Marquez Valdes-Scantling fantasy football

How to target Buffalo Bills WRs in fantasy drafts

Breaking down the unheralded cast of wideouts in Western New York.

Over the last four seasons, the Buffalo Bills have featured one of the NFL’s most prolific passing attacks, primarily on the strength of quarterback Josh Allen and wide receiver Stefon Diggs. That era came to an end this offseason when the Bills traded Diggs to the Houston Texans. In addition to parting ways with Diggs, their No. 1 receiver, they also lost WR Gabe Davis, who signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars after finishing second on the team in receiving in both 2022 and 2023.

With the Bills possessing limited cap space, the retooling of the receiver room took the form of value free-agent signings like Curtis Samuel and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, along with the selection of WR Keon Coleman in the second round of this year’s draft. Internally, they’ll be looking at Khalil Shakir and hoping he can take another step in his development.

One thing that can’t be overlooked when talking about Buffalo’s receivers is the presence of Allen, who has the disposition and talent to shepherd these fresh faces through the inevitable bumps in the road. With that in mind, let’s look at who can contribute in 2024.

KC’s crowded WR corps comes with more questions than answers

KC’s receiving corps, while talented, is full of question marks.

For a second consecutive year, the Kansas City Chiefs bid farewell to their leading wide receiver during the offseason, though the loss of wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster (78-933-3), who signed with the New England Patriots, is hardly on par with the team’s decision to trade WR Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins before the 2022 campaign. The Hill move felt like KC was hitting the reset button on their receiving corps, whereas Smith-Schuster was more of a one-year rental to ease that transition.

That gave young receivers Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney a chance to learn the offense, and a pair of new additions, veteran Richie James and rookie Rashee Rice, will join Marquez Valdes-Scantling in what should be the top-five wideouts for MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Let’s examine who in that group will hold value for fantasy owners as the team’s secondary outlet behind tight end Travis Kelce.

Fantasy football mock draft series: July takeaways

Recapping a recent fantasy football industry draft to look for trends and more.

Fantasy football drafts are heating up as we enjoy summer weather and cold beverages. A recently hosted industry mock draft is the source for this recap. Out of respect for the hosts of this draft, no reference will be made to its identity so the content remains fresh on their end, nor will the entire draft results be published here.

The draft results will appear in a magazine as part of a larger evaluation of the draft. Before getting into my individual picks, here are a few observations from a 12-team, PPR draft.

In last June’s iteration, Round 1 saw seven running backs and five receivers, including Cooper Kupp going at No. 2 and Justin Jefferson as the third selection. This version saw Kupp drafted fourth and Jefferson seventh with nine RBs making up the rest of the round.
Six RBs came off the board in Round 2 in 2021’s June draft, followed by one fewer receiver and solo tight end. This year’s June draft was no different. In the July edition, five backs, one tight end, and six wideouts were chosen.
The first QB, Josh Allen, was taken with the opening pick of Round 5 in June. Justin Herbert went just two picks later, and only a pair of passers came off the board in the next 31 selections (Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes). This time around, Allen was Pick 5:05, and Mahomes went with the very next spot. Herbert went with the eighth pick in the fifth round. Seven quarterbacks went in the first 75 choices this time. Quarterback remains quite deep with a viable starter often being available into the 13th round.
Tight end remains a little top-heavy, just like last year. Following the consensus top-six TEs — all of whom went in the first five rounds — the position gets really dicey. If you’re not comfortable playing the matchups, make sure to secure one of Mark Andrews, Travis Kelce, Kyle Pitts, George Kittle, Darren Waller or Dalton Schultz.
In the first 100 picks, nine QBs, 40 RBs, 43 WRs and eight TEs — no significant changes from the June version when eight quarterbacks, 38 RBs, 45 WRs and nine tight ends were chosen.
Pick 10 is an interesting spot this year. In the FSGA draft, which was a 14-teamer, it was brutal compared to a 12-squad setup. This draft having a dozen teams made me appreciate the slotting more than expected.

Here’s a snapshot of the first 10 rounds broken down by number of positional picks:

1st: 9 RBs, 3 WRs
2nd: 5 RBs, 6 WRs, 1 TE
3rd: 5 RBs, 5 WRs, 2 TEs
4th: 4 RBs, 6 WRs, 2 TEs
5th: 3 QBs, 3 RBs, 5 WRs, 1 TE
6th: 3 QBs, 3 RB, 6 WRs
7th: 1 QB, 4 RBs, 5 WRs, 2 TEs
8th: 1 QB, 4 RBs, 7 WRs
9th: 2 QBs, 5 RBs, 3 WRs, 2 TEs
10th: 3 QBs, 3 RBs, 6 WRs

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My roster

Pos	Player	Team	Bye
QB	Aaron Rodgers	GB	14
RB	James Conner	ARI	13
RB	JK Dobbins	BAL	10
RB	Rashaad Penny	SEA	11
RB	Miles Sanders	PHI	7
RB	Hassan Haskins	TEN	6
WR	Ja’Marr Chase	CIN	10
WR	Stefon Diggs	BUF	7
WR	Jerry Jeudy	DEN	9
WR	Allen Lazard	GB	14
WR	Marquez Valdes-Scantling	KC	8
WR	Jalen Tolbert	DAL	9
TE	Dalton Schultz	DAL	9
TE	Austin Hooper	TEN	6
PK	Matt Prater	ARI	13
DT	Los Angeles Chargers	LAC	8

By round

Pick	Rnd	Player	Tm	Pos
10	1.1	Ja’Marr Chase	CIN	WR
15	2.3	Stefon Diggs	BUF	WR
34	3.1	James Conner	ARI	RB
39	4.3	J.K. Dobbins	BAL	RB
58	5.1	Dalton Schultz	DAL	TE
63	6.3	Jerry Jeudy	DEN	WR
82	7.1	Rashaad Penny	SEA	RB
87	8.3	Miles Sanders	PHI	RB
106	9.1	Allen Lazard	GB	WR
111	10.3	Aaron Rodgers	GB	QB
130	11.1	Marquez Valdes-Scantling	KC	WR
135	12.3	Hassan Haskins	TEN	RB
154	13.1	Austin Hooper	TEN	TE
159	14.3	Jalen Tolbert	DAL	WR
178	15.1	Los Angeles Chargers	LAC	Def/ST
183	16.3	Matt Prater	ARI	K

Keeping the previous iterations’ format alive, each pick gets a brief explanation of my draft thoughts: