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- The Worst Early-Round Pick?
All offseason we kind of put our heads in the sand when it came to Alvin Kamara.
Travis Etienne had joined the Saints and none of us wanted to deal with the specter of a 30-year-old veteran RB crashing the party on Bourbon Street.
But Kamara is officially staying in New Orleans after agreeing to a pay cut—a $6M base with an additional $2.5M in possible incentives—and now we are forced to reckon with the fly in the ointment.
No one is worried about Kamara stealing early-down base work from Etienne, but it would be naïve not to assume Kamara will eat into his high-value touches (receiving work and goal-line opportunities).
As Matt LaMarca notes here, Kamara still managed an 11% target share last year and was targeted on 16% of his routes.
Pair that inconvenient truth with the fact that most of Etienne's receiving work last year (94%) came on early downs (something Adam Pfeifer attributes to Liam Cohen's scheme) and you get the recipe for a dicey third-round pick (or the worst pick in Round 3, per Pfeifer).
Of course, in the best ball landscape, things change quickly. Etienne is now routinely sliding into early Round 4—a much more palatable price tag.
Meanwhile, Kamara is up almost a full round after restructuring his contract.
So how to play it?
I like both of these guys way more in best ball than in redraft. Kamara is RB54 on Underdog right now, but RB46 in our ranks. He's the perfect guy to add to Zero RB builds to lock in some early-season production.
Etienne I think is perfectly fine in the fourth round, but I do think guys like Cam Skattebo, Josh Jacobs and David Montgomery will be more straightforward starts in managed leagues.
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Around the Watercooler
The latest fantasy and NFL gossip, news, memes and more from your favorite football nerds …
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What’s your strategy for the second quarterback in a superflex league draft? If you go two QBs in the first three or four rounds, you’re playing it safe. That strategy is sound. But what if you want to fill in a couple more skill-position spots on your roster before filling that superflex spot? Those fantasy managers who rolled the dice on Matthew Stafford last season probably have their league trophy on their mantle.
We had Jorge Martin take a look at some QB options available after QB20 in our fantasy football rankings. We’re not promising NFL MVP production, but there are some players who could have some boom weeks to give your roster a lift. ⤵️
Is Treylon Burks a Big Catch in Dynasty?
There are few catches anyone can make that are even in the same zip code as this Treylon Burks masterpiece last season. While it didn’t exactly lead to him becoming much more than a role player in a lost season for the Commanders, the fact that he got re-signed by the team and as of yet have not added an obvious second target behind Terry McLaurin at least opens the door for the 2022 first-rounder who somehow is still just 26. Should you take a chance and add him to your dynasty roster? Sam Wallace uncovered Burks and other options to snap up off the dynasty free agent pool. ⤵️
Training Camp Mysteries: So Many Jaguars
Who will emerge as fantasy viable among the Jaguars RBs and WRs? Where will Stefon Diggs and Deebo Samuel land? What, there’s more? Kendall and Pete are joined by Zain Dhanani to uncover some of the biggest question marks with training camps about to open up. Subscribe to the Fantasy Life Show YouTube channel and don’t miss an episode.
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