After months of speculation surrounding the NFL Draft, we can now start months of speculation about how the 2024 fantasy football season will play out. As always in the shadow of the draft there are reasons to be hopeful for some rookies and less so for others. This list will highlight the best landing spots for rookies in fantasy football.
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Draft Kit
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- NFL Draft Grades: Day 1 | Day 2
NFL Draft Best Landing Spots
QB Jayden Daniels to the Washington Commanders
Despite the tension surrounding Top Golf-gate, Jayden Daniels landed in Washington as the number two overall pick and sounded pretty happy about it in his post-draft interviews. Daniels threw for 3,811 yards and 40 touchdowns in his final season at LSU, while also rushing for 1,250 yards and 10 touchdowns, putting up one of the truly great college seasons we’ve seen. Daniels lands in Washington with Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson, Luke McCaffrey, Brian Robinson, Austin Ekeler, Zach Ertz and Ben Sinnott ready to make his life easier.
Offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury might have lost some of his shine after a poor end to his time in Arizona, but he knows how to utilize dual-threat quarterbacks. Daniels has players adept at helping him near the line of scrimmage and downfield, as well as knowing he can rely on his legs when necessary. There may still be questions about Daniels’ propensity to take big hits, but he couldn’t have wished for a much better landing spot. The ceiling is the roof.
The new-look Washington Commanders, based on final pre-draft ADP. Who rises and who falls?
It feels most likely this stays fairly stable given it was such an obvious landing spot. Wouldn’t be surprised to see LMC jump a bit though. pic.twitter.com/zK7Xnay1qw
— Tom Strachan (@NFL_TStrack) April 27, 2024
WR Marvin Harrison Jr. to the Arizona Cardinals
The Cardinals needed wide receiver help after they let Marquise Brown move on. Marvin Harrison is the clear No. 1 WR well ahead of Michael Wilson and Greg Dortch, ready to forge an instant connection with Kyler Murray. Trey McBride will be Harrison’s main competition for touches. That is no reason to be down on either player, with plenty of offenses sustaining multiple pass-catchers, particularly those with questionable defenses like Arizona. Bad defensive play forces the offense into more pass-heavy scripts, which is perfect for fantasy football. With Murray healthy this offseason for the first time under this regime, he should be able to make a return to the days when he was an excellent fantasy asset, particularly now that he has a receiver who put up over 2,400 yards and 28 touchdowns in his final two seasons with Ohio State.
QB J.J. McCarthy to the Minnesota Vikings
It always felt like the steam around J.J. McCarthy might have been getting a little out of hand, but being picked behind Michael Penix was certainly not expected. Despite this, McCarthy arguably landed in one of the best spots for a rookie quarterback with an offensive line that ranked 12th-best in 2023, per Pro Football Focus (PFF), and surrounded with weapons such as Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and TJ Hockenson. Compare that to the landing spot for Drake Maye in New England and the differences are vast and obvious.
McCarthy never passed for more than 3,000 yards in college as the Michigan scheme dictated a run-heavy approach and their defense kept scores down preventing the offense from being too pass-heavy. That doesn’t mean McCarthy can’t play in that kind of environment. He was viewed as the perfect quarterback for a Shanahan-type scheme, and that’s the situation he landed in. With little rushing production he’ll rarely challenge the top-end quarterbacks, but he has the potential to be a weekly low-end QB1 and an every-week starter in Superflex leagues.
More Fantasy Football Draft Advice
- Erickson’s Must-Have Best Ball Draft Targets (Premium)
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- DBro’s Must-Have Best Ball Draft Targets (Premium)
- Hoppen’s Must-Have Best Ball Draft Targets (Premium)
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