Top Fantasy Football Draft Values | Picks to Target (2024)

Introduction welcome it everybody to fantasy pros this is fantasyfest I am Joey P Joe p zapia and for the next 5 hours we have got you on lock down 5 hours of wall toall fantasy football right here at fantasy pros our fifth annual fantasy Festival of friendship as well and speaking of friends right off the bat I've got two incredible folks joining me D bro derck Brown the king of Bros the prince of the primer and Jake cely rocking a fantastic shirt that I've had in the cart more than once already he's got The Goonies Raiders shirt I am rocking my NFL Blitz Derrik Henry that just came uh it's it's a festival friendship but also a fashion period of time as well gentlemen welcome to the program for those of you new to Fantasy Fest we're talking ball today we've got an incredible lineup of guests ahead some of the best of the best when it comes to Fantasy Football I know it's not quite Red Zone but you know what it's August so this is just going to have to do so it is commercial free pretty much so you got that going for you Gentlemen let's get right into it and let's talk about the topic because we love a good draft value I know Jake cely does because I've been out enough times to lunches and dinners with Jake where he is looking for whatever is on the special whatever somehow is maybe I don't know five dollar cheaper or whatever it is Jake you love a good value I know that you do don't pretend like you don't so Jake I want to start with you here welcome to the program and let's Jump Right In give me a guy that you think is going to be of value for all those folks playing fantasy football in 2024 now I'm going to start with a Jayden Daniels quarterback and I'm going to start with a quarterback which my question to you is going to be if you like Anthony Richardson why don't you like jayen Daniels because my projections um maybe you disagree you want to go take them and say you're dumb Jake I'm going to change them but I have more passing touchdowns for jayen Daniels than I do Anthony Richardson I have similar rushing upside uh this is somebody who has if they want the lazy comparison that a lot of people have made is Justin fields which I don't think is fair because I think you have a better decision maker a better deep ball a player that people don't realize oh why are we talking about those two wide receivers oh maybe it was because jayen Daniels was playing quarterback throwing those touchdowns to them all season long and you want ter mcen to get back inside the top 20 jayen Daniels can do it but more so jayen Daniels being QB 13 outside the top 100 in picks is absurd to me because Anthony Richardson that Gap should be a hell of a lot smaller than it is oh my goodness hell of a lot look at you already very sassy just to start the show off I only those Folks at the athletic could hear you right now so Debo jadden Daniel is one of your favorite guys I know one of mine too and and Jake brings up a great point which is if you love Richardson and you don't want to pay the cost there's Jaden Daniels sitting there towards the end of drafts maybe you have to be a little bit more aggressive around maybe two earlier depending on the folks you're playing in Leagues with but let's not pretend like the upside for Jaden Daniels isn't as much because Richardson and Daniels are both effectively basically rookies in 2024 yeah I mean look anybody that's been listening to the fantasy Pro Show knows that I love Jaden Daniels right now he's my qb9 and to your point Jake and Joe I have him at 76th overall so well look I'm not telling people that they have to draft him that high but the thing is I want you above consensus on Jane Daniels all in on everything Jake said the rushing upside is there and the other thing we always come back to is volume is King well guess what that also trickles over to play volume and we know we're going to get that with Cliff kingsbery so I agree also that any comparisons to Justin Fields is not giving Jaden Daniels near enough credit as a passer my comp throughout the entire Prospect season was Randall Cunningham and I sit by that still I haven't been a this excited to draft commanders possibly ever uh that I have been this season I'm going to tell you and the next guy I want to talk about is another Commander one of D Brian Robinson Jr. bro's favorites if you've watched any mock draft show this entire offseason uh it's been a a fight between myself and Derrik Brown to get the running back we're GNA talk about Brian Robinson Jr good career at Alabama probably one that doesn't get enough credit perhaps too because it was such a big- time offense with all these Stars around it Robinson was just like ah yeah he's really good and he's steady and then uh clearly has proven that he's a very tough kid and now he's in a situation with Dan Quinn de bro where you think this could be the real breakout for him despite the fact that Austin Eckler is now coming to town I think that's where people struggle so why is Robinson the guy for you and not egler well let's keep it 100 here Joe when we were all doing our Flex League drafts and I texted you immediately when you sniped him from me I told you then and I'll tell you here I wanted to drop KCK you I was like come on man this is ridiculous but yes I want him in every single League I could possibly get him in and we've seen this play out ready I'm old enough to remember when Kenyan Drake smashed and James Conor smashed in the same offensive system and we can go back and everybody talking about Austin Eckler look Anthony Lynn is the art running backs coach and Run game coordinator and we've seen previously if you're high on Austin edar you really shouldn't be because he never got the goal line work he never got the Red Zone work I think all of that goes to Brian Robinson in this