It's All In A Name

You spent weeks... ok MONTHS preparing for the draft. You've done all the research, set up all your cheat sheets, marked down all your sleepers, and mock-drafted every day and night until you perfected your strategy, and drafting an elite team becomes muscle memory. Now what?

IT'S TIME TO NAME THAT CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM!

Is there anything better than a funny, original fantasy football team name showcasing the players you drafted that'll get your league talking?

"Well, around here, we Foxes never do anything half-tail!"

- Foxworth07

How about FANTASY TEAM NAME GRAPHICS to wow all your league-mates and maybe even your mom? (*not a promise)

I designed all these myself and hope everyone likes, shares, and uses them this season.

Happy Draft Szn!! <3, Foxworth.

5 Dynasty Startup Deep Stashes

1. WR- Tyler Scott (Age 21/ Bears) - Drafted in the 4th round to the Chicago Bears as a speedster who can make catches, make guys miss, and take off downfield. One thing that stood out to me about his college tape was his route-running ability. Chicago may not be the best landing spot as they were ranked dead last year in passing play percentages, but if you look closely at the analytics you'll see an increase in passing production over the last stretch of the season when Justin Fields was allowed to open the offense up a little more. Fields went from a terrible passer rating of 72.7 through the first 6 games of the season to a 92.4 passer rating over the last 11 games. Although this is promising, I’m not projecting a giant leap in passing from the Chicago Bears. Instead, I'm betting on Chase Claypool not being a factor and Darnell Mooney potentially moving during free agency next year. This young star could see good production behind DJ Moore if that becomes the case, so I'm betting on the talent here. Chicago has been last in the league in YAC each of the last two seasons, so they could definitely use it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k86rA56-Zto

2. WR - Kyle Philips (Age: 24/ Titans) - If you want to believe training camp hype, Philips has "a shot for a big role in the Titan's offense this year," or at least that's the word on the street in Nashville. Well, saddle up, because I think we're going to be in for a fun ride. Derailed by a shoulder injury his rookie year, Philips has spent the offseason recovering, bulking up, and becoming more antiquated with the Titan's offense. "More comfortable," is how Philips described the difference between coming in last year as a rookie, to now having a year under his belt. "Quickness, great route runner, and agility were the words Titan's quarterback used to describe the sophomore Titan's quarterback Ryan Tannehill used to describe the sophomore. Now let's take a look at his opportunity. Yes, the Titans are a run-first offense that relies on Derrick Henry to hammer his way through defenses, but he's 29. In RB years that's getting dangerously close to a production decline. Top that with the fact Henry led the NFL in carries in 2019 and 2020 and was on pace to do so in 2021 before suffering an injury. The bottom line, they can't continue to rely on Henry with that amount of usage for much longer. The receiving core will have to step up if the Titans want to compete. So let's take a look at the receiving core: Treylon Burks, Westbrook-Inkhine, Chig Okonkwo, and Kyle Phillips. Last year when healthy, Philips showed a stronger connection with Tannehill than Burks. His ability to separate, start-stop against defenders then accelerate, tip-toe sidelines, and still come down with underthrown balls, let's just say it compliments Tannehill well. Even with Burks as the one drawing defenders, Philips can add a complimentary role to this offense. But what about Chig Okonkwo? Yes, Chig is rising up draft boards and into the hearts of fantasy analysts everywhere. And with good reason. He is an absolute monster who commanded increased targets, many in the red zone, especially during the last stretch of his rookie season. Still, I feel Philips will be able to carve out a substantial role in this offense as the slot guy, a position that has seen a rise in fantasy football and NFL production over the past couple of years especially. There will be enough targets to go around for all three of them to eat, but if Burks or Chig heaven-forbid suffers an injury, Philips has the talent and perception to be a huge contributor early and often. That's why I'm stashing Philips on all my dynasty rosters. Now we just have to hope Tannehill can stay healthy, Will Levis can be NFL relevant, and they don't sign DeAndre Hopkins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKR0r5SQbq4

