Each week, Footballguys staff members will share the big movers in their respective Dynasty Rankings. Since the contributors will rotate, please check in weekly. The focus of this article will be on the “why” more than the movement itself. Dynasty Rankings are fluid and we hope that sharing the rationale will help you in your quest to create dynasties with all of your teams. The diversity of rankings will result in a variety of opinions weekly.
Quarterback
Parsons
Geno Smith - Smith continues to circle the drain on my dynasty board. With the landscape of the position and the affordability of veteran replacements, it is tough to value Smith much higher than an open roster spot. If a quarterback does not have QB1 upside, where is the value in holding them? I can make an argument for Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, even Johnny Manziel and Logan Thomas. Percy Harvin may help and unlocked upside yet to be seen with Smith, but hope is waning.
Philip Rivers - Opposite of Geno Smith, Rivers is a rock-solid weekly option and, even at 32 years old, is a sturdy QB10-15 option depending on the direction of a dynasty team. Rivers has more value in a starting lineup than on the trade market, making him an ideal trade target for competing teams strong elsewhere.
Cummings
Kirk Cousins - Getting yanked for Colt McCoy is one thing, having your coach say that McCoy will start the next week is quite another. Cousins has been given much more opportunity than most young quarterbacks and he simply doesn’t possess the ability to take care of the football yet. It’s possible that he’ll figure it out at some point but it’s questionable whether he’ll get another chance as a starter.
Andy Dalton - Dalton has shown us what many of us feared, his fantasy performance is very dependent on his weapons. Without A.J. Green, Tyler Eifert, and Marvin Jones Dalton has been a second-rate passer to be kind. The way his contract is structured he needs Green back soon or the Bengals may be drafting a quarterback.
Grant
Kirk Cousins – Well it looked like Cousins was going to create a quarterback controversy in Washington when he took over the starting job and performed pretty well for a short stretch against Jacksonville, Philadelphia and Seattle. But questionable games against the Giants and Cardinals, and then a disaster in Tennessee has him now riding the bench behind Colt McCoy. McCoy isn’t on anyone’s radar and if Cousins is behind him, he’s not ready to be anything more than a backup on your fantasy team.
Matt Ryan – How quickly the tide can turn. When Ryan posted almost 450 yards and 3 TDS against the Saints in week 1, he looked like a top five fantasy quarterback. But over the last two weeks, Ryan and the Falcons have looked very ordinary. Through the first seven games, Ryan has just 13 passing TDS, and only 6 of them to his best WR Julio Jones and Roddy White. Between dropped passes, injured offensive line and questionable receivers beyond their top two, Ryan’s stock is dropping rapidly. At this rate, the Falcons could be a very different team come next season.
Running Back
Grant
Jerick McKinnon - McKinnon has assumed the starting role in Minnesota with Mike Asiata taking a backup role. The Viking offense still has a lot of question marks, but with Adrian Peterson’s future in serious doubt, McKinnon could be the guy to inherit the starting role going forward. He continues to improve every week and the competition around him is far from unquestionable. Look for McKinnon to hold onto the starting job unless he’s injured.
Denard Robinson - Ok, so maybe you don’t rush out and spend all of your waiver wire money to pick up Robinson, but he’s clearly won the starting job. Toby Gerhart has been ineffective and he was inactive this week due to injury. Don’t expect the Jaguars to rush him back into service, and Robinson looks like he’ll be the feature back for the near future. Until the offense improves overall, he won’t be posting 120 yard rushing games every week, but he’s worth a flyer pick on your roster for his long term potential.
Parsons
Tre Mason - Mason sure passed Zac Stacy in a hurry and looked good doing it, didn’t he? Mason has always been the most talented runner in the Rams backfield, the finer details held him back up until the last few weeks. Like Stacy did as a rookie last season, Mason got up to speed during the season. Mason has a good argument to be in the top-20 dynasty running backs, if not higher, for forward thinking owners.
Ronnie Hillman - Hillman has stepped into the starting role, one that was not a given between Hillman, Juwan Thompson, and C.J. Anderson, and produced beyond Montee Ball. Now, the talk is that Ball’s job is not a given upon a healthy return. Hillman could be pulling a 2014 version of Knowshon Moreno as the ignored veteran that steps up when every other option is discussed as the trendy options. The upside of Hillman keeping the job only for the rest of the season is worth a significant move up the rankings with lackluster options littering the middle range of the running back position.
Cummings
Zac Stacy/Tre Mason- In the preseason many of us thought that Stacy was just a placeholder and Mason was more talented. Of course we saw no sign that the Rams thought the same until this week. Mason was electric in Week 7 and Stacy didn’t get a touch. There’s no guarantee that Mason has secured the job as a rookie but at least now we know that the Rams have seen his talent.
Fred Jackson/CJ Spiller- I’m going to be the guy that writes Fred Jackson off, again. He’s made us look silly for doing it in the past, but the older you get the harder it gets to bounce back from injuries. Spiller’s career may not be winding down but his time in Buffalo almost certainly is. The hope with him is that the next team uses him correctly…but what does that look like? 10-15 touches a game as a change of pace back?
