Fantasy Football Player Notes

White suffered a terrible tragedy when he lost his father in an accident shortly before the Patriots' Week 2 game against Seattle. He'll miss at least Week 3, and it's simply uncertain when he'll return to the team. In PPR leagues, White is still worth rostering, but football is and should be the least of his concerns for now.

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.

Burkhead has never topped 94 touches in a season, and has managed to play just 31 games in his three years with the Patriots. He'll turn 30 years old before the season, and will need to compete for touches with Sony Michel, Damien Harris, and James White in an offense that is no longer headed by Tom Brady. There's no reason to give Burkhead a look for fantasy purposes this year.

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.