THERE IS NO OFF-SEASON

The NFL is the king of turning the most mundane parts of its calendar into massive events. No day is that fact more evident than yesterday, when each team’s individual schedules were released. Nothing really happened, all of it could have been handled in a simple press release. But, with the spread of social media, and the creativity of the team’s in-house social media departments, this day has become an event that diehard NFL fans truly look forward to. 

For fantasy football purposes, the most important part of the day is when we finally know teams’ bye weeks. It stinks when you look at your roster and you know five months out that you are probably going to lose a particular week. Especially in superflex leagues, if your top two quarterbacks happen to share the same bye week, good luck. Hopefully you didn’t find yourself looking at an automatic “L” on your schedule after yesterday’s announcements. 

Other than the schedules, the big news in the NFL comes from the Big Easy, where winning games will be anything but “easy” this season. Derek Carr has announced his retirement from the NFL due to a shoulder injury that would’ve kept him out for at least an entire season. Carr has never been an elite quarterback, but he’s been a reliable starter for a decade in superflex formats. It was easy to hope for a higher season for Carr, especially after he joined the Saints, but that ceiling never really appeared. 

Going forward, the Saints are in some trouble. They knew that this was a possibility entering the NFL Draft, so they used their second round pick to take the third quarterback off the board, Tyler Shough. It was a shocking pick, with the presumed QB2 Shedeur Sanders still on the board, but when you look at the Saints’s situation it makes some sense. Shough is 26 years-old and he played in SEVEN college seasons between Oregon, Texas Tech and Louisville. They had to believe that Shough would be able to pick up a new playbook the quickest and be ready to start in year one.

Since the announcement, Shough’s rookie draft ADP has been rising. In MFL rookie superflex drafts, Shough is a second-round pick, going off the board after Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart and Jalen Milroe. It’s very tempting to take a quarterback with a very good chance to start at the end of the second round, but I don’t have high hopes for Shough in New Orleans. This roster is aging and very underwhelming, especially after Carr’s departure. While Carr wasn’t the best quarterback in the league, we saw how badly this team played last year when he had to miss time. Year one of Shough will be closer to the play we’ve seen from Spencer Rattler and Jake Haener than it will be to year-eleven Carr. Next year’s quarterback class is stacking up to be a great one, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Saints use the number one pick on a quarterback next season (Arch Manning?).

The other big NFL headlines from the past week have come on the defensive side of the ball. First, Browns LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah will miss all of 2025 due to lingering head and neck injuries. It’s a heartbreaking story for one of the top linebackers in the league, but the Browns knew this was going to be a possibility. They addressed the position taking UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger with the 33rd pick in the NFL Draft. Schwesinger should be a top three IDP rookie in drafts this season, along with Abdul Carter and Jihaad Campbell. In the opposite corner of the state, Trey Hendrickson has expressed displeasure with the lack of communication he’s had with the Bengals since the Draft. He is entering the final year of his contract in Cincinnati and hoping for an extension after leading the league in sacks in 2024. This situation is getting ugly and could lead to a holdout this summer.

If you play in IDP leagues, superflex leagues, or any other format of dynasty fantasy football, Dynasty League Football is your one stop shop for all the information you need to win. While the DLF Rookie Rankings are the best tool for most leagues, don’t forget to check out the Superflex Rookie Rankings and the IDP Rookie Rankings for the best rankings for your specific league formats.

Here’s the cheapest and easiest way to get a full 365 days of access —>

Deposit AND PLAY $10 or more into a NEW Drafters Fantasy Sports account using Discount Code: DLF

This offer also includes a First Deposit Match of up to $100!

The NFL Best Ball Main Event is still open, with over $2.5M in prizes! Jump into a best-ball draft and use your skills to compete for some cash!

Simply click the link below to register, deposit, and play!

