on the Bench (or Practice Squad) This Week
Next up are the Week 3 Bench or Practice Squad recommendations. How did they fare (Good, Bad or Just Ok)?
- QB: Deshaun Watson – 22.7 (Just Ok recommendation)
- RB: Todd Gurley – 15.2 (Bad recommendation)
- WR: Robert Woods – 20.4 (Bad recommendation)
- TE: Darren Waller – 2.9 (Good recommendation)
Picking Darren Waller as a Bench player last week was a Good recommendation, but it was the only one. Robert Woods was a Top 12 WR, so that was a Bad recommendation. However, Todd Gurley was a middle of the road RB2 and Deshaun Watson was just outside of the Top 12 QBs by a couple of points which makes both of those selections Just Ok. So far, two out of the three Good Bench recommendations on the season have been TEs. Hopefully we can keep doing well with the TE selections and do better with rest of the positions in picking who should be sitting on your Dynasty Owner Bench or hanging out with the Practice Squad in Week 4.
Cam Newton (QB – NE): Another week, another good running QB as the opponent for the Kansas City Chiefs. This week, it’s Cam Newton coming to Arrowhead Stadium on the heels of the Chiefs holding Lamar Jackson to just 15.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points on Monday Night Football. They also held Deshaun Watson to 24.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 1, which put Watson outside the Top 12 QBs for the week. Each week so far this season, the Chiefs defense has only allowed one passing TD. As a Patriots fan, it pains me to make this recommendation, but the fact is that the Kansas City defense appears to be well equipped to stop good running QBs, like Cam Newton. It’s probably tough for Newton’s Dynasty Owners to do it, but Benching him is the right call for Week 4.
Ezekiel Elliott (RB – DAL): This recommendation is all about lack of volume for Zeke. While he’s averaging almost 20 carries and 5 receptions per game, the Cowboys can only resemble the Air Raid or Run n’ Shoot offense for so long since neither Mike Leach, Mouse Davis nor June Jones are calling the Cowboys plays this season. Cleveland needs to keep the ball on the ground offensively and use up the clock to keep the ball out of Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott’s hands. They are tied with the Rams as the #3 rushing offense in the NFL right now and held the ball nearly 34 minutes per game in victories against Cincinnati and Washington, so it’s possible. It’s probably crazy to think that with all of the injured RBs out there that sitting a consensus first round draft pick (ADP 9.7) who is rated as the #4 RB in Dynasty Owner right now is a good idea. However, if somehow you have two or more good RBs on your roster with better matchups, putting Elliott on your Bench is something to think about at the minimum.
Allen Robinson (WR – CHI): Despite having not so good QBs throwing him the ball for pretty much his entire career, Allen Robinson is always a serviceable WR on a week in and week out basis. He only had three games in 2019 with less than 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but already has one this year so far. Even so, he’s still the #17 rated WR in Dynasty Owner right now and was at his best last week once Nick Foles entered the game. Robinson caught 4 passes for 54 yards and a TD (15.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points) from Foles in the second half alone. This week, Foles is the starting QB, but the opponent is the top rated pass defense in the NFL in the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts are allowing just 132 passing yards per game through the first three games. Admittedly, they faced Gardner Minshew II, Kirk Cousins and Sam Darnold in those three games, but Nick Foles isn’t exactly Patrick Mahomes. The over-under for the Colts-Bears game is 43 points, so not a ton of TDs are expected by either team. Be flexible with your lineup and Bench Robinson this week.
Tyler Higbee (TE – LAR): After watching the Patriots hold Darren Waller to 2.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points last week, it’s tempting to put Travis Kelce in this spot. However, that’s crazy as Kelce has scored over 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points all three weeks in 2020 and 14 out of 16 weeks last year. Nope – not going to touch that one. Instead, Tyler Higbee is the choice as he’s the #4 TE in Dynasty Owner and owned in 98% of Dynasty Owner leagues despite a hefty $7.25 million salary through 2024. Higbee is someone who Dynasty Owners are planning on having for a long, long time with that contract, but who they need to get out of their Starting lineup this week. The Rams are playing the Giants this week and likely won’t need to throw the ball much to win. The Giants three previous opponents haven’t had to do much throwing with only 32 passing attempts per game, tied for 25th overall. Plus, the Giants have also been pretty good this year against TEs when their opponents have thrown the ball, allowing just 10 receptions for 123 receiving yards to them. Hope you have another good TE to put in his place because Higbee should be on your Bench this week.
