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4 days ago
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Fantasy Football: Most-interesting players to monitor during training camp and the preseason
The Yahoo Fantasy Football crew reveals the player or situation they're most interested in keeping an eye on during training camp and the preseason. Here is what they'll be watching ... Cowboys' murky backfield I'll be paying close attention to Dallas' backfield this summer with both Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott gone. Javonte Williams has the highest early 'expert consensus rank' as the RB37, but he failed miserably despite being given a terrific opportunity (he saw the fifth most RB targets) in Denver last season. Williams ranked last among 37 qualified running backs in yards after contact per attempt, but he enters atop Dallas' depth chart and says he finally 'feels like myself again' three years removed from multi-ligament surgery. Williams' ability to pass protect could once again lead to volume. Advertisement Jaydon Blue is the RB54 and a rookie with upside. He ran the fastest 40 time among this year's RB class, but Blue is also just 195 pounds with only 214 career rush attempts who's a fifth-round pick with a serious fumbling problem. It's possible Miles Sanders is washed, but he only recently turned 28 and is two seasons removed from totaling 1,423 yards and 11 touchdowns (admittedly in a friendly Philadelphia system). He should be free in fantasy drafts (RB77), making Sanders a worthwhile flier. Dallas' offensive line will have a new look, but the Cowboys can score a bunch of points with a healthy Dak Prescott (while playing indoors and with George Pickens added). Dowdle was a top 15 fantasy back over the final six games last season in this system, and that was with Prescott sidelined. The Cowboys want to run, so one of these backs can have a bunch of fantasy value should they emerge as the clear leader this summer. — Dalton Del Don Advertisement [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Rome Odunze's fit with the Bears in Year 2 Any number of Chicago Bears would be appropriate answers to this question, including the team's second-year quarterback and first-year head coach. But for me, Rome Odunze is the guy I'm keeping both eyes on throughout camp and the preseason. Expectations of a breakout second season have been fully baked into his early ADP (WR30 at NFFC). Before the NFL Draft, it was easy to make the argument that all those Keenan Allen targets from 2024 had to go somewhere, resulting in almost unlimited volume for Odunze. Today, with Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III added to the mix, the workload picture isn't so clear. Advertisement Odunze was on the receiving end of several high-level, field-flipping completions from Caleb Williams last season, like this one right here: Still, the pair also had an alarming number of missed connections as rookies — and, hey, that's probably OK. They were each experiencing NFL speed and defensive pressure for the first time, while enduring scandalously poor coaching. In theory, everything about this year's setup is better than last year's setup. Odunze's place in the team's receiving hierarchy remains unsettled, however, and we're going to need to track it closely. — Andy Behrens Drake Maye building chemistry with his pass-catchers Like many, I'm excited about the Patriots. After a messy 4-13 season, they cleaned out the coaching staff and had a pundit-approved draft. The team is projected to win 8.5 games in the over/under market, a significant improvement. But given the intriguing personnel and the upgrade at coaching, I understand the root of the optimism. Advertisement Second-year QB Drake Maye is at the center of things, and I'll be tracking him closely. Returning OC Josh McDaniels was a smart rehire — maybe he's miscast as a head coach, but I love him as a play designer. Who is Maye clicking with? What does veteran receiver Stefon Diggs have left? Is rookie wideout Kyle Williams a possible breakthrough player in Year 1? What's remaining in the Hunter Henry tank? Whenever Maye throws a pass this summer, my eyes and ears will be engaged. The New England passing game could be fun this fall. — Scott Pianowski Matthew Golden carving out a role in Green Bay Matthew Golden is just WR50 in early consensus FantasyPros rankings. That is despite the fact that he's a Round 1 wideout who went to good NFL offense that needed some juice in the receiver room. There appears to be a hesitation among the fantasy community. It's likely born from two things. A handful of data-based analysts are skeptical of Golden because of his lackluster collegiate production profile. There's not much Golden can do about that at this point but he can show well throughout the offseason to solidify his spot as one of, if not the top receiver on the depth chart. Understanding his place in the team's receiver hierarchy would neutralize the second aspect causing hesitation in ranking him higher. There could be real value in a player of Golden's talent continuing to go off the board around WR50, especially since his vertical skill set profiles as a receiver who carries a high weekly ceiling projection. It will be well worth tracking camp reports and preseason action to get an idea of Golden's role and whether he will be an every-down player, or yet another rotating Packers receiver despite the draft capital spent to acquire his services. — Matt Harmon
Yahoo
21-05-2025
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Fantasy Football: Which pass-catchers are stuck in the QB wilderness and who has finally escaped?
