Ladd McConkey Fantasy Football Outlook (2024)

By Andrew Erickson (FantasyPros), Mon, Apr 29th 2024, 4:46pm EDT

Concerns are his late breakout age at 21 years old. But it was in his third season as a redshirt sophomore (2022) when he totaled 762 receiving yards and seven scores en route to a 20% dominator rating.
Be aware that he's been competing with arguably the best college football tight end of all-time in Brock Bowers for targets since he's been at Georgia. And in 2022, AD Mitchell (another projected 1st-rounder in this year's draft) was also a Bulldog but was firmly behind McConkey on the depth chart. In the two games that McConkey played in 2023 without Bowers healthy, he posted his two highest yardage outputs of final season.
The 6-foot 185-pound WR missed time in his final year at Georgia with injuries, which hurt his final counting stats. But he was still efficient, finishing 8th in the nation in yards per route run (3.26).
Even so, McConkey's game is characterized by his quickness, route polish, and speed rather than physical dominance. His agility in creating separation and his nuanced route-running skills allow him to find space in tight coverage. He will likely be more underrated than most other WRs based on his final-year stats and injuries, but it's unwarranted. He ran a sub 4.4 at the combine and owned collegiate success at a top program like Georgia. McConkey has the tools to transition effectively to the professional level.
The Chargers traded up with the Patriots in Round 2 to select McConkey. He is on a very weak WR depth chart, so we could easily project the former Bulldog to lead the Bolts m in targets