Expectations were not met in 2019 for these once hopeful dynasty darlings. Everyone on this list saw their dynasty ADP drop from 2019 to now. If we wade through the wreckage, we can still find hope in their future despite a down year. Let’s take a look at a few potential bounce-backs.

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Post Hype Dynasty Targets

Sterling Shepard (WR – NYG)
After going fifth overall in most rookie-exclusive drafts in 2016, Shepard, unfortunately, has only completed two full seasons in his young four-year career. The early part of his career was played in the shadow of Odell Beckham Jr., but last year he was averaging 14 PPG in PPR formats. This is far better than many players currently going ahead of him as his dynasty ECR is at WR41. Daniel Jones will continue to make improvements after his rookie season under center and Shepard looks to be a continued beneficiary. He’s been flying under the radar due to recently missed games but is still this team’s WR1. The opportunity to acquire him is now.

OJ Howard (TE – TB)
Howard’s future is likely tied to that of the Bucs’ quarterback situation. Jameis Winston has never gone to Howard very often but a new face could change his luck. The former first-round pick has been very efficient over his short career, average 15.5 yards per reception and 10.4 yards per target, both of which are among the highest across all active tight ends. 

He is also seeing the field on 83% of snaps when healthy, so he is consistently on the field for both passing and running situations. He’s been praised as a top-quality player for years and while we don’t know what the future holds, it’s hard to believe he will ever be cheaper than he is now. He is likely more worth the risk due to the difficult depth at the TE position and his current owner has to be frustrated with the lack of production.

Darrell Henderson (RB – LAR)
What a disappointing rookie year. While the other rookie running backs were out there churning out fantasy points, Henderson remained sidelined for the majority of the year. In his first action of the season against the 49ers, he looked impressive:

Rams third round rookie RB Darrell Henderson has some serious juice – pic.twitter.com/WATXOB69vl

— Michael Kist (@MichaelKistNFL) October 17, 2019

But his production slipped off as did his snap share after the next few weeks as Todd Gurley got more and more involved. There are rumors about Gurley’s involvement with the Rams going forward, but his contract suggests he’ll be on the team for at least one more season here in 2020.

With Gurley’s health concerns and trade rumors, along with the Ram’s invested capital – trading up in the third round last year – in Henderson, he could still turn it around. Considering he was a top running back prospect heading into last year’s draft as well, and we should expect to see him get more involved over the course of the next season.

N’Keal Harry (WR – NE)
Another disappointing 2019 rookie makes the list in Harry. Touted by many as the best receiver in the class with the first-round draft capital backing it up, Harry found himself on the injured reserve missing a good chunk of the season. When he did return, the Patriots already traded a second-round pick for Mohamed Sanu and Julian Edelman was still entrenched as the WR1. Edelman is going on age 34 and Sanu will 31 by the season’s start. The young Harry will have another hopefully healthy off-season to prepare himself. 

Harry was also one of the best wide receiver prospects from a statistical perspective in years, leading the wide receiver Z-score candidates found here. He had an age 18 breakout age, great dominator and market shares, a big body frame, and athletic traits to go with it. If he doesn’t bounce back on a PPG status then he would go against years of fantasy trends.

Despite not knowing who their quarterback will be in 2020, the Patriots will undoubtedly find someone to hand the reins over to this year or the next. Harry will be able to develop with their new leader and produce in fantasy for years to come.

Juju Smith-Schuster (WR – PIT)
After a monstrous sophomore season of 111-1426-7, Juju fell back to earth with a 42-552-3 line in 12 games. Ben Roethlisberger going down early in the year did not help his situation but he should be back in action this fall. Cycling between Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges as the quarterback was not ideal, but you should thank the stars it happened if he’s not on your team as it created a nice buy-low window for dynasty.

Many already know the value here so it’s a smaller jump than most on this list, but that doesn’t mean it should go unnoticed. There are few receivers to compete with the WR1 spot in Pittsburg and the return of Big Ben should also signal the return of Juju. Still somehow only 23 years old, he is going to be the top receiving option for the Steelers for many years to come.

Rashaad Penny (RB – SEA)
Penny was one of my top buys last year but underperformed during the majority of his games, but here we go again. He’s in a run-heavy offense, has draft capital invested, and has been one of the most efficient backs in the league on a yards per carry basis for two years now. 

He’s still splitting time with Chris Carson but what many don’t realize is what the Seahawks did after the Week 11 bye last year. Penny was fed touches against the Eagles and turned it into 129 yards and a score. The next week against the Vikings he 19 touches for 107 yards and two touchdowns. The very next week we went down after his first touch of the game as a 16-yard reception. The Seahawks were featuring him more and more as he continued to capitalize. 

Now both Penny and Carson went down with gruesome injuries to end the year and could miss multiple weeks to start the year. Once both come back together in full health, we can expect to see more of Penny as they pick up where they left off, although that might not be until a few weeks into the season.

Daniel Jones (QB – NYG)
Currently ranked QB20 in dynasty ECR, Jones is going after guys like Garoppolo and Cousins. In his rookie year, he had five 300-plus yard games and four games with four or more touchdowns. That is very impressive for a rookie from a fantasy perspective. 

Fast forward to 2020 and he gets back a full arsenal of healthy weapons consisting of Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard, Golden Tate, Darius Slayton, and Saquon Barkley. With that kind of ammo at his disposal, it’s hard to not fall in love with the potential ceiling. There will still be some growing pains, but the opportunity is there for this second-year signal-caller.

Thanks for reading and stay golden! If you like what you learned, follow me @DavidZach16 for more interesting stats and tidbits throughout the year.

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David Zach is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from David, check out his archive and follow him @DavidZach16.