Nothing brings dynasty fantasy football managers out of hibernation like rookie draft season. After months of radio silence, every single dynasty league I am in has seen at least one trade in the weeks since the NFL Draft. In this period of heightened activity, now is a great time to look to trade for some undervalued players, especially undervalued veterans relative to the shiny new rookies.
Today, I’ll offer some of the best dynasty draft values. These can also be viewed as potential trade targets. To find these players, I’ll use KeepTradeCut’s (KTC) crowdsourced Dynasty rankings and FantasyCalc’s trade-based rankings. I’ll also occasionally reference FantasyPros’ expert consensus rankings (ECR), but the previous two sources are the most accurate reflection of the dynasty market, given that they are directly sourced from community opinions and community trades, respectively. With that in mind, let’s get right into it.
- Dynasty Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- Dynasty Rookie Draft Simulator
- DBro’s Dynasty Rookie Draft Primers
- Dynasty Fantasy Football Rankings
Best Dynasty Fantasy Football Draft Values
Kyler Murray (QB – ARI)
After a disappointing QB10 finish (QB14 in points per game) in 2024, the fantasy football community seems to have given up on Kyler Murray. This may be willful ignorance on my part, but I still have faith in the NFL’s premier short king. After all, Murray is still only 27 years old, and he ranks sixth all-time in career fantasy points per game.
I ranked him as the QB7 in my top 10 dynasty quarterback rankings earlier this offseason (click the link for a more in-depth breakdown of why I still believe in Murray). His consensus values are much lower. He is the QB14 on both KTC and FantasyCalc. Even ECR has him only slightly higher at QB13. Especially given the recent news that Murray plans to run more in 2025, trading for him at those prices is a no-brainer.
Bo Nix (QB – DEN)
Ah, it feels nice to be arguing for a good player again. Unlike some of the recent names on this list, Bo Nix already carries plenty of value. He is a consensus dynasty QB1, ranked as the QB10 on FantasyCalc and QB11 on KTC. However, both sites have him below multiple players whom he should rank above. Specifically, fellow 2024 rookies Caleb Williams and Drake Maye.
I’m aware this is a very hot take, but my reasoning for it is surprisingly simple: Nix was better than his fellow rookies in 2024. He beat out both Maye and Williams in fantasy points per game and PFF grade (an approximation of actual NFL performance). It wasn’t even close, either. Nix scored 19.3 points per game, four points ahead of Maye or Williams; he ranked 17th in PFF offense grade, compared to 29th and 31st for the other two, respectively.
Of course, last year’s first and third-overall picks were much better prospects than Nix, and they also were in much worse situations. I wouldn’t be surprised if one (or both) of them takes a huge step forward this season. But if you can get a decent plus to tier “down” to the more productive player, I’d do it.
Justin Herbert (QB – LAC)
Just like Bo Nix, Justin Herbert deserves to jump the young trio of C.J. Stroud, Drake Maye and Caleb Williams. Yes, he’s four years older than all three of those players. But 27 is still a perfectly cromulent age for the quarterback position, where top options are staying active well into their 30s.
Meanwhile, Herbert already is what dynasty managers are hoping these younger signal-callers will become: An elite pocket passer with proven high-end fantasy upside. Last season, Herbert was the QB3 in PFF passing grade behind only Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. While it feels like forever ago, Herbert did post a QB2 overall finish in 2021.
Yes, he has been more of a borderline QB1 in recent years, but we know that a truly difference-making fantasy season is in his range of outcomes; it only becomes more likely as the Chargers continue to add weapons. Even if Herbert never returns to his early-career levels of fantasy production, a yearly high-end QB2 is a very valuable asset in Superflex.
I’ll take that certainty over the risks of Stroud (who showed a very low fantasy floor last season) and Maye/Williams (whose futures as franchise quarterbacks are still less than certain).
Tua Tagovailoa (QB – MIA)
On both KTC and FantasyCalc, Tua Tagovailoa is ranked just one spot ahead of Sam Darnold. That’s a mistake, likely driven by fear over Tagovailoa’s history of concussions. For me, the concussion issue has been overblown in terms of Tagovailoa’s dynasty value.
While he has had multiple high-profile (and frankly, terrifying) incidents of head trauma, no one other than speculating media members has ever even mentioned the idea that these incidents might lead to an early end to his career. Even with a reasonable discount due to injury concerns, having Tagovailoa next to Darnold is preposterous. Tagovailoa is younger than Darnold, has a much longer history of fantasy production and is in an infinitely better situation.
