When it comes to fantasy football, it doesn’t pay off to hold long-term grudges against players who have let us down in the past. Each season is a fresh slate in which the cost of the player and the situation needs to be assessed against previous performances. If we were building a fantasy football team of players deserving a second chance, these would be the seven players to put on it.
2024 Fantasy Football Second Chance Team
When Levis fell out of the first round of the 2023 NFL draft, it told us plenty about how the NFL saw him, marrying up to many analysts viewpoint that he could be boom or bust. Levis seized his opportunity when Ryan Tannehill was injured after a miserable defeat to the Ravens in London. Once Levis had the starting job, he never relinquished it.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Levis. He had four passing touchdowns in his debut, but then only managed four more in total over the next eight games. He at least had potential for fantasy football prowess, leading all quarterbacks with a 10.4 average depth of target and ranking ninth in big-time throw rate (6.19%).
The Titans have tried to build around Levis this offseason, adding veterans while slowly improving their offensive line. It might not be incredible, but there is definitely potential for fantasy fun.
You could apply this second-chance sentiment to almost anyone who had the early parts of their NFL career tainted by Arthur Smith’s failure to recognize how to use top-tier talent. Robinson looks set to have a much larger opportunity share than the 52.1% he had during his rookie season. That ranked 27th at the position.
Robinson will need to eat into Tyler Allgeier‘s 12.2 touches per game to bolster his own 15.9. In 2023, 12 of the top 16 PPR RBs averaged at least 17.0 touches per game. Early indications are that the new Falcons coaching staff understands what they have in Robinson and intend to feed him adequately.
There’s perhaps no more divisive running back in the NFL than Jacobs. His believers point to the massive outlier season in 2022 as a sign of what he’s truly capable of, as Jacobs totted up 1,653 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns. Jacobs’s detractors, however, would point to that season being a one-off.
Jacobs is now in an offense run by Matt LaFleur who historically likes two-RB systems. The truth might lay somewhere in the middle. Jacobs has gone to a fun offense with a much better offensive line than the one he left behind in Las Vegas. LaFleur may like to use multiple running backs, but he’s a far more imaginative play-caller than those for whom Jacobs has played under in recent years.
Last year, the warning signs were there early and often when it came to Kupp. He ended the 2022 season injured and then picked up more injuries throughout the offseason.
This year, so far… (touch wood)… Kupp appears to be fully healthy. Reports out of OTAs and Mini-Camp were that he looked fantastic. Of course, these reports have to be taken with a grain of salt. When he was on the field with Puka Nacua, Kupp’s 25.6% target share was very close to Nacua’s 28.8%. His route participation outdid Nacua 92.8% to 91.2%.
With Kupp available in the third round of drafts, and sometimes even later, it’s a lot easier to take on his injury risk than it was in 2023.
The Seahawks are set for their biggest schematic overhaul in years with defensive head coach Mike MacDonald bringing in Ryan Grubb to help craft his vision for a Seattle team that needed changes. Smith-Njigba had been expected to be able to make an immediate impact in the NFL after outproducing both Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave at Ohio State, but his season never really got going after a wrist injury derailed his training camp.
Rookies can be impacted by training camp injuries much more so than veterans. That seemed to be the case with Smith-Njigba, who went back to square one. When healthy, now ex-offensive coordinator Shane Waldron seemed to struggle with how to utilize the first-round pick’s talents.
Ryan Grubb is fresh off designing the Washington offense that took the college scene by storm in 2023, almost winning a National Championship. Sometimes college prospects simply don’t pan out, but there was enough excitement around Smith-Njigba a year ago that we shouldn’t completely rule him out for 2024.
Perhaps it will never happen for Mims, but we were excited about him a year ago when Sean Payton selected the promising receiver with his first draft pick as Broncos head coach. Mims was reduced to a 38% snap share in his first season, but with Jerry Jeudy gone, there is a need for someone to step up.
Mims will likely have an opportunity. Troy Franklin is a similar boom-or-bust type prospect and Courtland Sutton wants a new deal, so there is plenty of opportunity in this wide-receiver room if Mims can seize it.
Mims averaged 28% of snaps Weeks 1-7 before jumping to 45.7% the rest of the way. Another jump to over 55% would represent something we can start to work with in fantasy football.
There’s an air of disappointment in Andrews for being 28 years old. With a flock of young tight ends entering the league last year, the age makes him firmly part of the veteran category. He’s still six years younger than Travis Kelce, who between the age of 29 and 34 went on an absolutely dominant stretch.
The emergence of Isaiah Likely is another knock on Andrews, but Todd Monken has had success with two-TE systems. Additionally, it’s not like the Ravens replaced Odell Beckham Jr., who had the second-most team targets in 2023.
Outside of Zay Flowers, the Ravens offense has very little serious competition for targets. Andrews has averaged over 50 yards per game in every season since Lamar Jackson took over as the starter. At current prices, Andrews is a bargain capable of a TE1 finish.
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