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A Fantasy Season with THE Dynasty League is a behind-the-scenes look at one commissioner’s journey through a homegrown dynasty fantasy football league. Each week covers trades, roster moves, rookie updates, league drama, and more — all from the perspective of a manager playing the long game. It’s fantasy football with history, strategy, and just the right amount of chaos.
Preseason Week 2
Dynasty Draft Prep: Mock Picks, Team Needs, and Predictions
In order to prepare you for the dynasty series, I wanted to prepare you with some of the minor details and players from teams around the league, but thought it might be a boring read to go player by player for every roster. Instead, I’ll include a little blurb when going over team needs during the mock draft below which will provide more insight on why some of the selections were made.
Draft Order
THE Dynasty League determines Rookie Draft pick order by potential points scored. This means that regardless of how an owner sets their lineup, the system will automatically assign the highest scoring player to their starting lineup in the background. The idea is that at the end of the season, the highest draft picks will be awarded to the team that is truly devoid of talent, and not just the manager who is poor at setting a strong weekly lineup. With that in mind, the order is set below.
League Mock Draft
As a reminder, this is a 12 team, point per first down format. PPR? No thanks, we earn our points the real way in this league. Without further ado, 1.01 is on the clock!
Note at the time of this being written: The Flea Market has both pick 1.01 and 1.10. Blue Know It sits at 1.07 and 1.11
The Flea Market, 1.01 – Ashton Jeanty
This team also held the 1.01 last year and selected Marvin Harrison Jr. Adding Jeanty to a roster in desperate need of RB help makes the most sense. Even if it didn’t, you aren’t passing on a talent like Jeanty. He’ll now lead an RB room that also features Ray Davis and Tyler Allgeier so, yeah, it made sense here.
Bronze Universe, 1.02 – Omarion Hampton
Much like The Flea Market, this team is hurting for RB help. Hampton will immediately be his RB1 with other names including Rico Dowdle and Raheem Mostert. Wide Receiver is a huge need here as well, and for some reason, I feel this team has an outside chance of taking Travis Hunter. However, it’s point per first down and if you want to hang with the big dogs, you need the running back that will get the carries.
Yoshi & Friends, 1.03 – Tetairoa McMillan
The pick should be TreyVeon Henderson. As I said before, you need the rbs getting important carries in this format, and Henderson should be similar to a Jahmyr Gibbs type. Not as talented, no way, but I think there will be similarities in the way he earns his points. Ultimately, I think this team goes with McMillan because the roster has an aging Mike Evans, DJ Moore and that’s about it. The RB room is slightly better with Chase Brown, Jaylen Warren and Brian Robinson.
Ricky B, 1.04 – TreyVeon Henderson
New owner alert! This will be his first season in the league, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt as he does seem to know ball. This roster seemingly has WR covered for now with scary Terry, Pittman & Odunze. The best backs listed are Rachaad White, Charbonnet and Javonte. Henderson should get some serious action and could be the key to the Patriots offense taking that next step forward this season. Maye will need the help to keep the chains moving and Henderson will play a big role in that.
Hanks You Very Much, 1.05 – RJ Harvey
If you’re ever in a league with this owner, you’ll know, because the team will be named using a Tom Hanks pun. Hanks has picked high a few years in a row and has started to nail some of these picks in Achane, Jameson Williams & Brian Thomas. Additional WR include Puka and DK so he’s more than set there, which leads me to believe that running back is the pick. With the recent legal troubles, Quinshon won’t be in the mix for another few selections. That leaves Kaleb Johnson and RJ. I think you’ve got to be excited over Harvey’s potential in the Sean Payton offense. Knowing this owner, this is where he will lean.
Staff Infection, 1.06 – Kaleb Johnson
No doubt. He’ll take whatever back is left between Harvey and Johnson, but he’s drooling over Johnson’s style of play in the Steeler offense. Jaylen Warren is no slouch and should still get plenty of run, but I’d definitely expect the rookie to chip away at that and perhaps get it to a 50/50 split by Thanksgiving. Right on time to make a playoff push.
Blue Know It, 1.07 – Travis Hunter
The 2024 runner-up. Fun fact, this team is 0-3 in title games in this league. We’ve officially entered Travis Hunter territory and he’s too much value to pass up at this spot. Blue Know It has Deebo about ready to fall off a cliff and could use someone to slot right in there next to Justin Jefferson. Running backs include the RB1 Saquon and James Cook who’s coming off a stellar season of his own. There should be at least one more title run with this group before the window closes.
Tua Time, 1.08 – Quinshon Judkins
Jalen Hurts, Gibbs, Kamara, Mixon, Najee, Tyreek, Nico Collins and the list keeps going. This team is a nightmare to deal with when you play against them because you’re constantly watching one of his guys pop off. We’ll see how this year goes with Najee and Mixon looking a little cloudy at the moment. However, this team can afford to take a shot on Quinshon Judkins and he does just that. There won’t be some massive year long suspension. As long as Judkins stays out of trouble, Tua Time comes away with the potential steal of the first round.
Big Penix Energy, 1.09 – Emeka Egbuka
It comes down to Tyler Warren and Emeka Egbuka for me, and I go with the wideout despite not being a real need. Some combination of Chase, Lamb, G Wilson, JSN and Waddle occupy WR/Flex spots most weeks. RB is certainly a need and if any of those drop, they will almost certainly be my selection. My gut says Egbuka is pro ready and will slot in as a nice WR2 for fantasy purposes. It may not happen within the first year, but I can afford to wait on him.
The Flea Market, 1.10 – Matthew Golden
Huge Packer fan here. He’s been hoping he’ll slip this whole time and he finally does. I remember him being upset over missing out on Christian Watson and he makes sure he gets his guy this time around. I don’t have much of a feel for Golden myself. Green Bay is kind of crowded with mid level guys and Jordan Love isn’t the type of guy, at least right now, to elevate them.
Blue Know It, 1.11 – Colston Loveland
The biggest Michigan fan you’ve ever meet will go Colston Loveland with his final first round selection. Having watched many UofM games the last few years, there is still a lot of untapped potential with Loveland. He has the athletic ability to be able to make guys miss in the open field and run away from coverage to get open. TE’s take a minute to start producing as it’s one of the more difficult positions to learn due to blocking schemes, but you’d have to think Ben Johnson has a plan for his first round pick right out of the gates.
Shake n’ Bake, 1.12 – Cam Skattebo
The defending Champ! Yet another roster who you want nothing to do with featuring King Henry, JT, Bowers, Mark Andrews, Davante Adams and more. I’d consider this a high IQ manager, taking advantage of late round picks in recent years to pick up Tyrone Tracy and Isaac Guerendo who contributed during the championship run. Selecting Skattebo will lock up the Giants backfield for him and ensure that he will have a starter on his team for the 2025 season. It may seem like a reach in August, but it’s very possible we look back at this selection next year as one that was well worth the risk.
Keep in mind this isn’t necessarily a ranking of rookies, but is instead where I believe some of these players will be selected based upon the needs and biases of our league managers. Example: Tyler Warren absolutely belongs as a first round selection, and we may see him go there, but I can’t see him getting picked up by any teams early or late in the first round as they’re all very strong at the position.
Hopefully, this was some help for anyone who has yet to draft this pre-season. Our draft will take place the third week of August and I’ll do a second write up of how the draft actually played out, draft day trades and a quick season preview as the final cuts are made. We’re finally inching closer to football and we couldn’t be more excited!
The Goal Line Grind 