After hitting on QBs and RBs already, let’s shift our focus to wide receivers in the 2024 NFL Free Agency Primer for Fantasy Football. Just as with the other positions, free agency significantly impacts team dynamics and shapes the landscape for Super Bowl contenders. Free agency also plays a critical role in how teams approach the 2024 NFL Draft. Here are all of the top 2024 NFL Free Agent Wide Receivers. Below we dive into a few notable names.
2024 NFL Wide Receiver Free Agency Primer
The top of the 2024 WR free agent class is headlined by Tee Higgins, but he may not even hit the open market. The latest reports from the Athletic are that Higgins will be placed on the franchise tag, making him a Bengal for at least one more season.
After hitting on QBs and RBs already, let’s shift our focus to wide receivers in the 2024 NFL Free Agency Primer for Fantasy Football. Just as with the other positions, free agency significantly impacts team dynamics and shapes the landscape for Super Bowl contenders. Free agency also plays a critical role in how teams approach the 2024 NFL Draft. Here are all of the top 2024 NFL Free Agent Wide Receivers. Below we dive into a few notable names.
2024 NFL Wide Receiver Free Agency Primer
The top of the 2024 WR free agent class is headlined by Tee Higgins, but he may not even hit the open market. The latest reports from the Athletic are that Higgins will be placed on the franchise tag, making him a Bengal for at least one more season.
Higgins recorded 42 receptions from 76 targets, covering 656 yards with a notable average of 15.6 yards per reception. Demonstrating his big-play ability, Higgins had 14 receptions of 20+ yards to go along with a team-high 37% air yards share (17th) on just an 18% target share in 2023. He scored 5 touchdowns. Playing in 12 games, Higgins accumulated 116.6 fantasy points, averaging 9.7 points per game (WR40).
But he dealt with injuries throughout the season and failed to finish as a fantasy WR2 for the first time in the last three seasons. A down year might have hurt his market and potential chance at a lucrative long-term contract on the open market.
Regardless, 2023 stands out as a complete outlier for the 25-year-old WR. The command of air yards shows that Higgins is still a dominant downfield receiver, as are the 4 games where he scored 20-plus fantasy points.
Higgins also flashed efficient yards after the catch ability, finishing with his best YAC/reception mark (5.6) to date, despite a career-high aDOT. Look for him to be back in the WR2 conversation should he sign his franchise tag tenure to remain a Bengal.
The other spots that make sense for Higgins if he does not sign the tag – or he is tagged and traded – include Carolina, Jacksonville and Tennessee. His betting odds are -500 to be Bengal next season, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
Mike Evans ranked as the WR4 in 2023, averaging 14.4 points per game as the WR8. He caught 76 passes for over 1,200 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Evans saw over 2,200 air yards (No. 1 among all players) through the season’s entirety commanding a 25% air yards share and a whopping 41% air yards share (8th).
He will be an FA in 2024, with potential landing spots, including back in Tampa Bay or in Carolina with some of his former coaching staff.
Even at age 30, Evans showed zero signs of slowing down in the post-Tom Brady area. Goes to show that if you see enough air yards, there’s enough of a reason to believe production will follow. Brady must have left him the fountain of youth… considering Evans posted the best YAC/reception EVER in his career in 2023.
Evans’ second-shortest odds are listed at him to be a Bear (+650), followed by the Texans (+750) and Chiefs (+1400).
Michael Pittman Jr. proved his alpha status all year long in the Colts offense with 109 receptions (7th) on 156 targets, accumulating over 1,100 yards. Like his teammate Josh Downs, he had bad TD production with only four TDs. Even so, in 16 games, he racked up nearly 200 fantasy points (WR15 overall), which averages out to 12.2 points per game as the WR19.
Pittman commanded nearly 1300 air yards (33% air yards share), with a 30% target share to boot, the 4th-highest among all WRs. Pittman comes with a super-high floor that could be further unlocked with better TD variance in 2024 should Anthony Richardson take this offense a step further in Year 2. Pittman had the red-zone targets with fewer red-zone TDs scored among all WRs last season.
I expect Pittman to re-sign with the Colts, given their 4th-available salary cap space.
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