3. RB- Eric Gray (Age: 23/ Giants) The opportunity for fifth-round running back Eric Gray to have an early role in this ascending offense makes him a prime candidate for a dynasty stash. First off, Saquon is unhappy with his contract negotiations and threatens to hold out if he is franchise tagged on Monday. Barkley has even said he is willing to "sit out the entire 2023 season" if a deal isn't made. Even if he only sits out training camp and preseason, studies show running backs (especially older ones) who jump right into gameplay have a higher injury risk. Matt Breida and Gary Brightwell are the only guys standing in the way of Gray and both have had their opportunity but with very little success. Giant's coach Jeff Nixon is on record saying what he "likes most about him is the potential for Gray to be a true three-down running back." He also sings his praises for how fast Gray has learned the offense and playbook. Although Gray dropped to the fifth round, he finds himself in the perfect position to make an early impact on this team. With a pedigree of being coached in college by former Dallas Cowboys running back Demarco Murray, Gray is as pro-ready as they come. That my friends, may be sooner than later. STASH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtPKEuhhEOw

4. TE- Noah Grey (Age: 23/ Chiefs) Let's get one thing straight. I'm still all in on Travis Kelce in Dynasty. In fact, I just drafted him in a recent startup in the 3rd round when he fell. Kelce is a difference maker; even at 33 years old, he still has that dog in him. This man is different. He's never missed a game for injury (only once for covid) and has the physical dominance to withstand what most could never. But Fox, I thought this was an article on Deep Stashes, why have you spent all this time hyping up Kelce as a Dynasty asset if you're stashing his backup Grey? Well my friend, let me tell you. Even with Kelce dominating the team in targets and putting up WR1 numbers at the TE position, Grey still played 60% of the snaps during the last stretch of the 2022 season. He not only had a catch in every single game from Week 5 through the playoffs. but this offense target opportunity opens up with the departure of Juju Smith-Shuster and the muddy receiver room of an always injured boom/bust Kadarius Toney, sophomore Skyy Moore who has the talent but has yet to really show it or command any target share, and rookie Racheed Rice who has yet to take an NFL snap. He's learning behind the absolute best to have ever done it and still commanding a target share. Yep I'd invest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7UxI_zMmug

5. QB- Sam Howell (Age: 22/ Commanders) Look we all know Jacoby Brissett is an efficient game manager who can keep a team afloat when called upon. Is he the future of the Washington Commanders? Absolutely not. I'm gonna bet on their 2022 fifth-round draft pick 2nd year QB Sam Howell. Howell only got one start last season in Week 18, and although his performance is nothing exciting to talk about, I believe he's mobile and skilled enough to be a fantasy asset for years to come. With weapons like Scary Terry McLaurin and Jahan Dotson, whose analysts and drafters have been pushing up boards all summer long, how could you not want to invest in their presumed QB? These guys can make big plays happen and did so with a mirage of whoever was throwing to them last year. No offense Wentz. Howell also spent an entire season and offseason working with the team, developing chemistry, and learning this offense. Insert new play-calling expert Eric The Enemy and I think we could have the perfect combination of skilled players, smart play-calling, mobility, and the advantage of sitting out your first year and truly learning the pace of the NFL game and system. He's practically free in most Dynasty Leagues, so why not take the shot and COMMAND your dynasty league this year? See what I did there? COMMAND. Command-ers. I'll be here all season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=193KZ9UpQL0

OMG, Who Are Those People?

Welp, my dynasty start-up draft has finally concluded, and after sending my dad my 30-player roster... "OMG, Who are those people?" was his response. If you're new to Dynasty, rostering a bench of 20 may seem like an impervious task. Like, what is a taxi squad? Should I have grabbed another QB? And how did someone acquire half the league's future rookie picks? Stay tuned if you're a true degenerate like myself and need the REAL answers to some predicaments you may face during a Dynasty Start-up. If you stick around long enough, I'll give you my five favorite Deep Dynasty Stashes. Now, Let's Talk Dynasty!

Predicament 1: You Don't Know How Many To Roster At Each Position.

20 is a deep bench. How do you know how many QBs you need vs TEs? Did you grab enough RBs? Was 10 WRs too many? All these questions will race through your head when you are on the clock trying to figure out who will best help round out your dynasty squad.

