As we assess the next Dynasty roster of the Windy City Gridiron Dynasty League, we are looking at Mason West’s roster. Mason won the league in 2026.
Mason, like Dan Meehan (yesterday’s analysis), has been featured on the 2nd City Gridiron Podcast feed and has also done a lot of NFL Draft content. Mason’s roster is interesting; there is certainly talent on the roster, but Mason believes in building through trade, not the draft. He has traded away all his draft picks in 2027, 2028, and 2029. He has no way to
get younger, so he has truly gone all-in to win, and the strategy paid off this year.
Let’s take a look at the roster:
Let’s analyze the champion’s roster, shall we?
The QB room isn’t star-studded, but it certainly worked in 2026. Mayfield puts up points with sneaky rushing yardage, and Daniel Jones was certainly on fire in the first half of the season. I like that there are some developmental guys in the room, although I certainly don’t think there’s too much of a future for Richardson or Sanders. Willis is intriguing; it will be interesting to see what he can do this year.
At running back, it comes down to Derrick Henry. Can he put up huge numbers for another season? Will Javonte Williams have another season like the one he had? There’s not a ton behind these two if either falters. Conner is largely irrelevant these days, and the same goes for Pacheco. We all love Ian Wheeler, but it’s doubtful he’s a contributor. Hubbard has shown to be a useful addition to the roster. I’m curious how the Panthers use their backs moving forward. He could be a victim of a crowded backfield in terms of meaningful touches.
This championship was carried by this wide receiver room. Puca, Lamb, Pickens, and Higgins are just an absolutely absurd foursome to roll out every week. On top of that, if Mike Evans is healthy this year, he should produce in Shanny’s offense and Brian Thomas Jr? Who knows, but we know the talent is there. Coker is also an interesting player to roster. There’s not a better WR room in the league than this one.
The tight end room is fine with a little intrigue. How much does Kittle have left in the tank, and how much will he play this year? If you get a 13-or 14-game season out of Kittle and he’s productive, nothing else matters. But if you don’t? There could be issues. I’ve always liked Likely, and perhaps this is the year when he finally sees targets and breaks out. Tonges is a handcuff for Kittle; Gesicki doesn’t do much anymore; the room is fine as long as Kittle is Kittle.
The DT room is fairly solid. Brown and Williams make a nice starting duo, and the depth behind them is a bunch of high-floor, low-ceiling guys. You don’t want to start any of them more than a week or two early, but they can score you 7 or 8 points if you are in a pinch.
The edge room is a little spotty. Hunter is great, of course, but behind that? Hunt is okay; Clowney is on his last legs; there’s not much here and not much depth either.
The linebacker room doesn’t excite me either. It doesn’t feel like a sustainable room. I think a lot of these players aren’t necessarily locks to return to the same type of scoring production they had, and, in my opinion, if you don’t have a solid linebacker room in an IDP league, you don’t have a strong defense. None of these linebackers are currently expected to start this year, except Dodson, but he has two strong rookies behind him who could take his playing time.
I will criticize every team that has a bunch of cornerbacks. I like NCBs to play in fantasy because they tackle, and Mason does have a few nickels, which is good, but he could easily cut 2 or 3 guys here and use his depth elsewhere.
At safety, Hamilton and James are an outstanding duo; between Mukuba and Gardner-Johnson, at least one of them should be a viable play as well to add a little depth.
Mason’s taxi squad is filled with what I would consider Fantasy UDFAs and probably won’t amount to much in terms of hope.
Overall, this roster is solid at most position groups and loaded at wide receiver. The problem is that it’s aging and there are no draft picks on the horizon. Can the wide receiver room continue to carry this team to contend for championships? Possibly, but other position groups are teetering, and Mason has no draft assets to trade for talent midseason, unless he trades away some of his wide receiver talent.
There’s no reason to think Mason won’t contend for another title this year; it’ll just be curious to see what his plan is down the road when the wheels fall off.
