Dynasty Fantasy Football Mock Draft: Derrick Henry one of the guys who should change your plan in a start-up

USATSI

In a Dynasty start-up, one thing I preach is letting your first few picks determine the path of your team. If, after five rounds, your team looks like a redraft dominator, then I suggest doubling down and pushing towards a Year 1 win. Flags fly forever. On the other hand, if your team is full of young talent that is better in Dynasty than redraft, I suggest prioritizing youth moving forward and crossing certain vets off your draft list.

But not everyone learns in the same way. Some people can read instructions and follow them. Others need to actually see the mistakes being made before they fully grasp the concept. That's why the team you'll see that I drafted below looks so severely disjointed. Yeah, that's why. I was thinking of you guys.

The team started innocently enough. I took Justin Jefferson with the fifth pick of the draft, and took Jalen Hurts in Round 2 because this was a Superflex mock. After that pick I highlighted Matthew Stafford as the only quarterback I would take in Round 3 if he was still there. Stafford's safe floor was made more attractive by the volatility in Hurts' profile. I do absolutely believe Hurts has QB1 overall upside this season, but I also recognize Hurts could be one bad season away from losing his job.

While the Stafford/Hurts combo made sense in that way, it didn't really help determine where this team fit in the two paths I laid out above. And D.J. Moore in Round 4 didn't help either. But when I got to Round 5, I saw a game-changer. Derrick Henry was still there. Drafting Derrick Henry gave me a top-five running back, two top-12 quarterbacks, my No. 2 wide receiver overall and another in the top 20. It was clearly time to put the pedal to the metal and win Year 1, right?

That's not exactly the path I chose.

Sticking to my rankings, I took rookies with my next two picks in Garrett Wilson and Kenneth Walker. Now, I want to be clear: They were the best players on my board when I picked and I would go so far as to say that Wilson was a great value late in Round 6. But they may not help me win in 2022, and Henry may not have any Fantasy value after 2022.

If I had taken Marquise Brown over Wilson and James Conner over Walker, my team would be the clear favorite this year. And I'd still have plenty of youth to prevent the need for a complete overhaul. If we were playing this out, I may be tempted to use those guys or 2023 picks to make a push in-season for a title. Or, if I have a couple of injuries I'd be looking to deal Henry and the other older players to contenders for youth and picks.

As it stands, I have a good team in 2022 that could be great if a couple of rookies hit. It's not the worst of outcomes, but the uncertainty in which direction the roster is moving is one I try to avoid in Dynasty leagues. This team could end up in the middle in a variety of different ways, and there's no worse place to be.

Here are the analysts who participated in the mock draft:

Robby Jeffries, The Fantasy Authority
Ryan Weisse, Club Fantasy
R.J. White, CBS Fantasy
Faith Enes, Women of Fantasy Football
Heath Cummings, CBS Fantasy
Matt Renshaw, Dynasty Dads Podcast
Dave Richard, CBS Fantasy
Adam Aizer, CBS Fantasy
Frank Stampfl, CBS Fantasy
Ben Schragger, CBS Fantasy
Jamey Eisenberg, CBS Fantasy
Chris Towers, CBS Fantasy

And here are the results:

Round By Round