While making sure you have the best fantasy football rankings possible is a great starting point, it’s also pivotal to understand average draft position (ADP) and how to use it to your advantage. ADP will give you a sense of where the public is drafting players. Better yet, you can use our ADP from different fantasy football league hosts to look at the average draft position for the league you’ll be drafting in. You will be able to determine players our experts are higher on than ADP, but you can also see when it’s time to target said players. Our analysts are here to help. Below they’ll discuss eight players that you should consider reaching for in your 2022 fantasy football draft.
And be sure to check out their full list of players to target as part of our 2022 Fantasy Football Draft Kit.
- Matthew Freedman’s Players to Target
- Derek Brown’s Players to Target
- Andrew Erickson’s Players to Target
- Pat Fitzmaurice’s Players to Target
- Joe Pisapia’s Players to Target
Rankings noted using FantasyPros half-PPR Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) and Consensus ADP.
8 Players to Reach For in 2022 Fantasy Football Drafts
Trey Lance (SF)
ECR QB13 | ADP QB15
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.
– Matthew Freedman
Daniel Jones (NYG)
ECR QB24 | ADP QB28
In Superflex leagues or in formats where it makes sense to draft a backup QB, Jones is an appealing off-brand option. But, unfortunately, the three-year veteran has become a fantasy football pariah, in part because this guy drafted him:
Jones was coached by Joe Judge, Jason Garrett and Freddie Kitchens last year. That’s not a recipe for success. He now comes under the tutelage of new Giants HC Brian Daboll, who turned Josh Allen from a scatter-armed project into the most fearsome offensive weapon in the league.
Jones is no Allen, of course. Allen has a cannon attached to his shoulder. Jones’ arm is more of a slingshot. But like Allen, Jones is a dangerous runner. He also has an interesting group of receivers in Kadarious Toney, Kenny Golladay, Sterling Shepard, Darius Slayton and Wan’Dale Robinson.
As Konami Code quarterbacks go, Jones is a cheap one, and the coaching change offers hope that he will take a significant step forward.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
Leonard Fournette (TB)
ECR RB11 | ADP RB14
It’s been a long journey for Leonard Fournette from his last days as “Fat Lenny” with the Jacksonville Jaguars to earning the moniker “Lombardi Lenny” due to his brilliant play for Tampa Bay the last year and a half.
He impressed the Buccaneers’ front office — and a certain No. 12 quarterback — enough to earn a three-year deal with his old team worth $21 million (up to $24 million with incentives). There’s zero doubt with his performance and contract that he will be the entrenched clear-cut starter for the Bucs, and that’s exactly the desired outcome for fantasy football.
Fournette ranked fifth in fantasy points and fourth in expected fantasy points per game before his Week 15 injury, leading all running backs in receptions (62). Upon his return to the lineup for the Buccaneers’ playoff matchup against the Los Angeles Rams, Fournette reclaimed bellcow duties, playing 86% of Tampa Bay’s offensive snaps to go with 22 touches for 107 yards from scrimmage.
With an all-encompassing skill set at just 27 years old, Fournette possesses easy top-10 running back fantasy appeal. He slides inside my early 2022 running back rankings as RB8 because a fantasy RB1 is exactly what he has been in a Tom Brady-led offense. Their offense throws more than anyone else in the league, ensuring Fournette continues to rep a high target share. His six targets per game last season tied D’Andre Swift for the most in the NFL.
– Andrew Erickson
AJ Dillon (GB)
ECR RB25 | ADP RB27
Aaron Jones has had an excellent three-year window but has shown some signs of breaking down a bit. A.J. Dillon has power, speed and ability to catch the football. Dillon’s efficiency grade from PFF since entering the league is 90.1. and there aren’t many guys around RB25 who have a path to an RB1 finish. Dillon has that in this depleted Packers offense this season, especially if Jones (entering his sixth year in the league) misses time.
– Joe Pisapia
Rashod Bateman (BAL)
ECR WR27 | ADP WR39
After an up and down rookie season that was mired by injury and a limited role to begin the season, Rashod Bateman is ready to take the sophomore season leap. Bateman finished as a top 36 fantasy wide receiver in 50% of his games despite not having an 80% snap share until Week 15. He was thrust in an X role early on and thrived per route, ranking 26th in win rate against man coverage (per Playerprofiler.com).
Per Matt Harmon’s amazing #ReceptionPerception work, Bateman’s success rate was in the 85th percentile against zone coverage and 81st percentile versus press. Per Harmon’s findings, Bateman finished with a 73.7% success rate or higher on six of the 10 route types charted. Even in a run-first offense alongside Mark Andrews, Marquise Brown drew the 12th-highest target share (26.1%) last season, finishing as the WR21 in fantasy points per game. Bateman can match these numbers and has the talent profile to surpass them if everything breaks right.
– Derek Brown
Drake London (ATL)
ECR WR40 | ADP WR45
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.
– Matthew Freedman
Dalton Schultz (DAL)
ECR TE6 | ADP TE7
Before the TE drop-off, Dalton Schultz offers the best combination of value and upside. Schultz will see plenty of targets in the Cowboys’ offense, especially with Michael Gallup out early. He has red zone appeal, and clearly, Dak Prescott has had faith in him since he emerged from the shadows after Blake Jarwin went down early two seasons ago. As a result, he’s a top-five fantasy TE outside the top five in draft capital.
– Joe Pisapia
Gerald Everett (LAC)
ECR TE20 | ADP TE23
Gerald Everett is easily one of my favorite late-round tight ends, so I am glad the consensus is finally starting to catch on. He was solid during stretches of the 2021 season, particularly after Russell Wilson returned from injury. The ex-Rams tight end ranked as the TE9 in fantasy points per game (PPR) from Weeks 10-16 while running a route on 74% of dropbacks.
Everett proved he can be the featured No. 1 tight end for the Chargers coming off a career year. He achieved career-highs in receptions (48) and receiving yards (478) and wreaked havoc with the ball in his hands, forcing 11 missed tackles after the catch — sixth-most among tight ends.
His peripheral metrics in Seattle’s offense — 12% target share, 63% route participation, and 17% target rate per route run — were nearly identical to Jared Cook in the Chargers’ offense last season.
Cook finished as TE16 overall, which seems like Everett’s fantasy floor heading into 2022. The tackle-breaking tight end finished the 2021 season just .4 points per game short of Cook’s average (8.3 versus 7.9) despite playing in an offense that ranked dead last in pass attempts per game (29.1).
L.A. ranked third in that category last season (39.6). They also ranked ninth in TE targets overall.
Breakout tight ends are generally athletic players who earn above-average route participation in high-powered offenses. Everett fits the profile of next season’s star at the position. And he’s still super cheap.
– Andrew Erickson
FantasyPros Staff Consensus 2022 Redraft Fantasy Football Rankings
If you want to dive deeper into fantasy football, check out our award-winning slate of Fantasy Football Tools as you navigate your season. From our Start/Sit Assistant – which provides your optimal lineup based on accurate consensus projections – to our Waiver Wire Assistant, which allows you to quickly see which available players will improve your team and how much – we’ve got you covered this fantasy football season.