Dynasty on the Brain
Dynasty leagues are on my mind more than ever. One reason: I only played in one re-draft league this year, and for the first time in over 30 years of the hobby, I fielded an unmitigated disaster in that format. Joe Burrow? Hurt. Aaron Jones Sr.? Hurt.
I bet on Pat Freiermuth in a 1.5 PPR as a big gamble and lost. I seemed to recoup that with Darren Waller. Yes, you know it...hurt. Spencer Rattler -- yes, Spencer Rattler, the only viable replacement -- benched.
-- I finally got my first win last week, thanks in big part to Davis Mills and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It has been that bad. Odds were likely it would happen at some point. I'll take 29 years of playoff runs.
I mostly play dynasty these days. I don't do best-ball drafts. I don't enter dozens of leagues and stop competing when my team struggles early to focus only on the teams that are doing well.
It brings me joy to play spoiler with an 0-9 squad upending a 5-4 team on the cusp of playoff contention. Competing in difficult circumstances builds muscle.
Also, I don't play in many leagues compared to my peers. I've gone from 10-12 teams a decade ago to 5 -- I even left a league this year with a strong dynasty squad that included multiple good cornerstones.
My remaining teams are recent aging contenders/champions undergoing teardowns and rebuilds. It has me thinking about players worth stashing with ceilings that may exceed the imagination of my competition.
This week, I'm sharing players I'll be physically or mentally stashing -- in other words, monitoring and intermittently adding/cutting based on their potential windows of opportunity -- during the next 1-2 years.
Khalil Shakir, Kayshon Boutte, Malik Washington, Sean Tucker, and Calvin Austin III have been some recent examples with varying degrees of success or promise. Probably the most extreme example of the past five years has been Rico Dowdle.
Rico Dowdle: (Extreme) Exhibit A
Regular readers know I've always been a believer in Rico Dowdle's talent and a long-touted dynasty stash. The wait time for Dowdle to earn starter production was extreme.
I often recommended that you could cut and monitor Dowdle without a risk of someone adding him. Dowdle didn't see the field in his second and third seasons and didn't even break 100 career touches until the first game of his fifth season. No one would have bet it would have played out this long.
Now, RB10 in PPR formats after 10 weeks, Dowdle may give you another year or two of starter value if Carolina keeps him in 2026 or another team with a stable offense signs him as a free agent.
If you stashed him on your roster all this time, there's a good chance it wasn't worth the wait unless you had a strong team. It was more likely worth it if he was a "mental stash" to monitor and add when there were potential windows of opportunity.
You'll probably be satisfied with your Dowdle Project if he gives you four total years of starter value. He's halfway there.
Dynasty Stashes: Players to Acquire Now
These are players I will be actively acquiring through trades, waivers, and startup drafts. Some are already starters who I believe haven't reached their peak value. That belief may run counter to convention.
Others are contributors or reserves whose values may decline further with another year and another draft class around the corner.
Why the Asterisks?
You don't want all of these guys -- most of them aren't starters. Most of them won't realize their potential value. You want to pick your spots.
Prioritize the players who can give you starting value right now or as soon as next year. I'm placing an asterisk (*) in front of their names.
Consider trading for players who are understudies to productive cogs in great situations who could take over immediately due to an injury and either hang onto the job or draw interest from other NFL teams soon after. I'm placing two asterisks (**) in front of their names.
After that, consider the long-term talents with high ceilings if you have the luxury to reserve 1-3 spots for them without ever requiring their services for the next 2-4 seasons. This all depends on the size of your roster and league rules. I'm placing three asterisks (***) in front of their names.
Three-asterisk players are also limited talents with short-term upside who might land in the right system to become long-term values.
Quarterbacks
These recommendations are primarily intended for Superflex formats or dynasty leagues with sizable practice squads.
***QB Jalen Milroe: Sam Darnold has solidified his hold on the lead role in the Seahawks offense, and his skill against pressure has become an asset instead of the butt of jokes. That's because Darnold only struggled when he didn't know what to expect. There are a lot of quarterbacks who identify what's coming and still can't get it done.
Lesson to coaches: When your quarterback tells you he's seeing ghosts, believe him and do something about it.
