Tue Jun 27th 2023

My Most-Rostered Players #1

One of the things I like to do this time of year is see who my most-rostered players are. I want to remember how I acquired those players and consider why I have so many shares of those players. It helps me decide if they are players I am happy to hold or players I need to sell.

Here I write about players I have rostered in more than 33% of my teams. You'll notice that few of these players are superstars. It's hard to roster over 33% of the elite players because they are usually acquired in rookie drafts. I'm in nine dynasty leagues, so my draft spot in rookie drafts varies significantly from team to team, making it hard to acquire the same rookie in each draft. As a result, most of the players I list here are later-round prospects that ranked much higher than consensus, so I was able to add them more easily in rookie drafts. Or they are players I added off of waivers during a season and made higher bids than the rest of my league-mates because I liked them so much. Or they are players I targeted and acquired in trades.

With a few exceptions, these are players I am happy to have so many shares of. I hope I can convince you to value these players as much as I do to that you will be excited to have them on your rosters or try to acquire them in trades.

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Isaiah Hodgins (8)

• Hodgins is my most rostered player. I have him in eight of my nine leagues. The only league I do not have him in is my salary cap league, where he is now a free agent that I can pick up in our free agent auction before the season starts. In every case, Hodgins was a player I picked up off waivers last season. I liked Hodgins more than most managers when he was drafted in 2020. He was an excellent red-zone target at Oregan State, scoring 13 touchdowns in his final season. I was surprised when he fell to the 6th round of the NFL draft, but I thought he could become a starter for Buffalo. Instead, the Bills signed Stefon Diggs and several veteran free agents burying Hodgins on the depth chart. Later he was released. I was excited when the Giants signed him last year because Brian Dabol was Buffalo's offensive coordinator when they drafted him. As the new head coach in New York, he signed Hodgins and gave him his first chance to play in the NFL. Giants' injuries gave him an opportunity, but from week ten on, he was a starter for the Giants and had the most touchdowns and second-most receptions on the team over the last seven games. The Giants' wide receiver room has grown over the off-season since they signed Parris Campbell and Jamison Crowder and since WanDale Robinson and Sterling Shepard have returned from injuries. Still, the Giants signed Hodgins to a one-year deal this offseason, and he's a projected starter alongside Darius Slayton, who they also resigned to a one-year deal, and Parris Campbell. Hodgins is their best red-zone receiver and should maintain his starting role with the improving Giants offense. He's a player I'm glad to have on all but one of my rosters.

Jaylen Warren (6)

• Warren is my next most-rostered player. I have him on six of my nine rosters; in each case, I added him the same way. Warren flashed in a preseason game last season. After watching him look far superior to Benny Snell in that game, I knew this undrafted free agent would immediately become Najee Harris's backup ahead of Snell and Anthony McFarland. After watching that preseason game, I added him to every roster except the two where I was outbid for him. In the salary cap league, I added him in the free agent auction but only signed him to a one-year deal, so he's a free agent I will look to add again in this year's auction. It was a big surprise that Warren was not drafted in 2022 because he had a stellar final season at Oklahoma State after transferring from Utah State. I liked his tape a lot, so he was one of the UDFAs I made a point to follow in the preseason. I am glad I did. The coaches are already saying they'd like to see him touch the ball more this season making him a flex-worthy player during bye weeks, and if Harris gets injured, he's an every-week starter. I'm pleased to have Warren on two-thirds of my rosters.

Trayveon Williams (5)

• Williams is a player I added to every roster that I could this offseason after Samaje Perine signed with the Broncos and Joe Mixon got into more league trouble. The Bengals later drafted Chase Brown, but even so, I held onto my Williams shares. I want to see how the rest of the offseason plays out, as the Bengals are reportedly asking Joe Mixon to take a pay cut. I was much lower on Williams than most dynasty managers in the 2019 rookie draft, so I never drafted him. Since that time, he was dropped off most dynasty rosters since he never got playing time. I added him in every league where he was not rostered. It could happen to him again this year if Mixon stays and Brown becomes his primary backup, but I am willing to wait and see. Coaches have spoken highly of him recently, so he will get more opportunities this season, even if Mixon remains a Bengal.

Jahan Dotson (4)

• I have four shares of Dotson because I was much higher on him than other dynasty managers in last year's rookie class. I drafted him as high as 8th last year and as low as 12th. All four shares I have of him are because I drafted him in the first round last year. Dotson was limited by injuries last year, but he was electric when he was on the field. He scored seven touchdowns on just 35 receptions in the twelve games he played. He scored four touchdowns in his first four games in the NFL before he got injured. I'm convinced that if he remained healthy, we'd be talking about him with the same praise we give Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave after their productive rookie seasons. Eric Bieniemy is the new OC in Washington, and Sam Howell is the new quarterback. Both will improve the Commanders' offense and give Dotson a chance to break out in his second year. I could not be happier to have Dotson on four of my teams.

