Here are players I’m targeting everywhere for the 2021 fantasy football season. And you can see the rest of my recent work below to prepare for your fantasy football drafts.

• My Fantasy Football Draft Rankings
• The Running Back Primer
• The Wide Receiver Primer
• The Quarterback Primer
• The Tight End Primer
• My Top-7 Deep Sleepers

Average Draft Position referenced using FantasyPros consensus ADP for half-PPR formats.

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Matthew Stafford (QB – LAR): QB10
There’s truly no downplaying how underrated Stafford is and how we haven’t been able to see it on full display due to him playing on some bad teams in Detroit. The Rams weren’t satisfied with Goff and his tendency to keep things close to the line of scrimmage, so they sent away significant draft capital this off-season to go bring in Stafford into their building. With Sean McVay’s play-calling, which might be the best Stafford’s ever had in his NFL career, we could be in line for a career year for the dynamic passer. 5,000 passing yards and 35 passing touchdowns is not out of the realm of possibilities with the receiving weapons he has at his disposal too. If that’s the case, Stafford’s a fantastic QB1 for your roster, despite the fact that he doesn’t have the same rushing upside that many of the other options in his range of ADP do.

Trey Lance (QB – SF): QB18
Right now, Lance’s ADP is simply lying in wait and ready to catapult. After seeing Lance on the field with this offense in week one of the preseason, his ADP is ready to skyrocket. The one thing that could hold it back though is the uncertainty regarding how long Jimmy G will remain the starter in SF. The bye week is the most likely outcome for when we see Kyle Shanahan switch things over to Lance, but there’s still a strong possibility that we see Lance on the field as early as Week one of the regular season. If he is the starter at the beginning of the season against Detroit, he should be a borderline top-10 option right from the onset. He’s a perfect option to draft as a second QB in 1QB formats for the pure upside.

Tua Tagovailoa (QB – MIA): QB22
It was a perfect storm for Tua last year that caused people to question his abilities. Tua was still coming off of a brutal injury, it was a shortened off-season, his receiving corps was underwhelming and dealing with injury, and Justin Herbert outperforming him certainly didn’t help. Heading into year two, Tua now has a revamped receiving corps to throw to that fits his skillset perfectly and he’s had the full off-season to prepare as the starter. We’re not at the point where we can rely on Tua as a weekly starter, but let’s not forget what Tua can do when he’s healthy and has a solid arsenal of receiving weapons. He’s certainly on the streaming radar as we head into 2021.

Najee Harris (RB – PIT): RB11
One of the greatest discounts in all of fantasy football year-over-year is rookie RBs in redraft leagues. The casual fantasy manager isn’t quite sure about who this player is and what they bring to the table, so they choose to focus in on players that they do know instead. Harris – most likely – isn’t going to ascend into the top-10 of ADP (Average Draft Position) this off-season, but he has a very good chance of finishing in that range when it’s all said and done. The Steelers invested significant draft capital in this player due to needing to balance out the offense and Harris has the size and skillset to shoulder a huge workload for this offense. He’s a fantastic receiver out of the backfield and Big Ben should be looking to funnel targets his way repeatedly. If you can snag Harris as your RB2 in fantasy football this season, that’s a winning strategy.

Joe Mixon (RB – CIN): RB13
Did you know that Joe Mixon has actually played more games than Dalvin Cook since they both came into the league in 2017? Yet somehow Mixon gets labeled as an injury risk every single season and Cook is being drafted as a top-3 pick this year. While Cook’s production when he’s on the field is certainly worthy of a top-3 pick – don’t get me wrong – it goes to show the recency bias that comes into play for fantasy managers when they’re on the clock. When Mixon is on the field, he’s going to receive one of the heaviest workloads in the entire league. He’s a top-5 talent at the RB position in the league and this offense is set to take a major jump in 2021 with Joe Burrow and his bevy of receiving weapons. If Mixon had been shut down immediately last season and put on IR when his injury occurred, we wouldn’t have this perception in our minds of him as a huge injury risk. However, because of Zac Taylor’s inconsistent commitment to Mixon returning to the lineup last year, fantasy managers have a bad taste in their mouths. Go get some mouthwash, clean out that taste, and draft Mixon at a major discount this year. The production’s going to be too good to pass up and if you can get him as a RB2 on your roster, you’re well on your way to a fantasy championship.