Fortunately for Milroe, he's working with Darnold and Coach Kubiak, and this experience should supply him with value lessons for development -- and likely the time to work on them in the background. Having Darnold's battle scars and lessons learned could be a great resource for Milroe, who is a dedicated student of the game.
Two years ago, Milroe went to John Gruden and asked the coach to assess his game and work with him. This was away from the spotlight and not some part of Big Draft promotion. With Milroe's tremendous physical skills and promise from the pocket, combined with this approach to the position, Milroe is worth the wait.
My Advice: If you can keep four quarterbacks on your roster, Milroe is that high-upside QB4 who you probably won't see in the Seahawks lineup for 3-4 years. Realistically, you can wait to acquire him. Darnold's value is at an all-time high, but it may get higher and that could lead to teams cutting Milroe.
Waiting 1-2 years for the chance to get Milroe for free is better than paying capital and then waiting 3-4 years for even a whiff of a chance for return.
**QB Tyson Bagent: A smart and athletic quarterback who performed well for a rookie when relieving Justin Fields a few years ago, a number of NFL teams called Chicago about his availability over the past two years. Bagent is learning one of the best offenses in the league on an emerging young team that will have excellent skill talent.
If and when Bagent fills in for Caleb Williams, his NFL capital will skyrocket, and the Bears will likely capitalize. We don't know if Bagent will be the next Jimmy Garoppolo, Matt Cassel, Sam Darnold, or Brock Purdy. What we should expect is that his value will rise, and you could wind up with value to trade or start.
***QB Trey Lance: Let's continue along the Sam Darnold theme, shall we? Lance is an excellent talent, but he transitioned from a handful of starts in a version of the West Coast Offense that likely didn't place the same demands on him as Kyle Shanahan's version did in San Francisco.
The 49ers can say what they want, but their actions appear pretty clear: the Shana Clan wanted Mac Jones, while the front office probably rolled with Lance. When Brock Purdy caught their eye, they went hard with him.
Discount the Dallas situation, because that organization showed -- at least through last year -- that the Jones family is more interested in making money than winning football. Based on their actions, it has been a circus. Lance had no chance.
Jim Harbaugh may be his own version of a freak show tent to the media, but he is a true football man. He's also a former quarterback who can get a lot out of players at the position. Lance is getting the education he needed behind Justin Herbert and with Harbaugh and Jim Roman running the show.
I hope he gets another year or two with the Chargers despite his contract ending this year. Whether it is 2026 or in a few years, youth and talent will lead to another chance and potentially big numbers down the line. Think of Lance as somewhere in a spot between Milroe and Bagent, where he's likely ahead of Milroe in his development but not yet in demand from other teams.
If you have the luxury, add him now. If you don't, this offseason could lead to temporary demand if he's signed to compete for a starting job elsewhere as a bridge who might convince the team he's more than that.
This could definitely happen if there's an injury to Herbet, which could vastly accelerate that timeline for Lance. I'm not sure a Darnold injury will do the same with Milroe. It means you'll need to go hard for Lance if he gets a start due to injury.
***Malik Willis: I was not a fan of his draft capital when he came out of Liberty. Willis had a ton of things to work on, and landing on a bad organization that was bound to force him into the lineup would compound the matter. It did. Fast-forward to Green Bay, and Willis had a lot more control of his game in a more structured offense when he had to play.
Willis has an elite arm and elite mobility. He could develop competent decision-making that could help him become a system passer whose legs make him a matchup problem. I feel like the Arizona Cardinals' ears are burning. Willis will likely be viewed as a bridge for a younger QB, but he's worth considering due to the potential flexibility to start him early and either sell high or realize long-term profit.
I'd lean on selling high, but I'm open to him developing. You have to monitor this one closely.
***QB Joe Milton III: I'm a Milton skeptic. He has the biggest arm in the league and nice athletic ability. The Patriots did the right thing by signing him as a rookie and selling him as soon as he showed off that arm.
The Cowboys bought the magic beans. While there's potential for Milton to become a true student of the game, his college track record indicates it will be a big change if it happens.
Milton is worth acquiring because he could be a quick sell-high for you at a reasonable investment. If that's not your management style, don't bother.