The Game Plan For Post Free Agency (#FantasyFootball)

Fine readers of the Going For 2 fanbase my name is @TheBLeagueSays and I am 100% grateful for Free Agency happening, it gave me content to communicate with you and right now that’s about all we have in life right? This week I will present to you the @GoingFor_2 ‘The Gameplan For Post Free Agency’ where I will give to you some plays to make in regards to your Dynasty evaluations or to target in the prop bet market.

But for now, thank you – stay safe – and enjoy! 

Slant Route

Who is trending up:

How can we hate what Arizona did? Can we start with the cherry on top?

Let’s start with being able to move David Johnson (hey, respect to the player – don’t get it twisted) and his contract while picking up another mid-draft pick, but also to trade for DeAndre Hopkins for a second-round pick only? Yeesh…

Then add in the underrated signings of Jordan Phillips, De’Vondre Campbell, and Devon Kennard and while the right side of their offensive line is up for debate, Marcus Gilbert should have recovered from his torn ACL which he suffered at the start of last season and they could be in business.

The Cardinals still hold the 8th pick of the #NFLDraft and while a Mechi Becton or Tristan Wirfs could fall to them, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them take a chance as a candidate that trades back if somehow a Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert fall. It could be a very bountiful month of April for Arizona.

Flat Route

The bubble burst on:

Dallas kind of feels like a team that is spinning its wheels in the sand a little bit don’t they?

Let’s start with being hamstrung by the ridiculous deal they paid running back Ezekiel Elliott instead of their quarterback Dan Prescott due to the former holding out until he got paid last season. That act alone hurt their administration in some form. Now they should have been better and done their job and prioritized their play-caller and blah, blah, blah. We can bicker until the cows come home about this that and the other with how they handled the ‘Zeke, Dak and Cooper show’, but what we can all agree on is that the dysfunction is real. Does it feel like Mike McCarthy was the right hire after 10 years of Jason Garrett? What fresh new coat of paint is that meant to be?

In Free Agency, Dallas made relative lateral moves. Lose Byron Jones and add Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. Lose 25-year-old Maliek Collins, Michael Bennett, and Christian Covington, but then add aging veterans Dontari Poe and Gerald McCoy. They lose Travis Frederick, Cameron Fleming, and Xavier Su’a-Filo, but don’t lose Joe Looney who could be one of the better wins they had this offseason as he was courted by numerous teams.

They have the pieces to be uber-competitive, but they also have the ability to implode – which maybe sums up their entire 2019 season. I’d bank on the Cowboys hitting up a Safety in the draft and Xavier McKinney out of Alabama is the name that is currently attached to Dallas and their first-round pick and that would be a great start in solidifying a move in the right direction. But from there, I can imagine they load up their Offensive Line again and grab some more depth.

Comeback Route

Who will recover from 2019 with some astute pickups:

The Colts, I think, came out of Free Agency really strong. They didn’t lose a lot of key pieces but lost the likes of injured Tight End Eric Ebron and Wide Receiver Devin Funchess, but Tackle Joe Haeg is a loss but he can also be replaced. But to add a Quarterback of veteran status in Philip Rivers, along with Corner Back Xavier Rhodes who is now out of Minnesota, I see these as great value moves. But to go out and add DeForest Buckner via trade with San Francisco to beef up their Defense is only going to make them even more formidable.

And while we look around for bargain buys in dynasty, this team’s skill position players could all be bought on the cheap.

Phillip Rivers could be a sneaky add, as a one-year rental if you have a team that is in rebuild mode or fallen on some tough times with some currently misplaced Quarterbacks like Jameis Winston and Cam Newton. T.Y. Hilton and Jack Doyle who have produced in the past with better Quarterback play from former leader Andrew Luck can also be snatched on the cheap and we have seen how Rivers exploits his top Receiver and Tight End in the past. And last year the hype on Marlon Mack was real (and he still had a solid 2019) but it seems as if he is more attainable than ever before.

However, the narrative of ‘Nyheim Hines is the new Austin Ekeler‘ is already out there. Sure that could happen also – but I’d leave you with the ‘Buyer Beware’ caveat if no one else will.

Screen Route

Who aren’t we talking about at all:

Ok. Ok. Ok. Self admittedly, I am not the biggest Green Bay Packers fan.

So here’s a pickle I have with them right now. They go 13-3 with a 7-1 NFC North Record. They get close to the Super Bowl but were bounced by the stout 49ers pretty aggressively. But Chicago looks shaky, still. Minnesota has lost key assets without replacement and Detroit… is still Detroit. So already it’s like they have one foot in the playoffs already. And it’s only April. And the league may not start on time. And they still can half put themselves in the playoffs right now. But they made some moves that quietly I am a fan of:

They re-enforced their Linebacker group by adding free agent Christian Kirksey before losing Blake Martinez and Kyler Fackrell.