Darrell Henderson (RB – LAR): RB21
While it’s unfortunate how we got here, Henderson’s absolutely now in the conversation for a potential league-winner in 2021. While the general public seems to doubt Henderson’s abilities, he’s an exceptional RB that oddly enough got buried on his own depth chart at the end of last season. In games last year where he saw more than 12 carries – 6 games – Henderson finished as a top-12 RB three times and only finished outside the top-24 RBs twice. This was with the offense being held back by Jared Goff and his deficiencies, which is no longer the case here in LA with Matthew Stafford in town. This offense is going to be in the red zone a lot and Henderson’s going to be the clear option at the goal line. He has the potential to be a league-winner where he’s going in drafts right now and he’s a solid RB2 selection for your rosters. Side note: the acquisition of Sony Michel is simply for depth purposes. He’s not going to take away significant work from Henderson.

Robert Woods (WR – LAR): WR15
Since joining the Rams in 2017, Woods is 9th in total targets, 8th in receptions, and 9th in total receiving yards. He has done nothing but outperform his ADP every single year for the past several seasons. He’s now finished as the WR10, the WR17, and WR13 the past three years and that was with Jared Goff as his QB. Now, Woods has Matthew Stafford in town and this offense could be on its path to going nuclear. Stafford should lean heavily on Woods this upcoming season and there’s the potential that we see Woods put up career high numbers across the board. He’s going to be undervalued yet again in 2021 – for unknown reasons – and that’s a perfect situation to add him to your fantasy football roster at a discount.

Jaylen Waddle (WR – MIA): WR44
Waddle has the draft capital to his name, he has the speed and explosiveness to make an impact for fantasy, and he has familiarity already with his QB in Miami. We’ve seen rookie WRs step into the NFL and produce right away and Waddle could be the next one in line. With Fuller and Parker on the outside, Waddle will be able to settle into the slot and take short passes from Tua and create with his agility after the catch. He should see plenty of work from week one and I would not be surprised if he’s in the conversation for Offensive Rookie of the Year when it’s all said and done. I’m drafting him everywhere I can this season.

Tyler Higbee (TE – LAR): TE11
Higbee’s certainly had his moments of relevancy in the past, but this was mostly occurring when Gerald Everett was out of the lineup. With Everett now completely out of the picture in Seattle, and no other proven commodities next to Higbee at the TE position in LA, there’s the potential that we see Higbee move back to being an integral part of this offense again this season. Matthew Stafford’s now in town and this offense could be on the verge of going nuclear with Stafford’s ability combined with Sean McVay’s play-calling. At the TE position in fantasy football, you’re simply looking for opportunity that can lead to upside. It’s going to be hard to find a player who has more upside later on in your drafts than Higbee in this dynamic offense.

Jonnu Smith (TE – NE): TE14
That’s right, folks! It’s Jonnu time yet again! After hyping up Smith all last off-season, it’s time to hop back on the Hype Train and talk about Jonnu’s potential for fantasy yet again. Once Smith signed with the New England Patriots for a massive deal in free agency, it seemed like the hopes of Smith finishing as a top-5 option at the TE position were all but locked in. Unfortunately, Hunter Henry‘s signing a day later put a damper on those dreams, but we still shouldn’t be scared off of Smith and his potential in this offense. With a revamped – but honestly still lackluster – WR corps, there’s a strong possibility that Smith leads this entire team in targets. The Patriots will be committed to getting him the ball in creative ways near the line of scrimmage and letting him create after the catch, which he does better than nearly every other TE in the league. Smith finishing as a top-5 option at the position now that the passing volume has increased with Mac Jones under center isn’t out of the realm of possibilities. His ADP is laughably low right now, so take advantage and draft him every single chance you can get.

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• My Fantasy Football Drat Rankings
• The Running Back Primer
• The Wide Receiver Primer
• The Quarterback Primer
• The Tight End Primer
• My Top-7 Deep Sleepers

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Kyle Yates is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Kyle, check out his archive and follow him @KyleYNFL.