In today's Fantasy Life Newsletter, presented by Bud Light:
This might shock you considering I’m a hater, but I need to give the Kansas City Chiefs some credit.
Despite getting annihilated in the Super Bowl, they’ve still managed to dominate the early postseason discourse.
I’ve already spilt ink on Isiah Pacheco’s wild ADP and hopped aboard the Xavier Worthy rocket ship.
And today, it’s time to discuss whether we should be drafting Travis Kelce in early 2025 drafts.
That’s because on the most recent episode of his New Heights podcast, Kelce admitted that retirement is something he’s considering:
“I’m gonna take some time to figure it out. And I think I owe it to my teammates that if I do come back that it’s gonna be a wholehearted decision and I’m not half-assing it, and I’m fully here for them.”
—Travis Kelce
In the larger scheme of things, this isn’t that big of a deal. Kelce was relegated to essentially a part-time role in the offense throughout their playoff run.
But for fantasy players drafting in February (yes, that’s a thing), it’s a huge deal.
Kelce is currently the TE7 with an ADP of 92.8 in the Big Board contest on Underdog. While that’s much cheaper than his price last year, it would still be a devastating zero to take at that cost.
FWIW, I’m out at that cost, especially when you can get guys like David Njoku, Dallas Goedert, and Tucker Kraft multiple rounds later.
If Kelce decides he wants to play football, you’ll have plenty of chances to draft him later. Avoid the potential landmine for now.
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It’s Too Early To Count Out Bryce Young
Things change quickly in the NFL … and even more so in fantasy football.
Just ask the former butt of every 2023 Rookie Class joke—Bryce Young.
Navigating the ever-changing landscape is especially vital in dynasty fantasy football. So, to get the ball rolling, Jonathan Fuller and Sam Wallace looked at the biggest stock risers and fallers at the QB position for your dynasty leagues.
Speaking of Bryce Young …
The stark difference between Young and C.J. Stroud as rookies didn't help the perception of Young in particular, but I was convinced that the difference between the two wasn't as broad as we saw in Year 1.
Fast forward to the end of the 2024 season and, while I can't quite victory lap this take yet, it was awesome to see Young finish as strong as he did in Year 2. While Stroud certainly experienced his own sophomore slump, Young was straight-up benched at one point.
Yet, football has a way of telling some of the best stories.
Following his Week 11 bye, Young averaged 21+ points per game over his final seven games. Perhaps even more impressive were the 5 rushing TDs he tallied during that stretch.
It doesn't get much better than that for fantasy managers. Fantasy (and real football) tends to be about "what have you done for me lately" and recency bias can be a heck of a drug. Even so, with so much optimism surrounding Young, where do the Panthers go from here?
Thankfully, Ian Hartitz is already on the case. In his recent Carolina Panthers Team Needs article, he highlighted the need for aggressively helping Young. Just to give you a hint of how bad it was for Panthers' pass catchers this past season, their WRs and TEs ranked last in "Open Score" and their pass catchers ranked last in yards after the catch per reception.
Obviously, the Panthers need to add some help. They could still pursue someone in free agency and/or draft someone to fill their need at wideout. Regardless, Young is someone I am targeting as a rising QB2 in Superflex dynasty formats. He finally looked comfortable orchestrating an offense, especially late in games, and even added some mobility and rushing, which will only boost his fantasy value.
WILL TREVOR LAWRENCE EVER LIVE UP TO THE HYPE??
Jalen Milroe 2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report
By Thor Nystrom
On radio row during Super Bowl week, NBC Sports’ Chris Simms asked Alabama QB Jalen Milroe his stance on changing positions. Milroe responded: “You never ask a zebra to be a dog.” The 2021 four-star recruit has been asked a variant of that question many times—including by his own coaches. The idea even sneaks into compliments from opponents.
After Milroe lit up Georgia for nearly 500 total yards and 4 total TDs in a wild September victory—one of the best quarterback performances we’ve ever seen against a Kirby Smart defense at Georgia—Smart told reporters that Milroe "could be the best running back in the country ... and he throws the ball."
As Smart was speaking, Milroe was back across the stadium, in the home locker room. Milroe had changed into a Jalen Hurts shirt. Hurts was Milroe’s hero, and now is his mentor. Both are from Texas. Both were four-star dual-threat recruits. Both chose Alabama.
Surrounded by reporters, Milroe spoke about the symbolism of wearing the Hurts shirt for the Georgia matchup. Against Georgia in the 2018 national championship game, Hurts was benched for Tua Tagovailoa at halftime. One year later, in the SEC title game, Hurts came off the bench for an injured Tagovailoa to rally Alabama to a win over Georgia.
Milroe knows something about redemption ...
JALEN MILROE’S REDEMPTION STORY AND HIS SCOUTING PROFILE
The latest fantasy nuggets, silliness, and NFL gossip from our merry band of football nerds:
❤️ Some Valentine’s letters going out this NFL offseason. Where’s the love?
🤷🏼♀️ Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, who do you prefer?
😡 AJB is not satisfied. Can’t stop won’t stop.
😆 Don’t call it the “Tush Push.” It makes Jalen mad.
🤯 Fun fact! An interesting connection between Kellen Moore and Derek Carr.
🎙️ MIC’D UP. Saquon after the Super Bowl with his family.
🧀 Some recruiting going on in Green Bay. Reunion on tap?
🤔 Could upgrades in the trenches help the Falcons and Michael Penix? Let’s see.
🏈 There’s no offseason in dynasty fantasy football. Jake says so.
