Keep Trade Cut – Dynasty Fantasy Football (Week 6)

Welcome back to another edition of Keep Trade Cut for your dynasty fantasy football leagues. In this series, we break down a handful of different players who are similarly ranked for dynasty purposes. Each week, we’ll be using a different outside source for dynasty rankings. In this Week 6 edition of Keep Trade Cut, we’ll be looking a bit deeper into the running back position and discussing three youthful backs around the NFL.

In dynasty fantasy football leagues, a player’s week-to-week viability factors directly into their value across the season. That can lead to volatile valuations from managers and surprising trades involving assets trending up or down. Weekly during the 2023 season, we’ll look 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 whether the three similarly valued players should be considered worth keeping, trading, or “cutting” them. No, you won’t be cutting these players in dynasty leagues, but that’s not the point of this exercise.

In this exercise, the keeper is a player who can sustain their value over this current 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, or holds a lot of value that may be more useful to move along in your team’s makeup. A “cut” in this scenario is a player who is trending down or has an outlook that could change quickly, therefore being seen as the least valuable currently in the trio.

This week, we’ll be using DraftSharks. Let’s discuss their current RB37, RB38, and RB39 in dynasty leagues.

Keep – Jaylen Warren (Pittsburgh Steelers)

This week starts off with the oldest prospect of the trio but also a player with a firm role in the Steeler’s offense. Pittsburgh’s Jaylen Warren has very much been the pass-catching back for the Steelers even going back to last season, and his touches have begun to translate to production for dynasty managers. Warren and the Steelers’ lead back Najee Harris are the only two running backs to see consistent work in the offense since Week 1, and that should be expected to continue, with Warren showing his playmaking ability from the backfield.

When we start to discuss running backs towards the back end of the 20s and the 30s in dynasty rankings, valuing them depends largely upon their current role, contract status, as well as what they obviously show with the ball in their hands. Warren has the ability to get chunk yardage plays from catches, and he’s been given the opportunity to do just that on a more consistent basis. He’s gotten at least 20 yards both receiving and rushing in four of his first five games. More importantly, he has had a floor of three catches while topping out at six grabs in Week 4.

Warren is a cost-controlled option for the Steelers. They should allow him to keep seeing valuable touches in an offense where Kenny Pickett is willing to play it safe and seek out his running backs. Right now, the team is giving those snaps to Warren, and dynasty managers in need of a solid flex for the next couple of years will desire this producer who doesn’t have an overly demanding price tag.

Trade – Tyler Allgeier (Atlanta Falcons)

Atlanta Falcons running back Tyler Allgeier has been an intriguing fantasy asset the last couple of years, and he’s begun the year with three games receiving at least 15 touches on the ground. At this stage of managing Allgeier, it’s about whether or not you’re a contender or need to move along from a murky long-term outlook. Allgeier had a great game to start the season, going for 75 yards and two touchdowns in that 15-carry effort, while even adding three receptions. That sort of role hasn’t completely changed, the Falcons are a rushing team and Allgeier gets a lot of carries. However, with the continued growth of Bijan Robinson, Allgeier has taken under 50% of the snaps in the last four weeks, leaving little room for error when he spells Robinson on plays.

Undoubtedly, Allgeier has proven he can be a valuable fantasy football asset when given an opportunity. Additionally, if he continues to see 10-15 touches, that should give managers sell windows over the next couple of seasons. Allgeier has the most years left on his current contract in this trio, with him signed all the way through the 2025 season.

Furthermore, he provides a strong and physical rushing component that the Falcons clearly value. However, with his lack of receiving threat (six catches on the season), he’s gonna always be a player with a possible non-existent floor who lacks ceiling week to week. He may have a pop-off game or two before the years out if he finds the endzone. Overall, managers would be wise to test his market or package him for an upgrade after those moments.

Cut – Cam Akers (Minnesota Vikings)

The Minnesota Vikings clearly took a swing at some rushing upside by acquiring Cam Akers early in the season. Since being traded, Akers has seen 14 touches across two games, with seven in each matchup. In his first game for the Vikings, he provided 40 yards on five carries, 11 yards more than he would have in a 22-carry effort for the Rams in Week 1. Akers is getting a new start in Minnesota and looks to be settling into a role as a second option behind Alexander Mattison. Akers has four catches in the two games post-trade. However, Mattison has continued to play the snaps in important situations. We’ll see how this situation develops over the next few weeks. Furthermore, it is especially interesting to project how this offense will function without Justin Jefferson.

Akers is in the last season of his rookie contract, and the Vikings don’t have any long-term commitment to the player. Meanwhile, they signed Mattison this offseason to a multi-season contract, and are still using him as a focus in the offense. That should grow during the weeks of Jefferson’s absence, but Akers could encourage his managers with more touches in the next few games. Akers being this highly rated in rankings of running backs is a testament to the manager’s continued belief in his talent, but he just may never see the role he was expected to carry pre-Achilles injury. His physicality and effort are still there, but his explosiveness cutting and getting to the second level has slowed ever so slightly. Any current managers may need to get out while they can, and even Akers believers may want to look elsewhere for a buy-low asset at this position.

Talking about running backs is a sensitive topic in dynasty, especially when you begin getting lower towards these youthful dart-level players. We’re seeing players like Jerome Ford and Tyjae Spears give production and building value for managers in different ways. Ford is making the most of his opportunity and has recently seen a bump to his profile, and any of these young backs are an injury away from being that guy in their backfield as well.

Furthermore, the running back position is so youth-focused and managers finding depth options and Flex players is largely dependent on how much that player provides rushing and catching. The benefit all these backs have is they aren’t direct handcuffs. They can each have a high-volume game that gives managers confidence. However, getting a player with Warren’s floor and possible ceiling is likely the safest option in this week’s trio. Competitors need dependable Flex options as we move into the bye-week matchups, and this list hopefully gives you a few cheaper prospects to improve your team.

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