Dynasty Market Plays: Training Camp Week 1 (Fantasy Football)
You took the plunge into your first dynasty league. You used the UDK+, drafted mostly young guys, and now you’ve basically won the league at the draft! Just play the matchups, stream from your bench, win a few trades. This should be easy, right?
Fast-forward a few years, and you are getting frustrated. Your young guys are getting old; you have drafted some guys who have worked out and others who have busted. You totally missed on Malik Nabers when you drafted Marvin Harrison Jr instead! The same teams that were in the year one championship game seem to have retooled and are even stronger.
Dynasty feels familiar because the players, teams, and platforms are the same, but it introduces an entirely different market. In redraft, you mostly care about points this year, covering bye weeks, and playoff matchups, whereas dynasty adds age, longevity, roster construction, and future value. On top of that, every roster is unique with different goals. This creates value margins. Finding and exploiting those margins is the name of the game. One team’s Derrick Henry buy is another team’s sell, and that is the beauty of dynasty.
Before diving in, it is important to say that not all of these players will be the right fit for your roster. Dynasty values are more like jazz than hard math.
My goal is to help you get better at playing the market rather than getting played by it.
The start of training camp marks a torrent of new information to respond to. If you pay attention, you will pick up on the positive swell of news for some players and make excellent moves for your dynasty squad.
Malik Nabers
The Narrative: Last September, Malik was at his peak as the dynasty WR2 on Keep Trade Cut. Then he suffered a season-ending injury, shattering the hopes and dreams of fantasy managers in 2025. This hurt his market value, but when the news of his second surgery hit the internet, the 23-year-old’s value fell to new lows. Today is likely the lowest price for a guy with his upside.
Then came the camp videos.
Malik Nabers participated in Giants practice again today pic.twitter.com/DDpiUxfmJE
— SNY Giants (@SNYGiants) July 30, 2026
Malik Nabers back as #giants kick off training camp. The WR participated in individual drills and install but not anything else from what I saw pic.twitter.com/ghPOUmo9um
— Charlotte Carroll (@charlottecrrll) July 29, 2026
Spreadsheet bros even agree that he looks great. He is smooth into his cuts and fast out of them. I am all in. Buy the dip, y’all.
What Teams Should Target Nabers: Contenders and rebuilders
Consider Him As: A cornerstone asset with top-end upside. He is a player you can win a championship with, and he is also a WR1 you can plan your rebuild around. His ceiling is the dynasty WR1 overall given his age and the trajectory of the Giants, which means his market value has room to grow significantly.
Trades: Nabers has peak value upside, which to me, in a vacuum, is three-ish mid-firsts in both 1QB and SuperFlex leagues, even if that means a couple of your beloved 2027 picks.
Real-life trades I like include:
Morgan Tencza-Imagn Images
Bhayshul Tuten
Source: NFL.com
The Narrative: Look, if you hung around the Fantasy Footballers Discord earlier this spring, you will know I was skeptical of Tuten, so I will get the bear case out of the way. He was projected to be picked in the third round but fell to a dreaded fourth-round pick *shudders,* like Dameon Pierce. He was supposed to be an “explosive player,” but he only averaged 3.7 yards per carry last year. As a rookie, his film showed some vision/patience issues behind the line annnnnnnnnd that is all I’ve got. I blame my previous bias against him on the Chargers losing to the Jags in the playoffs a few years ago.
But here is the bullish case. He is explosive, only 23 years old, and on an explosive offense that ranked sixth in points per game last year. As the Ballers said in their Unsolved Mysteries episode, he profiles to be the obvious receiving back. On top of that, per Pro Football Reference, he turned eight rushing attempts inside the opponent’s 10-yard line into five TDs, with four of those coming inside the 5-yard line. He tacked on another two receptions for 26 yards and two TDs. Tuten showed up at the goal line even with Travis Etienne balling out.
And yes, Tuten’s goal-line numbers are better than CRod’s.
Last yr among 35 RBs w/ at least 25 RZ rush att
(per @FantasyPtsData)Sure…
Chris Rodriguez was 6th in rushing success % & had the 13th-lowest stuff % BUT…
Bhayshul Tuten was 4th BEST in rushing success % & had the 4th-lowest stuff %.
Tuten could be JAC's RZ RB in 2026.
— Derek Brown (@DBro_FFB) July 21, 2026
You also love to see when a coach who is reliable according to Shrager’s Coachspeak index is gassing up players.
#Jaguars HC Liam Coen on Bhayshul Tuten:
“His yards after contact and rushing yards, man, when he can get going and get downhill — I mean, he was 4.28 coming out. He can fly… we’re definitely expecting Tuten to have a big year for us.”
Coen has an 80% reliability rating on… pic.twitter.com/kkxrMtOqG2
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) July 22, 2026
He has also been lighting up camp according to beat reporters.
.@_John_Shipley on Bhayshul Tuten:
“Tuten's terrific practice performances have simply been a consistent part of the Jaguars' offseason practices and early days of training camp.
The Jaguars' defense has actually snuffed out a ton of runs in camp, but Tuten has been an… pic.twitter.com/hHmagf3PjS
— SleeperNFL (@SleeperNFL) July 30, 2026
All this, and I haven’t even talked about his steady value yet.
When you zoom out and look at the dynasty landscape, it gets even better.
He is not only the third-youngest player in this range, but he also does not have the red flags of his peers of a similar age. Despite the camp hype, Jonathon Brooks is on a bottom-third projected offense and has serious injury concerns. The other player younger than Tuten is Jadarian Price, who has a looming split backfield with Zach Charbonnet. Regarding Tuten’s own backfield, neither CRod’s previous production nor his current contract suggests he will be the starter.
Now look at the age of the dynasty RB field in Tuten’s range. If Tuten just holds his value, you can project age-related market depreciation from several players north of 28 years old. Yesteryear’s roster staples like Christian McCaffrey, Saquon Barkley, and Travis Etienne are the obvious candidates for depreciation. From age alone, Chase Brown, Kyren Williams, and Javonte Williams may follow.
What Teams Should Target Tuten: Contenders and rebuilders
Consider Him As: An RB2 for flex prices with high-end RB2 upside.
Trades: Keep Trade Cut currently has him valued as an approximate 2026 mid-to-late first or an approximate 2027 late first to early second. I will gladly buy at those prices, even as a rebuilder.
Real-life trades I like include:
Nabers and Tuten are at different price points, but buying at their current prices before public perception drives their values up is the move here. That does not mean making a move for these guys is risk-free. Every trade has risk, but barring a major setback, I think these are some of the best values in the dynasty market.
For me, the upside is worth the downside risk. If you wait it out, you may be paying full price after another strong week of training camp.
Throughout this series, I will be looking to exploit gaps in value and perception before the market catches up. So comment below with the players whose values you think do not match the dynasty market, and I will be back with more later in training camp.