Dynasty Report for Week 15 (Fantasy Football)
Welcome to the Weekly Dynasty Report!
Dynasty Fantasy Football is not for the faint of heart. It requires dedication, commitment, and research throughout the entire year to work towards the ultimate Fantasy Football reward…a Dynasty Championship.
Throughout this season, I’ll be taking a look at the previous week’s games and dissecting them from a Dynasty perspective. If you’re like me and can’t get enough of Dynasty Fantasy Football, this article is for you.
Let’s start building our championship rosters.
Dynasty Tip Of The Week
Plan Ahead and Take Chances.
We’re nearing the end of the Fantasy Football season.
As we all collectively mourn, we can take solace in the fact that Dynasty is a year-round commitment. While everyone else simply checks out until next July or August, we have other critical decisions that need to be made.
We have incoming draft pick news to pay attention to and we get to monitor the landing spots of different players in Free Agency.
Everyone knows about Dynasty draft picks and how they can set your team up for years into the future. If you’re reading this, there’s a high percentage chance that you have more than one 2020 first-round draft pick…however, one aspect of Dynasty that not many people pay attention to is NFL Free Agency.
A player’s stock can dramatically increase given a new change of scenery or opportunity. Someone who may not have panned out in one location can sign a deal with another team that has a clearer path to fantasy relevance and emerge as a legitimate fantasy option.
If you plan ahead and look to expiring contracts in the NFL this season, there’s a possibility that someone on your Dynasty league waiver wire could become a rotational piece for your roster next year.
For example, Andrew Luck may be on your Dynasty league waiver wire. The previous owner may buy into the narrative that he is never returning to play in the NFL and may have dropped him weeks ago.
At the bottom of your Dynasty roster, I guarantee there is a player that you can drop to add Andrew Luck. Especially if you have a need at QB on your roster.
There’s a low percentage chance that anything comes out of this action, but if Luck does decide to come back after a year of rest, you now have a Top-5 NFL QB on your fantasy roster because you took action before everyone else.
These actions won’t always pay off, but any edge that you can take to set yourself up over your league mates is worth exploring.
Dynasty Stock Report
Stock Up: Saquon Barkley – New York Giants, RB
As a Saquon Dynasty owner, it does my heart good to see him appear in this section again.
It’s been rough sledding for Saquon owners this season, but we may have turned the corner and are now starting to see the old Saquon back in action.
Saquon made three separate Dolphins fall on this play.
First juke 🤢
(via @Giants)pic.twitter.com/HYMVZ2K5iC
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) December 15, 2019
Saquon discussed earlier on in the week the mental aspect of coming back from an injury. While he feels like he’s back to 100%, he’s watched the film and noticed that he hasn’t been playing all out as he usually does due to the natural tendency to protect himself.
That seems to have dissipated and Barkley feels fully confident in his abilities again.
He tore up the Dolphins defense on Sunday and most likely carried you into the championship if you were in competition for that spot. With another green light matchup on Sunday against Washington, who just got shredded by Miles Sanders, Barkley’s a Top-5 RB option for championship week.
That feels good to type again.
Stock Down: Jarvis Landry – Cleveland Browns, WR
Jarvis Landry is apparently not happy with the way things are in Cleveland right now.
More fallout from the Jarvis Landry tirade during the Browns-Cardinals game: I'm told by two sources that before the game ended, 'multiple' Browns players yelled at the Arizona sideline to 'come get me'–asking to come play for the Cardinals. Landry, I'm told, was one of them.
— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) December 16, 2019
The Browns have been an unmitigated disaster this season comparative to their preseason expectations. Baker Mayfield, Odell Beckham, and Jarvis Landry were all supposed to be top fantasy options at their positions this year.
Instead, the offense took a major step back from last year and OBJ has been one of the biggest busts of the season. Meanwhile, Mayfield has hurt your roster more than he’s helped.
However, Landry has been the one player to find relative success in this offense. At the time of writing, he’s the WR18 on the season and has been a dependable option week after week.
When you needed him most in championship week though, Landry fell well short of expectations and delivered only 5/23/0.
Add in the questions of Landry’s commitment to the Browns through next season, there’s now a lot more to sift through than just a poor performance when you needed him the most.
Stock Up: Tyler Higbee – Los Angeles Rams, TE
Don’t look now, but Tyler Higbee is turning into a legitimate fantasy option at the tight end position.
