When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into some of Derek Brown’s favorite early-round fantasy football draft picks to target.
- 2024 Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- 2024 Fantasy Football Rankings
- 2024 Dynasty Fantasy Football Draft Kit
- Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator
2024 Fantasy Football Draft Advice
Christian McCaffrey (RB – SF): McCaffrey remained “THE DUDE” at running back in fantasy last year. He was the RB1 in fantasy, finishing as an RB1 in 81% of his games and as a top 24 RB in every game he played. McCaffrey averaged 21.2 touches and 126.5 total yards per game while ranking second in carries, fourth in targets, and first in red zone touches among running backs. There’s no reason to expect a falloff entering 2024. His deeper efficiency metrics all scream that he remains in the prime of his career after ranking fourth in explosive run rate and 10th in yards after contact last season (per Fantasy Points Data).
CeeDee Lamb (WR – DAL): Lamb finally did it. He DID IT! He finished as the WR1 in fantasy points per game while going on an absolute heater to close the season. Lamb surpassed 100 receiving yards in seven of his final 12 games, including a monstrous 227 receiving yard performance in Week 17. Last year, among 81 qualifying receivers, he ranked fourth in target share (29.2%), fifth in yards per route run (2.90), and eighth in first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). There’s nothing to stop him from challenging for the WR1 crown again in 2024, with Dallas running it back with almost the same cast of skilled characters. Lamb should eat.
Ja’Marr Chase (WR – CIN): Chase’s 2023 season was ruined by injury both with his quarterback (Joe Burrow) and his late-season shoulder sprain. In Weeks 1-4, while Burrow was looking like a shadow of his former self, Chase was still the WR23, drawing a 27.0% target share, a 34.6% air-yard share, and a 36.2% first-read share while producing 1.81 yards per route run (YPRR) and 0.102 first downs per route run (FD/RR). In Weeks 5-10, when Burrow was back to dealing, Chase was the WR4 in fantasy, commanding a 28.4% target share, a 43.1% air-yard share, and a 34.5% first read share while churning out a whopping 2.69 YPRR and 0.145 FD/RR. Chase should be viewed as a consensus top-four wide receiver and a top-three pick in fantasy.
Fantasy Football Draft Rankings
Check out the consensus 2024 fantasy football draft rankings from our experts.
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