Many dynasty managers fall for the hype, but miss the context of what is happening during training camp and preseason. I don’t care if a dynasty rookie wide receiver doesn’t do much in the game on a box score level. I care about who they are playing with and what role they are playing. Beat reporters hyping up their team’s guy is unimportant. The negative beats are much more impactful. I also care about injury news and its impact on a player’s availability going into the season.
It’s easy to fall in love with a dynasty rookie who’s showing out in camp in shorts when a team’s defense can’t make real tackles. We see this every year. The market gets reactionary instead of grounded in process. Last year, it was guys like Kyle Williams and Matthew Golden. It’s repeating again this year, so let’s discuss four dynasty rookies whose values are changing before Week 1.
De’Zhaun Stribling: Party In The Strib Club
The first dynasty rookie with a massive value swing has been De’Zhaun Stribling. It’s funny because everyone was mocking the 49ers for taking him as the first pick in the second round this year. “Reach!” or “One of the worst rookie prospects to be drafted this early!” were common reactions I saw throughout Twitter/X.
His value has since spiked to the point where people are trading away 2027 first-round picks for him. I was just as shocked until I saw this done multiple times on Dynasty Daddy’s trade database.
Draft capital is one of the best indicators for success in the NFL. When an unexpected dynasty rookie goes at the top of the second round in the NFL draft, you have to pay attention and adjust your priors. I did, which led me to rank him as a mid-second-round pick in this year’s dynasty rookie rankings. Stribling hasn’t played a regular-season snap yet, but the market has fallen for his deafening hype drumbeat.
In Week 1 of the Preseason, the 49ers elected to sit their starters. During that game, Stribling played all 22 of his snaps with the second-team unit. During those snaps, he played against the Titans’ first-team defense. Here, he put up a respectable 7 receptions and 63 yards.
In Week 2, the 49ers sent out their starters for 14 snaps during the first two opening drives. He played in 12 out of those 14 snaps, which is an ~86% snap share. While others only pay attention to his stat line of 4 receptions for 46 yards, I only care about who was on the field around him during those snaps. This tells me that they are starting to trust their rookie to play with their starters. This is a big development for his outlook.
The 49ers are already dealing with several injuries on offense before the season gets started. It seems very likely to me that Stribling should get his opportunity soon, especially if the guys in front of him can’t stay on the field. At the end of the day, he’s still a rookie with a flawed prospect profile. I implore you to avoid the mistake of overpaying for the hype, even if there’s reason to be bullish.
If you’re looking to sell off the hype now, I believe it’s going to take more than just a random 2027 second-round pick. Two second-round picks is most likely a fair asking price in the current market. If anyone is foolish enough to offer a 2027 first-round pick, he should be moved immediately.
Eli Stowers: Stower Hour Is Canceled
Eli Stowers or Kenyon Sadiq was a heavily debated topic amongst dynasty rookie forums, as well as the group chats I’m in with my Dynatyze colleagues. Both dynasty rookies crushed the combine from an athletic standpoint.
Stowers clearly had better college production, but was criticized for being a tweener who can’t block well. Sadiq is the athletic freak who ended up getting top-16 NFL draft capital. First-round tight ends have historically done well, including players like Vernon Davis, Mike Ditka, Tony Gonzalez, and Jeremy Shockey. That alone makes Sadiq a very intriguing dynasty rookie. Stowers ended up being drafted by the Eagles in the second round of the NFL Draft.
The 2026 dynasty rookie class was so weak that I found Stowers was still a first-round pick in the majority of drafts this year. Many in the dynasty space have maintained their take-lock, as these dynasty managers still had Stowers ranked ahead of Sadiq in dynasty rookie drafts.
It’s imperative that dynasty managers are willing to adjust their player takes as new information becomes available. I’ve seen too many managers try to get cute and think that they can outsmart the NFL. It doesn’t typically work out well.
As I said earlier, during training camp and preseason, don’t only listen to hype. I really only care about three things: injury development/recovery, negative coach speak/reports, and who they’re running around with during preseason. This is the kind of information that your average league mate isn’t paying attention to.
Eli Stowers, unfortunately, is just not yet ready to compete at the NFL level. He’s a smaller tight end who switched from quarterback to the tight end position in college. It is common for non-elite tight ends to have a developmental curve. This is being thrust into your face if you take off the blinders.
For the majority of the offseason, we haven’t heard much about the development of Stowers. Now, reports are indicating that he may be a healthy scratch in Week 1. Some delusional Negative Nancys claim he won’t make the roster, but they clearly don’t understand how draft capital works, so ignore these fools.
In Week 1, Eli Stowers played with the third-string offense, where he caught 3 receptions on 3 targets for 12 yards. In Week 2, he was limited to three wide receiver sets and again played while other tight ends on the depth chart were held out with their starters.
He’s currently buried on the depth chart and is starting to see a decline in value by managers who didn’t see this coming. If you haven’t moved him down your rankings by now, you should consider it. I wouldn’t completely tank him, as he does still hold long term upside.
