The NFL season is FINALLY a few sleeps away. In this article, I am going to give you a few players to go out and acquire for your dynasty rosters. Let’s get into it:
DeVonta Smith
The alleged “WR2” in Philly. On Sleeper’s dynasty startup ADP, Devonta Smith is currently going at 45.1 as WR17, two rounds later than the WR1 in New Orleans Chris Olave (30.4 WR11). Why do I bring up Chris Olave you ask? If you go back to last year in fantasy, the two put up very similar numbers. Devonta finished as WR19 and PPG WR21, Olave WR16 and PPG WR20, to this point there should not be a 6 WR gap between them. If you can get Devonta + for Olave, do it even if it’s just a throw-in, a + is a +. It’s no secret the Eagles offense fell apart last year because of horrendous play calling down the stretch, even though we tend to forget Devonta cooking Tampa Bay for 8 receptions and 148 yards in the playoffs. The Eagles have made some positive adjustments to that by bringing in new OC Kellen Moore. While Moore’s last stint as OC in LAC was not overly positive several factors were not all Moore’s fault. One of the bright spots of the LAC offense last year was Keenan Allen, who had one of his best seasons in quite some time. Allen’s best traits are his ability to win in his route running and being able to line up all over the field, and who on the Eagles offense fits that mold? Devonta Smith. Devonta may not hit the 150 targets that Allen had in 2023 because of AJ Brown, but if Moore can get this offense cooking and similarly deploy Smith, there is no reason to think he couldn’t hit the same number of targets he had in 2022 (136) when he finished as WR9 and WR14 PPG. One of my hot takes for the 2024 NFL season is that Devonta has a better fantasy year than AJB because of Moore’s offense. As you can see by this article, I’m very bullish on Devonta Smith for 2024 and beyond. He is currently my WR12, a back end WR1 in my dynasty ranks, which is a bit higher than consensus. I believe he has the ability to be a late WR1-Early WR2 fantasy finisher every single year, and in dynasty, consistency is gold.
Terry McLaurin
I can feel it, Scary Terry Hours are finally coming. One of the most underrated/underappreciated WRs in football FINALLY gets a QB in Jayden Daniels. A couple of the many things McLaurin does well is his ability to win on the outside (lined up wide 93%) and track the deep ball, which just so happens to fit extremely well with what Daniels does best. Here are a few stats that will help you understand how dynamic these two could be:
- Jayden Daniels in 2023 (LSU) PFF passing grades of 71.9 and 84.6 when throwing 10+ yards to the outside (left and right)
- Jayden Daniels in 2023 PFF passing grades of 97.2/95.3 when throwing 20+ yards to the outside
- Terry McLaurin in 2023 PFF receiving grades for 10+ yards on the outside 91.8/96.1
- Terry McLaurin in 2023 PFF receiving grades for 20+ yards on the outside 94.7/95
- McLaurin’s total stats for these areas were 23 receptions for 500 yards and 2 TDs.
Adding to the quality of targets that he is about to receive, the target competition in Washington is extremely bare after trading Jahan Dotson away to Philly, there is no one stopping Terry from getting 140+ targets this season. This could be the season he gets into the top 12 fantasy finishes which has eluded him for his career. Even at 28 years old, about to be 29, I am willing to trade a potential late 2025 1st for Terry if I am a competing team for another year or two or put a package together to try and win now. In a 1 QB league that I am trying to win, I sent:
Dontayvion Wicks and a 25 3rd for Terry McLaurin, if Terry is on a roster on a team that needs to rebuild, this is what I would send.
Will Levis
Last year it was a roller coaster of a season for Levis after throwing 4 TDs in his 1st career start, to only throwing 4 TDs in the next 5 games with as many interceptions. If you have watched Levis since college, you can see the arm talent and athleticism is there, it just needs to be refined. The Tennessee Titans told us leading up to the 2024 season that they are going to give Will Levis every chance to succeed by upgrading their offense by hiring a very talented offensive-minded HC in Brian Callahan, addressing the offensive line in the 1st round of the draft by selecting JC Latham after being one of the worst lines last year and bringing in two new WRs in the very reliable Tyler Boyd and the dynamic WR Calvin Ridley. In superflex format, I would be willing to trade a late 2025 1st for him as an upside swing as I could see Levis being a solid QB2 option for your roster, with occasional QB1 finishes.
Mark Andrews
Andrews was Mr. Consistent before TEs were cool due to his high target share. The Ravens offense revolves around 2 players, Lamar Jackson, and Mark Andrews, and Lamar Jackson’s passing offense revolves around Mark Andrews. In his 6 seasons in the NFL, he has only finished outside the top 6 TE twice in his career, his rookie season and the 2023 season due to injury. Even though he only played 10 games in 2023, he still finished as TE15 and was tied for TE4 in PPG. Currently going off the board as the 7th TE in dynasty startups according to Sleeper, one of the top guys has become a value. I know everyone wants the young studs and that’s perfectly fine, but at only 28 years old there are still several more quality seasons in Andrews that I do not want to miss out on. According to KTC, you could acquire Mark Andrews + a 2nd or player of similar value for TE Trey McBride, this is a deal I would go out and attempt to make especially if I am trying to win now. You are going to get a very similar outcome out of both these players if healthy and while I think McBride is going to be a very good dynasty asset, but the addition of Marvin Harrison Jr. clouds his target share, something you do not have to worry about with Andrews and like I mentioned earlier, consistency is gold.
Writer/Analyst: @DynastyDogMike, 09/05/24
Reviewed & edited: J. Clark, 09/06/24
