Tag: 2024 fantasy football

Fantasy football: 1 surprise performer from each NFL team

A spin around the league to identify one unheralded player from each team.

NFL teams are on the cusp of going to proverbial war for the better part of five months — and longer, if they’re lucky. Perennial superstars dominate the fantasy football landscape, but each season unheralded names rise from relative obscurity to make their presence felt.

While most of these unlikely contributors don’t offer a year-long run of success, anyone who has played fake football long enough knows compartmentalization is the name of the game. Even getting, say, a four-game stretch of utility from a reserve is a small win on your path to a championship.

With that in mind, we’ll take a spin around the NFL in an attempt to identify at least one undervalued consideration from each roster.

Can fantasy gamers find value among Patriots WRs?

Sifting through the debris to find something of value in fantasy football.

Last year’s New England Patriots were the worst combination in pro sports: bad and boring. They ranked 30th in total offense, 28th in passing and tied for last in scoring. The result was a complete reset. Gone are long-time head coach Bill Belichick, and former first-round quarterback Mac Jones, who was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a late-round pick.

In their place are new head coach Jerod Mayo, who hired Alex Van Pelt as offensive coordinator, and the quarterback tandem of veteran Jacoby Brissett and No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye. Eliot Wolf took over the de facto GM role from Belichick, and he stated there’ll be “more reliance on playing young players” this season. So, what does that mean for passing game?

Breaking down the Seattle Seahawks backfield

Will a new coaching staff mean major changes?

For the first time since 2009, the Seattle Seahawks will be led by someone other than Pete Carroll, who was replaced as head coach during the offseason by Mike Macdonald after he spent the previous two years as defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens. Carroll was followed out the door by offensive coordinator Shane Waldron (Chicago Bears) as Macdonald tabbed University of Washington assistant head coach/offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb to be his OC.

Grubb oversaw the Huskies’ second-ranked passing attack a season ago, and with the trio of WRs DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, he has some quality options in place on the outside. He won’t abandon the run, though, with a pair of recent second-round picks atop the depth chart in the form of RBs Kenneth Walker III and Zach Charbonnet. In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Seattle rely on the run a little more after they finished 31st in the NFL in carries a season ago.

So, what do the changes in the Emerald City mean for fantasy owners?

Fantasy football: Expectations for Chicago Bears QB Caleb Williams

What are Williams’ pros and cons in fantasy this year?

The futility of Chicago Bears quarterbacks is unprecedented. The Bears haven’t had a first-team All-Pro since Johnny Lujack in 1950. Over the last 70 seasons, they’ve had just three quarterbacks named to the Pro Bowl – Billy Wade in 1963, Jim McMahon in 1985, and Mitchell Trubisky in 2018 (Trubisky wasn’t selected to the Pro Bowl, but was added as a replacement).

To call the lack of quarterback success a drought is an understatement. It hasn’t been a who’s who of quarterbacks in Chicago. It’s been a who’s that?

The Bears swung and missed on Justin Fields with the 11th pick in 2021 and, after trading the first pick in the 2023 draft to let the Carolina Panthers draft a quarterback, one of the selections that came back turned into the first pick of the 2024 draft. The Bears declined all trade offers and chose Caleb Williams.

In 37 games at USC (33 starts), Williams threw for 10,082 yards with 93 touchdowns and just 14 interceptions. He wasn’t a prolific rusher (289 carries for 960 yards – a 3.3-yard average), but he scored 27 rushing touchdowns.

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Williams has drawn comparisons to Patrick Mahomes, which can be good and bad. Williams has generational talent in terms of pocket awareness, mobility, and ability to fire passes from different arm angles – improvisation that creates big plays. However, Mahomes “gets away with” passes most QBs don’t because his coaching staff didn’t discourage him from taking unnecessary risks that can lead to turnovers. Williams got away with taking big risks in college that could be interceptions in the NFL.