Fun fact: #Rams Tyler Higbee recorded his third-straight game with 100-plus yards in Week 15. There are just four other players who've done that this season, and none of them were tight ends (Michael Thomas, Cooper Kupp, Stefon Diggs, and Chris Godwin). #FantasyFootball
— Mike Tagliere (@MikeTagliereNFL) December 16, 2019
Ever since Gerald Everett has been out of the lineup, Higbee has emerged as a weekly start option and has put up some fantastic numbers in recent weeks.
Higbee’s talent and ability have always been there, but with Everett being hand-picked by this coaching staff back in 2017, they’ve been more intent on featuring Everett. Now, they may have no choice but to move forward featuring Higbee even when Everett returns.
For how gross and inconsistent the tight end position is in Fantasy Football, having someone like Higbee emerge is exciting. For how little it cost to acquire him off your Dynasty waiver wire, or the fact that he may still even be there, Higbee’s been a fantastic addition in the Fantasy Playoffs.
Stock Down: Hunter Henry – Los Angeles Chargers, TE
Hunter Henry’s season has been an absolute roller coaster. Anyone else feel like they’re in a glass case of emotion rolling Henry into your lineup week after week?
To be fair, a lot of Henry’s struggles are tied to the fact that Philip Rivers has regressed massively this season and looks like he’s nearing the end of his career. However, there were high expectations for Henry going into the season and we’ve seen the occasional flashes that have caused us to keep him rolling him into our lineups.
However, Henry has continued to disappoint week after week. At this point, you can’t feel comfortable rolling Henry out into your starting lineup.
With question marks now surrounding Rivers and potentially who the QB will be in LA next season, we have legitimate reasons to be concerned over Henry’s Dynasty stock moving forward.
It could pay off big next season with a QB who locks onto Henry…or it could continue to decline if the QB doesn’t feature Henry like they are right now.
Stock Up: Miles Sanders – Philadelphia Eagles, RB
Drafting Miles Sanders with a top-7 rookie pick probably didn’t feel so great through the first half of the 2019 season.
Sanders wasn’t seeing enough work to be considered a useful fantasy asset, but due to where you drafted him, you had to roll him out week after week.
However, since Jordan Howard‘s injury, Sanders has started to receive the majority of the workload in Philadelphia. And he’s producing at just the right time.
Miles Sanders' last 4 games:
63 rushing attempts
313 rushing yards
4.97 YPC21 targets
18 receptions
119 receiving yards
3 Total TDs— Kyle Yates (@KyleYNFL) December 16, 2019
This is hopefully the sign of things to come for 2020 and the Eagles’ backfield. Howard is unlikely to resign with the Eagles, which leaves Sanders as the beneficiary.
The Eagles are unlikely to ever be just a “one-man show” at running back due to offensive philosophy, but Sanders is showing the Eagles coaching staff that he has the ability and talent to carry the majority of the carries.
Sanders’ Dynasty stock is shooting up not only because of what he’s displaying currently but also because of what’s likely to come in 2020.
Bonus: Dynasty Stash of the Week
Due to feedback presented on Twitter, instead of the Prospect to Watch section this week (because there are no prospects to watch), I wanted to highlight one player that could be a very useful Dynasty stash at the bottom of your rosters moving into the offseason.
This player is barely owned in Dynasty leagues and is most likely on your waiver wire, but could benefit from a change of scenery in 2020.
Rashard Higgins is a pending UFA and will likely sign in a place in need of WR help. Higgins has shown flashes here and there and was projected to be an integral part of the offense in Cleveland this season.
✅ The dime from Baker Mayfield
✅ The catch from Rashard Higgins(via @Browns) pic.twitter.com/HVj0N8BsK0
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) May 29, 2019
For whatever reason though, Higgins is not seeing the field. He’s healthy, but Freddie Kitchens refuses to roll him out on offense and he saw 0 snaps this past week against Arizona.
NFL teams will seriously look at Higgins this offseason and want to bring him into their wide receivers room. Based on my perception of the situation, Higgins is going to want a change of scenery too.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Higgins sign a 1-year deal in the offseason to a place like Buffalo or Oakland where he’ll get a legitimate shot to be “the guy”. He’s worth stashing at the end of your Dynasty bench and seeing what happens this offseason!