Moves to Make Now in Dynasty Fantasy Football (7/26)

Back to our regular scheduled programming after a “Dynasty Moves to Make” trip to the Twilight Zone last week. This week, we’ve got a full slate of buys, sells, and even a sprinkle of a waiver wire pickup.

As a reminder, buying doesn’t mean getting a player for Michael Thomas and a VHS copy of Tom Emanski’s Defensive Baseball Drills. Selling doesn’t mean you must rid your rosters of said player for 10 cents on the dollar. When players are improperly valued, take advantage.

Dynasty Moves to Make: Buys

George Kittle, TE, San Francisco 49ers

There are certainly some valid concerns with George Kittle in dynasty. His fantasy points per game have declined for three straight years, 2023 being his first under 13 ppg since his rookie season. He’ll be 31 this year and is competing for targets with Brandon Aiyuk (probably), Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffrey, among others. But after deep diving into his 2023 using our just-released StatsHub, I’m buying.

He was still top 10 among tight ends in targets and receptions, caught the second-most touchdowns at the position with six and was the only tight end to surpass 1,000 receiving yards. Among tight ends who played 50% or more snaps, George Kittle was first in yards after the catch (483) and yards after the catch per reception (7.4). Kittle was among four wide receivers who had multiple 100-receiving-yard games, leading the way with three (Travis Kelce, David Njoku and Trey McBride each had 2). He no longer belongs among the elites, but Kittle has plenty of productive seasons ahead and is being left for dead.

(Note: I generally list players I’d be willing to trade in 1 for 1 deals, but there wasn’t much of a match for Kittle. I’d suggest packaging one of the following tight ends with a mid-tier wide receiver in the Dontayvion Wicks, Jakobi Meyers range.) 

Players I’d be willing to trade for Kittle in a package deal: Evan Engram, David Njoku, Jake Ferguson

Jameson Williams, WR, Detroit Lions

I wear many hats here at FTN, including video editor. While discussing the latest short-form video I’d be editing for the magnificent Chris Meaney, our talk piqued my interest in Jameson Williams. While Meaney makes some very valid points in the video below, I found even more to like while digging through the plethora of data on StatsHub.

Williams missed the first six games of the season due to a gambling-related suspension, and it unsurprisingly took him a few weeks to get his snap count up. But he saw the field on over 50% of snaps in Weeks 10-17 (he rested Week 18) and led the Lions yards per target, per reception and average depth of target (15.4 yards), which was the seventh highest aDOT in the NFL over that period for wide receivers with at least 25 targets. Jamo should play a more prominent role in the offense with Josh Reynolds leaving for Denver. Reynolds was the only wide receiver other than Amon-Ra St Brown with over 50 targets. Kalif Raymond has played a role in the Lions offense over the past few seasons but will be 30 by the time the season starts.

Players I’d be willing to trade for Williams 1 for 1: DeAndre Hopkins, Courtland Sutton, Raheem Mostert