Welcome to the 2024 fantasy football season! Our team of analysts are looking to start the year off with some spice, bringing you their boldest predictions for the year ahead of NFL season kickoff.
Baltimore Ravens WR Zay Flowers achieves his Year 2 fantasy breakout
Zay Flowers clears 1,200 receiving yards and finishes inside the top 15 at the position. You can believe this and hold the opinion that Rashod Bateman is a strong draft value, as I do. It feels as if Flowers was a bit of an under-discussed, if not outright forgotten man during fantasy draft season. Most analysts view him as a designed touches merchant because they’re only looking at results-based metrics and harping on early-season usage from his rookie campaign.
When you actually watch him play, you see Flowers is a wideout capable of winning against man coverage on big-boy downfield routes like a primary outside receiver. This is a carryover from Flowers’ collegiate tape, so it shouldn’t be that shocking if you’re familiar with his game beyond just his rookie season. He was also the second-best player I charted last year for Reception Perception in success rate vs. zone coverage at 85%, trailing only Brandon Aiyuk. That’s critical when you’re paired with Lamar Jackson as teams play zone-heavy defense against him given his scrambling chops. Flowers is an ascending second-year player tied to a great quarterback. You want those receivers in fantasy. — Matt Harmon
Dream big if Christian Watson can stay healthy
Christian Watson isn’t being drafted as a top-40 fantasy receiver — in fact, he’s not even the top Green Bay receiver in terms of ADP — but he has the potential to ultimately finish among the position’s top 12. Athletically, Watson is unlike any other player in the Packers‘ receiving corps.
Watson has been a touchdown machine in his first two seasons, but the missing ingredients have been health and availability. If the hamstring issues are legitimately behind him, he’s going to erupt in his third season. — Andy Behrens
Jayden Daniels finishes as a top-five QB … as a rookie
I have not been shy about my adoration for Jayden Daniels this offseason. He headlined my rookie breakout article earlier this offseason and was dubbed one of the players I’m most scared to be wrong about this year … in part, because I am so over-the-top bullish on the Washington Commanders rookie.
Subscribe to Yahoo Fantasy Forecast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
Daniels enters the league with nearly as much rushing upside as Colts QB Anthony Richardson, except I’d argue he’s got a more refined passing skill set. He doesn’t have the depth at receiver that Richardson does, but the Commanders defense projects among the worst in the league which should be a huge plus for his play volume. Given the likely projection for volume in an offense forced to keep up with their opponents and the likelihood that any time Terry McLaurin isn’t open, Daniels will take off and run the ball, I’m all-in on his upside as a top-five quarterback. — Kate Magdziuk
Chuba Hubbard is Carolina’s starting running back most of the season and finishes top 20 at the position.
At this point, I’m ready to follow Dave Canales into a burning building. Mostly I’m curious to see if he can get Bryce Young going, and if that results in Diontae Johnson having a monster season. But any improvement in the passing offense is also going to help the running game.
I realize Jonathan Brooks is an exciting prospect but given that he’s coming back from a major injury, it makes sense for Carolina to be prudent with him. I view Brooks more as a 2025 fantasy prospect; there’s no urgency here. The underrated Hubbard is ready to smash his ADP. — Scott Pianowski
Jaxon Smith-Njigba delivers a Year 2 breakout
Jaxon Smith-Njigba had a disappointing rookie season, but a broken wrist and coaching were plenty to blame. Seattle used 3WR sets at a low rate despite drafting JSN in the first round, and his average depth of target ranked 95th among wide receivers. In fact, Smith-Njigba had by far the highest target% behind the line of scrimmage among all wideouts.
JSN earned a top 10 first-read target share (34.4%) on third/fourth downs as a rookie, when his route participation dramatically grew. He figures to be a much bigger part of an improved Seahawks offense in 2024, led by aggressive new OC Ryan Grubb. Tyler Lockett enters the year dealing with an injury, but that may not even matter. Smith-Njigba was a standout college star who’s capable of emerging as Seattle’s best wide receiver in 2024.
JSN finishes as a top-20 fantasy wide receiver. — Dalton Del Don
Diontae Johnson bounces back in his first season with the Carolina Panthers … big time
Hear me out — in 2024, Diontae Johnson will return as a top-12 receiver! It’s been three seasons since we last saw Diontae Johnson as a WR1. It was during Ben Roethlisberger’s last hoorah and Johnson had a whopping 169 targets and averaged 13.8 fantasy points in half-PPR. Roethlisberger’s waning arm and penchant for the short game benefitted Johnson and he could see that same usage in Carolina as the Panthers try to put Bryce Young in comfortable, advantageous situations.
Johnson is very quarterback-friendly and best utilized as a high-volume receiver. Last season, the Panthers’ offense struggled through the air but it wasn’t for lack of volume. The Panthers had the 13th most pass attempts in 2023. New head coach Dave Canales will increase their efficiency and Johnson could be the biggest beneficiary. — Tera Roberts
Chicago Bears RB D’Andre Swift finishes top-five at the position
Swift, currently being drafted as the RB25, will finish the season as a top-five fantasy running back. Swift put up extremely solid numbers with the Eagles last year, going over 1,000 yards on the ground. However, he finished as just the RB23 in fantasy because he scored just six total touchdowns. Now that he is in Chicago, where Jalen Hurts cannot steal one-yard rushing touchdowns via the tush push, I think Swift is ready for a fantasy football explosion.
The Bears gave Swift $15.3 million guaranteed in free agency, the most out of any running back in free agency, indicating that they plan on using him as their bell-cow. I expect the Bears offense as a whole to benefit from the rising tide of Caleb Williams, and Swift also offers a decent pass-catching floor. Add all of that up, and Swift will be one of fantasy football’s biggest success stories in 2024. — Pranav Rajaram
Rome Odunze is the Chicago Bears WR to roster in Year 1
Odunze was drafted this summer as the third Bears receiver, often going outside the top 40 WRs. But by the end of the year, Odunze will lead all the Bears receivers in fantasy production. He’ll compete with DJ Moore and Keenan Allen this season. Moore is coming off a career year, while Allen led the NFL in targets per game last season. It won’t be easy to outproduce these talented receivers, but Odunze is that good.
Odunze is a top 10 pick who won with both size and technique in college. Odunze dominates at the line of scrimmage, wins at the catch point and is great after the catch. By Week 18, Odunze will have outscored both Allen and Moore in fantasy. — Sal Vetri
Seattle Seahawks QB Geno Smith returns to fantasy relevance
Geno Smith, who is the 21st QB off the board in Yahoo leagues, is going to finish the season as a top-10 fantasy QB. This prediction may not be bold enough, as in 2022, Smith finished as the No. 5 QB after throwing for 4,282 yards and 30 TDs while collecting 366 yards and another score on the ground.
The 33-year-old got a massive upgrade over the offseason when the Seahawks hired offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who showed during his time at the University of Washington that he is a dynamic play caller who plays to his players’ strengths. Grubb will quickly figure out that the strength of Seattle’s offense is its three-headed monster at receiver, DK Metcalf, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Tyler Lockett, and he will let Smith throw early and often. — Fred Zinkie
