Must-Have Players: Christian Watson, Jayden Daniels, Jake Ferguson (Fantasy Football)

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 a few notable fantasy football players our experts are targeting below.

Must-Have Fantasy Football Draft Picks

Jayden Daniels (QB – WAS)

Don’t be the mincing, fraidy-cat fantasy manager who’s scared to take a chance on a rookie quarterback. Rushing ability is the cheat code for quarterbacks to unlock fantasy success, and Daniels is capable of moving the needle with his ability to take off and boogie.

The No. 2 overall pick in this year’s NFL Draft, Daniels won the Heisman Trophy last year after throwing for 3,812 yards with 40 TD passes and only four interceptions. Daniels averaged 11.7 yards per pass attempt for LSU last year. He also ran for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns.

The Commanders brought in Kliff Kingsbury as their new offensive coordinator, and Kingsbury coaxed a QB7 fantasy season out of mobile QB Kyler Murray in Kyler’s rookie year with the Cardinals.

If he remains affordable, you owe it to yourself to pounce on him, even if you’re drafting him as a second quarterback.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Christian Watson (WR – GB)

Watson has an ADP outside the top 40 at wide receiver, presumably because drafters are worried about (1) his target competition and (2) his balky hamstrings.

Watson recently saw a specialist about the hamstring issues and has expressed confidence that adjusting his training routine will solve the problem. As for the target competition, it’s worth noting that in games where Watson, Jayden Reed and Romeo Doubs were all healthy last season, Watson had a 27% target share, Reed a 22% share, and Doubs an 18% share. And Watson’s targets tend to be high-value targets. His average depth of target was 13.8 yards in 2022 and 15.6 yards in 2023.

Watson is 6-foot-4 and has sub-4.4 speed. He scored eight touchdowns over a four-game span as a rookie, and he scored four touchdowns over a three-game span last year. This is talent worth betting on, especially at a bargain price.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Jake Ferguson (TE – DAL)

As noted in my earlier endorsement of Dak Prescott, I think the Cowboys are probably going to be pass-heavy this year. Ferguson had 71 catches for 761 yards and five touchdowns last season, finishing TE8 in half-point PPR fantasy scoring. From Week 8 through the end of the season, he was TE6.

The Cowboys didn’t make any significant additions at wide receiver or tight end in the offseason, so Ferguson’s role is secure. He’s a great fallback option if you don’t land one of the top tight ends.
– Pat Fitzmaurice