Fantasy Football Player Notes

St. Brown has finished WR3 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring in each of the last two years, but he slipped from 17.0 fantasy points per game in 2023 to 15.2 FPPG in 2024, even though he scored a career-high 12 touchdowns last year and also had a career-best catch rate of 81.6%. That's because he averaged 10.3 targets per game in 2023 but only 8.3 targets per game in 2024. The emergence of Jameson Williams last season was among the reasons for St. Brown's target slippage. St. Brown is still one of the more stable fantasy investments you can make, but the ceiling might not be quite as high as it was a couple of years ago.

Jameson Williams had a nice little third-year breakout for the Lions in 2024, finishing with 58-1,001-7 in 15 games. The former first-round draft pick oozes big-play potential, but it's going to be a bumpy ride, because Jamo isn't a high-volume guy. He averaged 6.1 targets per game last year. The departure of the Lions 2024 offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson, could lead to an overall offensive downturn in Detroit, and it's unlikely that Jared Goff's career-high 6.9% TD rate from last year will stick. Williams is certainly worth your attention, but don't overpay.

TeSlaa was one of the most surprising picks of the entire NFL Draft, both in relation to his draft capital (round three) and the amount Detroit gave up to trade up for him (three third-round picks). The Lions needed to upgrade their WR3 spot. I just don't know if the highly athletic big slot (68.3% slot in college) in TeSlaa was the right answer. In his two seasons at Arkansas, he never had more than 532 receiving yards. He finished with a disappointing 5.0 yards after the catch per reception, 16.4% target per route run rate, and 1.45 yards per route run (per PFF). He has played quite well this preseason and could crack the starting line for Detroit early on, so he's worth a final round pick in deeper leagues as a cheap investment in one of the league's best offenses.