Metcalf has been featured in this exercise before when the Russell Wilson trade seemingly sent him into quarterback wilderness several years ago. Metcalf dodged that fate by enjoying multiple strong seasons amid Geno Smith's career rebirth in Seattle, while Wilson went on to disappoint in Denver. Now, Metcalf parts ways with a quarterback who leads the NFL in completion rate over expected since 2022 and ranks 15th in success rate to join a team with Mason Rudolph currently entrenched as the starting quarterback. No team is more lost in Quarterback Wilderness right now than the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm not even sure if signing Aaron Rodgers, who is seemingly the only light at the end of the tunnel for this season, is enough to get them out of it. Rodgers ranks 23rd in adjusted yards per attempt in the three years since his last MVP award. It's been a minute since we've seen him be the type of quarterback who elevates his receivers. If Rodgers doesn't make his way to this squad, Metcalf will need to absolutely dominate the target share in a run-heavy offense to be a viable fantasy starter. His career-high target share was 27.2% in 2021. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Olave and Derek Carr never saw the game the same way and consistently had issues with chemistry and timing. It wasn't an ideal long-term marriage but that being said, Carr has still statistically been an above-average quarterback the last two years in New Orleans, even if you justifiably object to his style of play. Carr ranked 14th in adjusted yards per attempt and 15th in EPA per dropback from 2023 and 2024. Olave's best bet to escape Quarterback Wilderness is for Tyler Shough to come in and immediately establish himself as the guy. I'm not ruling it out and there are parts of Shough's game that overlap well with Olave. However, the recent history of Round 2 quarterbacks is dicey. The only two real hits for the teams that drafted them since 2012 are Jalen Hurts and, ironically, Carr. Shough is not a perfect prospect and his ceiling may well be a Carr-style of passer as they have some of the same strengths and weaknesses. Shough must hit that best case right away to keep Olave and Rashid Shaheed out of the wilderness. As mentioned in the Metcalf analysis, Geno Smith certainly clears the bar of the quarterback we are looking for to keep pass-catchers out of the wilderness. That's especially true when you consider what the Raiders rolled out last season on way to a 28th place finish in EPA per dropback. Smith is a highly accurate quarterback who works well over the middle of the field and isn't afraid to stand in the pocket and rip it downfield. That will overlap well with Brock Bowers on some of the concepts Chip Kelly will surely bring to this offense. Smith's arrival secures Bowers' spot as the TE1 this season and increases the appeal of Jakobi Meyers and rookie Jack Bech as the top wide receivers. Pickens has been trudging around the Quarterback Wilderness for years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was set to take another hike through it this season in an encore round with Mason Rudolph. That is until the Cowboys came calling to acquire the enigmatic wideout in a post-draft trade. Pickens is a perfect fit in the Cowboys' offense as their boundary receiver alongside CeeDee Lamb. He'll work well on the stop routes and vertical patterns no one has been able to offer the unit since Michael Gallup tore his ACL. And of course, Dak Prescott is leaps and bounds better than anyone who has been under center for the Steelers since Pickens was drafted in 2022. As long as Pickens is fully dialed in, he should moonwalk to the best season of his career. Yes, Adams did get a brief respite from his miserable tenure with the Raiders quarterback carousel from 2023 to 2024 to reunite with his buddy from the Green Bay glory days. Yet, as mentioned above, I'm skeptical that Aaron Rodgers is a needle-mover at this point, and there were numerous open throws to Adams he left on the field last season. His two-year stint in the wilderness comes to an official end as he moves to Los Angeles and teams up with Matthew Stafford. In my estimation, Stafford is coming off his least inspiring season with