Few players who are drafted No. 1 overall have immediate success because the teams they came to earned the first pick by being the worst team the previous season. That isn’t the case with Williams. The Bears were 7-10 in 2023 and have as much talent around Williams as any first overall pick in recent memory. Chicago already had wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet but added wide receiver Keenan Allen and running back D’Andre Swift in free agency. That was before using the ninth pick in the draft to select deep-threat wide receiver Rome Odunze. Williams has all the pieces around him to be elite quickly.

Fantasy football outlook

Williams is solidly in the top half of the QB2 rankings in 12-team leagues. If his ADP holds up on draft day, he’ll end up at a level where he would be paired with a quarterback like Dak Prescott, Kyler Murray or Jordan Love.

The Bears will start Williams on Day 1, but he doesn’t have to start on fantasy rosters until he proves he can make the transition to the NFL with ease. Like any rookie, he’s going to have his ups and downs along the way. He’ll look like a Pro Bowler one week and have an awful week the next. It’s a roller coaster all rookies ride.

With the talent assembled around him, Williams has a greater chance for immediate success than most rookie quarterbacks. At a minimum, he can be mixed and matched by those focusing on weekly matchups, with the strong potential to be the quarterback who starts more games than he doesn’t.

Is drafting Indianapolis Colts QB Anthony Richardson worth the risk?

Richardson’s immeasurable upside doesn’t come without sizable risk.

When the Indianapolis Colts made quarterback Anthony Richardson the fourth pick of the 2023 NFL Draft, expectations were off the charts that, with Richardson’s skill set, he could almost immediately be Version 2.0 of Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson or former NFL star Cam Newton. Blessed with a rare combination of elite foot speed and arm strength, it was clear that Richardson was going to be the starter on Day 1 and the atmosphere was going to change for the Colts.

Indianapolis had witnessed a quarterback turnstile since the abrupt retirement of franchise cornerstone Andrew Luck after the 2018 season. After five years of change, the belief was the ugly ride was coming to a stop with the arrival of Richardson.

Unfortunately, his rookie season lasted just two full games and parts of two others. Richardson was knocked out of his first two divisional tilts – Week 2 against the Houston and Week 4 vs. Tennessee, when he sustained a season-ending shoulder injury that required surgery, putting his dynamic rookie campaign on hold.

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What Richardson showed in 162 minutes was stunningly good. In less than 10 quarters of game time, he threw for 577 yards and three touchdowns and rushed 25 times for 136 yards and four touchdowns. When he was on the field, the rookie was electric as both a runner and passer. But the obvious concern is his durability.

After a few years of being one of the weaker offensive divisions in football and run-oriented in a passing league, the AFC South has suddenly transformed into a division that has seen significant offensive octane added across the board. The days of the 17-13 bloodbaths are over, and the Colts have joined the party with an offense that can compete with anyone, largely thanks to a dynamic Richardson at the wheel.

The gigantic question with Richardson as a fantasy investment is will he be able to stay healthy in the NFL and not be a flash in the pan with immense talent?

Fantasy football outlook

There may be no bigger risk/reward pick in fantasy drafts this summer than Richardson. He currently as an ADP of QB5, behind only Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts, Jackson and Patrick Mahomes — in the mix with guys like C.J. Stroud, Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott.

Those other guys all have a track record of success to warrant being drafted that high. Richardson has finished only two career games, meaning he’s effectively still a rookie. Anyone who saw his performances in 2023’s cameo season can attest that Richardson is an explosive — perhaps generational — talent, but to take a quarterback this high with a blazing red flag from his rookie season is a bold move as high as his current ADP would indicate.

Whoever ends up with Richardson will likely be forced to jump on another quarterback higher than others who took a quarterback early to provided insurance. In a 12-team league, that will likely require grabbing a second QB as soon as everyone has one, which may be too steep a price for a lot of fantasy managers to pay, despite his incredibly high ceiling.

Key fantasy football training camp battles to watch

Here are the most important training camp battles to follow for fantasy football.

All NFL teams have opened training camps, and fantasy football managers get to watch exciting positional battles play out over the coming weeks, helping us make properly informed draft decisions. Here’s a spin around the league’s most important competitions to keep an eye on.

Is Rachaad White a one-man band among Buccaneers running backs?

