Every year, fantasy managers must adapt and remain flexible throughout the offseason, basically starting the new season with a clean slate. However, with standard leagues (i.e., 1 QB, 3 WR, 2 RB, 1 TE, 1 FLX, and 6 BCH), the abundance of solid fantasy QBs, along with the seeming scarcity of elite TEs makes those two positions extremely difficult to gauge and target in drafts. As such, this article is here to provide a preliminary view of the must-have QBs and TEs for the upcoming season.
My strategy for approaching QBs is almost the same every year in most leagues. I wait for other managers in my league to draft and reach on the initial set of QBs, then select the one who seemingly falls or offers the greatest upside in the mid-to-late rounds of my draft. Last year, this was largely Jalen Hurts, and the prior year was Aaron Rodgers. With so much fantastic QB talent in the NFL, along with how much rushing impacts fantasy QB performance, there is no actual need to draft a fantasy QB early unless one of the elite options happens to fall.
However, as it relates to TEs, there is a lot more variety in your options. You can either target high-end options and implement a “set-it-and-forget-it” strategy where you only retain one TE on your roster, and he starts every game when available. Then, the only decision you must make is when to pick up a free agent to fill in for your TE during his bye week and who that free agent is. Alternatively, managers could go with a similar approach to that of targeting QBs, where you wait and see what happens and then drafting one or two high-upside guys late in your draft.
With these two strategies in mind, let’s review some must-have options that I’ll be targeting in nearly all my standard league drafts!
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Must-have QBs
Just as Jalen Hurts was my top target in redraft leagues last year, Trey Lance is that mid-to-late-round guy in 2022. He’s in a phenomenal offensive system to put up monster stats while also possessing unique dual-threat abilities. As a strong-armed QB that will keep defenses honest, his elite rushing ability will be the difference in his success as a fantasy QB. In three games where he attempted at least 18 passes, to gauge whether he played a significant portion of the game, he put up 20.4, 15.6, and 20.1 fantasy points in each contest, respectively. In just his rookie season, these performances already reflect his immense baseline for the upcoming season. I have zero doubts that he’ll finish outside of the top 10 fantasy QBs next year and will happily take him anytime after the seventh or eighth round of my drafts in 1 QB leagues.
Although I noted that my general strategy for approaching QBs in fantasy football is to wait until my opponents take all the high priced guys so I can snag the cheaper ones with just as high upsides, there are certain outliers and situations where I’ll change my approach. If the right situation presents itself, Lamar Jackson is just one of those potential outliers. Specifically, Jackson offers arguably the highest upside among QBs due to his elite dual-threat ability, just as I discussed with Lance, but has already shown his ability to be a fantasy football difference-maker. However, with his current expert consensus rank of 61, I probably won’t be targeting him that heavily unless he falls a round or so. Nonetheless, if I were opting for a strategy to take a QB relatively early, Jackson would undoubtedly be my must-have guy in drafts.
Must-have TEs
Darren Waller was one of my most heavily rostered players in 2021, as he possessed a relatively modest Average Draft Position (ADP), ranging from the late-second-to-mid-third round in most drafts. However, after an injury-plagued and rather volatile season on the field, Waller’s ranking across the fantasy community has dropped considerably. I mentioned that there are certain “set-it-and-forget-it” TEs in fantasy football, and Waller is one of the only guys who have such a depressed ADP but still offers this unique fantasy ability. Let’s not forget that he finished as a top-three TE in each of the prior two seasons once he became a full-time TE in the league with the Raiders. His upside is undeniable, and we shouldn’t discount his achievements or upside because of one underwhelming season for things beyond his control.
Dalton Schultz was one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises of the 2021 season. He came out of nowhere and put up a very nice season for the Cowboys, finishing as a top-five fantasy TE. However, with the news of Amari Cooper’s trade and Cedrick Wilson signing elsewhere, it’s very surprising that Schultz is only ranked as the 13th TE in fantasy for 2022, possessing an ADP ranging from the mid-ninth-to-early-eleventh rounds. This is incredibly appealing if you were employing a wait-and-see approach to drafting TEs. As such, Schultz would surely be my must-have TE if I wanted to wait until the top guys were all gone and then take him plus another high-upside option late in drafts. This strategy is a bit more challenging to manage since you must continually decide whom to start and when to cut bait if they don’t meet expectations. Still, it’s a lot more affordable and lower risk than targeting a pricier option at TE.
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Jared Lese is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Jared, check out his archive and follow him @JaredL_FF.