the Rams but was still 14th in adjusted yards per attempt. When he's protected and has multiple options out in the route, he can get white-hot and go on a tear. All of that will be available for Stafford in 2025 as he works with two high-quality wideouts in Adams and Puka Nacua. Aaron Rodgers was meant to be the uber-talented Jets receiver's ticket out of the Quarterback Wilderness but that connection never really developed. Wilson still finished with 101 catches and over 1,100 yards last season, but anyone who sets eyes on his film can easily see he's capable of better raw and more efficient production. Justin Fields was signed as the bridge starter for the New York Jets and my hunch has long been that was more for his rushing chops than anything else. It's worth noting that Fields was the guy who teamed up with D.J. Moore for the best season of his career. I'm still working my head around how Fields and Wilson, who played together at Ohio State, will work together as a tandem but I won't rule out that they can experience a similar campaign. Fields still needs to improve on his painfully robotic style of play and debilitating sack issue in order to be a true ticket for Wilson to get out of what's been a career-long stint in the wilderness. I have been critical of Jeudy at times during his career because he's an inconsistent player in isolation but there's no denying he's been dealt a rotten hand at the quarterback position. He found a brief oasis in the middle of last season when Jameis Winston got under center and his aggressive style of play helped scam Jeudy to serious production. The more important development for Jeudy's career was that the Browns finally got the usage right for the veteran receiver and let him be a flanker and downfield over route demon rather than leaning into his overstated route running skills from the slot. This section of Jerry Jeudy's 2023 #ReceptionPerception profile should be included to improve this point. He basically got this exact role flip in Cleveland and the results have been great. So many NFL receivers can be extremely useful, just takes the proper deployment and QB… — Matt Harmon (@MattHarmon_BYB) December 3, 2024 Unfortunately, the Browns current quarterback room screams Quarterback Wilderness. Perhaps Joe Flacco recaptures the volatile but effective standard of play he maintained late in the season for the 2023 Browns after a disastrous campaign with the Colts. That's likely Jeudy's best path to a productive season, but I'd be stunned if Flacco held off one of the rookies all season. The Colts have been in Quarterback Wilderness since Andrew Luck retired in August before the 2019 season. The franchise hoped that Anthony Richardson would be their off-ramp option but because of injuries, inexperience and some reported issues with his preparation, he hasn't developed into that guy. The team signed Daniel Jones to push Richardson this offseason, which is nothing more than buying real estate to stay in the wilderness. The Colts have two proven high-quality starting wide receivers in Josh Downs and Michael Pittman Jr. Those two are complemented by a pair of intriguing X-receivers in Alec Pierce and Adonai Mitchell, and the team added tight end Tyler Warren in the first round of the NFL Draft. Point blank, none of those guys are leaving the Quarterback Wilderness if both Richardson and Jones are the players they've been throughout their NFL careers to date. I have Nabers last on this list because if we are just considering Jaxson Dart in the equation, he probably makes more sense for the next group. However, my guess is that Russell Wilson ends up starting at least one month of the upcoming season. Wilson is a boom/bust passer at this point in his career who ranked 23rd in EPA per dropback and 29th in success rate last season. He's firmly not someone who keeps you out of the wilderness. I could obviously be wrong about this but based on who Dart was in college, I think he needs a season of development before he becomes a quality starter, if he becomes one at all. The tools are there but it's going to take some grooming before Dart is ready. At that time, we can consider Nabers out of the Quarterback Wilderness but for now, he remains wandering. Ridley had a