Solution: Figure out Roster Values.

First and foremost, the most important thing to understand when building a dynasty team is roster value. How much does the QB position weigh vs WR? Look at the scoring format. Is it TE premium? Superflex? The answers to these questions will help you formulate your perfect roster construction. Let's take a look at league settings as an example, and following this flow chart I created, I'll show you why I built my team the way I did:

Predicament 2: Everyone Has The Same Gameplan As You.

If you think you'll be able to stack your team with 2nd year WR breakouts, let me tell you... everyone's doing it. You also likely want to obtain a top 3 QB, only to have a QB run start right before your turn. Now you're tilted. Should you grab a QB from the tier below because you fear missing out on a 2nd startable QB? How can you stomach investing that much draft capital in a QB that wasn't in that top tier? Yikes. Let me tell you, after playing Redraft for 20 years, no mock draft or player profile could've prepared me for what went down during my first dynasty start-up. Whatever plan I thought I would execute was thrown out the window by round 3. Although the window you're drafting your team for is much larger than Redraft, and everyone will go into it with different strategies, most players will target youth as they feel they need players who can contribute for a longer time.

Solution: Pivot!- Things may not work out how you originally planned, but I promise you'll still be set up to succeed if you grab the value when it falls. Of course, we want to target youth, and yes, those 2nd-year breakout WRs are very enticing, but when the veterans fall, you better snatch them up. Even in Dynasty, playing the ADP game and grabbing guys who may have fallen because they may have shorter windows of opportunity to be elite due can be the recipe for success for a great dynasty build—Zig when others Zag. Dynasty is more like Redraft than most like to admit. It's hard enough to predict what will happen in a given season, let alone one or three years from now. Assembling a team of proven veteran winners can be how you win it all now. Someone has a win in year 1. Chances are those veterans' wheels aren't falling off as fast as the market predicts, and you'll get more than 2 or 3 years of substantial production from them, if not more. You can always add youth during the rookie drafts or turn a proven veteran into a young promising star through trade when a contending team needs a proven asset to try to win now.

Predicament 3: Everyone's Trading Picks/Moving Up and Down The Draft Board Around You.

As mentioned, my dynasty start-up was with guys who eat, sleep, and breathe fantasy football. True Degenerates. Being new to Dynasty, I was in for a shock once the draft began and trades started flying back and forth. People were moving up the board to grab "their guys" earlier in exchange for future picks in rookie drafts. By the end of round 3, there were 16 completed trades of picks... and they were just getting started. I figured out future draft pick value in round 8, which left me out of many opportunities to improve my team through trading up or trading back to grab future picks. I left the draft with only two trades accomplished and no new future draft picks. A guy in my leagues traded back 32 times, made his 1st pick in the 4th round, and acquired 20 future draft picks in doing so, 8 of them being future 1st. Yes, this may be an extreme example of draft pick trading, and most dynasty start-ups won't succumb to this amount of action, but understanding the basics of pick trading will give you a competitive edge.

Solution: Welcome to Pick Trading 101!-

• Understand Rookie Pick Values- To trade future rookie picks; you must first understand their worth. Being new to Dynasty and having never experienced a Rookie Draft, the fear of selling away too much or getting too little in return deterred me from trading early on. I had to witness numerous trades myself to discover what people were willing to give/take for their pick. If I had gone into the draft with an understanding of the value of future rookie picks, I wouldn't have waited till round 8 to trade, and I definitely would've tried to acquire future draft picks. Now that the draft is over, I hope you can learn from my shortcomings with this advice: Look at Rookie Draft ADP for the past two years, as it will give you a better understanding of what players have gone at those future picks in the past. Let's take a look at last year's Rookie Draft ADP as an example to get a better idea of what kind of players will be available next year vs. what you'd be getting/giving away with your current pick:

RD 1	​PLAYER	RD 2	PLAYER	RD 3	PLAYER
1.01	Breece Hall (RB/Jets)	2.01	Dameon Pierce (RB/Texans)	3.01	Matt Coral (QB/Panthers)
1.02	Drake London (WR/ Falcons)	2.02	David Bell (RB/Browns)	3.02	Desmond Ridder (QB/Falcons)
1.03	Kenneth Walker (RB/Seahawks)	2.03	Kenny Pickett (QB/Steelers)	3.03	Baile Zappe (QB/Patriots)
1.04	Treylon Burks (WR/Titans)	2.04	Isiah Spiller (RB/Chargers)	3.04	Romeo Doubs (WR/Packers)
1.05	Jameson Williams (WR/Lions)	2.05	Trey McBride (TE/Cardinals	3.05	Khalil Shakir (WR/Bills)
1.06	Chris Olave (WR/Saints)	2.06	Alec Pierce (WR/Colts)	3.06	Jelani Woods (TE/Colts)
1.07	Skyy Moore (WR/Chiefs)	2.07	Jalen Tolbert (WR/Cowboys)	3.07	Tyquan Thorton (WR/Patriots)
1.08	George Pickens (WR/Steelers)	2.08	Zamir White (RB/Raiders)	3.08	Isiah Pacheco (RB/Chiefs)
1.09	Christian Watson (WR/Packers)	2.09	Wan'Dale Robinson (WR/Giants)	3.09	Pierre Strong Jr. (WR/Patriots)
1.10	James Cook (RB/Bills)	2.10	Brian Robinson Jr. (RB/Commanders)	3.10	Isiah Likely (TE/Ravens)
1.11	Jahan Dohnson (WR/Commanders)	2.11	Malik Willis (QB/Titans)	3.11	Greg Dulchich (TE/Broncos)
1.12	Rachaad White (RB/Buccaneers)	2.12	Tyler Allgeier (RB/Falcons)	3.12	Hassan Haskins (RB/Titans)

(Dynasty Rookie Average Draft Position (ADP) 12-team (2022) (fantasyfootballcalculator.com))

Although you aren't drafting these specific players, putting a name to a draft pick from the previous year allows you to see the value of players you can expect in future years. For example, let's say someone offers you a 2024 2nd-round draft pick and their 11.10 pick in exchange for moving up two rounds to the 8.06. Moving back could be beneficial to you if there are a lot of players still available in the current tiers that you would be content with two rounds later.

• Use Dynasty Trade Calculators and Value Charts from Fantasy Football Sites as a Tool (but not the RULE) for Creating Trades- These are good for helping see the values of players. Still, circumstance, roster construction, and draft strategy are uncalculatable but impact trades. Need to know a potential trade partner's willingness to trade? Ask them straight up! You'll always regret not taking the opportunity to do something because of fear of failure than actually taking those leaps to compete. Send out feelers. Generate interest. Stay positive and friendly during negotiations (even when being sent terrible trade offers). Just because a trade doesn't work out doesn't mean you can't get business done with that same person later on, so keeping a good relationship with your league mates is vital.

• Pay Attention to the Roster Construction of Others- If you are targeting a QB or TE in a given round and others in the league have already gotten theirs, and there is still plenty of names on the board you'd be ok with, trade down for future rookie picks. In 2022, a 2nd round pick would've landed you someone like Damien Pierce, Trey McBride, or Kenny Pickett, who are all current dynasty assets. Ensure you look at your league mate's rosters to see how they build their teams and what they lack. Answering these questions will also help you find potential trade partners and figure out trades. A team targeting all youthful players would probably like to move back during the draft for future picks, especially during rounds when several veterans are on the board (usually those middle rounds). If you're going all in with a Win-Now approach, I'd trade away most/all my next year's picks to move up in the early rounds to grab studs. If you're trying to do a more productive struggle, I will move down when comfortable and accumulate future picks when there aren't huge differences between the players left in that tier for you. As I said, a guy in my league moved back 22 times to gain future draft capital. While I can't suggest you take that approach, I hope you can balance my lack of trades (2) and his overtrading to build a team you'll be proud of for years. Now go smash your start-up and bring home that Dynasty Champtiopnship!

Now, as promised for sticking around, here are my 5 Favorite Deep Stashes for Dynasty!

For a detailed look at my Startup Dynasty Draft Board:

https:/sleeper.com/draft/nfl/963666646504148992