DK Metcalf was traded this off-season, going to Pittsburgh along with the 185th pick for the 52nd and 223rd picks in the draft. The Seahawks ended up using the 52nd pick to trade up for S Nick Emmanwori and the 185th pick on RB Damien Martinez. The Steelers used their 185th pick to draft QB Will Howard. In Pittsburgh, there are major questions about Metcalf’s value, especially after the Steelers waited until that 185th pick to address quarterback in the draft. Right now, Mason Rudolph sits on top of Pittsburgh’s depth chart at QB, with Howard and Skylar Thompson behind him. After the Steelers traded away George Pickens last week, Metcalf is the clear leader in an underwhelming receiver room with an even more underwhelming quarterback room. What could his value possibly be in dynasty fantasy football? 

Since Metcalf’s value has fluctuated so much in the last month, his April Dynasty ADP of WR28 (54th overall) may not be the most accurate data. But, the DLF Expert Rankings are constantly updated up to the minute, so those numbers have adjusted to all of the news of the last month. As you can see, since the end of the season, Metcalf’s value has drastically fallen. A top 20 dynasty pick a year ago, Metcalf has nearly fallen outside of the top 50 in the rankings, going off the board 47th overall and WR26. Interestingly, his April ADP (pre-draft and pre-Pickens trade) is lower than his expert ranking. That seems to be a problem with the public perception of DK Metcalf, who was seemingly constantly underrated in Seattle. 

Because of this disparity in ADP and Rankings (one that I think will grow even wider once May ADP numbers are released), now is a great buy window for Metcalf. The public perception is that this is not an offense that you want any piece of. They don’t have a quarterback, the backfield is a mess, and the pass-catchers behind Metcalf are over the hill (Robert Woods) or unproven (Roman Wilson and Calvin Austin). 

But, Metcalf is still a high-end talent and we’ve seen plenty of stud wide receivers overcome bad quarterback play. Metcalf himself has played his whole career with past-his-prime Russell Wilson and Geno Smith. If Rudolph is the quarterback, he’s done just fine supporting WR1’s in his career. In four games over the past two years with Mason Rudolph, George Pickens averaged 14.9 PPG. In the 27 games without Rudolph, he averaged 11.3. If they do decide to upgrade the position with a veteran, like Aaron Rodgers, things look even better for Metcalf. He’s only 27 years-old and he has the upside to be one of the best fantasy receivers in the league.  

A HATER’S GUIDE TO THE 2025 ROOKIE QB CLASS

For the last several seasons, I have written my Hater’s Guide to the NFL Draft. There are several of them, and if you think you’ll enjoy looking back at me trashing picks in years passed, you can find them on my DLF author page. As a pessimist, this is my favorite thing I do every year. The pre-draft process is such a big part of the NFL and arguably even a bigger part of dynasty fantasy football, so when we finally watch the NFL draft and everyone can’t wait to sing the praises of their favorite rookies, all I can think if is all the reasons why they’ll fall flat on their faces.

Let’s see why this year’s horrific quarterback class will all be cut from your rosters by 2028.

1.01 Cam Ward, QB TEN

Kicking this off right away with the first pick in the draft. When you can take a quarterback first overall who started his collegiate career at Incarnate Word, you just do it. Just look at this list of studs that fill the Incarnate Word to NFL pipeline we have all come to know and love, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Sprinkle in the fact that the Titans have been absolutely crushing it at evaluating quarterback talent over the years, drafting such studs at Will Levis, Malik Willis, Cole McDonald, Luke Falk, Marcus Mariota, Zach Mettenberger, Jake Locker, Rusty Smith, Vince Young, and Kevin Daft in the post Steve McNair years, how can you not trust their process?

1.25 Jaxson Dart, QB NYG

You’ve gotta love an athlete who wants to compete. After his freshman season at USC, the program brought in head coach Lincoln Riley, who was followed by his former quarterback Caleb Williams. Eager to test his mettle against another top quarterback prospect, Dart did what any fearless competitor would do… transfer to Ole Miss. Fortunately, he’ll have no competition with the Giants. Except veteran, Super Bowl-winning signee Russell Wilson. And former first overall pick Jameis Winston. And fan favorite Tommy DeVito.