sneaky really nice season despite playing with a messy quarterback rotation for the worst team in the league. He finished eighth in yards per route vs. man coverage and hit on a ton of downfield plays. He's still very much a good receiver and stands alone as the clear No. 1 target on this team. He'll now get to pair up with the first overall pick in Cam Ward. The Miami product is ready to start right away and while rookies are never a lock, he is a great option to get Ridley and the Titans out of the wilderness. His aggressive style fits well on some of the downfield in-breakers that Ridley ran in 2024. As mentioned many times in this article, Geno Smith is a good quarterback and he was traded by the Seahawks this offseason. While he'll face less target competition from this version of Cooper Kupp than DK Metcalf, the quarterback change does complicate Smith-Njigba's projection. The addition of Sam Darnold doesn't necessarily paint a less complex picture, either. Based on last season's data, Darnold looks like a clear solution. He was seventh in adjusted yards per attempt and 16th in EPA per dropback; not perfect but clearly above the line. It's difficult to untangle those results from a pristine Minnesota ecosystem and that's what makes Darnold an unclear wilderness or not designation. Overall, I think Smith-Njigba should be able to remain highly productive as a strong separator with a guy in Darnold who prefers to see it before he throws it. Much like the other top receivers from the 2022 NFL Draft class we've touched on here, London has spent all of his NFL career wandering the Quarterback Wilderness. It looked like Kirk Cousins presented him a chance to get out of the mess, as the two were dynamite on in-breakers last season but the veteran quarterback fell apart down the stretch. That made way for Michael Penix Jr. to get into the mix as the starter in Atlanta's final three games. It wasn't a perfect audition for Penix, who completed fewer than 56% of his passes in two of the games, both Falcons' losses, and threw a pick in all three. Atlanta is extremely confident in Penix making a leap but viewing him as a certainty would be a mistake. However, I loved what I saw out of Penix delivering vertical shots to London in tight coverage and they had a clear connection on out-breaking routes. That alone makes me optimistic for London's 2025 outlook, even if Penix isn't a known commodity just yet. An annual wanderer, Moore once again finds himself at the fork in the road with a path out of the Quarterback Wilderness. If we're just looking at last season's results, Caleb Williams isn't a guy to get Moore and some of these other pass-catchers out, considering he was outside the top-20 in every efficiency metric and was outrageously sack-prone. Of course, that doesn't have to define him forever and we should all be optimistic that Ben Johnson can help turn this ship around. At the very least, running it back with Williams will be the first time Moore has had the same Week 1 starter in consecutive seasons. I'm pretty confident that Williams will end up being someone who gets the Bears out of the wilderness, so it's up to Moore to play better in isolation after a disappointing season with bad vibes throughout. Tough one here. Am I worried about Jefferson or Addison in particular this coming season? No. However, that says more about my faith in Kevin O'Connell and the ecosystem he's built in Minnesota than anything else. From a bottom-line perspective, the Vikings let one of the most productive quarterbacks from last season walk and are replacing him with a second-year player who missed his entire rookie campaign with an injury. It would be disingenuous to put Drake London in this category because of Michael Penix Jr.'s unknown variable and not include the Vikings' wide receivers with J.J. McCarthy taking over. My view of the Vikings' offense is that it's too good to fail, especially with some interior offensive line additions. However, we don't know who McCarthy is at this stage so it would be unfair not to at least mention the Vikings' receivers in this section.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Fantasy Football: Which pass-catchers are stuck in the QB wilderness and who has finally escaped?