Jerome Ford (4)

• I also have Jerome Ford on four of my teams. I drafted Ford in two rookie drafts, added him off waivers in one league, and traded JaMycal Hasty for him to the manager who had Travis Etienne before the NFL draft when the Jaguars drafted Tank Bigsby. I had Ford ranked a lot higher than most dynasty managers last year, but a few managers liked him as much as I did because I could not draft him in most of my leagues. He would have been drafted in dynasty rookie drafts much higher had he not been drafted by the Browns, which buried him behind Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. A year later, however, with Hunt out of the way, Ford is the clear backup to Chubb on a team that likes to rotate their running backs. Ford is one of the players I've tried the hardest to trade for this offseason, but most managers are unwilling to part with him. He's no longer a sneaky player to target. Dynasty managers are aware of the opportunity he has this season to spell Chubb or take a leading role if Chubb gets hurt. Ford was amazingly productive in his final season at Cincinnati, scoring 20 touchdowns and averaging 6.1 yards per carry. He was recruited by and signed with Alabama before transferring to Cincinnati, so he has the pedigree to match his college production. I will keep putting together trade offers for him this summer in hopes of finding another deal or two.

DeVante Parker (4)

• Parker is one of the players on this list I am not thrilled to have four shares of. I drafted him in a start-up draft three years ago. I inherited him on an orphan team that I took over a year ago. In 2019, I traded Mike Gesicki for him, and this season I added him off waivers after a rookie draft in one league in which our rosters bubble up to 40 players after the rookie draft. Parker is a depth piece on my teams and will get an occasional starting role during bye weeks or if I have players injured. Adding Bill O'Brien as the OC in New England will make the offense more productive, and the addition of Juju Smith-Schuster this offseason will give the defenses they face more to cover. While he's never lived up to his first-round rookie draft hype in the 2015 class, he has remained in the NFL and on dynasty rosters for the last seven years. I am not thrilled to have this many shares of Parker, but there are worse players to have as roster depth.

Kyle Phillips (4)

• Phillips was one of my favorite late-round targets last year, and I was able to draft him in four of my leagues. He was a back-end-of-the-roster guy all season last year while he battled injuries. I thought about cutting him many times but chose to stay hopeful that he'll return healthy and make a second-year leap. Phillips will never be the Titans' big-play maker, but he's still poised to become a highly targeted slot receiver and a startable wide receiver in PPR leagues. He did exactly what I hoped in his first NFL game, catching six balls on 11 targets for 66 yards. If healthy, he can keep that role in the offense, especially since the Titans did not add any competition to the wide receiver room in the draft or free agency. He's currently projected as the slot receiver, with Treylon Burks and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine as the outside receivers. In PPR leagues, Phillips will be the startable last-guy-in-the-flex type of receiver for years to come if he can stay healthy. I am glad I kept him on my roster and look forward to seeing what he can do on the field this season.

Sterling Shepard (4)

• All four of my Shepard shares were acquired from the waiver wire over the last two years. Dynasty managers grew tired of Shepard after he sustained two season-ending injuries over the last few years, and most managers dropped him from their rosters. I was happy to scoop him up, hoping he could return healthy and become Daniel Jones's top target again. He has younger and tougher competition now, but I am willing to see him return and compete for a starting role with the Giants. Over the last two seasons, in the ten games that Shepard was healthy, Jones targeted him 7.7 times a game. Jones only had eyes for Shepard. I am skeptical that he will do so again, but the Giants signed him to a one-year deal to find out. I am willing, like the Giants, to wait to see what he can do.

Tyler Scott (4)

• As Kyle Phillips was in last year's rookie drafts, Tyler Scott was my primary late-round target. I drafted him in the fourth, fifth, and sixth rounds of rookie drafts and added him off waivers after the rookie draft in one league. I've written about him a lot recently, so I won't go in-depth again about why I targeted him so much late in drafts. He was drafted way later than NFL scouts projected, and he has a chance to be better than Chase Claypool and Darnell Mooney this season. Plus, Claypool and Mooney's contracts expire at the end of this season. He has an improving quarterback in Justin Fields and an opportunity to become Fields' second leading target behind D.J. Moore. I'll likely have to wait a year on Scott as I did with Phillips, but I am happy to do so and will be pleasantly surprised if Scott rises up the depth chart in year one.

Josh Palmer (4)

• Palmer is the player I'm least excited to say that I have on four of my rosters, especially after what the Chargers did this offseason. I fully expected the Chargers to let Mike Williams go in free agency, allowing Palmer to become the WR-2 beside Keenan Allen. Instead, they re-signed Williams and drafted Quentin Johnston in the first round. As a result, Palmer went from the hopeful WR-2 to the sidelined WR-4. Palmer is now one of the players most likely to be cut from my teams when we trim rosters before the season starts. Palmer was one of my favorite mid-round rookies in the 2021 class, so all four of my Palmer shares came via rookie drafts. You win some, and you lose some. This is one of my losses.

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