This just goes to show that we’ve been blessed lately with dynasty rookie tight end production early. Remember, not every tight end breaks out like Sam LaPorta, Brock Bowers, or Tyler Warren did in year one. Typically, non-elite tight ends take time to adjust to the NFL.
If I have shares of Stowers, I won’t sell them for nothing. We knew he’d have to sit behind at least Dallas Goedert his rookie year to develop further until he improves upon the nuances of the position. He can safely sit on my taxi squad, a designated space on rosters for developing dynasty rookies, until he earns meaningful snaps. Many managers are still sleeping on what is actually happening to him. If he does end up a healthy scratch for Week 1, you’re going to see his value take a hit. He’s a player for rebuilding teams to bookmark and buy low when the window eventually opens because some managers will get impatient.
Cyrus Allen: The Allen Key to Value Gain
Cyrus Allen is another preseason breakout dynasty rookie. If it’s not a video about De’Zhaun Stribling, it’s Cyrus Allen that’s likely clogging your feed lately. It makes sense, as the Chiefs are looking for any kind of positivity that they can publish. Patrick Mahomes is looking healthy enough to be ready for Week 1, but their off-the-field problem child, Rashee Rice, is looking objectively stiff whenever a video of him running routes surfaces. He’s still rehabbing his knee, so it makes sense as to why there’s a slow return to performance for him. Allen has taken advantage of this and balled out in camp.
In the first week of preseason, the Chiefs elected to rest their top two receivers, so Cyrus Allen started in the slot and transitioned to the perimeter in 12 personnel. It’s critical for wide receivers to be on the field even in two-tight-end sets to stay fantasy-relevant in today’s game. This variance of roles is encouraging for a fifth-round rookie, as it offers several pathways to regular-season snaps.
He did play into the third quarter, which highlights that they still view him as a developmental piece instead of an immediate impact starter. Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy both sat again in the second week of preseason, and Allen played into the second half of that game as well.
For now, Allen doesn’t need to be moved up any more than he already has. In fact, he’s becoming overvalued. For every “he’s the next Puka” player, I can show you 100 Kyle Williams-level results. Yes, we should have some injury concerns for both Rice and Worthy. I’m actually lower than the consensus on both of these players as things stand currently.
It is a smart process move to cash out on the value Allen has gained instead of holding into the regular season. If you can get a 2027 second-round pick for him, which appears to be the going rate, I’m doing this without hesitation. Remember, dynasty is a value game.
Jordyn Tyson: Discount Air Jordyns
There has been heavy debate all offseason about which dynasty rookie wide receiver is going to be the best in this class. For the most part, the discussion focused around the Big Three: Jordyn Tyson, Carnell Tate, and Makai Lemon. There are fair analytical takes for each, but Tate ended up with the best NFL draft capital, and Makai Lemon ended with the worst out of the three.
Tyson displayed a high-end profile, but many are concerned about his ability to stay healthy. His eighth overall draft capital illustrated the confidence the Saints’ front office had in his health. This made me be willing to draft him as the second-best dynasty rookie wide receiver.
They tried managing his workload to help him fully recover. Unfortunately, he still suffered another hamstring injury. Now it’s being reported that he could miss two months or more of the regular season. As high as I was on him as a prospect, this is objectively not an ideal start for any dynasty rookie’s career. This gives me massive Christian Watson vibes, but it at least seems like they’re proactively taking care of it before he is forced to miss even more time. He was a risky pick, and it totally sucks that he’s hurt, but the profile still portrays his immense upside.
I’ve checked many fantasy forums lately, and I’ve found that many are projecting him to already be a bust. I find this take to be both reactionary and premature. Taking advantage of this consensus reaction is how savvy managers build roster value over time. Remember, as I said earlier, dynasty is a value game first. Tyson is becoming a value and will continue to do so until he comes back fully healthy.
There are so many examples of players coming back from injury and having their previous concerns washed away. It even happened last year with Chris Olave and Christian Watson. Olave was treated like a hazmat incident because of concerns about his multiple concussions. Watson was toxic because his hamstrings would never seem to cooperate. Christian McCaffrey was going for 2025 second-round dynasty rookie picks because of the injuries he sustained in 2024, but now he’s being valued as a top-10 dynasty running back according to Dynasty Data Lab ADP.
Every single one of those players regained value because people finally saw the upside realized into fantasy production. Rebuilders should reach out to the Tyson owner as the season starts to test their patience if Tyson not starting hurts their lineup. I’ve found people start to make irrational moves when points start to matter.
If I’m rebuilding, I don’t care about the points Tyson isn’t scoring right now. I’d be looking to tier down off of a player like George Pickens for Tyson and a 2027 first-round pick. Yes, you get a lower consensus-ranked player, but the first-round pick insulates you in this trade. Pickens was amazing last year, but CeeDee Lamb is back and healthy, so I expect them to cannibalize each other, as long as both remain healthy. Pickens is currently ranked near the top 12 for dynasty wide receivers, but his value will naturally dip if he doesn’t come close to repeating last year’s numbers.
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