Entering QB wilderness DK Metcalf, WR, Pittsburgh Steelers Metcalf has been featured in this exercise before when the Russell Wilson trade seemingly sent him into quarterback wilderness several years ago. Metcalf dodged that fate by enjoying multiple strong seasons amid Geno Smith's career rebirth in Seattle, while Wilson went on to disappoint in Denver. Advertisement Now, Metcalf parts ways with a quarterback who leads the NFL in completion rate over expected since 2022 and ranks 15th in success rate to join a team with Mason Rudolph currently entrenched as the starting quarterback. No team is more lost in Quarterback Wilderness right now than the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm not even sure if signing Aaron Rodgers, who is seemingly the only light at the end of the tunnel for this season, is enough to get them out of it. Rodgers ranks 23rd in adjusted yards per attempt in the three years since his last MVP award. It's been a minute since we've seen him be the type of quarterback who elevates his receivers. If Rodgers doesn't make his way to this squad, Metcalf will need to absolutely dominate the target share in a run-heavy offense to be a viable fantasy starter. His career-high target share was 27.2% in 2021. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Chris Olave, WR, New Orleans Saints Olave and Derek Carr never saw the game the same way and consistently had issues with chemistry and timing. It wasn't an ideal long-term marriage but that being said, Carr has still statistically been an above-average quarterback the last two years in New Orleans, even if you justifiably object to his style of play. Carr ranked 14th in adjusted yards per attempt and 15th in EPA per dropback from 2023 and 2024. Advertisement Olave's best bet to escape Quarterback Wilderness is for Tyler Shough to come in and immediately establish himself as the guy. I'm not ruling it out and there are parts of Shough's game that overlap well with Olave. However, the recent history of Round 2 quarterbacks is dicey. The only two real hits for the teams that drafted them since 2012 are Jalen Hurts and, ironically, Carr. Shough is not a perfect prospect and his ceiling may well be a Carr-style of passer as they have some of the same strengths and weaknesses. Shough must hit that best case right away to keep Olave and Rashid Shaheed out of the wilderness. Leaving QB wilderness Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders As mentioned in the Metcalf analysis, Geno Smith certainly clears the bar of the quarterback we are looking for to keep pass-catchers out of the wilderness. That's especially true when you consider what the Raiders rolled out last season on way to a 28th place finish in EPA per dropback. Advertisement Smith is a highly accurate quarterback who works well over the middle of the field and isn't afraid to stand in the pocket and rip it downfield. That will overlap well with Brock Bowers on some of the concepts Chip Kelly will surely bring to this offense. Smith's arrival secures Bowers' spot as the TE1 this season and increases the appeal of Jakobi Meyers and rookie Jack Bech as the top wide receivers. George Pickens, WR, Dallas Cowboys Pickens has been trudging around the Quarterback Wilderness for years with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was set to take another hike through it this season in an encore round with Mason Rudolph. That is until the Cowboys came calling to acquire the enigmatic wideout in a post-draft trade. Advertisement Pickens is a perfect fit in the Cowboys' offense as their boundary receiver alongside CeeDee Lamb. He'll work well on the stop routes and vertical patterns no one has been able to offer the unit since Michael Gallup tore his ACL. And of course, Dak Prescott is leaps and bounds better than anyone who has been under center for the Steelers since Pickens was drafted in 2022. As long as Pickens is fully dialed in, he should moonwalk to the best season of his career. Davante Adams, WR, Los Angeles Rams Yes, Adams did get a brief respite from his miserable tenure with the Raiders quarterback carousel from 2023 to 2024 to reunite with his buddy from the Green Bay glory days. Yet, as mentioned above, I'm skeptical that Aaron Rodgers is a needle-mover at this point, and there were numerous open throws to Adams he left on the field last season. Advertisement His two-year stint in the wilderness comes to an official end as he moves to Los Angeles and teams up with Matthew Stafford. In my estimation, Stafford is coming off his least inspiring season with the Rams but was still 14th in adjusted yards per attempt. When he's protected and has multiple options out in the route, he can get white-hot and go on a tear. All of that will be available for Stafford in 2025 as he works with two high-quality wideouts in Adams and Puka Nacua. Still wandering QB wilderness Garrett Wilson, WR, New York Jets Aaron Rodgers was meant to be the uber-talented Jets receiver's ticket out of the Quarterback Wilderness but that connection never really developed. Wilson still finished with 101 catches and over 1,100 yards last season, but anyone who sets eyes on his film can easily see he's capable of better raw and more efficient production. Advertisement Justin Fields was signed as the bridge starter for the New York Jets and my hunch has long been that was more for his rushing chops than anything else. It's worth noting that Fields was the guy who teamed up with D.J. Moore for the best season of his career. I'm still working my head around how Fields and Wilson, who