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The dynasty football season has no stop date. There’s no turning it off. It’s a year-round endeavor and oftentimes, some of the best moves can be made immediately after the season ends. That’s because fantasy managers can occasionally be prisoners of the moment. There can be some vast over- and under-evaluations of players due to the season that just unfolded. That can be an opportunity for fantasy managers to get good deals on some really good players.
This article will be focused on players dynasty managers should be buying this season. However, it’s still important to know the context of your team. If you were 2-12 last season, maybe buying Aaron Jones or James Conner probably isn’t the right move for you. The players listed below are those who have plus value based on their current valuations on KeepTradeCut.com.
If you’re a rebuilding team, 2-3 years away from competing kind of team, you should be focused on quarterbacks, young receivers, and tight ends. If you were a fairly competitive team last year and could be a player or two away from competing, don’t be afraid to add some of these “older” veterans whose values have fallen too far.
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Justin Fields, Chicago Bears
Based on KeepTradeCut.com, acquiring Fields will cost you a mid-first-round pick in 2024. By contrast, Trevor Lawrence requires a top-four pick even though Fields has out-scored Lawrence in each of the past two seasons. This past year, if we eliminate Week 6 where he left in the first half, Fields averaged 20.4 PPG. This would have been tied for QB5 with Dak Prescott. In 2022, Fields finished as the QB5 with a 20.5 PPG.
He’s likely being undervalued because his future is up in the air. Does he stay in Chicago? Is he going to be traded? Worst case scenario, what if he stays in Chicago and they draft Caleb Williams and he gets benched mid-way through the 2024 season? For the record, I give that scenario a 0.01% chance of happening. Still, the unknowns are dragging down his value. That’s a perfect time to attack.
Justin Fields' last 17 full games played
3125 passing yards
63.6 comp %
26 TD
11 INT
1273 rushing yards
9 TD
93.28 QB passer rating2023 QB passer ratings:
Hurts 93.5
Allen 93.4
Mahomes 93.3
Herbert 93.2
Fields 91.8
Lawrence 91.2
Burrow 91.0 pic.twitter.com/6mqeJbvQk3— Nick Whalen (@_NickWhalen) December 15, 2023
If he stays in Chicago, he’ll have D.J. Moore, Cole Kmet, and maybe Marvin Harrison Jr. Or Malik Nabers. Or Rome Odunze. More importantly, though, he’ll have a new offensive coordinator. If he’s traded, the most likely spots are the Atlanta Falcons. They have Drake London, Bijan Robinson, and Kyle Pitts. They also just fired Arthur Smith. Maybe he’d go to the Raiders with Davante Adams, Jakobi Meyers, and Michael Mayer. Or there’s always Pittsburgh. There he’d have Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Pat Freiermuth, and a solid offensive line. The point is, wherever Fields is starting in 2024, he will be good.
Being able to acquire a quarterback who has finished in the top five of fantasy scoring in each of the past two years for just a mid-first-round pick is a steal. Fantasy managers should capitalize on his unknown destination if they’re able to.
Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Love’s current KeepTradeCut value perfectly aligns with the 1.05 and in any Superflex league, that’s a good price. Is it cheap? No. Will you have to give up Drake Maye, Rome Odunze, or Brock Bowers to do it? Yes. Would I still do it? Yes. All of those players are unknown. Love just finished second in passing touchdowns in his first year starting. He did with the youngest group of pass-catchers and the youngest offense in the NFL. He finished as the QB5 this year with a 19.5 PPG average.
I don’t think dynasty managers and the majority truly recognize Love's vast potential. I think Love will be in the conversation for future MVPs. Plural, as in more than one. This offense, as Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, Christian Watson, Dontayvion Wicks, Luke Musgrave, and Tucker Kraft get more experienced and more talented, has the potential to be one of the best offenses in the NFL.
Jordan Love finishes with 4,159 Pass Yards and 32 Pass TD
The ONLY QBs in NFL HISTORY to exceed these totals in their first season as a full time starter:
Patrick Mahomes
Kurt Warner pic.twitter.com/4Oc0IqDg7s— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) January 8, 2024
Love has the benefit of being coached by a top-five offensive mind in the NFL. His upside is that of Joe Burrow. It’s that of Justin Herbert. Call me crazy all you like, but that’s Love’s upside and he’s already put it on full display. The Packers leading rusher had 656 yards. Their leading receiver had 793. The second-most was 674. Despite all of that, he finished with 4,159 passing yards and 32 touchdowns. He’s a buy.
Running Backs
Aaron Jones, Green Bay Packers
I am not joking when I say this, you can acquire Jones for the 2.12 pick in this year’s rookie draft. That is his current value on KeepTradeCut. That is absurd. Let’s take a quick stroll through Jones’ fantasy history. In 2022, he was RB11, averaging 15.1 PPG. In 2021, he was RB12 and averaged 15.3 PPG. In 2020, he was RB5 with an 18.5 PPG average. He was RB3 in 2019 and averaged 19.9 PPG. He was hampered by injuries this season, but still showed elite efficiency when he was healthy.
His per-game averages across 17 games would have resulted in 1,013 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, 67 targets, 46 receptions, and 360 receiving yards. He finished 13th among running backs in yards per reception and third in yards per route run. He averaged 2.2 yards after contact per attempt. This was tied for the fourth-best mark in the NFL. He averaged 5.2 yards per touch, which was the 14th-best among running backs, and averaged 3.81 yards created per touch, which was the 10th-best. The dude has still got it. He is still really, really good.
When are people going to stop doubting Aaron Jones?
Has never averaged less than 4.6 YPC in a full season in his career.
4-consecutive seasons with 45+ receptions & 60+ targets.
8.6+ fantasy points & 4+ targets in every game except injury-game this year.
Dude’s still got it.
— David J. Gautieri (@GuruFantasyWrld) November 5, 2023
A.J. Dillon is not going to be back with the Packers next season, which means it’ll likely be a rookie backing Jones up. Yes, Jones will be back in Green Bay. The Packers only save $5.2 million by cutting him, but take on $12.3 million in dead cap. He’ll be the team’s clear-cut No. 1 running back in 2024.
The Packers finished with the 12th-most points scored on offense and the 11th-most yards. That was with Love in his first season and the youngest offense in the NFL. They’re going to be better in 2024. They could be a lot better in 2024 and Jones will benefit. For a late second-round pick, dynasty managers could legitimately acquire a top-12 running back.
James Conner, Arizona Cardinals
Conner is slightly more expensive than Jones, clocking in with a value equal to the 2.10 pick in this year’s draft, but if you’re a competing team in need of a starting running back and cannot acquire Jones, I like pivoting to Conner. I expect him back in Arizona based on his contract. He has one more year on his deal with the Cardinals. They could cut him and save $5.4 million, but they’d also take on $3.0 million of dead cap. Considering how well Conner played last year, is that worth it? They already have $52.2 million available, so I don’t see it being necessary to save $5 million more. He’s a good player and a good leader for a young team. Let’s move onto why Conner is appealing.
His opportunity share in 2023 was at 69.8%, which was the 10th-highest for running backs. We all love bell-cow running backs and Conner was just that. He averaged 18.1 touches per game, which was tied for the 10th-highest among running backs. Volume, volume, volume! It’s more than that though, he was still very efficient, too.
Are we gonna talk about the fact James Conner is getting better with age?
Posted his first 1,000-yard rushing season (in 13 games).
Averaging a career-high 5.0 YPC.
2nd in the NFL in broken tackles (60).
RB13 in PPG (15.5 PPG).
Going in RD12+ of startups…
CRIMINAL. pic.twitter.com/kGcNhto7ze
— David J. Gautieri (@GuruFantasyWrld) January 9, 2024
His true yard-per-carry average was 4.7, 10th-best. He averaged 5.1 yards per touch, which ranked 16th. His breakaway run rate (percentage of carries of 15 or more yards) was also very impressive, finishing at 5.5%, which was 11th. He averaged a broken tackle every 7.7 attempts. This was the second-best rate among all running backs. He also averaged 2.0 yards after contact per attempt, which finished 11th.
Much like the Packers, the Arizona offense should be much better in 2024. They’ll likely draft Marvin Harrison Jr. or Malik Nabers, which will create more scoring opportunities. Kyler Murray will be available for 17 games, theoretically. The whole unit will be in their second season under Drew Petzing, which has historically coincided with an improvement from an efficiency standpoint.
D'Andre Swift, Free Agent
Swift is a free agent in 2024. He could re-sign in Philadelphia or he could go elsewhere. I’m not sure there’s a good feel for which one of those two options it’ll be at this time. Still, dynasty managers can acquire him for the 2.03 pick in this year’s draft, according to KeepTradeCut. He’s still just 25 years old and he’s been a quality RB2 for most of his career.
This year, he finished as the RB25 with a 12.5 PPG average. Some of that can be tied to bad touchdown luck. He was tackled at the one-yard line and did not score on that same drive six times. The tush push and the decreased running back target share in Philadelphia did him no favors.
He was RB17 in 2022, averaging 13.5 PPG, and was RB10 in 2021 with a 16.2 PPG average. Even as a rookie in 2020, he finished as the RB16 with a 14.5 PPG average. It’s possible that his value could go up on a new team, but even if he re-signs in Philly, the price tag isn’t a bad one.
He finished with a 66.3% opportunity share, which was the 14th-highest among running backs and he had 41 red zone touches, which also finished 14th. Swift also averaged 16.8 touches per game, which was the 15th-highest. However, he finished with just six touchdowns. This ranked 24th. Tush push or not, Swift should’ve scored more touchdowns this past season and if he’s back in Philadelphia, he’ll be a strong candidate for progression in that department.
If he’s not in Philadelphia, he’ll be a strong candidate to get more targets. He averaged just 3.1 targets per game last year. In his three years in Detroit, he averaged 5.0, 6.0, and 4.4 (rookie) targets per game and it was in Detroit where he had his best fantasy seasons.
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