Lamar Miller- I was not a big believer in Miller coming into the year, but he’s convinced me. The Dolphins are doing an excellent job running the ball and with Knowshon Moreno out for the year Miller will be the main beneficiary. He should solidify his long term role over the second half of 2014.
Wide Receiver
Cummings
Percy Harvin/Doug Baldwin - Adam Harstad made a great point on Twitter by saying that the real damage to Harvin’s value is that the Seahawks would give him up for so little. It also doesn’t help that Geno Smith is now his quarterback. Doug Baldwin will be the short term beneficiary, and is the only receiver on the roster that Russell Wilson fully trusts.
Sammy Watkins - I knew Watkins was talented but I didn’t think he was good enough to carry the mess of a quarterback situation in Buffalo. I was wrong. What you’re looking at is a borderline WR1 that could turn into a stud WR1 if his team can ever land a good quarterback.
Keenan Allen - Those of you waiting on Keenan Allen to break out of his sophomore slump may be in for a disappointment. Philip Rivers is throwing the ball to Eddie Royal and 150 year old Antonio Gates far too much for Allen to be a reliable producer. Allen may have a future as a WR2, but he’ll need the offense to change first.
Grant
Paul Richardson Jr - Richardson was a mid-range rookie wide receiver pick early in the dynasty season, and his stock is on the rise now that Percy Harvin is in New York. While he’s still buried on the depth chart, there are a lot of question marks and unproven players in front of him, and Richardson has a legitimate shot to push them out of the way before the season is over. Between the WR and TE injuries on the team, expect Richardson to see a lot more playing time this season.
Mohamed Sanu - A.J. Green is injured and Marvin Jones is on injured reserve. If Sanu can’t post reasonable numbers without any competition, how is he going to fair when either of them are back in the starting lineup? When Dane Sanzenbacher and Brandon Tate are stealing targets from you, your future doesn’t really look great from a long term prospective.
Percy Harvin - Speaking of Harvin, he’s an easy downgrade after the trade to the Jets this season. Their offense is a mess and it’s hard to see how Harvin suddenly becomes a big part of their offense. Not to mention the fact that the Jets are going to have some cold games in open air stadiums as the season wears on. The Jets could be in for a house-cleaning party at the end of the season, so Harvin might be on his 4th team by the start of next season, but until that happens, he’s definitely not going to be the WR1 that many folks were hoping he would be in Seattle.
Parsons
Percy Harvin - The elephant in the room is Percy Harvin. More than the situation change or any of the other aspects of going from Seattle to the Jets, what does completely bailing on Harvin as a franchise say? Hint: Nothing good. I had Harvin in the top-12 prior to the season, but now he is barely inside the top-30 of a crowded wide receiver position. Color me skeptical that Harvin gets back into my top-20.
Aaron Dobson - I am one of the biggest advocates of Dobson around. However, welcome to the Patriots doghouse and a team with a clear need for a downfield threat is not letting a player who was a fantasy WR2 when healthy last season sniff that role. Dobson has the talent, but something smells. Maybe a change of scenery is needed, but Dobson has an uphill climb back to top-25 status like he once had on my wide receiver board.
Tight End
Parsons
Gavin Escobar - Escobar was already higher on my board than most in the industry. He continues to flash in limited opportunities and Jason Witten’s role is diminished from recent years in the Dallas offense. Escobar, like former backups Delanie Walker and Martellus Bennett, could be primed for a lead role of his own outside of Dallas if Witten is still in the picture when he contract runs out. Escobar is in my top-20 and could be a few spots higher by the end of the season.
Larry Donnell - Donnell looks more than a flash in the pan. Despite the two fumbles in Week 7, Donnell flashed great hands and flexibility down the seam like a savvy veteran. Donnell has no pedigree, lacks the measurable athleticism, but who cares? He has put up numbers and has no competition for playing time at a position where, outside of less than five options, no one else is considered a locked-in weekly starter.
Grant
Gavin Escobar – Jason Witten is still the main man at the TE position in Dallas, but he’s getting a little long in the tooth. Escobar has been brought along slowly, but he’s starting to get more involved in the offense. In TE required leagues, he has some nice long-term potential, so grab him now before his stock rises too much higher.
Jace Amaro - Amaro had one good week against Denver, and quickly fell back into the three touches for 20 yard range of production. If you were holding out hope Amaro would turn into a solid fantasy TE for the Jets before the end of the season, the addition of Percy Harvin should kill those hopes, at least in the short term. In deeper leagues, Amaro might be worth stashing for long term potential, but even in 12 teams leagues, Amaro is really a backup TE with limited upside at this point.
Cummings
Gavin Escobar - We all thought Ladarius Green was going to be the tight end to push his aging predecessor out the door but it may be happening in Dallas. Witten is still grabbing the short receptions, but it’s Escobar that’s having success in the red zone. I’m looking forward to seeing this kid when Witten is gone.
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