played together at Ohio State, will work together as a tandem but I won't rule out that they can experience a similar campaign. Fields still needs to improve on his painfully robotic style of play and debilitating sack issue in order to be a true ticket for Wilson to get out of what's been a career-long stint in the wilderness. Jerry Jeudy, WR, Cleveland Browns I have been critical of Jeudy at times during his career because he's an inconsistent player in isolation but there's no denying he's been dealt a rotten hand at the quarterback position. He found a brief oasis in the middle of last season when Jameis Winston got under center and his aggressive style of play helped scam Jeudy to serious production. The more important development for Jeudy's career was that the Browns finally got the usage right for the veteran receiver and let him be a flanker and downfield over route demon rather than leaning into his overstated route running skills from the slot. Unfortunately, the Browns current quarterback room screams Quarterback Wilderness. Perhaps Joe Flacco recaptures the volatile but effective standard of play he maintained late in the season for the 2023 Browns after a disastrous campaign with the Colts. That's likely Jeudy's best path to a productive season, but I'd be stunned if Flacco held off one of the rookies all season. Colts pass-catchers The Colts have been in Quarterback Wilderness since Andrew Luck retired in August before the 2019 season. The franchise hoped that Anthony Richardson would be their off-ramp option but because of injuries, inexperience and some reported issues with his preparation, he hasn't developed into that guy. The team signed Daniel Jones to push Richardson this offseason, which is nothing more than buying real estate to stay in the wilderness. Advertisement The Colts have two proven high-quality starting wide receivers in Josh Downs and Michael Pittman Jr. Those two are complemented by a pair of intriguing X-receivers in Alec Pierce and Adonai Mitchell, and the team added tight end Tyler Warren in the first round of the NFL Draft. Point blank, none of those guys are leaving the Quarterback Wilderness if both Richardson and Jones are the players they've been throughout their NFL careers to date. Malik Nabers, WR, New York Giants I have Nabers last on this list because if we are just considering Jaxson Dart in the equation, he probably makes more sense for the next group. However, my guess is that Russell Wilson ends up starting at least one month of the upcoming season. Wilson is a boom/bust passer at this point in his career who ranked 23rd in EPA per dropback and 29th in success rate last season. He's firmly not someone who keeps you out of the wilderness. Advertisement I could obviously be wrong about this but based on who Dart was in college, I think he needs a season of development before he becomes a quality starter, if he becomes one at all. The tools are there but it's going to take some grooming before Dart is ready. At that time, we can consider Nabers out of the Quarterback Wilderness but for now, he remains wandering. Fork in the road Calvin Ridley, WR, Tennessee Titans Ridley had a sneaky really nice season despite playing with a messy quarterback rotation for the worst team in the league. He finished eighth in yards per route vs. man coverage and hit on a ton of downfield plays. He's still very much a good receiver and stands alone as the clear No. 1 target on this team. Advertisement He'll now get to pair up with the first overall pick in Cam Ward. The Miami product is ready to start right away and while rookies are never a lock, he is a great option to get Ridley and the Titans out of the wilderness. His aggressive style fits well on some of the downfield in-breakers that Ridley ran in 2024. Jaxon Smith-Njigba, WR, Seattle Seahawks As mentioned many times in this article, Geno Smith is a good quarterback and he was traded by the Seahawks this offseason. While he'll face less target competition from this version of Cooper Kupp than DK Metcalf, the quarterback change does complicate Smith-Njigba's projection. The addition of Sam Darnold doesn't necessarily paint a less complex picture, either. Based on last season's data, Darnold looks like a clear solution. He was seventh in adjusted yards per attempt and 16th in EPA per dropback; not perfect but clearly above the line. It's difficult to untangle those results from a pristine Minnesota ecosystem and that's what makes Darnold an unclear wilderness or not designation. Overall, I think Smith-Njigba should be able to remain highly productive as a strong separator with a guy in Darnold who prefers to see it before he throws it. Drake London, WR, Atlanta Falcons Much like the other top receivers from the 2022 NFL Draft class we've touched on here, London has spent all of his NFL career wandering the Quarterback Wilderness. It looked like Kirk Cousins presented him a chance to get out of the mess, as the two were dynamite on in-breakers last season but the veteran quarterback fell apart down the stretch. That made way for Michael Penix Jr. to get into the mix as the starter in Atlanta's final three games. Advertisement It wasn't a perfect audition for Penix, who completed fewer than 56% of his passes in two of the games, both Falcons' losses, and threw a pick in all three. Atlanta is extremely confident in Penix making a leap but viewing him as a certainty would be a mistake. However, I loved what I saw out of Penix delivering vertical shots to London in tight coverage and they had a clear connection on