Undervalued Dynasty Targets With League-Winning Upside (Fantasy Football)

Last week I covered a couple of primary targets at the wide receiver position for dynasty managers, and I wanted to expand upon that thought process this week. Everyone I follow on Twitter seems to have fallen ill of Rookie Fever and completely forgotten about the guys that have shown production. Obviously, it’s exciting to find the next Justin Jefferson or Antonio Gibson, but the hit rates on those rookies are shockingly low. If you spend all of your time scrambling to have the next big thing, you’re likely to deprioritize the parts of your lineup that are just as necessary during the fantasy playoffs. Even if you had a team full of the best rookies from the past two or three years, you’d still fall short of a championship squad if the rest of your roster was neglected. Boring assets can help you win championships, and the best time to grab the snooze-inducing players from your leaguemates is right now. I’ve done the work you don’t want to do, and identified four undervalued gems you should trade for right now. I picked one at each position:

Quarterback – Ryan Tannehill, Tennessee Titans 

Do I have quarantine Deja Vu, or did I cover this last year? Ryan Tannehill should be a top target of every dynasty manager on earth, especially ones that play in superflex leagues. Despite absolutely dominating week in and week out for the past season and a half, Tannehill remains an afterthought in fantasy football circles. He finished as the QB7 last season, had seven games with 20+ fantasy points, and only had a single game with more than one interception. Tannehill is a rock solid top ten fantasy quarterback who delivers on a weekly basis, but never gets enough love. His current ADP is QB19, despite being a top seven quarterback over the past TWENTY-FIVE weeks. He outperformed Tom Brady, Justin Herbert, and Lamar Jackson in 2020, but he’s still being drafted behind guys like Matthew Stafford and Matt Ryan. I seriously don’t understand it, and at this point I’m just going to stop trying to. Tannehill is a fantasy powerhouse at the quarterback position, and not only does his weekly upside make his ADP ridiculous, his actual production puts him in the ‘disrespected’ category for life. He’s only 32 years old, and he’s under contract until 2024. There is simply no downside to Ryan Tannehill in dynasty leagues right now. Get him on your squad. 

Running Back – Tony Pollard, Dallas Cowboys

Pollard is the definition of a boring player since he’s not a starter on his team, but his upside is as exciting as anyone in fantasy football. Ezekiel Elliott will be 26 this year and his annual workload has been substantial, so there’s a good chance we see him fall off by 2022, potentially earlier. Once a running back turns 27, they’re pretty much walking the green mile in terms of elite production, and Zeke has a lot more tread on his tires than other players in his tier. Tony Pollard was excellent last year in an expanded role, especially in the passing game. Early reports out of Dallas indicate an even bigger workload could be on the horizon for the third year ball carrier, and his upside if Zeke goes down is league winning. Even if Zeke holds up and Pollard ends up signing elsewhere in 2022, he’s shown enough to warrant legitimate interest as a starting running back. His cost is as low right now as it’s ever going to be, so it would be a galaxy brain decision to get him on your roster. 

Wide Receiver – Brandin Cooks, Houston Texans

In the words of Brad Pitt in Troy… IS THERE NO ONE ELSE?! There literally isn’t. Cooks is the only player on the Texans roster that has finished in the top-30 at the receiver position, and the ball is going to have to go somewhere. Obviously there is a lot still up in the air regarding the quarterback in Houston, but even if they have to turn to Tyrod Taylor or Davis Mills, Cooks is going to be the top dog in the passing game for a team that will be trailing most of the time. Not only is the target volume going to be there, he’s also a consistently impressive fantasy receiver year in and year out. He’s finished with 1000+ yards in five of the past six years, and his dynamic skill set downfield can be helpful for any quarterback. His current ADP of WR45 is comical, even if it were me sitting behind center chucking passes to him. I fully expect his ADP to rise through the summer once people notice the overcorrection that happened as a result of the Watson situation, so you’d be smart to trade for him now. 

Tight End – Logan Thomas, Washington Football Team 

Similar to my thoughts on Tannehill, I have no idea why Thomas is being overlooked like he is. He currently sits at TE14 in dynasty ADP, right behind Cole Kmet and Robert Tonyan. Thomas was the TE6 in PPR last year on 110 total targets. He was a PPR monster who saw significant volume, and now he’s projected to catch passes from Mr. DGAF himself, Ryan Fitzpatrick. If Thomas was a top six tight end despite pretty brutal quarterback play, then he should have a similar floor with Fitz. The Football Team did add Adam Humphries and Curtis Samuel, but Samuel is more of a deep threat and Humphries might not even make the final roster. Thomas should be second in the pecking order once again in 2021, on a team that will have an expanded passing attack. He may not be sexy, but his ADP is ridiculous. He’s a near-lock for top ten production, with top five upside.