Fantasy Football Player Notes

Did you realize Edelman has seen 793 targets over his last 83 games? That's a pace of 152.9 targets per season. But what happens when your whole world is flipped upside down? Losing Tom Brady is going to affect Edelman more than anyone, as those two had a connection and were continually on the same page. The Patriots also threw the ball 620 times last year, a number they won't even come close to in 2020. It's a different offense, yes, but did you know Cam Newton has never thrown more than 517 pass attempts in a single season? He's also failed to throw for more than 3,869 yards since his rookie year and has thrown more than 24 touchdowns just once. Meanwhile, Edelman has never averaged more than 7.9 yards per target. What does that mean? Even if he were to get 125 targets, his career-best wouldn't have totaled 1,000 yards. There's a lot of issues and question marks surrounding Edelman, and we haven't even discussed him turning 34 years old this offseason. He's likely to post low-upside WR3 numbers when on the field, but that's been a chore in itself, as he's played all 16 games just three times over his 11 years in the league. If you take the late-WR approach in drafts, it's not the worst thing to have Edelman as your WR3, but ideally, he's your WR4 with all the question marks and lack of upside.

Newton missed most of last season with a foot injury, but wasn't very good in the two games he did play, completing just 56.2% of his passes. He has always made up for any deficiencies in his passing game with his legs, but at 31 years old and coming off two injury-plagued years, it's fair to wonder how much he'll contribute on the ground. Nevertheless, despite the less than stellar options at receiver, Newton will start at quarterback for the Patriots and they'll surely figure out how best to use his talents. That makes Newton a mid-tier QB2 with upside, despite all the uncertainty.

Michel has justifiably fallen out of favor for fantasy owners after yet another sub-par year, and there's little excitement about him this year. He has averaged nearly 16 carries per game in his career, however, and may be asked to carry more of a load now that Tom Brady is no longer under center. But his upside is limited by his complete lack of involvement in the passing game, as he has just 31 targets and 19 receptions over his 29 career games. In standard scoring leagues, there's a chance he may be slightly undervalued given that Damien Harris was placed on IR and Lamar Miller was released, but it would be hard to rely on him as anything more than a bench player in or half- or full-PPR leagues. That's especially true given his foot surgery in May which could impact him early in the season.

White has always been a value, especially in PPR formats, but with Tom Brady gone, this team is likely to throw a whole lot less, and White has never averaged more than 5.9 carries per game. He's not likely to live up to his usual RB3-type numbers. I wouldn't want to trust him every week.

If there's someone who moved up my rankings when Cam Newton signed, it was Harry. I didn't like him much coming out of college as a wide receiver who didn't separate very well, but rather one who relied on winning contested catches. I knew he did that very well, but that didn't mesh well with the risk averse Tom Brady. As for Newton, he's shown the willingness to target his wide receivers with little separation. Look no further than Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess. The last healthy season Newton played, he threw into tight coverage a whopping 20.5 percent of the time. By comparison, Brady only did that 15.2 percent of the time last year and 13.9 percent in 2018. Harry also dealt with some injuries during his rookie season, which prevented him from playing in a full-time role. Will he play over Mohamed Sanu in 2WR sets? Probably not just yet, but he could be a factor in the red zone, where he works best. He's a touchdown-dependent option, but one who won't see enough targets to be relevant if Julian Edelman is on the field. If Edelman misses time, Harry would receive a big boost. He's a bench stash WR5-type.

Harris will begin the year on injured reserve after having hand surgery, putting a dent in what was shaping up to potentially be a breakout season. There's still some long-term appeal with the young running back, but there's no reason to draft him as anything other than a deep bench stash with the hope of a breakout mid-year.

With Tom Brady out of town, we know the Patriots are going to be running the ball much more. The issue is that they've shown a significant amount of trust in Sony Michel, invested a third-round pick on Damien Harris, and James White isn't going anywhere. That's a lot of mouths to feed. Burkhead is someone you look to if there's injuries to others, but it's unlikely he's an asset with everyone healthy.

Unsurprisingly, Stidham lost the starting quarterback job to Cam Newton. He may still be the future in New England, but for 2020, he's purely a backup with little upside even if he eventually takes over should Newton be injured. Ignore him for redraft purposes.