Fantasy Football Roundtable: Ja’Marr Chase, Malik Nabers, Puka Nacua & More (2024)

The heart of fantasy football draft season is just a couple of weeks away. FantasyPros analysts Derek Brown, Andrew Erickson, Pat Fitzmaurice and Mike Maher continue a series of preseason roundtables by discussing QB strategy, players they’re second-guessing and offense that could be sneaky sources of fantasy football goodness. And check out last week’s fantasy football roundtable for even more expert advice.

Fantasy Football Roundtable

You’re picking 1.02 in a 12-team, half-point PPR league that requires you to start two RBs and three WRs. Christian McCaffrey goes 1.01. Who are you taking at 1.02?

Ja’Marr Chase (WR – CIN)

Derek Brown: I could easily say CeeDee Lamb here, but Ja’Marr Chase is my pick.

He’s my WR1 overall. In Weeks 5-10, when Joe 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 yards per route run and 0.145 first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data).

The WR1 throne is a revolving door yearly. My pick to assume the throne in 2024 is Chase.

Pat Fitzmaurice: Tyreek Hill is WR1 in my rankings because I believe he has the best chance to finish as the top-scoring receiver, but I’d rather take one of the other top WRs at 1.02 because Jaylen Waddle and De’Von Achane are two of my favorite targets around the 2/3 turn, and pairing Hill with one of those other Dolphins would be imprudent.

I had CeeDee Lamb ranked WR2 throughout the offseason, but his prolonged holdout has prompted me to drop him behind Ja’Marr Chase. Hill, Lamb and Chase are all worthy 1.02 candidates, but as of this moment, Chase is my preferred choice.

Ja’Marr Chase/Breece Hall (RB – NYJ)

Andrew Erickson: (Immediately fires up the FantasyPros Mock Draft Simulator) OK, here’s what I am doing.

It comes down to Ja’Marr Chase vs. Breece Hall for me. My RB1 versus WR1. And here’s my ideal start in both scenarios through three rounds that’s feasible based on ADP: Chase/Hall, De’Von Achane/Travis Etienne, Jaylen Waddle.

There are times Achane/Etienne don’t fall to me, and I feel like I’m reaching slightly on an RB, specifically with Chase starting at the 1.02. That puts me in a situation where I go three straight WRs off the cuff because I don’t want to reach on an RB at the 2/3 turn. I also miss out on a potential “legendary season” from a top RB available in the first three rounds.

In best ball, no debate for me that I’ll go the WR route. But given that WR depth is more readily available in redraft formats, I lean Hall ever so slightly as my 1.02 selection. I can build a superhero RB, starting with Hall and Achane, that has the potential to break fantasy while scooping strong WRs in the middle rounds. This is why we mock (draft) people.

Tyreek Hill (WR – MIA)

Mike Maher: I was in this exact scenario last week and debated the pick in my mind for a good while. My top considerations were Breece Hall, Bijan Robinson, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tyreek Hill. I ultimately went with Hill because I have the fewest questions about him and/or the offense he’s in.

Hill has turned in back-to-back seasons of 119 receptions on 170+ targets to go with 1,700+ (almost 1,800 in 2023) yards, with double-digit touchdowns last season. The offense he plays in should once again be among the best in the league. He doesn’t have a new coach, a new QB, or a QB returning from a major injury.

I know what I’m getting in Hill, and I think he has a real shot at being the WR1 and potentially the top fantasy scorer in 2024.

Please briefly summarize your TE strategy for 2024.

Elite TE

Andrew Erickson: Elite tight ends have never been cheaper than in 2024. A Round 4-5 selection for a massive edge at the position is more than worth the price, especially with the late-round options (in my opinion) not as appetizing as in 2023.

Derek Brown: Pay up for a top-seven option in drafts. I want a tight end with an elite upside in 2024. They are all simply too cheap outside of Sam LaPorta. There’s no reason to wait on a tight end in 2024.

Mike Maher: In most of my drafts, I find myself taking one of the top four (Sam LaPorta, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, or Trey McBride). And I’m doing this for two reasons: (1) I think they’re in a clear tier by themselves, and (2) the price you have to pay for them doesn’t feel extreme, especially when you consider the players being drafted around them.

I usually let someone else start the TE run by taking LaPorta, and that will be my cue to take one of the other three in that round. I just did that in a draft last night where I took Kelce at 3.7, which is a price I’m happy to pay for a set-and-forget option at TE.

If I happen to miss out on that tier, I’ll rinse and repeat the strategy by waiting for someone to take Dalton Kincaid (who I’m not as high on as many others) and grabbing someone in the George Kittle, Kyle Pitts, Evan Engram tier.

Leverage TE Depth

Pat Fitzmaurice: In leagues where you’re required to start three WRs every week, I’m hammering the WR positions in the early rounds and letting the TE position slide a bit, leveraging what appears to be unusual depth at the position. I’m happy to take a chance on uber-talented rookie Brock Bowers (probably my favorite TE target at cost), and I’d be content with fallback options David Njoku, Pat Freiermuth or Dallas Goedert.

In leagues where you start only two WRs, I might be a little more aggressive at TE, and I especially like the prices on Mark Andrews and George Kittle.

Rookie WRs taken in the first round of the NFL Draft often carry discount prices in fantasy drafts, but the top two WRs in this year’s draft — the Cardinals’ Marvin Harrison Jr. and the Giants’ Malik Nabers — are fairly expensive. Harrison is being drafted as a low-end WR1. Nabers is being drafted as a low-end WR2. How willing are you to draft Harrison and Nabers at those prices?

