THERE IS NO-OFFSEASON

It’s Major League Baseball’s Opening Day today. In the world of Dynasty Fantasy Football, that can only mean one thing: the NFL Draft is less than one month away! While your leaguemates are wasting their time on their fantasy baseball teams, or their college basketball brackets, the real dynasty winners are grinding the tape, digging for Pro Day information and reading the weekly DLF newsletter. Congrats on being a dynasty winner on this Opening Day!

Speaking of Pro Days, Miami’s Pro Day was this week, and we finally got the chance to watch Cam Ward take the field and participate in drills for NFL scouts. According to the man himself, Cam Ward says he solidified his spot as the top overall pick. And he absolutely should be the first overall pick. He’s the best option available at the most important position in all of sports. The big question now is who makes the number one pick. The Titans are currently -550 to take a quarterback with their first pick, but that may not necessarily be the first overall pick. Right now, no first round picks in the 2025 NFL Draft have changed hands. Every team owns their original first round pick. We’ll see if that can hold out for another month, but all eyes are on Nashville and what they’ll do with their pick. 

At the professional ranks, free agency has hit the pre-draft lull. Tyler Conklin has signed with the Chargers, Zach Pascal to the Giants and Brandin Cooks is going back to New Orleans. The biggest signing of the past week has to be Jameis Winston going to the New York Football Giants. This signing doesn’t preclude the Giants from drafting a rookie quarterback, but he’ll likely have the inside track for the starting job to kick off the 2025 season. While Winston isn’t an elite option at quarterback, he does do a good job supporting his receivers. It’s too early to react too much to the signing, but this isn't’ bad news for Malik Nabers. Winston shouldn’t have any issues matching the production of Daniel Jones, Drew Lock and Tommy DeVito from last season. If Winston is the quarterback, Nabers should be expected to have another 100-catch, 1,000 yard season, assuming he stays healthy. 

Meanwhile, the Aaron Rodgers saga continues. With Winston off the board, it’s possible that Rodgers only has Pittsburgh as an option for him to start right now. The Vikings were involved at one point, but they appear committed to J.J. McCarthy. The Giants were involved, but they seem to be content with Winston and a rookie. The Steelers still don’t have a starting quarterback for 2025, and they could be the ultimate landing spot for Rodgers. 

You may have noticed that we recently changed the name of our long-running Thursday newsletter to “There Is No Off-Season.” It’s the Dynasty League Football tagline, and the mantra we live by here at DLF headquarters. While the NFL may be in off-season mode, we don’t sleep this time of year. Be sure to bookmark DLF and keep checking back for our crop of rookie profiles, including Tez Johnson, Harold Fannin, and Tetairoa McMillan, who were all published recently. The countdown is on for the NFL Draft and rookie draft season in dynasty!

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Christian McCaffrey was a very frustrating player to manage in 2024 fantasy and dynasty leagues. He was a very late scratch in week one, ended up sitting until week 10, and only played four games before missing the final five of the season. A locked-in first-round value last off-season, he saw his ADP value drop all the way down to 68  in December of last year. But, with the 2025 season approaching, his value is starting to creep back up. 

Now that we’ve officially turned the corner to a new year, and McCaffrey appears to be on track to be ready for “parts” of the off-season program, dynasty managers are buying back into the upside. We’re only one year removed from CMC being a top two running back in back to back seasons, but he’s turning 29 years-old in June, and coming off of this major injury. The question becomes, buy, sell or hold?

Taking a look at recent trades involving McCaffrey, he’s being valued as a late-first round pick, or an early-second round pick. DLF’s Trade Analyzer values him very similarly, about the same as pick 1.08 in one quarterback drafts. I believe the fact that you can get a first round pick for CMC makes this the perfect time to move on from this player. McCaffrey has a chance to be an RB1 next season, and could even be that for another season, but this draft class is looking like a strong one for running backs, especially if you can get one of the top five backs. If McMillan, Burden, Egbuka, Hunter or one of the tight ends goes a bit earlier, one of the top five RBs can fall down to pick eight. I’ll take advantage of this opportunity and try to get out one year early, instead of one year late, with Christian McCaffrey. 

PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE
2025 ROOKIE PICK VALUE RECAP

As we inch ever so close to the 2025 NFL Draft, another series has wrapped up to prepare you for your rookie draft. The latest installment of articles to help you is the Past/Present/Future Rookie Pick Value Series. This is the second of several rookie series and tools we will provide to prepare you further for your rookie drafts.

Here, you have a round-by-round recap of pick values compiled by the amazing team here at DLF. Click on the round below to explore the value of the pick you are inquiring about. We wanted to ensure the subscribers here are well-versed in their rookie knowledge.