And they had trouble last year having a second Wide Receiver being anything close to consistent as they didn’t pan out so they went and brought in Devin Funchess who, yeah I get it Funchess has his detractors but he’s always been capable which again, quietly, in a draft full of top-line Wide Receivers is a good move ensuring they don’t have to be one of the teams spending up to get one. 

And stalwart Bryan Bulaga walks away, so they grabbed neighbor from Detroit Ricky Wagner on a 2-year deal.

They were astute signings and can be seen as – at least in my eyes – upgrades at key positions leaving them in just as good of a position to succeed as they did in 2019. A solid Draft though? Again, quietly, we aren’t talking about what they have done and they could already be seen as favorites for NFC right now, but, funnily enough with the incredible 2019 season behind them and solid recruitment in Free Agency, mybookie.com doesn’t see ‘the Pack’ at the top of the pile, however at tied for 6th with Dallas at $11.00 providing super value.

Out Route

Who am I completely off so far:

What the hell are the New England Patriots doing? Or what aren’t the New England patriots doing?

We know they are losing players. Tom Brady, Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Noy, Danny Shelton, Ted Karras, Elandon Roberts, Nate Ebner, Phillip Dorsett, and Stephen Gostkowski.

They’ve been replaced with Beau Allen, Adrian Phillips, Shilique Calhoun, Damiere Byrd, Brian Hoyer, and Brandon Copeland.

Not exactly like-for-like. The arrogance that Bill Belichick carries to assume they can add lesser talents and just assume they’ll get to the same level because it’s the ‘Patriots way’ is quite possibly as ignorant as it is beautiful.

They’re somehow paying $13.00 on mybokie.com to win the AFC Championship, which is tied for 4th as a favorite with Tennessee, Indianapolis, and Pittsburgh. 

Nope. 

The 9 Route

The confidence meter is going up on:

Teddy Bridgewater.

‘Mr. Two Gloves’ gets to stay in the NFC South and although the Panthers win/loss record in 2020 may not end up being pretty, he could be a winner by proxy of having incredible talent around him. He also gets alongside him a revamped coaching staff with maybe a way to bring the best out of him also.

So. Why Teddy Bridgewater?

Any Quarterback that gets to dump the ball off to Christian McCaffrey has to have appeal.

Any Quarterback that gets to utilize the YAC (Yards After Catch) benefits of Curtis Samuel and D.J. Moore has to have appeal.

Any Quarterback that gets the burner speed of recruit Robby Anderson has to have appeal.

Any Quarterback that has Ian Thomas in the middle of the pitch has to have appeal.

And finally… Any Quarterback that you can get late – that has all these benefits – has to be someone we gain more confidence in as the dust settles some more.

Carolina in 2019 had ‘any quarterback’ in Kyle Allen and he had his moments – including QB1 performances in Weeks 3,6,12 and 13 despite not throwing over 300 yards in any of those games. Teddy Bridgewater may be the Quarterback that can sustain that consistency over a full season for your roster though. If someone has him on their roster it’s worth an ask to see what you could do to get him on yours.

The Hail Mary

Jamison Crowder has survived. For now, at least and that’s a good thing for fantasy football enthusiasts. Crowder had in 16 games only 2 games with less than 5 Targets in them. When Sam Darnold returned from mono (still, lol) Crowder started finding the endzone, with 6 scores in the second half of the season. In the last 5 games of the year, he had averaged a healthy 83.4% snap share, which was up from the previous 70.5% he had in the 8 weeks prior.

I guess we (as a community) want to draw parallels at times with stories of convenience and I will here also. We know that Adam Gase isn’t the most loved person in this spectrum of the world but his distribution to Jarvis Landry should. If Crowder in his first year with Gase is going to have that 122 Target floor, which is still lower than the 147 Target average that we hope Crowder can get to that Landry had with the former Dolphins coach, then I would assume that the floor for Crowder in this role is as solid as it gets – while also remaining attainable in Dynasty formats or a later round option in redraft and Best-ball leagues too.

I want to thank you for getting this far and taking in everything I have presented. You can as always follow and find me at @TheBLeagueSays and catch my podcast – The Back Row Giants Show and offer any view or conversation about this. Don’t forget to check out the #GF2 weekly rankings which you can find https://goingfor2.com/2019-fantasy-football-redraft-rankings-gf2-consensus/, and to subscribe, rate, review, and share and listen to The Armchair Fantasy Show podcast.

Let’s all get better together!

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