It’s the biggest fantasy football draft weekend of the year, and the NFL season feels just moments away from kicking off.
As fantasy analysts, we spend a lot of time in the offseason talking about which players we’re higher on or lower on than the consensus. We discuss role changes, target shares, ADP values, and players rising or falling during the preseason. But when push comes to shove, who are we drafting? That’s what we’re hoping to show you here.
Below, the Rotoworld staff football writers go over their most drafted players and give a little insight into why we like them. Some of them are players we’re actively seeking every time a draft begins and others are players that we’re happy to take if they fall down the draft boards. Either way, these are the guys who we’re putting our money where our mouths are for. Perhaps you’re doing the same.
Denny Carter
DK Metcalf – WR, Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks were dead last in offensive play volume last season and Metcalf still finished 18th in receiving yards. He continued his efficiency, ranking among the league’s top-20 receivers in yards per route run. Seattle’s new offense, as coached by pass-happy Ryan Grubb, should unlock Metcalf and the rest of the team’s pass catchers through sheer volume alone. Grubb’s changes to the team’s passing attack have not been incorporated into the ADPs of anyone in the Seahawks offense. Metcalf profiles as a silly value in most formats.
Ty Chandler – RB, Minnesota Vikings
I’m taking Chandler in the late rounds as a bet against Aaron Jones functioning as the Vikings’ lead back throughout the season. The oft-injured, aging Jones has never been treated as a workhorse — something Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell has acknowledged a couple of times this summer. That leaves Chander, who was somewhat efficient with his 2023 opportunities and checked a lot of boxes in the nerdy running back metrics, including yards before contact per rush. I think Chandler is at least as good as Jones.
Taysom Hill – TE, New Orleans Saints
I assure you this is not another one of my elaborate, long-running bits. I truly believe Taysom’s usage — in the backfield, at tight end, and taking direct snaps — puts him in play as a top-5 fantasy tight end in 2024. No other tight end in the NFL is going to see the kind of highly-value touches the Saints will force-feed Hill. New Saints OC Klint Kubiak has pledged to retain the Taysom package in 2024.
Jayden Daniels – QB, Washington Commanders
I don’t understand why Daniels isn’t going in the fifth or sixth round of redraft leagues. I guess it’s because he’s skinny and took some big hits at LSU. His rushing could be enough to completely break fantasy football in 2024, much like Lamar Jackson did in 2019 when he was drafted as the QB12. That Kliff Kingsbury has never coached a good offense doesn’t matter to me. His Cardinals were fourth in dropbacks over his tenure as head coach. I foresee Daniels regularly logging double-digit rushing attempts this season.
Lawrence Jackson Jr.
Anthony Richardson – QB, Indianapolis Colts
Anthony Richardson is my top quarterback in fantasy this season so I’ve been racking up on him in fantasy drafts. In his very first NFL game, he was QB4 for the week. I’m taking that potential and running with it.
Tyjae Spears – RB, Tennessee Titans
I know Tony Pollard has had a nice preseason, but I’m still banking on Tyjae Spears being the better back. His efficiency and pass-catching ability make him a nice flex play in your fantasy lineups.
Diontae Johnson – WR, Carolina Panthers
We did see what Adam Thielen was able to do for the Panthers last season, right? Diontae Johnson now fills the team’s WR1 role while he and Bryce Young are both upgrades for each other.
Brock Bowers – TE, Las Vegas Raiders
Brock Bowers was involved early and often in his first preseason game. An injury slowed him for the rest of training camp, but it’s clear the Raiders plan on using him like a jack-of-all-trades type of player.
Kyle Dvorchak
Ja’Lynn Polk – WR, New England Patriots
The only drawback of drafting rookies in redraft leagues is the ramp-up time for young players to earn a significant role. What if I told you a rookie was drafted inside the top 40 picks who could lead his team in targets starting from Week 1? Ja’Lynn Polk thrived as a chain-mover at Washington, registering a first down on over eight percent of his routes while averaging a respectable 2.1 yards per route run alongside Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan as a husky. Polk is a read-made NFL player who should rack up chunk gains out of the box for New England.
Brian Thomas Jr. – WR, Jacksonville Jaguars
Brian Thomas Jr. is 6’3/209 wide receiver who ran a 4.33-second 40-yard dash and was drafted in the first round to a team without a true No. 1 receiver. He averaged 2.7 yards per route run and led the FBS in yards (632) and touchdowns on deep throws (11). His NFL quarterback, Trevor Lawrence, ranked fifth in Pro Football Focus’s passing grade on deep throws in 2023. Thomas is a splash-play machine paired with a great deep thrower and goes as a mid-range WR4.
Tyrone Tracy Jr. – RB, New York Giants
Tyrone Tracy gave us a scare late in the summer after he was placed in an air cast and carted off the field during an August practice. As it turns out, he is fine and is already back at practice. A former wide receiver, Tracy broke out as a running back in his final season of college ball with 113 carries for 716 yards and eight scores. He excelled in the efficiency metrics and registered a 9.78 RAS at the combine. Tracy cemented himself as the team’s RB2 in training camp before suffering his scary but minor ankle injury. He could spell Devin Singletary for work on passing downs early in the year and may supplant him outright by the end of the season.
Jaleel McLaughlin – RB, Denver Broncos
Jaleen McLaughlin is simply an electric player in a position to play a large role and is priced as if neither of those things are true. Among backs with at least 50 carries last year, McLaughlin ranked 13th in PFF rushing grade, 11th in yards after contact per carry, and fifth in missed tackles forced per attempt. He was even better as a receiver, ranking top-five in PFF receiving grade and yards per route run. With Samaje Perine now out of the picture, McLaughlin can marry elite talent with a larger-than-expected role.
Eric Samulski
Amari Cooper – WR, Cleveland Browns
Cooper averaged almost 18 fantasy points in PPR leagues in the five games with Deshaun Watson under center, and that was with Watson playing poor football. That made Cooper WR6. In six games with Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J. Walker throwing him passes Cooper averaged under eight fantasy points per game and the second-worst catchable target rate over that span. With Watson back under center, and Nick Chubb likely not operating at 100% until deep into the season, we should see a heavy dose of Amari Cooper leading this Browns offense. It might not be pretty, but I think the results will be there.
Raheem Mostert – RB, Miami Dolphins
We remember that Mostert was RB3 last year in half-ppr scoring, right? We understand that the Dolphins have essentially the same skill position players back with the same coaching staff? So why all of a sudden is Mostert going at RB22 in Yahoo drafts? Yes, De’Von Achane is good, but he was also good last year. The Dolphins aren’t going to suddenly give Achane 75% of the work, so is the argument that Mostert won’t stay healthy or that he won’t score as many touchdowns? That’s fine, but I would argue that most running backs have elevated injury risk and Mostert doesn’t need to score anywhere near the same amount of touchdowns to be a top 20 RB. I have him ranked just RB18 in my rankings and I find myself getting him in almost every draft.
Khalil Shakir – WR, Buffalo Bills
In the last 10 games of the 2023 season, Khalil Shakir posted 462 receiving yards on 37 targets. Meanwhile, Stefon Diggs put up 422 receiving yards over that same span on 80 targets. I lost my flair for math once Calculus rolled around, but that’s more receiving yards for Shakir on fewer than half the targets. Shakir is tremendous at gaining yards after the catch, but he’s also not strictly a slot receiver. The Bills have moved him around the formation and are comfortable using him deep down the field on the outside as well as over the middle of the field in the intermediate areas. Last year, Shakir led the NFL among qualifying receivers in catch rate over expected and EPA per target. He’s a tremendously skilled receiver and should be the team/s top target, alongside tight end Dalton Kincaid.
Caleb Williams – QB, Chicago Bears
Why is Jayden Daniels going over 10 picks ahead of Caleb Williams in Yahoo formats? I assume it’s the rushing upside, and I know Daniels rushed for over 1,000 yards for LSU last year, but we’re all aware he’s not going to put up those kinds of numbers in the NFL. He’s going to get his on the ground, but Caleb Williams will as well. No, he didn’t have the elite rushing yardage totals, but he ran for double-digit touchdowns in two straight seasons and finished with 27 rushing TDs in three years in college. A quarterback who’s going to take off and run in the red zone is a major asset in fantasy and that’s not also factoring in that Williams is the far superior passer with a trio of elite wide receivers. If I wait on a quarterback, I’m more than happy for that to be Caleb Williams.
Pat Daugherty
De’Von Achane – RB, Miami Dolphins
Achane is a risk/reward RB1 where fantasy managers seemed to only price in the risk. Although Achane’s historic, ludicrous rookie efficiency is a virtual lock to regress, historically efficient rookies don’t tend to see smaller workloads as sophomores. Speaking of workloads, Raheem Mostert seemed to wilt under his heavy touch totals down the stretch in 2023. Everyone knows Achane is under-sized and potentially “injury prone.” We should also remember he is a Jamaal Charles-ian game-breaker who probably has the highest “league-deciding odds” of anyone in fantasy if he stays healthy.
George Pickens – WR, Pittsburgh Steelers
Something that’s nice in a WR2/3? Zero target competition. In theory that could have the downside of allowing opposing defenses to key in and bracket Pickens, but no one can hang with this man down the field. A polarizing talent as he’s tried to make do with sub-par quarterback situations, Pickens needed only the marginally improved quarterback play of Mason Rudolph down the stretch in 2023 to prove he possessed another gear. Russell Wilson/Justin Fields is a disappointingly small QB upgrade for 2024, but Pickens has confirmed his special qualities on the field. He’s a matchup flipper you can draft at a major discount.
Tyler Conklin – TE, New York Jets
Conklin was eighth in tight end receptions (58) and 12th in yardage (552) last season. So he was a TE1, right? You know where this is going. Conklin’s ruinous touchdown total of zero (0) rendered him merely the TE20 by average PPR points. Bad, but easy to contextualize. The Jets had world-historic awful quarterback play. This year they shouldn’t. They also continue to lack legitimate target competition. Conklin has been drafted as a barely-there TE2 who could easily crash the top 12 at the position.
AD Mitchell – WR, Indianapolis Colts
One of the most consistent annual sources of value is early-round wideouts fantasy managers struggle to forecast. It’s easy to see why Mitchell is one such case. Anthony Richardson remains a largely unproven commodity, Michael Pittman is a supposed target dominator, and Mitchell himself was a polarizing prospect. But Mitchell had a strong summer and is arguably a much better fit for Richardson’s aggressive skill set than Pittman. With Josh Downs already banged up again, Mitchell could offer early-season compiling and big-play ability that will be difficult to dislodge if he starts hot.
