Week 11 NFL Moneyline Underdogs
Mike Randle
With potential landing spots drying up a bit in free agency, the Houston Texans were able to get a couple of notable players on one-year deals Monday, reportedly signing RB Devin Singletary and TE Dalton Schultz.
Singletary, who turns 26 just before the season starts, had spent his entire four-year career with the Bills since being drafted in the third round in 2019. He peaked as a fantasy option in 2021, gaining 1,098 yards from scrimmage and scoring 8 times. He nearly equaled that last year, with 1,099 scrimmage yards and 6 scores. In Houston, he’ll serve as the running mate to 2022 rookie Dameon Pierce, who gained 939 yards on the ground in 13 games last year but slowed down the stretch, with only 3.0 yards per attempt over his final four games before landing on injured reserve.
Singletary will definitely eat into Pierce’s workload, but this is preferable for Pierce long term than the alternative, which likely would have been the team drafting another rookie back next month. Singletary is not on a big contract — only one year, $3.75 million — so this isn’t the Texans getting a new bell cow; this is just a decent player on the cheap. Pierce should get the first crack at being the No. 1 back in 2023 and, if he succeeds, beyond, which might not have been as true if the team had brought in a rookie. Singletary has some very low-end flex appeal in Houston, but his real value would only come in if Pierce were to get hurt (or if Singletary overtakes him as the starter).
Meanwhile, the Texans also gave a one-year deal, worth up to $9 million, to grab Schultz away from the Cowboys. Schultz had a career year in 2021, catching 78 balls on 104 targets for 808 yards and 8 touchdowns and finishing as the PPR TE3. He dropped off a bit in 2022, to 577 yards and 5 scores, but still finishes as a low-end TE1 in fantasy. He’ll immediately jump to the top of the depth chart in Houston, where the holdovers are Teagan Quitoriano, Brevin Jordan and Mason Schreck, who combined for 23 receptions last year. The Texans’ offense isn’t likely to be a powerhouse in 2023, but at a light position, Schultz should still be a fringe fantasy starter, or at least a high-end No. 2.
Of course, this all depends on who the Texans bring in at quarterback with the No. 2 overall pick next month. The team still has 2022 starter Davis Mills and just signed Case Keenum, but they are expected to draft their 2023 starter, and how that quarterback fares will determine a lot about the fate of the offensive weapons now in place in Houston.
The teams Singletary and Schultz leave behind — Buffalo and Dallas, respectively — were never seriously considered to be in on re-signing their players, so this shouldn’t change much. Buffalo will roll with some combination of James Cook, Nyheim Hines and an outsider, while the Cowboys appear to be pivoting away from heavily using the tight end position in the receiving game.
