Dynasty Gameplan Week 12: Buys, Sells, And Stash
Whether you’re in the thick of a championship run, in full-blown rebuild mode, or somewhere in between, you need a gameplan for your dynasty roster. I’m here to help you navigate the tricky world of dynasty team building no matter your situation. Every week through the end of the season, I will provide buys and sells for both contenders and rebuild teams plus my stash of the week.
START/SIT ASSIST | TRADE CALCULATOR
Buy For A Contender: Miles Sanders
It sure seemed like the second Miles Sanders went down in Week 7, the Eagles decided they were going to become a run-heavy team. But don’t worry, it was just a coincidence. Sanders returned to a 46-percent snap share in Week 11 but still managed a healthy 16 carries for 94 yards. The Eagles have now averaged 35 rush attempts as a team over the last four games and there are no signs that they plan to let up. Jordan Howard is expected to miss at least a week or two with a knee injury which should allow Sanders to take on a greater rushing share. Sanders is top-15 in true yards per carry and top-5 in breakaway run rate (PlayerProfiler). The team has phased rookie Kenny Gainwell completely out of the offense which is great news for Sanders considering before his injury Gainwell was taking a lot of the passing game work away from Sanders.
Buying Sanders now will give you a weekly RB2 for your championship run without being a rental type acquisition. Sanders is likely to remain atop the depth chart for Philly in 2022 as well. Afterall, he is still just 24 years old and has that second round draft capital on his side. He’s one of the most athletic backs in the league with the requisite size for a workhorse. Sanders comes at a reasonable price considering he’s disappointed his managers between the lack of commitment to the run game earlier in the season and the missed time with injury. He proved to be in good health, though, in Week 11 and he did it without scoring a touchdown which will also help keep the cost down. He will continue to take advantage of the wide run lanes created by the threat of Jalen Hurts keeping the ball himself much like what happened at the end of 2020 when Sanders finished as an RB1 in two of the three games the two played together.
Buy For A Rebuild: Cam Akers
Cam Akers was my favorite running back to target in the first round of both startups and redraft leagues this summer. That was, of course, until he suffered the achilles injury. He was in for a bellcow role on one of the league’s best offenses. We’ve seen what Darrell Henderson has been able to do in that offense, imagine what the superior talent in Akers would have done. The achilles injury comes with a stigma in the fantasy community as there is groupthink that running backs never come back successfully from this particular injury. However, the list of running backs who have gone through the achilles rupture is a list full of backs that weren’t all that great to begin with. Just look at D’Onta Foreman, Marlon Mack, and Kene Nwangwu. All three have suffered achilles injuries and have looked as explosive as ever when given opportunity this season. If that doesn’t make you feel better about the injury, just go to Akers’ Instagram to watch his progress in his recovery. Even Sean McVay acknowledged in October that Akers has a chance to return this season. Yes, that’s right, this season.
If that happens, the buy window will slam shut. That also means it’s likely Akers will be a full-go at the start of 2022 rather than being eased back into shape. Of course, Henderson’s performance this season tells us he’s not exactly going away easily either. But Akers was drafted to be the bellcow in this offense and his talent will be too much to hold him back for long. Let’s look back to the end of his rookie season. Akers came on strong late in the season, much like what we saw from Jonathan Taylor. In Weeks 13-17, Akers played over 64-percent of the snaps in each game. He averaged 21.5 carries and 109 yards from scrimmage over that span. In the team’s two playoff games, Akers compiled 221 rushing yards and 51 receiving yards with two touchdowns. Akers was used as an elite bellcow, taking 96-percent of the snaps in the divisional round playoff loss to the Packers. When we extrapolate his final six game averages (including playoffs) to a full 17-game season, it comes out to nearly 2,000 yards from scrimmage. It’s reasonable to assume the Rams will involve Akers more in the passing game too, given what he did in that area in college. At Florida State, Akers caught 53 passes over his final two seasons and had a 12.3-percent College Target Share. Even Sean McVay described him as an “every down back” and a “special player” this offseason.
There are dynasty managers who are terrified of the achilles injury narrative. Take advantage and buy now. But do it soon because with every workout video Akers posts on Instagram, the price only goes up.
Sell: Darrell Henderson
For all the reasons that Cam Akers is a buy, Darrell Henderson is a sell. That’s assuming you’re not contending, of course. The clock is ticking on Henderson’s value and when it strikes midnight (Akers returns), Henderson’s value drops out. He won’t be a “zero” but the difference between what you can get for him now versus what you can get when he’s (at best) sharing a backfield with Akers is a huge difference. I don’t care how well he’s played this year or what you think his role should be in 2022, if you’re not a serious contender, you’re making a huge mistake by not selling Henderson to a competitive team.
Sell: James Robinson
In a similar thinking, the clock is also counting down on James Robinson. Robinson has certainly proven himself worthy of a workhorse role. But it doesn’t really matter what we think about him. What matters is that the Jaguars used a first round pick on Travis Etienne. This is a guy who broke out as a true freshman at Clemson and had two seasons with over 1,600 rushing yards and a season with over 500 receiving yards. He had 102 career receptions in college. Etienne is absolutely going to have a significant role in Jacksonville in 2022. The best case scenario for Robinson is that he gets the majority of the early-down work while Etienne is the passing-downs back. That wouldn’t be ideal, considering a lot of Robinson’s fantasy value comes from his work as a receiver. And that’s just best-case. The more likely scenario is that the Jaguars split the touches like the Cardinals have done with James Conner and Chase Edmonds where Robinson is Conner. That sounds nice but the Jags offense is far from Arizona’s which means more passing situations (Etienne’s time) and certainly less goal line opportunities. Like with Henderson, you’re making a big mistake holding onto Robinson unless you’re a top-3 team in your league. Midnight is coming.
Stash of the Week: Tyree Jackson
Tyree Jackson is on the Logan Thomas career path. They both entered the league as quarterbacks before making the transition to tight end. Jackson came into the league as an undrafted free agent from Buffalo. He spent some time with the Bills in the 2019 offseason but didn’t make the 53-man roster. He played with the XFL’s DC Defenders in 2020. Jackson joined the Eagles in 2021 as a tight end. He was performing well in training camp before he suffered a fractured bone in his back. The Eagles waited to put him on injured reserve until the start of the season because they didn’t want to risk losing him if they waived him but also didn’t want to end his season. They activated Jackson from injured reserve shortly after they traded Zach Ertz to Arizona. In the three games since, Jackson has had snap shares of 25-percent, 42-percent, and 18-percent.
Jackson is a massive 6-7, 249-pounds with incredible athleticism. He runs a 4.59 with a 94th-percentile speed score (PlayerProfiler). He’s explosive and agile with an almost limitless catch radius. While it takes time for tight ends to develop, Jackson’s upside is as high as any. We’ve seen it done with guys like Thomas and even Darren Waller who transitioned from wide receiver. It’s encouraging, too, that the Eagles wanted him on the active roster this year.
But what about Dallas Goedert? Sure, the young tight end just signed a contract extension and is locked-in as the team’s long-term TE1. But, we know two tight ends can be productive in the same offense and Jackson is not under contract beyond 2022 anyway. This is likely a play for 2023 but the upside is worth the stash.