out-breaking routes. That alone makes me optimistic for London's 2025 outlook, even if Penix isn't a known commodity just yet. D.J. Moore, WR, Chicago Bears An annual wanderer, Moore once again finds himself at the fork in the road with a path out of the Quarterback Wilderness. If we're just looking at last season's results, Caleb Williams isn't a guy to get Moore and some of these other pass-catchers out, considering he was outside the top-20 in every efficiency metric and was outrageously sack-prone. Of course, that doesn't have to define him forever and we should all be optimistic that Ben Johnson can help turn this ship around. Advertisement At the very least, running it back with Williams will be the first time Moore has had the same Week 1 starter in consecutive seasons. I'm pretty confident that Williams will end up being someone who gets the Bears out of the wilderness, so it's up to Moore to play better in isolation after a disappointing season with bad vibes throughout. Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, WRs, Minnesota Vikings Tough one here. Am I worried about Jefferson or Addison in particular this coming season? No. However, that says more about my faith in Kevin O'Connell and the ecosystem he's built in Minnesota than anything else. Advertisement From a bottom-line perspective, the Vikings let one of the most productive quarterbacks from last season walk and are replacing him with a second-year player who missed his entire rookie campaign with an injury. It would be disingenuous to put Drake London in this category because of Michael Penix Jr.'s unknown variable and not include the Vikings' wide receivers with J.J. McCarthy taking over. My view of the Vikings' offense is that it's too good to fail, especially with some interior offensive line additions. However, we don't know who McCarthy is at this stage so it would be unfair not to at least mention the Vikings' receivers in this section.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Can Patriots unlock Drake Maye's game by adding Cam Newton element to the offense?
(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.) In the latest Yahoo Fantasy Forecast, Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens explain why Drake Maye's rushing ability is being slept on — and in turn his appeal in 2025 drafts is being overlooked. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Maye had 421 rushing yards as a rookie, with a staggering 407 of those coming on scrambles — meaning 97% of his rushing output was improvisational rather than by design. As Harmon points out, "Maye's already talked about ... he's looked at some of those old Cam Newton 2020 Patriots games where Josh McDaniels kind of had Cam Newton, what was left of him, cooking as a designed rusher." The implication? Maye has significant untapped rushing upside. Maye wasn't used on designed runs last season, but that could change with McDaniels back in New England, the revamped personnel around the QB and his willingness and capability as a runner. Behrens echoes this point, noting Maye "averaged 7.8 yards per carry. He's great at it. This is definitely a player who, you know, if we're making it a recurring part of the offense, he could easily rush for 750 yards, 800 yards." By the time Newton got to New England, he wasn't the same player as he was earlier in his career, but he still had some huge games that season, finishing with 589 yards rushing and 12 scores on the ground. His fantasy production in 2020 was built on a rushing workload that included designed runs and short-yardage plunges. While it's not fair to saddle every rushing QB with the Newton comp, Maye isn't just a pocket passer — with the right scheme, he might approach the kinds of numbers Newton posted, at least on the ground. If McDaniels calls more designed QB runs, like he did with Newton, Maye's excellent tackle-breaking (he was second in yards after contact among QBs last season) could translate well. Behrens points out New England is a work in progress, but likes the team's offseason moves: "It's hard not to like what they did for him." The team has a rebuilt offensive line and new weapons in Stefon Diggs (free agent), TreVeyon Williams (No. 38 overall pick in the NFL Draft) and Kyle Williams (No. 69). Both Harmon and Behrens agree Maye's rookie passing stats may not jump off the page, but the upside is that rare, golden ticket: a young QB who can run for 700+ yards and rack up 6–8 rushing TDs while he learns. ADP Watch: Currently, Maye's ADP sits around QB18. Behrens and Harmon think that's not baking in Maye's true rushing potential, and training camp hype could push his draft price up if New England leans into a Cam Newton-esque playbook. He could project as a low-end QB1 or top-end QB2 with monster ceiling weeks. League Winner? Behrens says it best: 'If we could just get Drake Maye to like 3,500 passing yards and he's a proactive rusher now he's, now he's got top-10 appeal.' You're looking at a potential difference-maker you can snag outside the top 15 quarterbacks. Maye's dual-threat potential is exciting. He's not Newton yet — and he may never get that full rushing workload — but the skill set is there, and the new-look offense could deploy him like Newton's Patriots days. With a little summer buzz about designed runs (keep an eye out!) and positive reports from training camp, Maye could see an ADP surge and be 2025's surprise QB fantasy star.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Can Patriots unlock Drake Maye's game by adding Cam Newton element to the offense?