offense and people are still not giving him enough credit he was the rb22 and fantasy points per game last season and yet everything has improved around him and people are still ranking him as an rb3 I'm not with it he's inside my top 24 running backs uh I could read some of the other text messages from that draft but I think it'll get us booted we might get booted from YouTube yeah might not be the best look for us uh but that's why you go to the Discord fantasy bros.com chat I can post it there it's like you know but where little cool kids hang out in the community maybe we'll do a whole fun bit there uh Jake when it comes to the Commander's backfield is it Robinson is it Eckler or is it stay away because frankly there's two guys and sometimes when there's two guys in fantasy that means there probably not might not be any that you feel comfortable about I'm taking option D where it's both because I think Brian Robinson I conservatively have projections that have him as rb24 and I feel like those are conservative because what I'm giving jayen Daniels in the Run game but I think Austin Eckler is going to be used plenty enough in the passing game uh the concern I would have is that Austin Eckler doesn't run the ball more than around a 100 times but that's why I also like Brian Robinson I think Eckler probably is more of an rb3 these days in kind of the old Antonio Gibson role but I'm with Deb on Brian Robinson the fact that I think RB 24 could arguably be low because he's better in the passing game Than People realize and I think that got overshadowed uh so it really comes down to how much does Daniels dump off to the running backs which could cap Robinson but I do believe I'm with him in the fact that he's a solid rb2o let's go to Nick Chubb another one of your guys here Jake we're not going to see him for a while which is interesting so this is really a testament of faith and thinking that Nick chub is eventually going to come back and be somebody you can count on in the stretch run now this was a serious knee injury we all love Nick chub everybody knows if you're around fantasy pros for the last couple years I am the President and founder of the chub Club however this is a tough sell for me even as the president I I have a hard time endorsing this why are you endorsing in 2024 getting Nick chub on your roster is it just based on the value or are you saying you know what you can never have enough running backs like what's the logic here for chub well first the logic comes down to I'm not playing for second place I'm playing for the title I'm playing for first I'm not trying to be the fourth best team and sometimes you have to take some risks I don't think it's as much as a risk as people are giving it uh you look at two factors I'll make one comparison is that sequan Barkley a few years ago and we knew going into that Year everybody said he's not going to be 100% till October and that fourth game of setember is like oh he looks like he's 90 95% back and we got that next game it's like squin is back unfortunately rolled up his ankle on the Cowboys and was never the same for the rest of the year but you know that's a free kind of injury everything the Browns have told us in their actions this offseason tells me they believe Nick chub will be 100% by October if not possibly sooner they didn't really do much in free agency or the draft at all uh they even with the injury they still didn't do much to address the position and you really look at it okay Jerome Ford's the hold over but if Nick chub if I told you right now you have to wait you get zero production from Nick chub in September but he's 100% by October you'd still take him as RB 15 because oh by the way Levan Bell when you missed the first three games that one year was rb1 I don't care about September I care about the championship well that's kind of rude my birthday's in September Jake you should care about a little bit my sisters I still don't care about it wow but about me Jake forget about your sister uh another guy on your list Jonathon Brooks Jake is Jonathan Brooks so while we're talking about hurt running backs coming back from ACL injuries let's just Loop them all together in this conversation because Brooks is another one of these players that you're not going to have probably in September um I think the big discussion Point becomes something that Scott Bogman brought up a couple weeks ago which is you know if you watch Javonte Williams last year we heard all these you know positive reports you read all the tea leaves whatever you want to say at the end of the day Javonte Williams even when he came back came back a little later than people thought anyway and he never really looked like himself now we could say Nick chub is different we say Jonathan Brooks is a different Talent that's all fair but the process he's putting on that isn't a bad one so why is Jonathan Brooks like chub in your opinion a good investment because he's still in the mid-30s of running backs if you told me Jonathan Brooks at rb22 I'd be more hesitant I I will say Jonathan Brooks could say worst case could be well obviously worst case could be gavon Williams and he struggles the entire year but I feel like worst case I go back to cam Acres when he wasn't anything until December now of course at RB 34 and you only get one month of rb1 production that's still a little bit overpriced so I will throw this out there I like Brooks in the rb30 is if he starts to creep a little bit higher another two rounds now you're getting to the point where I might have some hesitancy mostly because the names in the 30s are split backfields anyway the one thing I will also add to Brooks similar to chub too is you could always flip them if you're really worried because right before a play player comes back is when you get Peak draft value because everybody always has