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USATSI

The very best thing about Dynasty Fantasy Football is that it does not end. While re-draft players will continue to soak up information over the next six months, their teams will remain dormant. Dynasty managers, on the other hand, have rookie drafts to prepare for, trades to negotiate and possibly even waiver claims to make.

In February, Dynasty managers may also have new startup drafts to complete as this is arguably the best time of year to start a new league, which makes it unsurprising that this time of year the most common question I get is about setting up new leagues. Let's start there.

Setting up a new league

I could write an entire article just on this (maybe I should?) but for the purposes of brevity, I'm going to limit this to universal advice, and not just my preferences.

First and foremost, write a league constitution, or a set of bylaws if you prefer. Cover every single situation you can think of including, but not limited to: How are playoff spots determined, scoring system, lineup and roster limits, what are in-season and playoff tiebreakers, when are league dues due, rules on tanking, deadlines for waiver adds and/or trades, how trades and waivers will be processed, how orphan teams will be handled, league payouts (if applicable), process for rule changes in the future. 

The most important thing you can do to help a league run smoothly is to have all of the rules laid out in advance. The second most important (but far more difficult) is getting everyone in your league to read the rules. One thing that may be helpful is to have league votes to help set the rules. They're more likely to pay attention if they have a say. The downside is that with a league full of first-time players you may end up with some rules you hate in a few years.

Finally, I would suggest having everyone pay for two years before the start-up draft. Then collect another year each year before the rookie draft. That will make it easier to attract managers to take over orphan teams if those teams are truly awful. Good luck!

Sell-high candidates

This is a fantastic question and I really appreciate the first four words because this is a bit of a guessing game. But we can use some parameters based on past history. I would expect that any running back who is currently 26 years old or older is likely to have less value going into 2023 than he does right now. 

This has been true for a long time, but the unique thing about 2022 is that Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, Austin Ekeler, Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry, Aaron Jones, and Ezekiel Elliott will all be 26 or older at the start of the 2022 season. And they should all be dealt if you aren't a legitimate contender. The same goes for any wide receiver or tight end who is 29 years old or older. 

Looking at the younger guys, here's a name at each position that sticks out to me: Jalen Hurts,  Saquon Barkley, Jerry Jeudy, and Pat Freiermuth. To be clear, a lot of these guys have upside as well, but (outside of Hurts) I'm more concerned about their floor.

Valuing Cam Akers

Akers was the only player to appear in three different questions, and with good reason. His Achilles comeback has been remarkable. While his efficiency hasn't been great, the fact that he's handled 59 touches in the playoffs, less than a year after tearing his Achilles, is astonishing. He was one of the biggest risers in my recently updated Dynasty Running Back Rankings, where he came in at No. 12 at running back. 

Akers isn't exactly risk-free, but the fact that he got back for the playoffs gives me more confidence in him than I've ever had in any other running back coming off this injury. If he's himself the first month of the 2022 season, he could vault into the top five at the position.

Attacking rookie drafts

We are rapidly approaching rookie draft season, so it's not surprising we got a lot of questions about them. It will be a bit before I have specific thoughts on specific players, and I won't add the rookies to my rankings until after the draft, but soon you will be able to go to our Dynasty Landing Page to access prospect profiles for all the Fantasy relevant players in the 2022 NFL Draft.

As a rule, I lean toward best player available in a rebuild (though I'd prefer not to draft running backs if I'm more than one year away). I may target someone based on need if I'm a contender, but only if those players are in the same tier. If I truly do not have a need for the best players in the tier left, I attempt to trade down. 

More specifically, with this quarterback situation, I'm probably taking a quarterback in a Superflex league. Their longevity is such that even for a rebuilding team they should still be around when you're good. Assuming you pick the right one, of course.

Low-end starting tight ends

I'm going to assume Darren Waller was an oversight, because he's the easy answer to this question. In fact, I still have Waller ahead of T.J. Hockenson in my updated Dynasty Tight End Rankings.

After that top six though, it's kind of a two-part answer. You can use the rankings linked above to see that Dallas Goedert, Noah Fant, Dawson Knox, and Dalton Schultz are my tight ends six through 10. But maybe the more relevant question would be: "Who do I like more than consensus?". 

Fant has to be at the top of that list. I still believe in his talent and I would not be surprised at all if he jumped into the top five as early as this season. After him, it's probably Cole Kmet. He has been a slow developer, but he's a tight end. That's the norm! He's still just 22 years old, he just had a 600-yard season, and he has a young, improving quarterback to grow with. I still believe Kmet has more upside than Freiermuth.