Even after his career 2024 season, Darnold landed with the re-tooling Seahawks on a contract that contains no real long-term commitment. Tagovailoa is, for better or worse, locked in as the Dolphins’ franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future. That is a position that led him to a QB9 finish just two years ago; he even averaged a respectable 17.1 points per game (QB15) last year in what was objectively a terrible season for Miami’s offense. ]
Depending on how much you believe in Mike McDaniel’s ability to bounce back, Tagovailoa belongs closer to other middle-aged pocket passers like Dak Prescott, Jared Goff and maybe even Baker Mayfield, all of whom are currently ranked multiple tiers above him.
Tyler Shough (QB – NO)
Tyler Shough is probably not going to be a good NFL quarterback. Being a 25-year-old rookie with only 7,820 career passing yards in college is an absurdly large red flag. But he received early second-round draft capital and, with Derek Carr retired, is now set up to be the Saints’ Week 1 starter.
At worst, Shough should provide one season of usable production for Superflex leagues. At best, we’re all wrong (stranger things have happened), and he is genuinely good. If that’s the case, he’s certainly going to get a chance to prove it. That’s more than can be said for fellow rookies Jalen Milroe, Shedeur Sanders and Will Howard, all of whom are right by (often ahead of) Shough in community rankings.
I’m not saying Shough is suddenly worth a first-round rookie pick, but he’s certainly more valuable than those guys. They all have the same talent question marks but may never start an NFL game.
Jaxson Dart (QB – NYG)
In some ways, the argument for Jaxson Dart is similar to the one for Shough. They both rely on one simple fact: We are very, very bad at predicting how quarterback prospects will fare in the NFL. Even after he received first-round draft capital, the dynasty community is mostly out on Dart, letting him consistently fall to the second round of Superflex rookie drafts.
History shows that, even if he never becomes a franchise quarterback, Dart will eventually generate enough hype to be worth more than his current price. He will probably get a shot to start for the Giants this season, at which point playing alongside Malik Nabers should allow him to generate at least a highlight or two (he’s also underrated as an athlete).
Especially on rebuilding teams where your main goal is to stockpile value going forward, you almost can’t go wrong adding Dart at the price of a second-round pick in Superflex leagues.
Brock Purdy (QB – SF)
Brock Purdy is one of the single most undervalued players in all of dynasty fantasy football. A month ago, I ranked him as the QB8 in my top 10 dynasty quarterbacks. I went into more detail in that article, but the overall argument was simple: He’s young (25.4 years old) and productive (QB6 in 2023 and QB10 in 2024).
At the time, I said that even if you believe Purdy to be purely a product of Kyle Shanahan’s system, the 49ers were very unlikely to let him go. Just a few days ago, my prediction came true, as Purdy signed a massive extension tying him to the Niners for the foreseeable future.
For what it’s worth, Purdy (who ranked as PFF’s QB4 in 2023 and QB11 in 2024) isn’t just a product of Shanahan’s system. Thankfully, we now don’t have to find out. If Purdy wasn’t Mr. Irrelevant and was instead a first-round pick producing like this, he would be a consensus top-seven dynasty quarterback. As long as he isn’t, take the value and buy him at prices well outside the top 10 quarterbacks (QB13 on KTC and QB17 on FantasyCalc).
Cam Ward (QB – TEN)
I’ve made the case before that Cam Ward should be the consensus 1.02 in Superflex rookie drafts, but let me make it again. As I mentioned with Dart, we as a community (not to mention the NFL itself) are very bad at predicting which quarterbacks will go on to succeed.
Ward is generally considered a “bad” first-overall quarterback prospect, but the key to his value is that he was still selected first overall. With that level of capital, he will get a very long leash from the Titans and dynasty managers alike.
If you draft Ward with an early first-round pick now, you will almost certainly have multiple chances to flip him for similar value, even if he never works out as a franchise quarterback. If he does work out, you have a huge win on your hands, as nothing is more valuable in Superflex dynasty leagues than young franchise quarterbacks.
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Ted Chmyz is a fantasy football contributor for FantasyPros.com. Find him on Twitter and Bluesky @Tchmyz for more fantasy content or to ask questions.
