Fantasy Football Draft Targets: Najee Harris, Christian Watson, Rashid Shaheed (2024)

Whether banking on proven stars or emerging talents, the key to winning in best ball is to target specific players to build your portfolio. Below you will find five such players.

Best Ball Targets

Rashid Shaheed (WR – NO) — Current ADP: 124 Overall/WR56

The Saints can save $3.4 million by designating Michael Thomas as a post-June 1 cut, which seems like a good bet after his recent social media tirade. The Saints’ cap situation is murky, to say the least, so moving on from Thomas seems like a given but they’ll be limited in the free-agent market. No matter how that shakes out, Rashid Shaheed is a player to target in best ball.

Upon signing with New Orleans as an undrafted free agent, Shaheed showed he belongs in the NFL with a rookie season stat line of 488 yards and two touchdowns to go with his dynamic kick and punt returns. Building on that effort, the Weber State standout broke out to the tune of 719 yards and five touchdowns, playing 15 games in his second season. He also improved as a return man, earning himself a Pro Bowl invitation and first-team All-Pro honors. He’s proven to be invaluable as a return man but his presence as a receiver is nearly as significant. Shaheed finished second on the Saints in receiving behind Chris Olave, while his 15.6 yards per reception was 10th-best among wide receivers with at least 40 catches. He finished as a top-10 wide receiver in three different weeks and added two more top-24 weeks. His outcomes ranged from WR4 in Week 8 to WR117 in Week 3 but we want him for his upside in best ball. We will likely see fewer weeks of Shaheed bottoming out next season. His average draft position (ADP) of WR56 is a bargain for a player who finished the season as the WR42 in half-PPR last season, has major boom potential in any given week and is a good bet to see an increase in volume.

Christian Watson (WR – GB) — Current ADP: 80 Overall/WR42

There aren’t many wide receivers currently being drafted in this range that are the favorite to be the WR1 on their team, let alone receivers attached to a good young quarterback. You could make the case for Jayden Reed to emerge ahead of Watson. There are other talented pass-catchers on board in Green Bay but Reed is being drafted 50th overall (WR31), 30 spots higher than Watson.

The most likely scenario is the Packers don’t have a weekly WR1 and that Watson and Reed share the spotlight, among others in the pack. Although he’s been injured often, we’ve seen how dynamic Watson can be. In his nine games last season, he posted two top-10 finishes and five top-36 weeks. His 15.4 aDOT (average depth of target), sixth-best among wide receivers, yields itself to big plays while his 15.1 yards per reception were 22nd-best. Ultimately, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Watson as a fantasy WR2 in 2024, with WR1 upside, so he’s worth a shot here.

Najee Harris (RB – PIT) — Current ADP: 85 Overall/RB26

If you’ve read my work here before, you know I was all over Jaylen Warren last season and have long been down on Najee Harris. Don’t get it twisted, I still love Warren and am by no means leading the Harris fan club but, historically, he’s been drafted as an RB1. The Steelers have a decision to make on Harris’ fifth-year option, which will need to come by May 2nd, so he could be playing in a contract year. More importantly, the Steelers hired Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator who helped guide Derrick Henry‘s best football and lead the Falcons’ exotic smashmouth offense into one of the NFL’s best rushing attacks over the last three seasons.

Although Harris had a tough season last year, he eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the third time in as many seasons, tallied eight touchdowns and finished as the RB20 in half-PPR. He carried the ball 18 times inside the 10-yard line and 10 times inside the 5-yard line, both of which were good for 72% of the team’s attempts in that range. Even with a breakout season from Warren last year, Harris will remain the preferred option at the goal line. The hiring of Arthur Smith signals the team will lean into the running game, allowing plenty of room for both backs to be successful.