Dynasty Football Buy Low Candidates: Pre-NFL Draft

We’re in that weird area in the NFL off-season where most of the big-name free agents have been signed and everyone is getting ready for the draft. Players are not getting signed right now, with all the teams waiting to see what shiny new toy they get in the draft. It’s the perfect time to try to find some fantasy value in your dynasty league that other league owners might be low on. There are trades to be had, and might as well try to get some high-upside players at low cost. Let me know what you think on Twitter @OBryanBren.

JuJu Smith-Schuster

Wide Receiver, Kansas City Chiefs

JuJu Smith-Schuster would have probably been an even better buy-low candidate prior to signing with the Cheifs, and his value might be a bit higher now than it was then, but I still feel like you can get Smith-Schuster at a reasonable price. Smith-Schuster only played in five games last season and was only able to register 15 of 28 targets for 129 yards. However, just two seasons ago he was able to log 97 receptions for 831 yards and nine touchdowns. This was in a much different offense and an aging Ben Roethlisberger throwing him the ball. This season he’ll have arguably the best quarterback in the league throwing him the ball with Patrick Mahomes and a dynamic play-caller in Andy Reid. Smith-Schuster’s value is only going to go up this season and his production is probably going to be up close to his 2020 season levels.  

One drawback in trying to acquire Smith-Schuster is the potential for his contract going forward. With the inflated wide receiver contracts this year, he’s on a very budget-friendly one-year contract with Kansas City. If he has a big year with the Chiefs, his budget number is going to explode for 2023. However, that does create some significant trade value in 2023. With that being said, I think you could get Smith-Schuster for a 2nd-round pick potentially packaged with a mid-tier wide receiver, especially this time of year. 

Terry McLaurin

Wide Receiver, Washington Commanders

Terry McLaurin is a talented wide receiver that has suffered from horrible quarterback-itis for his entire career. He had a ton of promise last year when Ryan Fitzpatrick was named the starting quarterback, but that quickly flamed out when Fitzpatrick was hurt for the season. Carson Wentz is now coming to D.C. to take over the starting quarterback role. Wentz is an upgrade to the position from what they had last year, but not enough of an upgrade to really move the needle on McLaurin’s trade value. Wentz is arguably the best quarterback McLaurin has had during his career at Washington.

McLaurin had his best season in 2020 when he registered 87 receptions for 1,118 yards with four touchdowns and this was with Taylor Heinicke throwing him passes. I would expect him to creep back up in the realm of those stats with Wentz throwing the ball. I think you could steal McLaurin away for a late-round pick and maybe packaged with a mid-low tier player.

Leonard Fournette

Running Back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Leonard Fournette finished as RB4 in PPR fantasy points per game last season and is on a team that has less competition in the backfield for him this year than last year. In his age 27 season, Fournette has continued to improve every year and seems to have a ton left in his tank to put together a few more solid seasons. Normally running backs start to fall off the cliff after their age 25 seasons, but that has not been the case for Fournette. He has seemed to get better every year and has remained relatively healthy.

You can realistically expect his production to start to dip over the next 2-3 years, but he’s now on a  three-year deal in Tampa Bay and tied pretty tightly with their dynamic offense led by Tom Brady. So if your team is also in a 2-3 year window of winning your league championship, Fournette might be the target to look at. On the other side, if your team is in rebuild mode, you might not want to consider Fournette. He could probably be had for only a late-round pick and maybe a young player packaged with him. Well worth the value to get you over that hump. 

Jaylen Waddle

Wide Receiver, Miami Dolphins

I think it is fair to say that Jaylen Waddle is no longer the clear-cut number one receiver in Miami, with Tyreek Hill coming to town. However, the second-year wide receiver showed a ton of promise in his rookie season. Last season he had 104 receptions for 1,015 yards and six touchdowns with Tua Tagovailoa missing a handful of games, and not a lot of other playmakers to take the spotlight off of him. 

With Hill being inserted into this offense, he’s not going to see the same volume of throws coming his way, but he should still be productive. However, I think this trade has more of a long-game play to it than just next season. Hill’s skill set does not project well over the long term, with straight-line speed being a skill that diminishes rather quickly after a certain age. At age 28, it would be realistic to expect Hill’s speed to start to decrease significantly over the next 2-4 years, opening the door for Waddle to take over as the number one in Miami for the next 8-10 seasons. I do believe you can pry Waddle away from an owner in a package deal with a mid-tier level player and a 2nd round pick.

Trey Lance

Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers

What a crazy off-season the 49ers have been going through. After the season ended, it was the general consensus that Jimmy Garoppolo was going to be traded to the highest bidder and Trey Lance was going to take over the helm in San Francisco. There is also all the recent talk about Deebo Samuel wanting out, which would seriously deplete the talent in the Bay area. It is now the end of April and Garoppolo is still on the team and most of the open quarterback spots have been filled. While I still believe Garoppolo gets dealt at some point, and probably around the draft, there still is the risk that he is challenging for, if not running with the starting spot next season.

Lance showed a ton of promise in the few starts he made last season and the sky is the limit for this kid in Kyle Shanahan’s offense. However, with all the drama going on around in SanFrancisco, Lance could be had for a reasonable offer. It’s going to take a talented player, or a bottom-six first-round pick to get Lance, but will 100% be worth it.

Marlon Mack

Running Back, Houston Texans

With the ultimate buy-low candidate, I’m going with Marlon Mack. Mack has had an injury-plagued career, but when he starts he tends to put up decent numbers. In his last full season, he started 12 games in 2019 and played in 14 of them. He put up over 1,000 yards rushing and scored eight touchdowns. He has also been a decent threat out of the backfield getting 14 receptions on 17 targets in the 2019 campaign. He’s by no means a world-beater, but he was also helping to win fantasy championships a few short years ago. With Jonathan Taylor taking over last season for the Colts and Mack taking a season-ending injury, Mack was traded to the Texans and has a clear shot at the starting role with Rex Burkhead manning that role last season.

If Mack can stay healthy and become the lead back in Houston, he’s well worthy of making a trade to acquire him. If he’s not already on waivers, you probably can pick him up for a really late draft pick, a really low-level player, or maybe even just a ham sandwich. Either way, I think he’ll be quite the bargain bin pick-up.

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