When making waiver wire moves or tweaking those last few roster spots on your dynasty roster, it can cause you to reevaluate the player(s) in question. As I checked in with a few of my rosters, one player that I did another personal test on was Tyler Gaffney.
I pumped up Tyler Gaffney months ago as a Tom Selleck player (or must stash for those plugged into the podcast). My defense? Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen were scheduled to be free agents after the season. The Patriots rotate their running backs to such a degreee that they all have short-term value at some juncture due to injury or the whims of Darth Belichek. Jonas Gray and LeGarrette Blount are good examples from 2014. How about Brandon Bolden? So I thought Gaffney, health pending, would be relevant at some point in the offseason or 2015 regular season.
Prior to allocating a roster spot for the next few months to Gaffney, I wanted to check in with the projection model one more time after tweaking the formulas post-2014. After filtering by weight (far more predictive than BMI, thickness) and the categories of athleticism, rushing, and receiving, here are Tyler Gaffney’s rough comparable players:
- George Atkinson III
- Matthew Tucker
- D.J. Harper
- Anthony Allen
- Shonn Greene
- Tashard Choice
- Jerious Norwood
- Ryan Grant
- Correll Buckhalter
Outside of the fellow first and second-year players on the list (the first three), these backs had relevance, even for a brief time, in the NFL. Whether he filled in for a few starts here and there, or maintained a starting role for multiple seasons (Greene, Grant), there was value to be mined through this list.
Add this comparable list to Gaffney’s spot in New England and he gains tiebreakers in the roster spots of 22-25+ on dynasty teams. If spots are/will be tight come a May rookie draft, then plan ahead with a #PackageUp deal elsewhere on the roster. Now, if Gaffney gets cut or the Patriots bring in a legitimate running mate to LeGarrette Blount via free agency or high in the NFL Draft, Gaffney’s tiebreakers are no longer working for him.
