The 2022 NFL season is approaching, so it’s time to prepare for your fantasy football draft. What better way to prepare than to practice drafting with our free mock draft simulator. Beyond our tools, we will have you covered throughout the draft prep season with our content.
One of the most important aspects of completing a successful fantasy football draft is knowing who to target. Sure, there could be “value” that presents itself through the draft, but it’s essential to know which players you should not only target as values but also those you need to circle on your cheat sheets and prepare to reach for if needed. Here are Matthew Freedman’s top players to target in 2022 fantasy football drafts.
Matthew Freedman’s Players to Target
Based on findings from our Expert Consensus Rankings, Dissenting Opinions Tool and Average Draft Position Consensus, here are 12 players I’m likely to have a lot of exposure to in 2022 fantasy football leagues.
The 2022 NFL season is approaching, so it’s time to prepare for your fantasy football draft. What better way to prepare than to practice drafting with our free mock draft simulator. Beyond our tools, we will have you covered throughout the draft prep season with our content.
One of the most important aspects of completing a successful fantasy football draft is knowing who to target. Sure, there could be “value” that presents itself through the draft, but it’s essential to know which players you should not only target as values but also those you need to circle on your cheat sheets and prepare to reach for if needed. Here are Matthew Freedman’s top players to target in 2022 fantasy football drafts.
Matthew Freedman’s Players to Target
Based on findings from our Expert Consensus Rankings, Dissenting Opinions Tool and Average Draft Position Consensus, here are 12 players I’m likely to have a lot of exposure to in 2022 fantasy football leagues.
Trey Lance (QB – SF)
The ability some people have to misinterpret tweets or incorrectly extrapolate from them is extraordinary.
The closer we get to the season with Garoppolo still on the roster, the likelier he will be to enter the season as the starter because of his familiarity with the offense and his polish relative to Lance, who was unquestionably raw last year. But the likeliest outcome is that Lance will start in Week 1 – and if that happens, he could dominate. In 10 quarters of action as a rookie, he was 598-4-2 passing and 31-161-0 rushing.
Aaron Jones (RB – GB)
Last year, WRs Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling collectively accounted for 224 targets for the Packers in the regular season. With Adams and Valdes-Scantling now gone, the Packers might lean more on the running game, benefitting Jones. They might also reallocate a portion of the available targets to Jones, who – as wild as this sounds – probably has the best mix of talent and rapport with QB Aaron Rodgers out of all the pass catchers in Green Bay. Since 2018, Jones has averaged 6.7 targets in seven games without Adams and 5.2 targets in nine games without Valdes-Scantling (vs. 3.7 and 3.9 targets in 50 and 48 respective games). Jones has an incredibly high floor with increased volume and his established scoring prowess (49 touchdowns in 57 games since 2018).
Cordarrelle Patterson (RB – ATL)
Patterson is already 31 years old, but he has relatively little wear on his body, given that last year was his first with 100-plus carries. As a Deebo Samuel-esque “wide back” hybrid, Patterson amassed 1,166 yards and 11 touchdowns from scrimmage in 2022. This year he has a decent chance to replicate his usage of 153 carries and 69 targets given that the Falcons will be without RB Mike Davis (release) and WRs Calvin Ridley (suspension) and Russell Gage (free agency). As intriguing as fifth-round RB Tyler Allgeier might be, he’s unlikely to push Patterson off the field, and first-round WR Drake London probably won’t claim all 146 targets vacated by Ridley and Gage.
Isaiah Spiller (RB – LAC)
Last year, the Chargers gave 137 carries and 33 targets to backup RBs Justin Jackson, Joshua Kelley and Larry Rountree. Those opportunities are up for grabs. Jackson left the team in free agency, and if the Chargers were satisfied with Kelley and Rountree, they almost certainly wouldn’t have drafted Spiller. The former Aggie fell to the fourth round because of a poor pro day with a 4.63-second 40-yard dash, but he remains a potential-laden player as a 21-year-old early-declare rookie with a four-star recruitment pedigree and three years of three-down SEC production (541-2,993-25 rushing, 74-585-1 receiving). Starting RB Austin Ekeler is coming off a career year with 276 touches. Either through a scaled-back workload or injury, he seems unlikely to replicate that usage, which means Spiller could have a valuable change-of-pace and handcuff role.