the 100% injury optimism and oh he is going to be Nick chub he is going to be Jonathan Brooks so I feel like worst case if you're really that concerned you possibly have a trade value once they're ready to come back anyway I'll be looking for that trade offer from you somewhere around you know what's coming I'm GNA package them together for pukan AA actually yeah that is the most Jake cely trade I've ever and I get a ton of them every year but I'm looking at it actually you and I are not in or are we one League together or two right the CBS experts League we're in together like one or two so we'll get that trade there de bro Nick chub or Jonathan Brooks choose your ACL running back for 2024 it's Brooks I mean outside of going with the youth and stuff I just think that you're looking at a player that when he is fully up to speed is going to have the role of maybe being a stretch run Workhorse and it's not that I'm I'm taking anything away from Nick chup I want to see him back on the field and crushing opponents as well but could we also see like him just playing the early Downs Jerome Ford playing the passing Downs I think when Brooks comes back not only going with youth but look at what canel has done with running backs I think he gets all the work or at least most of it when he does come back DB Devin Singletary let's go back to you for another one of your uh potential values on draft day and it's a running back you've talked about quite a bit and drafted quite a bit in a lot of spots here it's Devon single ter of the New York Giants so saquan Barkley is gone Jake has cried into his pillow many a night for the last six months months over that fact but Deon Singletary comes into town and he has been a a guy that has performed I think always better than expectations and expectations once again are low but your expectations are higher on single ter than most tell us why they are because he's going to get all the work and he should again he should be ranked as a top 24 running back I you can get him in the rb3 range and for the volume and the workload he's going to see I I don't really understand the ranking I I I get I and look I was at home the other day and watched all the Giants and I watched Daniel Jones do Daniel Jones things I I understand all of that but stingle ter is still going to get all the work and he has been incredibly productive I mean last year I know it's a better offense but the RB 21 and fantasy points per game after he was the starter the I don't think we give single ter enough credit for how good he is on a per touch basis like he was 19th in explosive run rate 22 to miss tackles Force per attempt last year if he's getting all the work in this offense even if we want to say oh it's a smelly offense we don't really want a lot of parts of pieces outside of single ter and neighbors I still want to buy into single ter because his volume and his workload is not getting baked in enough to his cost and drafts by the way Jake Daniel Jones things he's referring to throwing pick sixes out of your own End Zone that's a Daniel Jones thing can he hide the bad play behind that handsome beard I don't know if he can I don't know but you should not hide this year from our tools of fantasy pros including the draft assistant if you have haven't used the tools here fantasy pros I'm telling you now is the time to try it for the first time or come back if you've tried some other places and you realize it's just not good enough if you remember when you first started playing fantasy football and it was all fun and now your draft can feel like you're studying for a test and this year you could reclaim that same enjoyment with the draft wizard the draft assistant simplifies the entire draft process making it easy to dominate all of your fantasy drafts and it connects right to your draft directly keeps track of everything that's going on it tells you who's the best pick it tells you who behind you has a tight end needs a wide receiver basically it's like having a cheat code inside of the draft room with you and you can even make cheat sheets for guys like me Derek even Jake cel's rankings and use them to your advantage so this season work less win more with draft assistant at fantasypros.com draft Wizard or just download Fantasy Football Draft Wizard app today and start drafting smarter not harder all right Rico Dowdle Gentlemen let's get back to some of the names on the list here we'll go back to you Jakey for another guy that you think could be undervalued and this is what I agree with in your Flex draft I drafted Rico dowle give me the younger running back uh on the big offense of the Cowboys and I think even over time once again you don't care about September neither do I if it looks muddy in September he would be one of the big trade targets for me because I'm concerned about Zeke lasting but Rico D is a target for you let's talk about why a lot of what you just said does Zeke last does Zeke have anything left there was questions last year of course a much worse offense most wor worse offensive line anything you could throw out there but does he come back and even produce rb2 numbers I'm hesitant on that and if you want to take D in his own right how about the fact that dle on nearly every not just one or two nearly every metric was better than Tony Pard on this Cowboys team last year including running the ball in at the damn goal line by the way so why not take a chance on Rico dford we were always trying to find that late round running back who potentially takes over the lead roller surprises people he's running back 44 he's outside the top 11 rounds in drafts uh if you want to just take a freebie on somebody that could work out Rico dle is the name Rico dle for Jake cely let's go to you D Terry McLaurin bro with possibly my favorite Draft Day value a guy that has four straight