Fantasy Football Player Notes

Despite scoring just two touchdowns last year, Woods was able to finish as the No. 17 wide receiver. Why do we continually doubt that his production will continue? Under Sean McVay, he's been a WR2 or better in 21-of-43 games, which is the same as Tyreek Hill. He may not have the upside that Hill does, but as a WR2 on your team, he's gold.

It was a tale of two seasons for Kupp last year, as he was the No. 2 receiver in fantasy football through eight games, tallying 58 receptions for 792 yards and five touchdowns. He then fell off hard, finishing as the No. 31 receiver over the final eight games, totaling just 36 receptions for 369 yards and five touchdowns. The Rams started moving towards more 12 personnel, which includes two tight ends, which in turn leaves just two wide receivers on the field. Knowing Kupp is a slot receiver by nature, it affects him greatly. He actually played just 61 percent of the team's snaps in Weeks 16 and 17. But I'd argue that Jared Goff needs him on the field. While targeting Kupp, Goff posted a 117.0 QB Rating. While targeting everyone else, that number is just 78.6. Sean McVay is consistently evolving as a play caller, which bodes well for Kupp, as he'll likely be expanded to different roles moving forward. There are question marks, that much we know. However, we have still yet to see a "bad" season from Kupp in the NFL. I don't consider him as safe as his teammate Robert Woods, but Kupp should still be considered a low-end WR2 who has more touchdown upside. I mean, he's scored 21 receiving touchdowns in 39 career games. Woods has 25 receiving touchdowns in 100 career games.

The Rams were going to draft a running back - we knew that after they interviewed a ton of them in the draft process. What we didn't know was that they'd take one with their first pick in the draft. While Darrell Henderson is a threat to Akers' overall workload, they clearly know what they have in Henderson, and drafted Akers early. It seems like Henderson is going to be the lesser part of the timeshare, while Akers is the early-down back and likely to receive goal-line work. There's a chance Henderson has a bigger role than anticipated, which prevents us from trusting Akers as anything more than a high-end RB3.

While it's easy to fall in love with the way Higbee ended the season, we mustn't forget that it's a very small sample size. He finished with 522 yards and two touchdowns over the final five games while seeing a massive 56 targets. He and Gerald Everett COMBINED for 85 targets the entire 2018 season. Injuries certainly helped Higbee get more targets as the year went on, but are we certain it'll continue in 2020? If you don't have to spend a pick in the top five or six rounds to get him, it's worth finding out.

I can't explain what happened to Goff after that game in 2018 where the Rams went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs (remember that 54-51 game?) but something happened. In his first 26 games under Sean McVay, Goff threw 54 touchdowns on 858 pass attempts (6.3 percent touchdown rate). Since that Chiefs game in 2018, he's thrown just 28 touchdowns in 21 games on 806 pass attempts (3.5 percent touchdown rate). That's not great for a quarterback who offers nothing with his legs. He did throw two touchdowns in eight games last year but didn't hit three touchdowns until Week 17. Now you take away Brandin Cooks and Todd Gurley, only to replace them with Van Jefferson and Cam Akers? It's quite ridiculous, but the Rams didn't address the offensive line issues, either. Their offensive line was among the worst in football last year, which is a problem because Goff isn't good under pressure. He ranked 25th among quarterbacks with a 60.4 QB Rating under duress. The offensive line is the biggest concern for me, as that's the one thing that took a major step back last year, and it seriously impacted his numbers. The good news is that his pass attempts have been skyrocketing, which help make up for some of the decreased efficiency. Goff makes for a decent No. 2 quarterback in Superflex/2QB leagues, as he's not getting benched, and there's always the possibility he goes back to who he was, though I'm not counting on it based on the moves that were - and weren't - made this offseason.

Some Henderson truthers are dead-set on him being "the guy" in this offense, but the Rams selecting Cam Akers with their first pick in the draft is extremely worrisome. They used a second-round pick on Akers, while Henderson himself was taken with a third-round pick. I'm not willing to say that Henderson is completely out of contention, but his value took a blow in the draft. This is likely to be a timeshare backfield, making him a risky RB3 in redraft leagues.

We've heard Sean McVay say that the Rams backfield will be more of a timeshare in 2020, but will it include Brown? It's highly unlikely considering they already tried that, and they've now spent a second- and third- round pick on running backs over the last two years. Brown may get some goal-line work, but he's not going to be anything you can rely on for fantasy.

Everett wasn't a startable tight end for most of the season anyway, but he dealt with injuries over the last several weeks of the year and was completely irrelevant. Unfortunately for Everett, Tyler Higbee emerged as a force down the stretch, furthering deepening the divide between Everett and fantasy-relevancy. He's beyond even TE2 consideration at this point.

Did the draft pick of Van Jefferson affect Josh Reynolds' role as the No. 3 receiver in the offense? Jefferson fits more of the Brandin Cooks mold than Reynolds, which is where there's some hesitance to draft Reynolds in 2020. However, we do have a history that shows when he is in the starting lineup, he produces. In the 14 games he's seen four-plus targets, he's totaled 46 receptions for 613 yards and seven touchdowns. There's a chance he's being underdrafted, but there's also a chance that he remains the No. 4 receiver on the team.