Let’s take a look at players Matthew Freedman is all-in on early in fantasy football drafts.
Rankings noted using FantasyPros half-PPR Expert Consensus Rankings (ECR) and Consensus ADP.
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Matthew Freedman’s Must-Have Players
Trey Lance (QB – SF)
ADP QB13
Lance has been declared the starter, and he could dominate. In 10 quarters of action as a rookie, he was 598-4-2 passing and 31-161-0 rushing.
Aaron Jones (RB – GB)
ADP RB13
Jones is one of my top players to target for 2022. Last year, WRs Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling collectively accounted for 224 targets for the Packers in the regular season. With Adams and Valdes-Scantling now gone, the Packers might lean more on the running game, benefitting Jones, and they also might reallocate a portion of the available targets to Jones, who — as wild as this sounds — probably has the best mix of talent and rapport with QB Aaron Rodgers out of all the pass catchers in Green Bay. Since 2018, Jones has averaged 6.7 targets in seven games without Adams and 5.2 targets in nine games without Valdes-Scantling (vs. 3.7 and 3.9 targets in 50 and 48 respective games with them). Jones has an incredibly high floor with increased target volume and his established scoring prowess (49 touchdowns in 57 games since 2018). I’m high on Jones relative to the expert and ADP consensus, so that means he’s the back I’m likeliest to draft in Round 2.
Saquon Barkley (RB – NYG)
ADP RB12
Barkley has been limited by injuries for the past two seasons, but he’s still just 25 years old, he amassed 3,469 yards and 23 touchdowns from scrimmage in his first two campaigns, and the Giants offense should be improved under new HC Brian Daboll.
Cordarrelle Patterson (RB – ATL)
ADP RB30
Patterson is already 31 years old, but he has relatively little wear on his body, given that last year was his first with 100-plus carries. As a Deebo Samuel-esque “wide back” hybrid, Patterson amassed 1,166 yards and 11 touchdowns from scrimmage in 2022. This year he has a decent chance to replicate his usage of 153 carries and 69 targets given that the Falcons will be without RB Mike Davis (release) and WRs Calvin Ridley (suspension) and Russell Gage (free agency). As intriguing as fifth-round RB Tyler Allgeier might be, he’s unlikely to push Patterson off the field, and first-round WR Drake London probably won’t claim all 146 targets vacated by Ridley and Gage.
Tyrion Davis-Price (RB – SF)
ADP RB62
In his five years with the 49ers, HC Kyle Shanahan has had five different No. 1 running backs.
That doesn’t mean Elijah Mitchell won’t have success in 2022. He played well last year (1,100 yards in 11 games). But he’s not built like a lead back at 5-foot-10, 200 pounds, and the 49ers might consider him replaceable given his 2021 draft capital (pick No. 194). He’s vulnerable – and Davis-Price could be the guy to steal his job, given his size of 6-foot-1, 219 pounds, athleticism (4.48-second 40-yard dash) and draft capital (pick No. 93). If I can get a Shanahan back on the cheap with a foreseeable path to touches, I’m doing it, even with the knowledge that Davis-Price — like 2021 third-rounder Trey Sermon last year — might see little action as a rookie.
D.J. Moore (WR – CAR)
ADP WR15
D.J. Moore is the only wide receiver with 1,200-plus yards from scrimmage in each of the past three seasons — and he’s just 25 years old.
Brandin Cooks (WR – HOU)
ADP WR22
Cooks is the only established wide receiver on the Texans, and he has gone over 1,000 yards receiving in every season in which he has played 15-plus games.
Allen Lazard (WR – GB)
ADP WR43
WRs Davante Adams and Marquez Valdes-Scantling have vacated 224 targets, and Lazard for his career is 9.3 yards per target and an 8.4% touchdown rate (including postseason).
FantasyPros Staff Consensus 2022 Redraft Fantasy Football Rankings
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