years of a thousand yards receiving and this year his Vegas number is 880 and a half it's absurd it's Terry mcen again all the commanders I can't believe this is where I'm at in 2024 but I'm loving life and Terry mcclaren's a guy I'm drafting everywhere in fact I did uh I also took him in that same draft where dbro was texting me let's just say inappropriate things he was very mad at me again for taking Terry mclen but uh Debo this is just so easy to me I'm looking at Terry McClaren and I'm saying this is a guy who is finally getting a chance to play with greatness potentially a quarterback and I'll take that every day of the week because the floor so far with all the other guys that he's played with has already been pretty steady as it was I I agree with everything you say to Joe I love it man and I love Terry mcen this year and I just yes we have gone very very Commander Centric so far on this show but there's reasons for it it's because this offense is so undervalued none of these guys are expensive like we've heard the coaching staff talk about they don't know who the wide receiver to in this in this offense is we definitively know who the wide receiver one in this offense is and if we're high on Jane Daniels we need to give respect to Terry mcen so again a player that I have consensus has as a wide receiver three he's inside my top 24 wide receivers and all you have to do is look to the last two seasons and the path is easy to see last year based upon his volume he was the wide receiver 21 and expected fantasy points per game and you go back not last year but the year before he was top 20 in both yards per route run and first downs per route run so if we get good quarterback play and we're talking well about Jaden Daniels here and we think he's going to be good out the gate Teran mcen is going to crush he's one of the best wide receivers you can draft this year now speaking wide rece oh go ahead J go I I want to agree because Richardson Daniels Pitman McLaren finle is ihorn that's all I want to say yes is Einhorn also fle in that scenario yes I was gonna say that just want to make sure well I beat you to it uh let's talk about some more wide receivers Jake you have three more on your list T Higgins Brian Thomas and Josh Palmer so let's take them one at a time T this is funny because all the guys basically on these lists this is pretty much my Flex team so I'm so glad that everybody you I'm GNA have to put it back into the draft Wizard app for a grade here with just Derek Brown and Jake cely A++ it's like in Christmas story in the uh when the teacher keeps giving him the plus plus plus on his theme that's what it feels like today but T Higgins another one of these guys Tee Higgins that it just feels like people are taking for granted Jake let's start with Higgins and then we'll roll through Thomas and Palmer but Higgins another guy on a pass first off who has already shown you he's very steady yes Jamar Chase is the alpha dog but there's still plenty of reason to be excited about t Higgins as a very strong wide receiver too he's being drafted as a very late one yes and you talk about being undervalued uh Vegas included undervalued on T Higgins I don't get his line either because have we so quickly forgotten about 2021 and 22 backtack thousand yard seasons back-to-back Seasons as wide receiver 18 in points per game and that was with Tyler Boyd who he gone and now we're trying to figure out who's the three from these other dudes from like we're talking about I mean I love Germaine Burton the talent but he's not even pushing for the three right now people are talking up mik aeki could he be the three because now they have a tight end and who cares T Higgins is going to get his 120 130 maybe even 140 targets because you're talking about two top tier weapons in Higgins and Jamar Chase where why is Joe Bro going to look to anybody else anyway I don't understand this because even if he only puts up 2021 and 22 numbers which I think his ceiling is higher that's still wide receiver 18 and he's being drafted as a wide receiver three that is absurd do you want to jump in or am I moving to the other two wide receivers as well no I want I want to Brian Thomas Jr. move to Brian Thomas because this is the one that t Higgins is very known and disregarded Brian Thomas a little more unknown his ADP is in the you know 4849 range right wide receiver 48 is where he's going right now so Brian Thomas why should people be excited about him as this Flex option so soon as a rookie in offense that you know at times last year I feel like let a lot of fantasy managers down they did it was all because of Z Jones right remember that uh what it really comes downin Ridley let a lot of people down too but I'm not gonna be uh particular yeah but it all came back to whether or not Z Jones was healthy was my point as that was the debate last year Brian Thomas that stirs the drink s yes Brian Thomas any other year would have probably been considered the Top If not one of the top wyver receivers in the draft he fell into a terrible year for having a generational top three where I kind of had him as 1.5 tier because Brian Thomas in my estimation and my projection is like a Nico Collins type of ceiling for this guy and I think stepping into that Calvin Ridley role he will immediately put up Calvin Ridley's numbers but I actually think he does it a more consistent basis than Calvin Ridley did last year which by the way will get you a top 22 wide receiver who is is being drafted as wide receiver 49 so like d bro said earlier when we talk about a lot of these people cautionary Taylor Jan Dodson last year is we're talking these people up that doesn't mean draft them in round five we're saying just be ahead of consensus like Debo said so wide receiver 49 you could still take him as wide receiver 39 and get a massive return