The Dynasty Trading Post: Mark Andrews and Replacements

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Welcome to the dynasty trading post, where optimizing strategy, roster construction, format, and player value oscillations are examined weekly in example and completed dynasty trades.

This week, we will analyze Mark Andrews and replacement tight ends in the dynasty market.

*All trades are Superflex unless stated otherwise*

TE Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

Theme of the Week: Profile Accumulation

Andrews is one of the few alpha profiles at the tight end position. The list of active tight ends with a career 2.00 yards per route run or higher is a short one: Mark Andrews, Travis Kelce, and George Kittle. Andrews is the youngest of the trio and with his injury to end at least his fantasy season, offers a discount in the market. Especially if Andrews is on a contending team in your league (likely), explore buying Andrews even if you are contending yourself. The biggest edge is with premium formats beyond 1.5 PPR for the position or start-2TE. Even if sacrificing some short-term lineup production in the calculus for this year's playoffs, acquiring Andrews' ceiling for all future years at a prime post-injury opportunity is THE window to pounce in the marketplace.

Here are a few key Andrews trades this week as a buy exploration:

Stock 1.0 PPR for tight end unless noted

• Andrews for Joshua Dobbs, James Conner, David Njoku (2PPR for TE)
• Andrews for Dalton Schultz, 2025 3rd
• Andrews for Dallas Goedert
• Andrews, Garrett Wilson for Travis Kelce, Kenneth Gainwell, 2024 3rd (0.5 TE Premium)
• Andrews for George Kittle

All are significant wins in the dynasty macro view and perfect examples of trading with an Andrews team who is contending and lost Andrews. All of the trades offered solutions at the position for lineup utility. The Andrews-Wilson deal is an example of taking the long view on a deal. While trading away Kelce if contending still yourself this season is a potential killer, the added 4-5 years of age insulation plus adding Garrett Wilson extends and expands a contending window to such an extent, that dropping a notch or two in 2023 probability is worthwhile.

The final listed trade, straight up for George Kittle, is one I executed myself in a stock format. After this first-year orphan fell out of the playoff race over the last two weeks, there are multiple benefits to the deal. First, I prefer Andrews' profile over Kittle's for 2024 and beyond, aligning with my contending window, which shut in 2023. Second, the draft order is based on potential points (optimal lineup scoring) so shedding Kittle and his likely big game or two down the stretch for Andrews accruing a guaranteed zero weekly can easily be the difference between 1.01 in a best-case and 1.03/1.04 in a worst case for 2024 rookie draft order.

Mark Andrews Replacements

Theme of the Week: What Really Matters

If you have lost Mark Andrews and are contending this season, a bevy of replacement options exist. The key strategy point is to not use Andrews as the trade vehicle to acquire his replacement. The previous section shows the long-term risk of selling Andrews in a falling market immediately after his injury.

• George Kittle for Pat Freiermuth, 2024 2nd
• Jake Ferguson, 2024 4th for Jahan Dotson
• Evan Engram, 2025 3rd for Zamir White, 2025 2nd (0.5 TE Premium)
• Taysom Hill for 2025 3rd

This is a broad spectrum of options for Andrews replacements. Kittle is on the higher band of cost at 2nd+ and offers a strong weekly upside to win a matchup, much like he did last year down the stretch run. Ferguson has more long-term risk of retaining the starting job in Dallas, but at the cost of an ancillary wide receiver not on a strong success track like Jahan Dotson, the price to retain Andrews and address the position is palatable. Evan Engram is arguably the best pure value in the market at a 2nd or 3rd+ in the market. Finally, Taysom Hill is a wildcard target as the position is largely nomadic in opportunities per week and sharpshooting an elite ceiling beyond a small subset of players. Hill has three ways to score touchdowns in a given game and as much (or more) of a realistic chance to hit 20+ points in any scoring system as he runs and throws passes more than any other tight end moniker in fantasy football.

Check out all of Chad Parsons' content at Footballguys.