Fantasy Football: Two WR Dynasty Trade Targets to Buy Low
Dynasty leagues are a completely different animal than redraft leagues. There’s an advanced level of strategy, competition, and commitment that is hard to come by in a typical workplace fantasy football league.
If you’ve ever played Dynasty Fantasy Football, you know what I’m talking about. Your time in the offseason is spent researching incoming rookies, listening to as many podcasts as you can and doing whatever you can to get a “leg up” on your league mates.
One of the most crucial parts to succeeding in Dynasty though is to know how to trade. The key is to not only know how to find the right players for your roster, but how to capitalize on value. When you’re able to secure a player on another roster for minimal cost before they breakout, you stand a very good chance at setting your roster up for success for years to come.
With that in mind, here are two wide receivers to consider targeting in Dynasty leagues this offseason.
Dede Westbrook – Jacksonville Jaguars
Last season, Dede Westbrook amassed 101 targets in a putrid offense led by Blake “The Snake” Bortles. This offense consistently stalled out drive after drive and wasn’t able to put anything together on the field due to Bortles’ deficiencies at the QB position. Despite this, Westbrook still put up respectable numbers last season and displayed the talent that made him so dynamic at Oklahoma.
Dede Westbrook – oh my!
(via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/ErfRMgS17T
— PFF (@PFF) December 7, 2018
Now, in his third NFL season, Westbrook has some help at the QB position with Nick Foles coming into town. He also combines that with a new OC in John Defilippo, who was previously in Philadelphia and Minnesota. There’s reason to be optimistic for Westbrook’s fantasy outlook in 2019 and beyond, simply because this offense is going to look incredibly different than previous seasons.
Previously, Westbrook was used primarily out of the slot and running shallow crossing routes to cover for Bortles’ deficiencies. Now, Foles brings much more of a passing threat to this offense, which will open things up dramatically.
Westbrook also has an incredible opportunity because of the receiving options around him; they’re all unproven. D.J Chark (2nd round pick last season) has upside, but has never shown it in the NFL. Keelan Cole has the talent, but has a fumbling problem which infuriated the previous coaching staff. None of the Jaguars RBs are proven pass-catchers and the TEs on the roster are either developmental rookies or blocking TEs.
In summary, Westbrook is the WR1 on his team and is most likely to surpass the 101 targets he saw last season. He has the talent and ability to be a dominant fantasy force and he won’t come cheaper than he is right now.
Jamison Crowder – New York Jets
If you play in any sort of PPR league, Crowder is definitely someone to keep an eye on and potentially go out and acquire for dirt cheap. While Crowder comes with obvious injury risk, there’s no denying his potential in this new Adam Gase offense in New York.
The #Jets are signing former #Redskins WR Jamison Crowder, and coach Adam Gase will get creative with him. pic.twitter.com/wSFEU1tIs1
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 11, 2019
Crowder was sought after heavily by this new coaching staff and he was compensated like it. Crowder signed a 3-year, 28.5 million dollar contract. This indicates that they expect Crowder to be heavily involved in this offense and Gase’s history would prove that to be the case…
When Gase had a talent like Crowder in the slot in his time in Miami, we saw amazing things from Jarvis Landry. Over the two seasons Landry and Gase overlapped, Landry saw 292 targets in that offense. While the other receiving weapons (or lack thereof) may have played a role in this volume, the slot receiver position is incredibly important in Gase’s offense. Crowder has displayed the talent to be an excellent slot receiver in the NFL, therefore if he can stay healthy he has a great opportunity ahead of him.
Most Dynasty owners are going to be down on Crowder due to his lack of availability in the past. You may be able to get him thrown in as part of a package deal for something else and be able to roll him out week after week as a FLEX play in PPR formats.