I need an extension tool that removes Ninersā QB news from my feed until a starter is announcedā¦
In todayās Fantasy Life Newsletter presented by BetMGM:
The 2nd-year WR ready to breakout
Whatās going on with the Ninersā QBs?
Strength of Schedule: Teams to target
Team Preview: Pittsburgh Steelers
Itās 6/1. Take it away, Peter Overzet
Itās finally June, which I think means that it is now socially acceptable to draft fantasy teams.
It was getting exhausting prefacing every newsletter piece with caveats like, āI know itās only May, butā¦ā and feeling judgment for having drafted hundreds of teams before Memorial Day.
But those days are long behind us. And now, we have players on the field working out under the umbrella of āOrganized Team Activitiesā aka OTAs aka āsomething that sounds like it would be on the agenda for a sixth-grade overnight retreat.ā
Sifting through training camp buzz will be something we do around here all summer long as we try to separate what is signal from what is noise. And itās important to stay grounded with the grainy training camp footage flying around.
That said, I canāt help but start to get excited about Patriots WR Tyquan Thornton, who is impressing early:
Thornton checks a lot of boxes for what Iām looking for in a fantasy selection:
Heās cheap. I prefer to load up on WRs early and often, but sometimes a specific draft room pushes you to other positions and forces you to take late-round WR fliers. Thornton is currently going off the board in the 15th and 16th rounds of drafts as the WR81:
Draft capital. He was a 2022 second-round pick, and the Patriots went out of their way to scheme him touches down the stretch last year, including a 7-target, 60-yard, 1-TD game in Week 17 vs. the Dolphins.
Sophomore breakout. Thornton falls into a cohort of players that we traditionally like to bet on: 2nd-year WRs who flashed efficiency in Year 1.
Best-ball-friendly skill set. Thornton can stretch the field thanks to his blazing 4.28 speed and hit those splash plays we crave in fantasy.
Weak WR depth chart. Sure, the team brought in JuJu Smith-Schuster in free agency, but itās a real mixed bag across the board with replacement-level veterans like DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, and Nelson Agholor.
The TLDR: The buzz is there, the profile is there, and the price is very nice. Go draft him, even though I know itās only Juneā¦
š A Final(s) Shot At Building Your NFL Bankroll
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Recently, sportsbooks released odds around every game for the 2023 season and our own Dwain McFarland dove into the data to see what fantasy insights we can uncoverā¦
Historically, what oddsmakers have had to say about NFL scoring has mattered. While they typically donāt nail the exact score, directionally, as Vegas team totals shift higher, so do the actual points.
With this knowledge in our back pocket, letās dive into some high-level takeaways for the 2023 NFL schedule based on projected team totals.
š§Ø Shootout potential
Seven teams are projected for three-plus shootouts over the course of the 2023 season. In this case, a shootout is a game where both teams project for 23-plus points.
The Chiefs, Chargers, Lions and Vikings account for 45% of the shootouts. The Chiefs and Chargers face off in two potential shootouts, and the AFC West plays the NFC North in interconference play. We can account for a whopping 56% of projected shootouts between the AFC West and NFC North.
While our primary focus for game stacking is in the playoff weeks (15 to 17), picking up additional shootout correlation throughout the season is a bonus. The Bears arenāt getting a ton of buzz outside of Justin Fields and D.J. Moore, but they have three shootout potential games and overlap with the Vikings and Lions. As highlighted in yesterdayās newsletter, oddsmakers are expecting better things from Chicago in 2023.
Of course, several of these teams face off in shootout matchups between Weeks 15 and 17.
Bills: Week 16 vs. Chargers
Lions: Week 16 vs. Vikings
Chargers: Week 16 vs. Bills
Vikings: Week 16 vs. Chargers
Speaking of playoff matchups, let's take a look at which teams project for the most points during that stretch.
š§ Juicy fantasy playoff expectations (Weeks 15 through 17)
For the most part, the projected team totals follow the good offenses from the regular season into the fantasy playoffs. However, the Vikings jump from 10th to 5th in the playoffs with two big team totals in Weeks 16 and 17 against the Lions (25 points) and Packers (24.25 points).
While none of the teams with overall shootout potential had more than one shootout matchup in the playoff weeks, we see many of the same names projecting for high team totals. The Chiefs, Eagles, Bills, Vikings and Lions appear on both lists.
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Fantasy Life senior analyst Ian Hartitz is breaking down all 32 NFL teams over the next two months. Letās take a look at the Steelers, who need a big second year from their QBā¦
š RBs
Najee Harris (Ianās RB15)
Jaylen Warren (RB43)
Harris wasnāt quite as good in 2022 compared to 2021 in terms of raw yards per carry (3.8 vs. 3.9) and yards per target (5 vs. 4.3), but thatās not why he went from the RB7 in PPR points per game to the RB19.
That answer: Pass-game volume. Old man Ben Roethlisberger fed Harris a ridiculous 94 targets as a rookie; that total was nearly cut in half down to 53 in 2022. This dropped Harrisā expected PPR points per game from 19.7 (RB2 behind only Derrick Henry!) to 14.9 (RB12).
While Harris deserves credit for never missing a game and being able to hurdle, truck and spin his way around defenders of all shapes and sizes, his lack of big-play ability makes it tough for him to overcome any sort of volume decline. This is especially true inside of a Steelers offense that ranked 21st and 26th in scoring in 2021 and 2022.
Itās certainly possible that Harris gets a bit better TD luck near the goal line.
Imagine if even four of those close calls were followed by another attempt that found the end zone. In that scenario, Harris would have finished last season as the RB12 in PPR points per game.
The problem with drafting Harris at his RB13 ADP is whether or not thereās much of a ceiling past his borderline RB1 production. Any combination of improved offense, efficiency and/or volume would make Harris a bargain at his current ADP ā¦ as long as he continues to hold off his rising second-year competition.
Jaylen Warren made more out of his opportunities than Harris all season long in 2022, ultimately earning more chances down the stretch with at least a 30% snap rate in six of his seven healthy games following the teamās Week 12 bye. This wasnāt the norm under Tomlin previously: Seven of Harrisā 12 least-used games in terms of offensive snap rate occurred during the final nine weeks of 2022.
Itās tough to blame the Steelers for making this usage change; the rookie back was out-performing Harris in every facet of the game.
Itās not fair to assume that Warren would have maintained his efficiency advantages over Harris with the same hefty workload. Harrisā numbers also improved ā albeit still didnāt match up to Warren ā after he had a steel plate removed from his cleat.
However, the other assumption I had that the rookie faced lighter boxes is inaccurate: Harris (40.4%) and Warren (40.3%) faced eight-plus defenders in the box on a nearly identical percentage of carries last season. The latter back also had superior usage in fantasy-friendly third-down situations.
Itās unreasonable to expect Warren to straight-up take over this backfield, but the back half of 2022 already demonstrated that, at a minimum, Mike āIām a featured runner-type guyā Tomlin is willing to reduce Harrisā previously ridiculous workload.
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