Bullish on Nabers

Mike Maher: I discussed Marvin Harrison Jr. in each of the first two pieces in this series (feel free to go back and check them out here and here!), so I’ll be brief on Harrison and focus more on Nabers here.

I’m of the belief that Harrison is being drafted at his ceiling and that there is more risk than potential reward at his current price. With Nabers, the price is much more reasonable, and I’m more willing to draft him despite my concerns about Daniel Jones and that offense.

Nabers is being drafted as WR24 overall right now, so he’s almost a WR3. And his consensus ADP is right around 50, meaning he is falling to the fourth or fifth round in most drafts. That’s a lot more appealing to me than the early second-round pick you’ll have you use to draft Harrison.

Andrew Erickson: I’m not drafting Harrison at his current cost. Every year, the biggest WR busts are the most expensive projection players. I feel there might be some disconnect between what MHJ offers as a real-life talent and how that will actually translate into fantasy production.

Malik Nabers IS the Giants offense. His target/catch volume is going to make him an immediate fantasy producer. Meanwhile, in Arizona, all the coaching staff does is talk up Trey McBride, Greg Dortch, James Conner, Michael Wilson, etc. They don’t have to force-feed Harrison. The Giants don’t have that option with Nabers.

Pat Fitzmaurice: I’m comfortable with the price on Harrison and have already paid it a couple of times in early drafts. There’s no such thing as a can’t-miss prospect, but based on what I saw from Harrison during his college career at Ohio State, I’d be pretty surprised if he missed.

Nabers is an equally extraordinary WR prospect, and he’s often been falling outside the top 20 at his position in early drafts. I have Nabers ranked WR16 and have been drafting him aggressively. He’s been tearing it up in training camp, looking like a star in the making.

I understand the reluctance to invest in a receiver who’s tethered to QB Daniel Jones, but it’s not as if Jones is incapable of throwing a spiral. Nabers is poised to claim a massive target share and become *the* focal point of the Giants’ offense.

In on Harrison, Nabers

Derek Brown: I’ll happily draft both at their current costs. The fantasy football industry has this one right. Yearly, as an industry, we have been too low on rookie wide receivers. That has been corrected (to an extent) in 2024 with these two players.

What is your assessment of the draft value of Rams WRs Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp. Nacua has an ADP of WR7, No. 13 overall, in half-point PPR leagues. Kupp’s ADP is WR21, No. 41 overall.

Avoiding both Rams WRs

Pat Fitzmaurice: Puka Nacua’s sensational rookie season was no fluke — the dude is seriously talented — but I’ve been steering around him at the 1/2 turn because I’m worried that Nacua could be out-targeted by a healthy Cooper Kupp.

But I’m not that interested in drafting Kupp, either. The 31-year-old Kupp has missed 13 games with ankle and hamstring maladies over the last two seasons, and his current price doesn’t offer enough of an injury discount for me to bite.

Mike Maher: I don’t envision drafting much of either player based on where they’re going.

I don’t think Puka Nacua is a fluke by any means, but I don’t know that I’m ready to spend a late first-round pick in order to draft him this year, especially since he is already banged up.

When it comes to Kupp, the price tag feels a bit more reasonable, at least until you consider some of the WRs being drafted around him: Jaylen Waddle, Michael Pittman Jr., DeVonta Smith, Malik Nabers. I prefer most or all of those WRs to Kupp this year because I can’t unsee what I saw last year. Kupp isn’t exactly ancient at 31 years old, but he’s dealt with some injuries throughout his career and likely isn’t someone who can afford to lose much athletically. If he really has lost a step, we’ve seen the end of elite production from Kupp.

Andrew Erickson: I wrote this in my WRs to Avoid piece regarding the Rams WRs: “I feel confident that at least one of the Rams WRs — in one way or another — will not meet their ADP expectations in 2024.”

And that was before the Puka Nacua knee injury. Given that both guys are super expensive, with their ADPs likely converging with Kupp’s health in a better situation than Nacua’s, I’m cool fading these guys for fear that I draft the one who hurts my team. Sure, I’ll miss out on the one that ultimately does pay off, but there are plenty of other great non-Rams players in the same ADP ranges I can draft to make up the ground. But most importantly, I am avoiding potential landmines.

Drinking the Puka Juice

Derek Brown: Nacua’s recent knee injury has given me some small worries, but assuming that we can trust Sean McVay (I think we can), then I’m still all in on Nacua leading this passing attack in 2024.

We always say invest in talented rookie wide receivers entering their second season in the NFL. Well, we should certainly be doing so with a player who smashed multiple rookie receiving records last season.

Fantasy Draft Advice NFL Christian McCaffrey Ja’Marr Chase CeeDee Lamb Joe Burrow Tyreek Hill Jaylen Waddle De’Von Achane Breece Hall Travis Etienne Bijan Robinson Sam LaPorta Travis Kelce Mark Andrews Trey McBride Dalton Kincaid George Kittle Kyle Pitts Evan Engram Brock Bowers David Njoku Pat Freiermuth Dallas Goedert Marvin Harrison Jr. Malik Nabers Daniel Jones Greg Dortch James Conner Michael Wilson Puka Nacua Cooper Kupp Michael Pittman Jr. DeVonta Smith