For people who play fantasy football, they know they win their league by preparing for the following year early. When I say early, I mean during the midway portion of the prior year. Fantasy football is very much like the stock market; buy low, sell high. Is DeeJay Dallas a future fantasy star?
For those of us who do keeper or redraft leagues, the same rule applies. Finding undervalued running backs is the key to fantasy success. It’s time to start thinking about this now. Let’s take a look at Dallas here for a second.
A: Chris Carson is an impending free agent.
B: Carlos Hyde is an impending free agent.
DeeJay Dallas is a rookie 4th round pick getting his feet wet. The rest of the running back room includes Travis Homer and Alex Collins. Homer is nothing more than a change of pace. Collins was forced out of retirement because of injuries to Carson and Hyde.
Hyde is unlikely to be brought back considering he brought nothing to the table this year. Carson could be brought back but there will be suitors for his services. Furthermore, his injury history might make it prohibitive to bring him back on a high cap number.
Talent and opportunity create fantasy success. Dallas could easily be walking into a starting job next year. Sure, Seattle could draft someone but we all know John Schneider gets horny off of making weird draft picks that make no sense. Remember Rashaad Penny?
One thing we know about Dallas is that he runs hard. His overall numbers haven’t been super sexy (27 carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns) but a lot of his usage has come in short yardage. He’s also shown an ability to catch the ball out of the backfield.
Dallas will only continue to improve. In fact, oddly enough one of the draft comps I gave him coming out of Miami was Chris Carson. Dallas is a short compact back that simply runs HARD.
Dallas has the rest of the season to impress the Seahawks brass. What happens if or when Dallas becomes the starter in Seattle. An offense with Russell Wilson, Tyler Lockett, and DK Metcalf. There might not be a better one to be part of when it comes to fantasy.