(This article was written with the assistance of Castmagic, an AI tool, and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy. Please reach out to us if you notice any mistakes.) In the latest Yahoo Fantasy Forecast, Matt Harmon and Andy Behrens explain why Drake Maye's rushing ability is being slept on — and in turn his appeal in 2025 drafts is being overlooked. Advertisement [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] Misunderstood and underrated rushing ability Maye had 421 rushing yards as a rookie, with a staggering 407 of those coming on scrambles — meaning 97% of his rushing output was improvisational rather than by design. As Harmon points out, "Maye's already talked about ... he's looked at some of those old Cam Newton 2020 Patriots games where Josh McDaniels kind of had Cam Newton, what was left of him, cooking as a designed rusher." The implication? Maye has significant untapped rushing upside. Maye wasn't used on designed runs last season, but that could change with McDaniels back in New England, the revamped personnel around the QB and his willingness and capability as a runner. Advertisement Behrens echoes this point, noting Maye "averaged 7.8 yards per carry. He's great at it. This is definitely a player who, you know, if we're making it a recurring part of the offense, he could easily rush for 750 yards, 800 yards." Can Maye be like Cam Newton? By the time Newton got to New England, he wasn't the same player as he was earlier in his career, but he still had some huge games that season, finishing with 589 yards rushing and 12 scores on the ground. His fantasy production in 2020 was built on a rushing workload that included designed runs and short-yardage plunges. While it's not fair to saddle every rushing QB with the Newton comp, Maye isn't just a pocket passer — with the right scheme, he might approach the kinds of numbers Newton posted, at least on the ground. If McDaniels calls more designed QB runs, like he did with Newton, Maye's excellent tackle-breaking (he was second in yards after contact among QBs last season) could translate well. Situation and supporting cast Behrens points out New England is a work in progress, but likes the team's offseason moves: "It's hard not to like what they did for him." The team has a rebuilt offensive line and new weapons in Stefon Diggs (free agent), TreVeyon Williams (No. 38 overall pick in the NFL Draft) and Kyle Williams (No. 69). Both Harmon and Behrens agree Maye's rookie passing stats may not jump off the page, but the upside is that rare, golden ticket: a young QB who can run for 700+ yards and rack up 6–8 rushing TDs while he learns. Fantasy draft takeaways ADP Watch: Currently, Maye's ADP sits around QB18. Behrens and Harmon think that's not baking in Maye's true rushing potential, and training camp hype could push his draft price up if New England leans into a Cam Newton-esque playbook. He could project as a low-end QB1 or top-end QB2 with monster ceiling weeks. League Winner? Behrens says it best: 'If we could just get Drake Maye to like 3,500 passing yards and he's a proactive rusher now he's, now he's got top 10 appeal.' You're looking at a potential difference-maker you can snag outside the top 15 quarterbacks. Advertisement Bottom line Maye's dual-threat potential is exciting. He's not Newton yet — and he may never get that full rushing workload — but the skill set is there, and the new-look offense could deploy him like Newton's Patriots days. With a little summer buzz about designed runs (keep an eye out!) and positive reports from training camp, Maye could see an ADP surge and be 2025's surprise QB fantasy star.
