Welcome to another Dynasty Rankings update. I’ll once again be taking you through all the latest fantasy-relevant news and how it impacted my dynasty rankings. As every dynasty league is different and every team has different needs, I’ve taken a neutral approach to my rankings, assuming PPR, 4-point passing touchdowns and a roster of 1QB, 2RB, 3WR, 1TE, 1FLEX. I’ve also balanced win-now value and building for the future so my rankings sit somewhere in the middle of those two extremes. If you need help valuing players in your specific situation, message me on Instagram @TheFantasyFirstDown or on Twitter @FantasyFirstDwn, plus you can find my full positional and rookie rankings at ffdfantasyfootball.com If you need IDP rankings you can find them on my website while I also do paid personalized rankings, as advertised on Razzball last year. Contact me if interested.
Quarterback starting jobs trending towards veterans
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. After the NFL draft, the initial excitement causes most to expect the new rookies to have big roles. In OTAs, most teams give veterans the starting reps and make the rookies earn it. Some rookies succeed in winning the starting role while others have to wait until partway through the season or, on rare occasions, beyond. Given the quality of this year’s draft class, I expect all of the top 6 rookie passers to get a starting chance at some stage in 2024 except Michael Penix Jr. That hasn’t stopped the negative reports from rolling in though. Kevin O’Connell has been clear that Sam Darnold is ahead in the race for the Vikings starting job and reports suggest that JJ McCarthy not only won’t start in week 1, but may not see the field at all in his rookie season. This aligns with my understanding of O’Connell’s comments and is the reason McCarthy has dropped in my dynasty rankings of late. If you’re in a rebuild though, you shouldn’t be alarmed as McCarthy will get there eventually. More recent reports from Patriots OC Alex Van Pelt suggest Drake Maye will follow a similar path. Expect Jacoby Brissett to start Week 1 with Maye a risk to warm the bench throughout his entire rookie season. This was always a risk so I’ve only given Maye a slight drop in my rankings. On the upside, Jaylen Daniels impressed during OTAs and, for me, is almost a lock to start Week 1. Meanwhile in rookie-free rooms, Russell Wilson is well ahead of Justin Fields for the Steelers job and, despite his age, is now ranked ahead of the former Bear in my dynasty rankings too. In Vegas, reports suggest Aidan O’Connell has an edge over Gardner Minshew. This is surprising to me and I don’t fully by it. I’ve ultimately moved both down as I just don’t want any part of this situation.
Running Back roles taking shape
Christian McCaffrey remains my favorite player in fantasy. In redraft he’s my number one overall pick in every 1QB format, as he was last pre-season. He will fall off a cliff in the next few years which limits his value to win-now teams but there’s still plenty to discuss in this running back room. Kyle Shanahan has said that CMC needs to be “protected from himself” meaning we should expect a little more backup involvement in San Fran. While rookie Isaac Guerendo seems implicated, multiple reports suggest Guerendo is well behind Elijah Mitchell and may see most of his work on special teams. I’m expecting Mitchell to remain a valuable handcuff who will likely take the lion’s share of the work if McCaffrey goes down. Guerendo drops only slightly in my rankings as I never particularly rated him highly anyway. Meanwhile, Trey Sermon appears to be the primary backup to Jonathan Taylor. With the Colts O-line, that’s quite a valuable role. I’m not fully convinced by this report though as I think if JT goes down it may be a committee or we may see a veteran come in. Hence Sermon gets just a small rankings bump. There are better backup options for fantasy. Reports also suggest Tank Bigsby isn’t having the greatest off-season. That’s a concern as he already appeared to be behind D’Ernest Johnson, despite coach-speak suggesting otherwise. Bigsby is droppable in most dynasty leagues.
Contract craziness continues
The Brandon Aiyuk saga rolls on. After saying the 49ers don’t want him and threatening a hold out, Aiyuk has now said he “for sure” wants to play for San Fran this season and that he expects he will. Honestly, to me that’s not shocking. I expected him to play one more year in the Golden State before moving on, assuming he indeed doesn’t get another contract. Hence he’s not moved in my rankings since the previous report. In other contract news, Rhamondre Stevenson has signed a blockbuster 4-year extension. Once again, the Patriots make an insane contract decision on offense. Stevenson is talented but not elite and running back is an entirely replaceable and high injury position so I don’t understand this move at all. For fantasy, this is great news for Stevenson as it locks him into a likely starting role for years to come. It’s also a dent to Antonio Gibson who will probably need a Stevenson injury to be fantasy relevant. Gibson remains a solid handcuff though.
Wide receiver jobs up for grabs
Tre Tucker appears to have the starting slot role locked up at the Raiders. I had already somewhat predicted this in my rankings, but this certainly sounds the death knell for Michael Gallup. Tucker is still only barely rosterable as this depth chart is from locked in plus I expect a lot of 12 personnel with Brock Bowers and Michael Mayer both good receiving options. In Cleveland in other depth chart news, Cedric Tillman seems to have supplanted Elijah Moore. That makes Moore droppable while I doubt I’d even roster Tillman in most leagues despite this news. Jerry Jeudy has been getting glowing reports though and is probably the only non-Cooper wide receiver I’m interested in. Another forgotten name is Calvin Austin in Pittsburgh. Reports suggest he may be the WR2, though I’d personally take this one with a grain of salt as I think long-term, that’s still Roman Wilson’s job. Austin isn’t someone I’d be picking up outside the deepest of leagues.
Daniel Jones finally gets some good news
Reports suggest Brian Daboll will be taking over the play calling in New York. This is great news for Daniel Jones and his pass catchers. The Giants were irritatingly passive and run-heavy over the last two years, while Daboll has shown his capacity to get the most out of a big-bodied quarterback who runs during his time with Josh Allen. Jones gets a slight boost for me, while I remain very bullish on Malik Nabers. I don’t think this hurts Devin Singletary too much given it should make the whole offense better and counteract his lost volume.
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