on value and just make sure you get him in all your leagues Brian Thomas deserves a hell of a lot more respect just for his pure talent Josh Palmer and one guy that Andrew Erikson is very much higher than consensus is Josh Paul or the third guy on your wide receiver list remaining obviously it's it's a very simple equation right you have vacated targets and Josh Palmer is a guy that's been there with Herbert for a while it might be a new regime but what makes me laugh Jake every time is that people say well it's Roman and hard ball as if they're never gonna throw the football as if they somehow Justin Herbert's gonna have 10 attempts per game and it's gonna be leather helmets and all that stuff but it's not going to be Josh Palmer has had some moments the question is can he stay healthy in your opinion and return value here at wide receiver 53 it seems like a slam dunk but there's also some other competition in this mix so why is Palmer the guy for you that stands out so yeah we do have Josh Palmer having 72 over 700 yards and three touchdowns in his second season so he has done it before and that was filling in a lot that year inconsistently filling in because he fills in better for to go back then in the Mike Williams role than the Keenan Allen role and some of those games he was trying to be forced into into the Keenan Allen role I think he fits well for what they have and you said it I I think people are laughing about this at least in their minds that they're not going to throw the ball they're probably going to still throw it 550 Plus times that's more conservative than they had been but it's not you they're not running the Navy offense an option every single time like let's stop with this I and I'm one of I thought I was going to be and I'm not saying this to be like oh haha but I thought I was going to be one of the highest people of all on lad makoni but lad makoni is a great talent but he's still as we've heard from reports in competition to fight off DJ CH which I'm not that worried about DJ CH but what has been the one clear thing this entire offseason this entire preseason everything from usage when the first team is done who's the one it has been definitively Joshua Palmer and Daniel popper over the athletic did a article talking up Quinton Johnson where he said he didn't drop or he dropped the pass but at least he ran a good route this time Quinton Johnston if that's what we're praising him for at this point I'm pretty sure he's going to be a nonf factor so Josh Palmer with 110 120 plus targets sure it might only be fringy wide receiver 3 but wide receiver 55 absurd absurd indeed all right enough Trey McBride wide receivers Debo let's go to a tight end and one that you have been trumpeting for months now and it's Trey McBride a guy that really broke out last year you saw the te's you saw the targets 2024 he's already going as the fourth tight end basically sometimes even the third tight end or on Deo board maybe even the one tight end I don't know where you got him today I have to check and do the temperature here uh so Trey McBride let's walk through the glory of what could be for this tight end in 2024 I must have a fever because the temperature is hot baby and it's rising man like Trey McBride yes he is my tight end one overall this year and for everybody look if your eyebrows are shooting to the back of your skull right now and you're wondering what the heck is wrong with me if you look at what Trey McBride did last year once he was the full-time guy weeks 8 through eight fantasy points per games target share yards per route run receiving yards per game all these different metrics he was top three in all of them I mean he was legit first in fantasy points per game once he became that guy and so what are we talking about this year like is he not going to still be that guy and for everybody out there saying okay what about Marvin Harrison Jr what about him man like do you think he's going to get 400 targets cuz unless you think that how does Trey McBride not walk into 13 140 targets both of these guys can coexist and eat together because there's no other wide receiver on this roster that is going to command a 20% Target share 22% Target share and Kyler Murray was honestly objectively bad as a pastor last year so if he's all the way back we see McBride just absolutely crushed this year I I want to draft him in every single League Jake real quick before we Tight Ends Discussion let you go here what's your Approach at tight end this year because there certainly are some real studs at the top there is that really cushy Middle with guys like uh Kyle pittz and Evan Ingram and even George KD are you somebody just lets tight end fall in your lap and says okay whatever the value is I'll take or are you a little bit more aggressive on the guys like Andrews like leaport and like McBride I'm more in the McBride pits Ingram KD range because I feel like tight end's a lot flatter than it has been where I'll wait the extra two rounds or so and try I'm trying to get a top nine and that includes King Kade and Ferguson I think that's kind of the off if I can't I'll take a flyer my favorite flyer it continues to go way too late is Dallas GD with the to change the Kell War I think we get GD back into the top 10 mix but that being said I don't want gutter to be my answer I do want to get one of those top eight and honestly top seven if I can Jake cely you're always Closing the right answer thanks for joining us today talking about some of the values and I'm very glad who disappoints the most and then yes that is that too that's also you know you can be both you're the yin and the Yang my friend you always are and I'm glad that uh things are on the upswing for you after a rough week last week and we appreciate you joining us today my friends so send the best out there to everybody else