Welcome to the Week 13 edition of Dynasty Keep Trade Cut at Faceoff Sports Network. We’re nearing the regular season conclusion for fantasy football leagues, which means managers are looking to make final touches to their rosters heading into the playoffs and for next season. In this series, we look at three similarly ranked players for dynasty fantasy football purposes. This week, we’ll look at FantasyPros and discuss three young tight ends who can hopefully raise their fantasy profile heading into next season.

In dynasty fantasy football, a player’s week-to-week viability factors into their value across the season. That can lead to volatile valuations from managers and trades involving assets trending up and down. Weekly during the 2023 season, we’ve looked at a trio of players who are valued back to back to back. Each week we’ll use a different source. From those rankings, we’ll discuss the three similar players that should be considered worth keeping, trading, or “cutting”, them. No, you won’t be actually cutting these players in most leagues at this time, but that’s not the purpose of this scenario.

Teams on Bye: Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, Las Vegas Raiders, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants

Keep Trade Cut Dynasty Fantasy Football Week 13

Keep Trade Cut

For this exercise, the keeper is a player who can sustain their current value in this season and beyond. In other words, the player who should be valued most by managers or potential managers. The player worth trading is a player whose value may be buoyed by unsustainable volume. That, or they are holding a level of value who may be more useful to move along from your team’s makeup. Finally, the “cut” in this scenario is the player who is trending down or has a rapidly changing outlook and, therefore seen as the least valuable asset in this trio.

For Week 13, we’re looking at dynasty rankings from FantasyPros and discussing their current TE19, TE20, and TE21 for dynasty fantasy football. Let’s get right into it.

Keep – TE19 Cade Otton

We start this article with the highest-valued tight end in the trio according to the rankings. That’s none other than Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Cade Otton as the keep. Otton has been the most productive of the three this year, and the only one to get in the endzone in 2023. He has 38 catches and three touchdowns, a number that already surpasses his 2022 touchdown total. Notably, he’s played a majority of the snaps for the Buccaneers at tight end, even with the team spending capital on Payne Durham last year.

The risk with Otton is that his quarterback situation may change. That may honestly improve his target quality and therefore, fantasy value, next season. Another risk is that the team may see a change in coaching. However, Otton has proved his ability to both catch and block at the NFL level.

Furthermore, with Otton being under contract for two more seasons and the possibility of a player like Mike Evans moving along, we may even see an uptick in his future volume. Pair the potential of him seeing a rise in targets, plus Otton’s Consistency Score of 2.34 (TE13), you have a player who has shown a stable floor and providing for managers who start him.

Trade – TE21 Chigoziem Okonkwo

Chigoziem Okonkwo and the entire Titans’ passing offense have been hit or miss this season. Only three players have scored a receiving touchdown this season. Unfortunately, Okonkwo isn’t one of them. His disappointing fantasy football performance comes down to his zero touchdowns on the season and a dip in long plays for the tight end. Of course, the season hasn’t gone to plan at all for the Titans. Additionally, fantasy managers who believe in Okonkwo’s talent may want to make a swift move for him now. Overall, it’ll likely be a buy-low opportunity compared to this past offseason. However, current managers also will want to extract some value from this situation.

The pros and cons of Okonkwo’s outlook are almost the same. He has a secure coaching unit that shows him weekly targets in the short game. On a brighter note, Okonkwo was turning those touches into big plays during his first NFL season. In 2022, Okonkwo turned 32 catches into 450 yards and three touchdowns. However, this offense has been built on the rushing game, and that will likely continue next year, albeit based on Tyjae Spears and other rushers in the offense.

Overall, Okonkwo’s long-term upside may be capped by the current offensive philosophy. Despite the athleticism and playmaking shown in his first season. If you can get a second-round pick for Okonkwo at this time, it may be best to reroll on another talented dart who may be in a better offense. However, due to Okonkwo having the opportunity the last few weeks with Will Levis and yet to produce, he may be trending more toward a third-round value. He’s a tough sell in an offense that can’t seem to get him the ball in the endzone, but he is still making a few catches every game.

Cut – TE20 Greg Dulcich

Tight end Greg Dulcich is the sell of this trio, due to his injuries this current season and a cluttered Broncos offense. This season, we’ve seen Courtland Sutton and a healthy Javonte Williams find secure roles in the offense, offering managers long-term hope for those assets. This team also has no problem giving Jaleel Mclaughlin and Samaje Perine touches from the backfield each week. In essence, this offense likes to spread it around and has already identified multiple targets, even Marvin Mims has shown an ability to make plays in the receiving game. When you look at this team, it’s hard to see Dulcich becoming a top-two offensive option anytime soon.

Similar to Okonkwo, Dulcich’s rookie season numbers were highlighted by a double-digit yards per catch average. Clearly, both players have shown athleticism to succeed in the NFL. However, successful fantasy tight ends need a secure offensive role. Okonkwo’s current situation is propped up by the lack of weapons in the offense, but Dulcich will have an uphill battle for targets, even when healthy. For those reasons in particular and the growing comfort Russell Wilson has shown in the offense, expect more of the same from this team and get out on Dulcich as soon as you can.

The tight end discussion in fantasy football always includes the top guys and youthful players that managers hope can take a huge leap. These three young players have all had momentary moments of hype. However, Otton seems to have the best possible outlook at this time. He’s shown production with Tom Brady as his quarterback, yet his strong numbers have continued with a significant downgrade to Baker Mayfield. Otton has the clearest path to targets with long-term question marks in the receiving corps. Even if a rebuild happens for the Buccaneers, the likelihood of Otton being replaced soon is low. The consistency he’s shown puts him at the top of this trio, and the smart buy for rebuilders and contenders alike in dynasty leagues.

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