We knew coming into the 2024 NFL season that the NFC South would be a good fantasy target. Mediocre teams. Gettable defenses. Domed stadiums and benign weather. Let’s attack these games whenever we can.
And if you needed fantasy points in Week 18 — if you’re one of the YOLO souls who play every week — the NFC South was your savior on This Given Sunday.
Let’s start with the Panthers beating the Falcons in overtime, 44-38. That’s where all the points are. Bryce Young raced to the top of the Week 18 fantasy leaderboard with a brilliant five-touchdown performance (three passing scores, two rushing scores). Drake London was just behind, with his signature game of the year (10-187-2). The Falcons had other hits — Bijan Robinson ran for 170 yards and two scores, while Michael Penix Jr. threw for 312 yards and had three total touchdowns. Even forgotten Carolina running back, Miles Sanders, showed up, scoring once by land and once by air.
It wasn’t a good year for veteran quarterbacks, so it’s encouraging to see two fresher faces playing so well in this game. Young has been a completely different player since his midseason benching; he posted QB ratings over 100 in his final three starts and didn’t throw a pick in any of them. He’s started to run proactively and he’s shown growing chemistry with an ordinary set of receivers (Adam Thielen is a wily vet and Jalen Coker is an interesting rookie, but this isn’t exactly Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins here). The arrow is finally pointing up.
A year ago, everyone thought C.J. Stroud was the rookie quarterback hit and Young was the rookie quarterback bust. Young has made up considerable ground in the last few months. Carolina’s fantasy offense was credible down the stretch and could be downright fun next year. Dave Canales was the right hire all along.
The Falcons are heartbroken to end the year 8-9 and out of the playoffs — especially when you consider how easy their schedule was — but they have reasons for optimism, too. Kirk Cousins looked cooked for about three months, but Penix has a chance to be decent. His three-game closeout wasn’t as impressive as Young’s final kick, but Penix did manage an 8.2 YPA on Sunday and a season-best 88.9 rating. And he obviously clicked with London, even if it took 18 targets to get those 187 yards. Too often in recent seasons, the Falcons have been unable to maximize the talent of their skill players; that wasn’t the problem here.
London will be a second- or third-round pick next season, I suppose. For Robinson, you’ll need a lottery pick. It was a shame to see him get just two short catches on five targets, but he was dynamic on the ground (28-170-2), even while ceding about a quarter of the work to respectable understudy Tyler Allgeier. I suspect OC Zac Robinson will also be better next season, in his second year as the Atlanta play-caller.
Tampa Bay, of course, emerged as the NFC South champion, holding off pesky New Orleans in Week 18. The Buccaneers used a narrow usage tree en route to fantasy goodness — Bucky Irving ran for 89 yards and a score, Jalen McMillan was excellent again (5-74-1) and Mike Evans reached his 1,000-yard target, even if it came down to a short catch in the final minute.
Credit Baker Mayfield (two touchdowns, 284 total yards) and the Buccaneers for steering Evans to his milestone. The standout receiver has been a franchise rock for 11 seasons now and deserved some creative play-calling even with the game essentially decided. Sure, Tampa Bay was taking on some risk with the late throw, but that risk was extremely small. The Buccaneers had an eight-point lead, while Atlanta was headed to overtime. At that point, a slew of things would have to go wrong for Tampa Bay to somehow gag the playoff spot it was sitting on.
Has anyone ever regretted drafting Evans? He was a top 10 wideout again this year (after charting around WR16 in summer ADP), looking plenty spry in his age-31 season. Maybe Evans will be a third- or fourth-round pick next year given his age, but if I can somehow land him as the second wideout on my roster, I’d be over the moon. And if he had to be my WR1 and I could back him up quickly with key options, that could work, too.
Like most teams, the Buccaneers have moving parts. OC Liam Coen will probably be interviewed for head-coaching gigs. Chris Godwin is a pending free agent. McMillan is ready for a bigger role, after spiking seven times in the last five games. Eventually, Evans will start playing like a back-nine player, even if he didn’t look like it this year.
But those are debates for tomorrow. Today, I’ll toast to Evans, and to Young and to the Atlanta triplets. The NFC South wasn’t the dominant division in fantasy this year, but it might have been the most fun.
