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Sleeper Offenses To Target For Fantasy Football: Kendall's Roundtable
Welcome back to the Roundtable! This season I will try to get as many fantasy football analysts (and friends) to give us their best advice, overreactions, and maybe even some life lessons along the way. This is meant to be insightful, but also fun — so please be sure to enjoy and also give everyone a follow!
Today's Roundtable contributors include Fantasy Life's Director of Guillotine Leagues Paul Charchian and the always amazing Kelly Singh! Let's get into it…
Which offenses could surprise us and produce more fantasy football values that are currently being overlooked?
Kelly: This will not be a shocker coming from me, but the Arizona Cardinals are being totally overlooked as an offense. Sure, people love Marvin Harrison Jr. and Trey McBride, but everyone isn't as high on Kyler Murray and that's where I think the fantasy community is missing out. Stacking Kyler with MHJ (and in later rounds with Michael Wilson) is a big win in my book! Even Greg Dortch will be lighting up the field!
Paul: Carolina will be the NFL's most improved offense. The team made several key offseason additions, none bigger than head coach Dave Canales. His well-documented successes with Geno Smith and Baker Mayfield brings tremendous hope to the career of Bryce Young (last chance to buy low on Young, dynasty leaguers!). Former Steeler Diontae Johnson brings separation to a wide receiver group that struggled to get open last year. Eventually, Jonathon Brooks will be suitably healed from his ACL to provide explosiveness the backfield has missed since Christian McCaffrey's departure.
Runner up: New England. Last year's quarterbacking was awful and either Jacoby Brissett or (preferably) Drake Maye will be massive upgrades. I expect a run-heavy attack that will finally unleash the powerful running of Rhamondre Stevenson.
Kendall: There's potential for a couple of teams to surprise us this fantasy football season, but the Commanders feel like a team that's undervalued that could surprise us. First, Jayden Daniels is still going too late in drafts! Right now he has an affordable ADP on ESPN (119), Yahoo (105) and NFFC (100). He has that dual-threat rushing upside that you can target if you don't land one of the more "elite" fantasy quarterback options.
And while Daniels may not have the best passing projections, Terry McLaurin is still priced very cheaply for a WR1 inside a new offense where Kliff Kingsbury could turn things around. I am also open to drafting Brian Robinson because Kingsbury has shown a willingness in the past to ride one running back. Fantasy Life has him projected for 741 rushing yards, 178 receiving yards and six total touchdowns.
Which wide receiver is on your “do not draft” list?
Kelly: I'm most worried about Courtland Sutton this season. Last season was full of career highs for him, but despite playing in 16 games and scoring 10 touchdowns, he still only came up as WR35. Here's an interesting stat - 37% of his fantasy points came from touchdowns (half-point PPR). So the question becomes can we rely on all those touchdowns with Bo Nix as the QB?
Paul: Brace yourself for a highly unpopular opinion. In the wake of last weekend's big game, the exploding ADP of Xavier Worthy has me worried that he can't reliably return the value of his draft position. Will Worthy have big plays? With his speed and Patrick Mahomes' arm, of course. But what happens when they don't connect for those highlight plays? Particularly as a rookie, I fear Worthy is going to be a high-variance player, better suited for best ball than your home league (or especially, a guillotine league). Track stars usually fail in the NFL. See also: John Ross, Marquise Goodwin, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, J.J. Nelson, and Darrius Heyward-Bey. Bust.
Kendall: Okay, what does Ian Hartitz always say, everyone? Hate the ADP, not the player! Keep that in mind when I tell you a player I have been avoiding in most drafts is Puka Nacua. Yes, this could really come back to bite me, but I'm okay with taking the risk. Nacua already has a knee injury, but it's been reported that it's "not serious" and he should be good to go for Week 1 of the NFL season. He reached incredible heights in 2023 when he captured both the NFL rookie receiving yards and receptions records with 105 total receptions, 1,486 receiving yards (4th in the NFL), and 6 touchdowns.
But we now have a healthy Cooper Kupp entering the scene as well, and I don't think the two should be as far apart in drafts as they are. Fantasy Life projections have Nacua projected for 217 PPR points and Kupp for 182 PPR points.
Who is your favorite TE value pick?
Kelly: I love Zach Ertz as a late-round TE pick. He’s been counted out, but the guy has something to prove. He had a monster career before his season-ending knee injury. Here's something else to think about - even once he was healthy, he didn't return to the field for the Cardinals. He requested a trade. While this could be his "swan song", I still think he'll be great in Washington as a value pick this season.
Paul: Across the entire league last year, the most targeted receiver from inside the five-yard line was CeeDee Lamb. Shockingly, the second most targeted player was his teammate Jake Ferguson. Ferguson also led all tight ends in red zone targets. The fact that Dallas was willing to use Ferguson in those high-leverage situations speaks well to his regard inside the organization. After being lightly used in his first year, he exploded with 71 targets in his sophomore year, and now looks poised for an even bigger role in his third season.
Kendall: Yes, I understand that Arthur Smith is the new offensive coordinator for the Steelers and he at times tried to galaxy-brain pretty simple situations, but I'm in on Pat Freiermuth at cost this season! Last season in Atlanta, tight ends had a 32.5% target share. 2023 was not a good fantasy season for Freiermuth, but he had two low-end TE1 performances of 9.5 and 9.3 points per game in 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Another reason why I like Freiermuth as a late-round target is the vacated targets left by Diontae Johnson. I'm also hoping this offense gets a jolt from better quarterback play by Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. Either way, I think Freiermuth is a solid draft pick if you miss out on some of the other top options.
What are some of your favorite (totally safe for work) fantasy football team names for the 2024 season?
Kelly: As content creators, we all update this staple article every year. Some of my favorites I've seen floating around so far this season are "The Princess McBride", "Lights, Camera, Jackson", and "When Harry Kmet Sally". My home league team name was “8lb 6oz Newborn Infant Breesus” until Drew retired. But I will never ever get tired of song titles as team names and "More Than a Thielen" will always be my favorite.
Paul: If there's one thing Twitter should be useful for, it's mining stupid fantasy team names. I asked my followers (@paulcharchian, BTW) for some of their favorites. A Tank Bigsby apologist named his team "Tanks for Nuthin' ". Appropriate. A guy with Justin Herbert on his dynasty roster uses "Herb Your Enthusiasm". A long-suffering Vikings fan (redundancy alert) named his team "MN Skol For The Blind". And we'll wrap with this one from a fan of Miami's backfield, "DeVon Intervention."
Kendall: Cooterdoodle just did an amazing breakdown of the best fantasy football team names that you need to check out, but I've got a few that I can't get off my mind! If you need a rookie team name, "Love Thy Nabers" is such a solid option. Malik Nabers could have a spectacular rookie season (even if Daniel Jones is the quarterback), so finding any way to get him on my team and spotlight the name would be perfect.
My other favorite (for all my Los Angeles friends) is "Not Like Gus". Now let me just say Gus Edwards is not on a lot of my fantasy teams right now, but if he was this would be the name I would go with! Have fun!
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