As we inch our way towards the start of training camp, many Fantasy Football players are just beginning to emerge from their slumber. Now, I know that if you're reading my Dynasty content in the offseason, you never went into hibernation...just like you know that half of your league did. So as they awake it's a great time to try to engage them in trade talks. With that in mind, I'm sharing some of my favorite Dynasty buys as we head into the preseason. There can be several things that make a player a Dynasty buy. For a contender, it's simply someone who can help you win a ring this season, what else matters? For others, it may be a player who I expect to greatly increase his value this season, or simply someone the industry is simply too low on. The best buys fit multiple categories.
One thing that is different about the running back position is that I would only advise those teams who are contending to buy running backs. That's slightly different than saying only contenders should roster running backs. That's because low-end backup running backs are one of the quickest ways to profit in Dynasty. For instance, I picked up Zamir White off the waiver wire in a league last year. Now he's a consensus top-30 running back in Dynasty leagues. At the very least you can turn that free-agent acquisition into a Round 2 rookie pick now. On the flip side, White is one of two backs I am actively trying to buy where I am contending.
The 24-year-old is the presumed starter in Las Vegas this year with only Alexander Mattison and rookie Dylan Laube as competition. While we don't expect the Raiders to be a good offense, we do expect them to run the ball a lot under Antonio Pierce and we saw what White's role could look like after Josh Jacobs went down last year. From Week 15 through the end of the season, White was the number nine running back in Fantasy and he tied for the most rush attempts with 84. This year we expect him to be a solid RB2, which is easily worth a 2025 second-round pick to a contender.
You can find my complete Dynasty trade chart for both 1QB and Superflex leagues over at Sportsline.
I had Ryan McDowell on Fantasy Football Today Dynasty to talk Dynasty buys this week. Check it out:
My other favorite buy is more expensive, but I legitimately believe James Cook has top-four upside at running back in 2024. Like White, a coaching change led to an increased workload for Cook in 2023, but the sample size is much larger. Including the playoffs, Cook played nine games with Joe Brady calling plays. He averaged 17 rush attempts and 3.9 targets per game in those nine games. His 17-game pace was for 289 rush attempts and 66 targets. Derrick Henry led all running backs with 280 carries in 2023, and only 11 backs had more then 66 targets. In other words, Cook could be one of the few true workhorse backs in Fantasy Football this season. Like White, he's still only 24 years old, but unlike White he's in an offense that is one of the best in the NFL. If he finally scores more than two rushing touchdowns, and I expect he will, Cook could be a league-winning running back in 2024.
Here are my updated Dynasty running back rankings:
