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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
Harstad
Philip Rivers – I think his poor play the last two years makes him seem older than he is, but he's just two years older than Aaron Rodgers, and nearly two full years younger than Tony Romo. If this turnaround of his is truly legitimate, Rivers could provide another 5 years of quality fantasy QB1 production at a truly rock-bottom dynasty price.
Case Keenum – There's a lot of risk involved with Keenum. His current coaching staff just benched him for no reason. Those coaches are very likely gone next season, and there's no telling how the new coaches will feel about him. Houston looks primed to earn a very high draft pick, and there's no telling whether they'll spend it at QB. Still, Keenum has consistently shown NFL-caliber talent in his short career, and looks like he could be a credible starter in the future.
Grant
Jay Cutler – Cutler deserves a bit of an upgrade, simply because of Josh McCown. While McCown has proven that he can be successful in the Chicago offense, he’s not Jay Cutler and the Bears know it. Come the end of the season, expect that Cutler will either get a long term contract based on his injury-plagued season or he’ll get a franchise tender for 1 year and both will see what happens. Either way, if McCown can be this successful in the Chicago offense, imagine how Cutler will be with a year of experience. Now you just have to hope that the defense doesn’t completely implode before the end of the season.
Josh Freeman – if you haven’t cut bait on Freeman yet, it’s time. He was signed by the Vikings in the hope that they would find ANYONE who could replace Christian Ponder. Instead, it looks like a revolving door of bad. None of these guys will be of any fantasy value in 2014.
Tefertiller
Matt McGloin – Added McGloin after a strong performance in the upset victory over the Houston Texans. The undrafted free agent rookie showed promise. In a related move, I dropped Terrelle Pryor a few spots. He went several games without a passing touchdown before injurying his knee.
Case Keenum – Keenum has looked like a promising young quarterback, even in the losing efforts. He has done a good job of getting Andre Johnson the ball and is the superior player to Matt Schaub in 2013.
Running Back
Grant
Giovani Bernard – Bernard is proving to be a solid back, even if he’s part of a RBBC. He was one of the top picks in this year’s rookie draft and he’s looking like a RB1 potential from a dynasty draft from scratch. The old guard of guys like Arian Foster, Ray Rice and Chris Johnson looking older by the week, fantasy guys are looking to add a RB that they can count on for the future. Bernard is proving that he’s that guy, and his long-term upside makes him a solid RB1 candidate now.
Lamar Miller – The Miami offensive line is a wreck. Their offense is struggling and Lamar Miller is getting less than 10 touches a game. I’m not sure how deep your league would have to be to consider that anyone you’d want in your starting lineup. In six of the ten games he’s appeared in this season, Miller has less than seven fantasy points. In three of them, he had less than two fantasy points.
Tefertiller
Ray Rice – I had Rice ranked high, but, the Baltimore offense is pathetic. Yes, the veteran runner had a great game against the Chicago Bears in week eleven, but is still averaging just three yards per carry on the season.
Giovani Bernard – Bernard has looked great, even while splitting time with BenJarvus Green-Ellis this year. Bernard has been effective on the ground and through the air. He is looking like the best fantasy back in this draft class.
Harstad
Arian Foster – Every week it's looking more and more likely that Gary Kubiak has coached his last season in Houston. If Kubiak leaves, he could very well take the zone running scheme with him. While Foster should return from his injury next season to find the starting gig still waiting for him, there's no question it would be a blow for him to lose the system that helped him put up such crazy numbers in the first place.
Darren McFadden – Adding insult to injury (quite literally, in this case), word out of Oakland is that McFadden could easily find himself getting Wally Pipped for the starting job by Rashad Jennings. Jennings, a career journeyman who is actually older than McFadden. That's not exactly a positive development for your fantasy value.
Shane Vereen – I've written several times this year on twitter and on footballguys just how atrocious the current dynasty RB crop is. Players like Danny Woodhead and Andre Ellington are showing that a guy can be a high-quality fantasy RB in PPR leagues even on limited touches if an exceptionally large percentage of their touches come from receptions. Shane Vereen looks very much like a guy who could get 60-80 receptions annually from the RB position, adding that to 800 offensive yards and a half-dozen touchdowns. In today's landscape, that's actually a quality dynasty RB.
