Late-Round Picks: MarShawn Lloyd, Kimani Vidal, Jaleel McLaughlin (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 some of Derek Brown’s favorite late-round fantasy football draft picks to target.

2024 Fantasy Football Draft Advice

Later Round Targets

Kimani Vidal (RB – LAC): Vidal might have tumbled down the NFL draft board, but don’t make the mistake of assuming that he lacks the talent profile to take over the Bolts’ backfield. His competition (Gus Edwards & J.K. Dobbins) isn’t exactly overwhelming. Last year, Vidal ranked 21st in PFF’s elusive rating while proving that he can handle volume with at least 23 carries in 57% of his games. With Greg Roman at the controls, there will be plenty of rushing volume to chew on, even if he doesn’t claim the workhorse role. From 2019-2022 with Baltimore, Roman coordinated an offense that ranked first in neutral rushing rate. Vidal could be a flex play by midseason with the upside to grow into more (RB2) as the season moves along. I’ll still take a shot on him with a final pick in my leagues.

Jaleel McLaughlin (RB – DEN): Fully expect me to be above consensus regarding McLaughlin. Last year, he was electric with every touch he earned. Among all running backs with at least 50 rushing attempts or 20 targets, McLaughlin ranked 14th in explosive run rate, fifth in missed tackles forced per attempt, fourth in yards after contact per attempt, and fourth in yards per route run. Denver made it a point to get him involved in the passing game when he was on the field, as he also ranked first in targets per route run. McLaughlin could easily earn more opportunities this season, and the passing down back in a Sean Payton offense is a role we should covet highly. Over the last nine seasons, Payton has coordinated an NFL offense; he has never finished lower than fourth in targets to the running back position. If McLaughlin keeps Sean Payton’s trust, he could be an RB3 that vaults into steady RB2 production (especially in PPR leagues).

MarShawn Lloyd (RB – GB): Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably already aware that MarShawn Lloyd was one of my man crushes throughout the NFL Draft cycle. While his landing spot has turned many off, I’m not fazed. Will Josh Jacobs be heavily involved weekly? Sure, but that doesn’t mean that Lloyd is a zero or change-of-pace option only. Lloyd crushed every part of the predraft process after jumping off the stat sheet during his final two collegiate seasons. In each of those two years, he finished in the top 20 in yards after contact per attempt, breakaway percentage, and PFF elusive rating. Lloyd will quickly be a major factor in this backfield, with his main competition for touches (Josh Jacobs) hoping for a bounceback year. Last year, Jacobs struggled mightily to break tackles and create big plays as he ranked (among 49 qualifying backs last season per Fantasy Points Data) 41st in explosive run rate, 37th in missed tackles forced per attempt, and 44th in yards after contact per attempt. Lloyd is an RB3/4 who can easily out-kick his ADP this season. His hamstring issues this preseason could limit him out the gate, but drafting Lloyd is a bet on talent, and Lloyd has it.