Will this backfield be a one-man show in 2024?

Following the retirement of quarterback Tom Brady, little was expected from the 2023 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, they improved their record, going from 8-9 in 2022 to 9-8, and raised a third straight NFC South banner. Despite that, the Bucs offense hardly covered itself in glory, finishing 23rd in total yards, 20th in scoring, and dead last in rushing at a measly 88.8 yards per game — their 3.4 yards per carry was also the lowest figure in the NFL.

The club will have a new offensive coordinator after Dave Canales left to take the head coaching gig with the Carolina Panthers. In his stead, the Bucs hired Liam Coen, who sandwiched two years with the University of Kentucky as OC around a one-year stint in the same role for the Los Angeles Rams. He’s been primarily involved with the passing game in his career, including serving as quarterbacks and wide receivers coach in previous stops, but he’d still like to see improvement from the ground attack.

In terms of personnel, Tampa Bay brings back its top-two rushers from last year in running backs Rachaad White and Chase Edmonds, and they added Bucky Irving in the draft.

A closer look at the Tennessee Titans backfield

What should we expect from the Tony Pollard-Tyjae Spears tandem?

From the moment Mike Vrabel was hired to be the head coach of the Tennessee Titans before the 2018 season, you knew you were going to get two things: a physical defense, and a heavy dose of running back Derrick Henry each week. After six years of that, it’s a new day in Nashville. Vrabel was fired after posting a 13-21 record over the last two seasons, and Henry signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

Vrabel’s replacement is Brian Callahan, who was hired after serving as offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals for the last five seasons. In Cincinnati, he oversaw a pass-first offense led by young superstar quarterback Joe Burrow and the receiving tandem of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. While the Titans have upgraded their own receivers room, which now includes DeAndre Hopkins, Calvin Ridley, and Tyler Boyd, a familiar face from Cincy, the jury is still out on QB Will Levis.

As such, the ground game should be important for the 2024 Titans. With Henry gone, Tennessee gave former Dallas Cowboys RB Tony Pollard a three-year, $21.75 million deal to join promising youngster Tyjae Spears atop the depth chart. Let’s look at what we can expect from them this year.

Fantasy football: Puka Nacua vs. Cooper Kupp

Is there a changing of the guard underway, or have gamers jumped the gun?

Coming off a 5-12 season amid questions whether quarterback Matthew Stafford or head coach Sean McVay would even return, the Los Angeles Rams looked like a franchise in disarray. Instead, they racked up 10 wins before bowing out in a one-point loss to the Detroit Lions in the Wild Card Round. While the defense made marginal improvements — going from 21st in scoring in 2022 to 19th — it was the offense that carried the day, jumping from 27th to eighth.

At the heart of that surge was an unheralded rookie wideout from BYU, who caught 10 balls for 119 yards in Week 1 and wound up finishing in the NFL’s top 10 in both receptions (105) and yardage (1,486) en route to a second-place finish in Rookie of the Year balloting behind Houston Texans QB C.J. Stroud. Puka Nacua‘s rise was most surprising for two reasons: 1) he was selected in the fifth round, and 2) he played the same position as LA’s most established weapon, WR Cooper Kupp.

Heading into their second season together, Nacua and Kupp create an interesting Rorschach test for fantasy owners. Did Nacua simply step into a void created by an injury to Kupp with the veteran ready to retake the mantle of WR1 in Los Angeles? Or, has Nacua established himself on par with Kupp, creating, at minimum, a 1a/1b scenario?

Brandon Aiyuk attends 49ers training camp

Currently, it appears as if Aiyuk will stay put in 2024.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk intends to report to the start of training camp despite his frustration over his contract situation, according to sources.

SOURCE: NFL Network – Ian Rapoport

Fantasy football advice: We are unlikely to know if Aiyuk will be a “hold-in” or fully participate in camp, but the good news is that it is much easier for the two sides to talk if the player is actually present and/or practicing with the team. Despite all the conjecture, it would still be shocking if the two sides fail to reach an agreement before the start of the season. Until further notice, Aiyuk should still be considered a rock-solid fantasy WR2.

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