Tyrion Davis-Price (RB – SF)
In his five years with the 49ers, HC Kyle Shanahan has had five different No. 1 running backs.
That doesn’t mean Elijah Mitchell won’t have success in 2022. He played well last year (1,100 yards in 11 games). But he’s not built like a lead back at 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, and the 49ers might consider him replaceable given his 2021 draft capital (pick No. 194). He’s vulnerable – and Davis-Price could be the guy to steal his job, given his size of 6-foot-1, 219 pounds, athleticism (4.48-second 40-yard dash) and draft capital (pick No. 93). If I can get a Shanahan back on the cheap with a foreseeable path to touches, I’m doing it.
Drake London (WR – ATL)
London is precisely the kind of rookie receiver I want to take a chance on. He’s big (6-4, 219 pounds), he’s young (21 years old in July), and he’s entering the NFL early (as a junior). He has elite draft capital (pick No. 8), and he had strong college production (88-1,084-7 receiving in eight games in his final season). The USC product could be the next Larry Fitzgerald or Mike Evans with those attributes. If I’m a year too early in drafting him, so be it.
JuJu Smith-Schuster (WR – KC)
For the past three years, Smith-Schuster has been hamstrung (pun intended) by injuries and the diminishing ability of former QB Ben Roethlisberger. But in his first two seasons he amassed 2,343 yards receiving, which puts him No. 4 on the all-time receiving list for players under the age of 23, behind only Justin Jefferson, Randy Moss and Josh Gordon. Turning 26 in November, Smith-Schuster is still young, and now he has a chance to be the No. 1 wide receiver for QB Patrick Mahomes. WRs Tyreek Hill, Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson have vacated 260 targets. Here be the dragon of opportunity.
Gabriel Davis (WR – BUF)
QB Josh Allen is good enough to support two fantasy-relevant wide receivers, and Davis is dynamic enough to make a third-year leap. Wide receivers Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders are both gone (free agency), and 184 targets have opened up in their absence. New slot WR Jamison Crowder will seize his share of those vacated targets, but Davis has produced for two years with the Bills (9.9 yards per target, including playoffs). He’s a legitimate end-zone weapon (6-foot-2, 210 pounds, 12.1% touchdown rate), and he’s just 23 years old.
Will Fuller (WR – FA)
Fuller is still a free agent, but I bet he’ll sign with a team by August, and when that happens, his draft position and consensus ranking will rise, so I’m looking to get ahead of that now. For his career, Fuller has averaged 9.2 yards per target. Over the past five years, Fuller hasn’t played more than 11 games in any season, so he’s the human embodiment of a red flag – but his 166-2,501-22 receiving stat line for the past half-decade prorates to 1,037 yards and nine touchdowns over a 17-game season. You can’t ignore Fuller’s upside at his price.
Albert Okwuegbunam (TE – DEN)
I’ve been bullish on Okwuegbunam ever since the Broncos traded for QB Russell Wilson and traded away No. 1 tight end Noah Fant.
Last year, Okwuegbunam had just 40 targets, but among tight ends to hit that threshold, he was seventh and ninth in yards per route (2.0) and routes per target (4.2). The target competition will be tough with WRs Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick and K.J. Hamler – but if Okwuegbunam becomes a regular contributor, he will likely smash market expectations.
Cole Kmet (TE – CHI)
Kmet had 93 targets last year and should see more this year without WR Allen Robinson. He’s a prime candidate for positive regression as a scorer, given his 612 yards and zero touchdowns in 2021.
Irv Smith Jr. (TE – MIN)
Smith (knee) missed all of last year with an injury, but he was a full participant at minicamp, and now he should be a full-time player without TEs Kyle Rudolph and Tyler Conklin competing for snaps. In his four season-closing games without Rudolph in 2020, Smith averaged 11.0 half-PPR points on five targets per game.
Matthew Freedman’s 2022 Redraft Fantasy Football Rankings
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