Dynasty Owner Matchup of the Week – Judge Jeudy vs. Reverse Kanga FC
It’s time for our fourth Dynasty Owner Matchup of the Week for the 2020 season between two of the best Dynasty Owner Twitter followers out there – Tom Ayling (Judge Jeudy) and Wilson Davis (Reverse Kanga FC). Tom started the #DOTrades movement on Twitter that has moved into being a regular segment on the weekly podcast with Tim and I and Wilson faithfully appears to read every Dynasty Owner tweet. Even though neither one is on the Chase for the Ring leaderboard, this is still a Matchup worthy of being analyzed.
Based on the exclusive Dynasty Owner scoring projections for each team’s current lineup, it looks like Reverse Kanga FC gets his first 2020 Dynasty Owner victory by a close 125.1-114.9 margin. Let’s look each team’s current Starting lineup to see who’s got the advantage:
The entire 10.2 point projected victory for Reverse Kanga FC rests in his Starting lineup, but you’ll see that Judge Jeudy has James Washington of the Steelers in his Starting lineup. Tom says he plans on switching out Washington for either John Brown or Sammy Watkins – both of whom are on his Bench right now. Let’s look at both Benches to see how many points Tom can expect from John Brown or Sammy Watkins and what that does to the Matchup.
Depending on whether Tom moves Sammy Watkins (11.2 projected points) or John Brown (10.3 projected points) from his Bench to the Starting lineup, he makes this Matchup into a toss-up. Add in the fact that Wilson has Stephen Gostkowski on bye now and Tom will get to take a WR off his Practice Squad and put him on his Bench and we’ve got a Matchup that’s too close to call.
It’ll come down to Monday Night Football and each team’s Bench players as Judge Jeudy has Aaron Rodgers while Reverse Kanga FC has the combination of Brian Hill and Hayden Hurst from his beloved, but possibly cursed Atlanta Falcons.
Conclusion
Both teams in our Matchup of the Week are being flexible with their rosters. By Thursday, neither one has set their final lineup, which is ok since they’ve got time to wait and see if anything happens that might cause them to need to make a change. It’s 2020 after all. Maybe Reverse Kanga FC has a waiver claim pending to add a third kicker to put on his Bench in place of Gostkowski or maybe Judge Jeudy is cooking up a trade to post on Twitter with #DOTrades that will put his team over the top this week. Your guess is as good as mine, so you’ll have to check back on Tuesday and see who won.
Please read the preview article each and every week. Maybe your team will be featured in a future Match-Up of the Week. If you want your team featured, then just tweet me (@SteveVT33) and check out next week’s preview to see if your matchup was chosen. Remember that there will be a recap article coming out every Tuesday and a preview article posted every Friday throughout the Dynasty Owner season. We will also have articles from Chris Wolf (@ckwolf21), Matt Morrison – The Jerk (@Dynastyjerk) and Jay Poundsee (@jaypoundsnfl) during the season as well. Follow all four of us plus Dynasty Owner (@Dynasty_Owner) on Twitter. There will also be a weekly Tuesday Live YouTube podcast with the creator of Dynasty Owner and Dynasty Owner O.G. Paul Gabrail, Dynasty Owner CEO Tim Peffer and Seth Kerechanin, the voice of Dynasty Owner.
The podcast series with myself and Dynasty Owner CEO Tim Peffer will continue with weekly videos that will be posted on the Dynasty Owner channel on YouTube and other places (iTunes, Spotify, Spreaker). You can catch up with older videos and tutorials there as well. Tune in to learn more about Dynasty Owner, see how our predictions did and help you set your weekly lineup. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and make sure to “Like” all of the videos to help promote them. Dynasty Owner is up to 520 subscribers on YouTube and thank you all for watching and listening. All of this great content is available to help you win your Dynasty Owner league and maybe become the winner of the 2020 Chase for the Ring!
Follow us on Twitter: @Dynasty_Owner