Cam Akers Fantasy:One of the best things about Dynasty Fantasy Football is that it does not end. In the next six months, re-draft players will continue to absorb information, but their teams will remain dormant. Dynasty managers, on the other hand, have rookie drafts to prepare for, trades to negotiate, and possibly even waiver claims to make.

Dynasty managers may also have to complete new startup drafts in February. Starting a new league at this time of year is arguably the best choice. This explains why the most common question I receive during this time of year is about setting up new leagues. Let’s start there.

Setting up a new league

I could write an entire article only on this (maybe I should? ), but for brevity’s sake, I’ll limit it to universal advice, and not just my personal preferences.

Write a league constitution, or bylaws if you prefer. Including, but not limited to: How are playoff spots determined, scoring system, lineup and roster limits, when are league dues due, rules on tanking, deadlines for waiver adds and/or trades, how trades and waivers will be processed, how orphan teams will be handled, league payouts (if applicable), the process for rule changes in the future.

When it comes to making your league run smoothly, the most important thing you can do is to lay out all of the rules in advance. The second most important thing (but far more difficult) is making sure everyone in your league reads the rules. It may be helpful to have league votes to help set the rules. If they have a say, they’re more likely to pay attention. With a league full of first-time players, you may end up with rules that you dislike after a few years.

Finally, I recommend that everyone pay for two years before the start-up draft begins. Then collect another year each year until the rookie draft. If those orphan teams are truly awful, it will be easier to attract managers to take over.

Sell-high candidates

It is an excellent question, and I appreciate the first four words since this is a bit of a guessing game. However, we can use some parameters based on the past. Any running back who is currently 26 or older is likely to have less value in 2023 than he does today.

Christian McCaffrey, Joe Mixon, Alvin Kamara, Dalvin Cook, Austin Ekeler, Nick Chubb, Derrick Henry, Aaron Jones, and Ezekiel Elliott will all be 26 or older by the start of the 2022 season. If you’re not a legitimate contender, you should get rid of them all. It also applies to any wide receiver or tight end who is 29 or older.

The names that stand out to me at each position are: Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, Jerry Jeudy, and Pat Freiermuth. It’s clear that a lot of these guys have upside as well, but (aside from Hurts) I’m more concerned about their floor.

Valuing Cam Akers

Akers was the only player to appear in three different questions, and for good reason. His Achilles comeback has been remarkable. His efficiency hasn’t been great, but he’s handled 59 touches in the playoffs less than a year after tearing his Achilles. In my recently updated Dynasty Running Back Rankings, where he came in at No. 12 at running back.

Although Akers isn’t exactly risk-free, the fact that he got back for the playoffs gives me more confidence in him than I have ever had in any other runner coming off an injury. During the first month of the 2022 season, he could jump into the top five at the position.

Attacking rookie drafts

Rookie draft season is rapidly approaching, so we got a lot of questions about them. It will be a while before I have specific thoughts on specific players. After the draft, I will add the rookies to my rankings. You will soon be able to access prospect profiles for all of the Fantasy relevant players in the 2022 NFL Draft on our Dynasty Landing Page.

For a rebuild, I lean toward the best player available (though I prefer not to draft running backs if I have more than a year to go). If I am a contender, I may target a player based on need, but only if the players are in the same tier. Whenever I do not have a need for the most talented players in the tier left, I tend to trade down.

For this quarterback situation, I’m probably going to take a quarterback in a Superflex league. They are so long-lived that even a rebuilding team will still have them around when they are good. Of course, if you pick the right one.

Low-end starting tight ends

My assumption is that Darren Waller was overlooked because he’s the obvious answer to this question. In fact, I still have Waller ahead of T.J. Hockenson in my updated fantasy tight end rankings.

After that top six, it’s kind of a two-part answer. The rankings linked above show that Dallas Goedert, Noah Fant, Dawson Knox, and Dalton Schultz are my tight ends six through ten. Perhaps a better question is: “Who do I like more than consensus?”.

Fantasies must be at the top of the list. Despite his talent, I would not be surprised if he jumped into the top five as early as this season. After him, it’s probably Cole Kmet. Although he has been slow to develop, he is a tight end. That’s the norm! Just 22 years old, he just had a 600-yard season, and he has a young, improving quarterback to grow with. I still believe Kmet has more potential than Freiermuth.