Photo: USA Today Sports

Recall that in our last installment, we went through the first two rounds of a rookie draft in Footballguys dynasty league, hoping to help readers understand which players are rising and falling in early rookie drafts. Today, we’ll cover rounds 3-5 and the trades that took place as we progressed.

As a reminder, here are the scoring and settings highlights from this league:

• 24-man rosters
• Team defenses
• One point per reception for all positions except tight end
• Tight end gets one and a half points per reception
• Rookies or free agents in the pool are draftable

Here is my roster after two rounds:

Here’s how round three shook out:

In a deep class, some of the names going off the board in round three would normally be rookie draft round two caliber talents. The third round was characterized by guys that have depth chart opportunity to land primary backup jobs and work their way into starting spots if things break right. Hamilton, Cain, Smith, Coutee, and Callaway, in particular, are in that mold for me. The evaluations of these players also vary greatly among the expert community. That’s probably why we experienced a very active round in terms of trading.

At the opening of the third round, there was only one player on the board that I had an extremely strong desire to own, and that was Kalen Ballage. I made an offer to James Brimacombe to see if I could trade Peyton Barber for the 3.01. James drafted Ronald Jones II II in the first round and I was betting on the fact that he might want Jones' backup to hedge his bet. James declined and took Ballage at 3.01. With my target gone, I shifted gears and offered Barber for a future third. I know I am going to have to cut some of these guys anyway, so getting a pick out of them is a win in my book.

Though Ballage was my main target and having him off the board diminished my interest, I worked diligently to trade back into the third round at a cheap cost. Sigmund Bloom was among one of the more active traders in this draft, so I worked to negotiate a deal to acquire 3.08. I first offered Bloom Joe Flacco, as I know Bloom currently has no backup quarterback and I am unlikely to keep Flacco long-term. He declined, so I followed up by offering Rico Gathers. I like Gathers as a talent and the tight end depth chart is wide open in Dallas after Jason Witten’s retirement. However, with Gather's concussion problems, it’s uncertain if he will end up being the answer for the Cowboys. I had one target still on the board that I felt was more valuable than Gathers: DaeSean Hamilton. Unfortunately, Bloom thought the same thing, declined my offer, and took Hamilton. Chase Stewart traded down a few spots with William Grant and netted a future third from Grant to take the place of his future fourth. Danny also made a deal with Adam to come up for Mark Andrews. He explained to the reasoning for this deal with me later on our staff chat. His rationale was that between 3.12 and 4.05, Jason Wood only had one tight end and Justin Howe only had two tight ends on their rosters. Andrews was the only top rookie tight end left on his board, so he jumped in front of them.

The fourth round went like this:

This round was quiet for me, as I had no picks in the fourth round and I was not actively looking to trade in. Sigmund Bloom picked up a future third and Justin Howe received two fourths and a fifth this year. It was interesting to see Equanimeous St. Brown and Josh Allen fall all the way to the fourth, as both had been valued higher by portions of the community before the NFL Draft. I believe this is the right call for both of these players, but they are bound to still be taken higher in casual rookie drafts. Bo Scarbrough has a real chance at becoming the preferred backup to Ezekiel Elliott sooner rather than later. Justin Jackson is probably the favorite to win the job behind Melvin Gordon.

Lots of drafters chose to take older free agents than take fliers on the rookie class. I was elated that Richie James fell to me at 5.08. I’ve watched James’ college career closely, as I live just down the road from Middle Tennessee State University. If not for an untimely injury in his junior season, James probably would have been a third or fourth-round NFL Draft selection for a team. Don’t let James’ small size fool you. He’s really fast out of the slot, but when he can’t beat the opposing corner cleanly, he’s great on contested catches. He has already turned heads of the coaching staff in rookie OTAs and with a wide receiver depth chart that’s in flux, I could see James push for a starting spot by next year. I feel Danny got a very nice pick in Jordan Akins. The Texans tight end depth chart is wide open and I like what I’ve seen out of Akins. When I saw him at the Senior Bowl, I was impressed by his athleticism, his smooth routes, and his ability to pluck the ball out of the air. Boston Scott was also a nice pick by James Brimacombe, and it’s made even nicer now by the news of Mark Ingram’s suspension.

Here’s my final roster:

Most likely cut candidates: Brett Hundley is my most likely cut. Even though I haven’t given up on the talent, on a short bench roster such as this one, I can’t afford to hold a non-starter that has no sure promise of a starting gig. Teddy Bridgewater is another that may find the chopping block if he’s not traded soon. Joe Flacco - and his low ceiling/low floor profile - is now expendable for me. I really like Josh Reynolds long-term, but the addition of Cooks hurts his chances to stay on my team in this short-bench format. C.J. Prosise is also right on the bubble for this roster. I am not a Rashaad Penny believer, but the capital spent on Penny will probably mean Prosise doesn’t get another chance to start without Penny getting injured.

Next moves: I’ll be watching closely to see whom my opponents cut. Sometimes, short benches and rookie fever mean that someone who really shouldn’t be out there on waivers ends up getting dumped for a shiny new toy. I’ll also be continuing to work the trade market, identifying teams that may not have come out of the draft with what they wanted and are looking to make a deal to shore up a position of need.