Wide Receiver
Tefertiller
Stephen Hill - Hill takes a tumble down the rankings after several poor performances. Hill has been bypassed on the depth chart by several lesser players. With the poor quarterback situation, and his lack of playing time, it is difficult to consider Hill a great prospect at this time.
Alshon Jeffery – Admittedly, I am slow to this party. Jeffrey has the look of a future Pro Bowl receiver. He is producing similar fantasy points as the bigger names, including teammate Brandon Marshall. Like Josh Gordon a year ago, Jeffrey is expected to be this year's hot receiver in dynasty leagues.
Harstad
Andre Johnson – Johnson is averaging over 90 receiving yards per game for a mind-boggling 6th time in the past 7 years. Johnson is on pace for his fourth career 1500 yard season, which would tie Jerry Rice for the NFL record. Perhaps most importantly, Johnson is demonstrating the difference between “doesn't” and “can't”. For all of Johnson's career, it is true that Houston doesn't use him in the red zone. Recent weeks with Case Keenum have demonstrated that that doesn't mean they CAN'T use him in the red zone, and Andre has responded with a rash of scores while targeted in the end zone. You have to think that a new coaching staff and quarterback will have learned their lesson and will get him more involved in the end zone, resulting in more touchdowns going forward, meaning Andre's upside is higher even than what we've seen to date. That's a scary thought.
Riley Cooper – Much of Cooper's production in recent weeks has been a total fluke. His TD rate is unsustainable, he's had a couple of lucky grabs after some horrific breakdowns in coverage, he even had a long touchdown reception that was thrown directly at the DB and tipped to him. Still, Cooper is a talented, athletic guy, and Foles clearly likes him. I've said in other places that I want to buy as many tickets as possible to the Chip Kelly Experience in my dynasty leagues, and Cooper is very much one of those tickets worth buying.
T.Y. Hilton – It seems that Reggie Wayne's injury has brought an end to the great Darrius Heyward-Bey experiment, as the Colts have finally begun integrating Hilton as a true WR1. Hilton still has a lot of work to do, but he's very quick, a bear for defenses to try to cover, and has plenty of upside potentially playing a long career with Andrew Luck in Indianapolis.
Grant
Mike Wallace – Time to abandon ship on anyone in Miami, including Mike Wallace. He’s just not productive enough to be anything more than a WR3 with upside in any fantasy league. Maybe it will be better in a year or two, but for now…. Just avoid it. Period.
Miles Austin – Dallas has moved on from Austin and you should too. He simply can’t stay healthy and you can expect that he’ll be cut loose after the season. Even if he signs with another team, it will only be for the league minimum and he’s going to have to prove himself all over again. If you have him, don’t cut him loose, but know he’s going to take up space on your roster and might be a bust.
Tight End
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Tony Gonzalez – We've now reached a point where Tony Gonzalez only has five games left in his fantasy career. It's been an amazing career, but I fear its end won't be quite so impressive, as Atlanta is coming apart at the seams and nobody is stepping up to draw coverage away from Gonzalez, who has been battling injuries and who doesn't have the quickness to create his own consistent separation anymore. With the trade deadline now passed in most leagues, Gonzalez's value to rebuilding teams is literally zero. His value to contenders is not substantially higher than that, either.
Grant
Owen Daniels – Garrett Graham looks like he could be the long term solution for Houston at Tight end. Although Daniels is slated to return before the end of the season, Houston isn’t going to make the playoffs and that will give him precious few opportunities to prove that he’s healthy before the end of the season. If Graham continues to shine, Daniels could be filling out a change of address form next summer.
Tefertiller
Jermichael Finley – With the serious neck injury, it is very questionable whether Finley will ever play football again. He moved WAY down the rankings and will be cut in several dynasty leagues this offseason.